Connecting Schools With Great Fundraising Ideas.

Many of our regular readers may realize that we at Top School Fundraisers have an excellent relationship with the folks over at eFundraising. From time to time, we write reviews and post news items from them, so that you can keep current on the latest ideas, developments, and products.

For instance, we shared their great news that eFundraising has increased the percentage the non-profits get to keep from their fundraisers. This is great news and should definitely help you make your decision about what kind of fundraisers to choose for your school.

Now, we have the opportunity to introduce you to the eFundraising team, by way of YouTube! Their creative team put together a terrific “behind-the-scenes” video that gives viewers a great insight into this company. I particularly like the part when the customer service lady is eating a cookie while talking on the telephone! I guess their cookies are just to delicious to put down!

The video is short- only three and a half minutes, and it will really give you a good insight into who you will be doing business with. It’s well worth the click.

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If you have been thinking about adding a new event to your school fundraising calendar, a school carnival is an excellent idea.  Here are nine great reasons why your school should be having a carnival, if it already doesn’t.

1. School Carnivals Are Incredibly Popular With Students and Parents Alike
Quick, which would you rather do- go to the school carnival or visit to the dentist? See? No contest. OK, maybe that’s not a fair fight, carnival vs. dentist, but the fact is, a school carnival is one of the absolute highlights of the year for any school that has one. It has all the best rolled up into one great package: people having fun, the school making money, and if it’s a really good carnival, there’s always food of some variety on a stick.

2. Carnivals require lots of people as volunteers, but the work is fun and not stressful.
Even though carnivals require a number of people willing to take charge of a wide range of responsibilities, the vast majority of jobs involve having fun and interacting with people. Whether it’s baking items to sell, running games, passing out prizes, decorating the carnival space, face painting, or even selling tickets, the atmosphere of a school carnival is light and enjoyable. These are exactly the kinds of jobs to break new volunteers in on. Once a person has mastered the art of the school carnival, he or she may be ready to take on more challenging volunteer duties within your fundraising team.

3. Carnival Expenses are Low
Since carnivals are held in the school building itself, there won’t be any facility rental fees the school will have to pay, which can often be one of the most expensive items in the budget. Also, food can be donated, and games can be used year after year. Many decorations can also be used more than one year. Of course, there will be a desire to add some new things each year, but the core of the activity can be relatively inexpensive to operate year in and year out. continue reading

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One of the best ways to raise money for schools is to do as little work as possible. In my estimation, the best money is the easiest money, because it saves you that priceless commodity- time.

Here is a very simple way to raise money at your school without much effort- My Coke Rewards from Coca-Cola.

The idea is simple. You sign up for a “My Coke Rewards” account. You become the account manager. You will have access to check your account and trade in your “points” for items for your school.

Then, let everyone in your school community know that if they drink a participating Coke product (Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Dasani water, Fanta, Mr. Pibb’s, Fresca, Minute Maid Lemonade, Vault, Powerade, and Barq’s Root Beer) they should donate the bottle cap (with the code printed on the underside of it ) to your school. Also, be sure to remind them that they cannot enter the code in themselves prior to giving it to you. It must be un-entered for it to have value to the school. (No double-dipping!) continue reading

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In case you’re not as big a fan of Law & Order SVU as I am and don’t spend nearly the amount of time watching repeats of it on the USA Network, then maybe you haven’t heard of an amazing new campaign being promoted heavily on this channel.

It’s called “The USA Character Approved Awards” and our very own topic of school fundraising has landed right in the middle of this extraordinary promotion.

For a little background, here is their mission statement, as I found it on their website:

The Character Approved Awards honor the characters of the U.S.A. who are changing the face of American culture. Character Approved honorees are innovators in their field who influence our opinions, our style, and our view of the world. They surprise and inspire us with fresh ideas. They are celebrated by their peers. And they have an authentic style that’s all their own.

This year, in what they claim is their inaugural campaign, they have announced seven honorees, one each from the worlds of music, art, food, architecture, fashion, new media, and giving. continue reading

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One of the most reliable types of school fundraisers is the product sale. A product sale is an event in which a school hooks up with a company that provides an item that students try to sell to friends, families, and others in their social networks. Each company has their own formula to split the revenue between themselves and the school.

