1. Determine if you will run a catalog sale such as Charleston Wrap, Classic Cookie Dough, or in-hand product sale with candy bars or Pretzel RODS.
2. Select dates that will allow you to have your profits by the time you need them.
3. Consider the age of your members and what types of fundraising promotions will motivate them to participate.
There are many ideas to motivate students to participate in a PTA fundraiser, PTO fundraiser, or School Fundraiser. The first thing is to notify the parents of your students why you are raising funds. This is important because many parents will help when they know they are working for a worthy cause. If your fundraiser is for something such as a new playground or new computer equipment, do not hesitate to have a drawing of the playground posted at your school or on you social media sites. If it is additional technology feel free to be specific and add a statement at the end which will include other items as well such as, “and other programs and supplies to enhance learning at our school”. If this is for a daycare fundraiser or elementary school fundraising we know that the parents will do the majority of the selling whereas the students will only sell to their parents and very close relatives.
Consider a participation prize. With TNT Fundraising, when we are dealing with schoolwide fundraisers with catalog sales and Classic Cookie Dough sales, we may offer a daily prize which is handed out when the student is registered on the fundraising website for online fundraiser or when they make their first sale. There may even be daily prizes that allow the students to earn more than one “collectible” that is highly valued by the students. These may be handed out on a daily basis or twice a week. Keep in mind, the more you pass these out, the more excitement created at the school. When the students are excited the enthusiasm is carried home and shared with the parents who are our primary helpers!
Daily Drawings: We often provide special prizes for the school to do daily drawings from the tickets turned in from the daily prizes. This is done during the morning announcements or during the morning show at school.
Include a cumulative or pick-a-prize program. A cumulative prize program is the easiest to administer when dealing with large groups. The lower level prizes accumulate as the students sell more and as they reach the upper levels a certain large prize may be selected and they are able to earn the lower prizes as well. This prize program is simple because it is automatic and usually is delivered along with the product with no extra work on the volunteer’s part (it may be necessary to check with a student or two on extremely large sales if they are able to select from a few large prizes.) A pick-a-prize program would normally be used with older students and smaller groups since they are able to select a prize from 3-4 prizes offered. It is always helpful to have a full color prize chart for younger students. We provide this with our fundraisers.
Fundraising Kick-off: It is very important to have an exciting launch for your school fundraiser, PTA Fundraiser, or PTO Fundraiser. This may be in a general assembly or through a video that is shown in each classroom.
Participation Prizes for Teachers and/or Classrooms: Most teachers recognize the impact they have on the students when running a fundraiser and are naturally motivated and excited, but it is sometimes helpful to include a special gift for teachers with 50% participation or with the highest participation. This may be a cookie party for the students or a magazine voucher or shopping spree for the teacher. TNT Fundraising has some great ideas we use with schools we work with on their cookie dough and catalog fundraising campaigns.
Participation Prizes for Students Reaching a Certain number: This is a great way to motivate students. We suggest you set a number of items to sell for the students to be invited to a fun event or a party of some sort. This could be a Chic Fila party with a movie playing, an ice cream party, a bouncy party or other fun idea your group comes up with. We suggest you make this attainable such as, all students who sell 10, 15 or 20 items. Some schools will use a goal of 20-25 items for a limousine to lunch or an ice cream shop. We feel it is better to offer an event at 10 items in sales than to offer one top selling student a very large prize. We like to spread the love around and benefit more students.
Top Seller Prize: We suggest using a prize that is fun but that does not cost too much such as a Dash for Cash and Prizes or Jump for George where money is taped to the floor and the student keeps the amount they are able to do a standing broad jump and pass. As I said before, we feel it is better to spread the love. Most students will never be the top seller in their fundraiser but they may be able to talk their parents into selling 10 or 15 items.
In-hand Dollar Sales: When selling One Dollar Fundraising Candy Bars or Pretzel RODS, if you order 20 cases, you will receive one free case which equals $240 once the items are sold. The school may take this money and offer some of the promotions listed above for their sale.
These school fundraising ideas not only work for elementary school fundraisers and middle school fundraisers, but also are great fundraiser ideas for church and excellent fundraiser ideas for sports teams!
When working with TNT Fundraising, we typically provide the cumulative or pick-a-prize program, as well as the collectibles on our catalog sales with Charleston Wrap and Classic Cookie Dough. In many situations, we split the cost of other top prizes with the school and many times the school or PTA or PTO will add a few goodies on their own since they stand to profit thousands of dollars on a fundraiser; it is an excellent investment! Give us a call if you have questions, 850-232-5837, Angie Taylor.
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