How to Have Successful Small Group Fundraiser Kickoffs

If you are working with a smaller fundraising group such as a cheerleader group or middle school band the school fundraising kickoff is one of the most important parts of your fundraiser because it will give you the opportunity to set the tone for a successful fundraiser in the minds of your sellers. Don't simply pass out your fundraising materials and say a few words at the end of practice. Make your kickoff an official meeting and set aside a special time for it. If you want your fundraiser to go well you will need to prepare for a successful kickoff just like you would for a competition. Also, you can plan on your kickoff taking between 30-45 minutes. 

The primary purpose of the kickoff is to generate as much enthusiasm as possible for your fundraiser. You must come across to your group as organized, passionate and convincing otherwise they may not buy in. The more passionate you are, the more passionate your sellers will be and the more they will want to get involved. As a result, you will make more money. You must also be prepared to convince your sellers why they should participate. In order to ensure that these objectives are met, make sure that you do the following:

1. Plan to communicate your purpose
The first thing you should do before you do anything else at your kickoff is communicate your purpose at the beginning of your kickoff. Don't assume that your group will automatically embrace the reason for your fundraiser. You will need to talk about it and then continue to reinforce it throughout your sale. If it's important to you it will be important to them. Why are you doing the school fundraiser in the first place? Where will the money be spent? How will you convince your sellers that your purpose is important to them directly? A well communicated purpose will motivate everyone to work harder.

2. What is the minimum number of items that you want each of your sellers to sell?
(Do your calculations ahead of time and come up with a reasonable ‘rounded item number’. Make sure that you have your students put this number at the top of the order form as you are filling out the order forms. For example, “GOAL: 10 or more items”). You can do this by:

• First, determining the total amount of money that each seller will need to raise.
• Then take the retail amount (Use $10.00 if you are using a typical multi-priced product brochure) and multiply it by your profit percentage to determine the total profit/item. 
• Finally, divide the total money needed/seller by the total profit/item to come up with the number of items that each seller will need to sell. FOR EXAMPLE: Let’s say that you need for each seller to raise $50.00 each and you know that you are receiving 40% profit on every item sold. This means that you are going to make $4.00/item (Based on $10.00 retail x 40% profit). In order for each seller to meet their $50.00 quota they would need to sell $50.00 ÷ $4.00/item = 12.5 items (You may want to round this number up to 15 to ensure that everyone will meet or exceed their goal. This means that if everyone sells just 1 or more items every day for the next two weeks they will meet their goal!)

3. Pass out your fundraising supplies and make sure that everyone understands the process:

• Order Forms (Fill in the spaces at the top and review how the order forms will need to be filled out by customers. Make sure they only talk to people they know and encourage them to have their family members take the information to work to sell to their work friends)
• Sales brochures (Review the sales brochure page by page with your sellers. You should familiarize yourself with it prior to the kickoff so that you can more effectively present it)
• Prize Brochure (Explain what they can win and that they only have to sell a few items each day to reach their goal)
• Parent Letter (Make copies of your letter prior to your kickoff)
• Money Collection Envelopes (Explain that money must be collected up front, checks are made payable to your group and money and order forms are do back by the turn-in day)

4. Maintain the high level of enthusiasm throughout your fundraiser by:

• Checking in with your sellers by announcing the sale daily
• Creating competition between your sellers by offering fun yet rewarding incentives or special privileges throughout your sale. This type of motivator works really well the day after you kick off your fundraiser. You can tell your sellers that to be eligible for the ‘1st day prize’ that they have to bring in their order forms along with any money that they have already collected. Since the first 3 days are critical to your fundraising success it is not a bad idea to invest in your sale by offering a cash incentive that will be paid out to the top seller after the 1st day. You should more than make this money back in increased sales. Make sure that you do not give out money until all fundraising money has been turned in first

5. Make sure to incorporate additional fundraising incentives (Here are some ideas):

• Top Seller after the 1st day (See above)
• Daily Drawings (You can use our prize drawing coupons sheet)
• Grand Prize Drawing (Sell 5 to get your name in one time. Then for every additional 5 items sold you get your name in additional times)
• Top Overall Seller (Reward the one who works the hardest and turns in the most fundraising orders)