Some common examples of items used in product sales are: cookie dough, chocolate, wrapping paper, magazines, and popcorn, although virtually anything, as long as it’s sellable, can be used to make a profit for the school.

Product sales are popular for four main reasons:

1. They are simple to plan and execute. The companies have really made these things fool-proof for both the school administration and the parents.
2. Over the years, people have grown to develop an expectation that they will have to sell something to raise money for their kid’s school, so they are already pre-disposed to participate.
3. School administrators generally don’t like to spend too much time thinking about creative fundraising ideas, so product sales have become “no-brainers”.
4. Product sales are very reliable financially. You can take the number of students participating in the sale and get a fairly accurate estimate of what you can expect to bring in.

Even though the actual planning and executing of a product sale are relatively easy to navigate, there are still a number of questions that you should ask either yourself, your product sale representative, or the people in your community before making a commitment to one particular product or company. Failure to ask these questions or questions like these put you at risk of having a substandard fundraising event. continue reading

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One of the most important factors to consider when you are deciding which school fundraiser to select is the percentage your school will receive from the overall take. After all, why should your students and their parents do all the hard work, when most of the profit goes back to the company? That makes no sense.

So, we are very happy to share some great news with you. Our friends over at eFundraising have significantly increased the percentage of money your school gets to keep from their chocolate fundraisers. In the past, schools selling their brands of chocolate would receive 40% of the gross receipts, while 60% went back to eFundraising. I do understand that high-quality chocolate is expensive, so I believe that justifies this kind of a percentage. However, they have now bumped the split across the board to 50-50.  In case of the $2 Chocolatiers Variety Pack , it’s now 60-40, in favor of the school! This is amazing! Chocolate fundraisers have always been a reliable and profitable income stream. This is even more true now.

In addition, eFundraising has re-vamped their chocolate product line. While the ever-popular “World’s Finest Chocolate” is still available, they have also added the popular Dollar Bar, as well as the “Chocolatiers” selection from Van Wyk.  In addition, if any of you have ever tried the tremendous Hebert chocolate bars, take note, there has been a name change. Hebert chocolate is now called Lamontagne. Have no fear, it’s still the same company and the same high-quality chocolate; it’s just different packaging.

If you are still searching for a great way to raise money for your school this coming spring, I highly recommend you check out the chocolate sales program over at eFundraising.

The service, the selection, the quality, and most of all- the percentage of the profits you get to keep- are all great reasons to choose an eFundraising chocolate sale for your school! Enjoy!

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When I was the principal of a private elementary school, one of the things I always tried to do when planning a fundraiser was to get the teachers on my side.

You would think that simply because the teachers were school employees, they would be more than happy to do whatever they could to make sure we had the funds needed to do things like purchase supplies, buy new textbooks, fund field trips, and cover payroll. Unfortunately, however, that wasn’t always the case.

I found that some teachers, not all, actually resent the fundraising process. They believe that they were hired to teach, and that’s it. I agree that teaching is an incredibly demanding job and these dedicated servants don’t get nearly the recognition nor the compensation for what they do on a daily basis.

However, a school, in my opinion, is a community, and everyone has to pitch in to make it work. One of my favorite movies is the film Gandhi with Ben Kingsley. There is a scene in which Gandhi’s wife refuses to “rake and cover the latrines” at their ashram, deeming that job for a lesser type of person. In no uncertain terms, her husband, a peaceful sort, straightens her out, and she finally agrees to “rake and cover the latrines”.

Now, I’m not saying that fundraising is analogous to cleaning a toilet, but you get the point. Nobody is too good to help at any job. That’s my motto.

So, I heartily believe that teachers should be active and cheerful fundraisers. No exceptions. If they believe enough in the school to accept a paycheck they should believe enough to sell some cookie dough, if that’s what it takes.

Here are ten strategies I used to win over the more reluctant educators. continue reading

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