How To Choose the Right School Fundraiser

If you are not sure about what you think you might want to use to make money for your school or group, perhaps you can start by narrowing down you options.

There are basically 2 main types of fundraisers offered by fundraising companies:

1. Point of Sale (Direct Sale) Fundraising:
Your fundraising group orders an inventory of products that are then distributed to your group members who sell the products directly to their supporters. Money is collected at the point of sale. This category is primarily comprised of food items such as cases of candy bars, candy variety packs (i.e. M&M’s, Skittles etc.), popcorn, lollipops and meat snacks fundraisers. The average selling price for most direct sale items ranges from $0.50 to $2.00.

PROS:

• Items are usually inexpensive to sell
• The customer can see exactly what they are getting on the spot
• Can be enjoyed by the buyer right away
• Items are usually popular and well recognized
• Requires only one contact with individual consumers which takes less time because there is no product to deliver

CONS:  

• Must sell a high volume to make a decent profit because items are inexpensive
• Risk of having to deal with leftover merchandise if you over-purchase
• Usually have less variety of products to offer
• May be hard to collect money once inventory is distributed to group members
• Organization usually provides their own incentive program at their expense

2. Pre-Sale (Order Taker Method) Fundraising:
Your group requests one product brochure per fundraising participant. The participants show the brochure to potential supporters. The supporter selects a product from the brochure which they record on the brochure order form. Funds can either be collected at the time of product selection or upon delivery; however most schools are now collecting money up front at the time that the product is selected from the brochure. Pre-Sale programs are ideal for any size group but are usually most profitable to larger organizations such as PTA's, PTO's, private, Christian and Catholic schools, etc. A typical type of pre-sale program would be the popular seasonal shoppers, frozen food and cookie dough fundraisers. Within a normal two week sales period, orders and monies will be collected and compiled with the order forms mailed in to the company. Depending on the type of services available from the pre-sale program selected, the goods will arrive back at your location within a specified time period. Fundraising merchandise is then delivered to the purchasers. Many brochure type sales provide a complete pack-for-student type service which allows for all of the items to arrive pre-packaged individually by student or seller as well as by teacher or homeroom. Profit percentages can vary, usually according to type of prize program selected.

PROS:

• No risk of over-ordering because it requires no guess work on how much to order (Merchandise is pre-ordered up front)
• Brochures offer a wide variety of products and range of prices
• Easy to include parents and adults in the fundraising efforts by having them circulate the brochure at work
• Incentive program is usually provided by the school fundraising company
• Money collection is easier because money is collected before merchandise is ordered (Pre-pay sale only)

CONS:  

• Can require more time to complete because products must be delivered and may require dealing with occasional broken or missing items
• A few of the items in the brochure may be too expensive for some people
• People won’t know what they are purchasing until they receive it at delivery
• Buyer must wait to receive purchased product

Once you familiarize yourself with the pros and cons of both types of product fundraising you can then decide on a more specific type of school fundraiser such as gift items, frozen food or candy bars.