School groups can be some of the most challenging fundraising teams to work with, but they can also be the most fun. Depending on the age of the kids, many of them will not have had a significant fundraising experience before, so you’ll have to teach them everything from the ground up. But their enthusiasm is infectious, and when you choose something fun like cookie dough school fundraising, you can guarantee everyone will be fully on board with an idea like that.

Cookie dough fundraising is an easy and fun idea that can yield you some decent profits, and best of all, your supporters and your fundraising team will both love the product you’ve chosen. The best way to get started with cookie dough school fundraising is to sit down with the other adults and have an organizational meeting.

The more people you can get to help with this, the better, but clear delegation is important. There are two types of people who show up to fundraising meetings: those who really don’t want to be there and don’t want to volunteer for anything, and those who think they know best about everything having to do with fundraising, and want to control everything.

As the person in charge, it’s up to you to put the enthusiastic people in clear roles with clear boundaries, so that nobody steps on anybody’s toes and every requirement is taken care of. Once you have the adults sorting out, cookie dough school fundraising begins to take on a life of its own.

The enthusiasm of children is remarkable, and this will come across to your supporters, who love cookie dough anyway, but will especially love buying it to help the kids out. For younger children, make sure they have someone to accompany them when they go out fundraising, as they will be collecting and walking around with money as they go.

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One of the challenges that school fundraisers face is keeping the enthusiasm going during the course of a product sale. Procrastination and insanely busy schedules often pull students and parents away from the focus needed to make a successful fundraiser.

I recently came across a great article that talks about various strategies to keep that initial momentum going and not suffer from the emotion drop off that can really hurt your overall success.  The following is an excerpt from the article. To read the entire piece, please click here.

How to Keep Your School Fundraiser from Dragging

by Clay Boggess

A primary goal for your school fundraiser should be to reach your money goal in as short a period of time as feasible. The idea that the longer you give your students to sell the more money you will make is not necessarily true. In fact, this philosophy can also work against you. The longer your fundraiser lasts, the lower the sense of urgency that your sellers will have and the more they will tend to procrastinate. Most actual selling takes place during the first 3-4 days of the sale so a two week selling period is usually optimal. Here are some things that you can do to ensure that your fundraiser doesn’t turn into a longer drawn-out experience.

Define and promote your end date

Make sure that your end date is set in everyone’s minds before your fundraiser ever starts. This includes reinforcing the date with you school staff and parents. You will also want to announce it to your students at your fundraiser kickoff as well as promote it throughout your sale. Put your end date in your parent letter as well as publicize it on Facebook. We provide our customers with a school fundraising guidebook which includes pre-made form notices that you can send home reminding parents about your fundraiser end date. The point is, make a big deal about when order forms and money are due by announcing it as often as possible and in as many ways as you can.

Have consequences for late orders and enforce them

You are bound to have stragglers so be ready for them. If you plan to accept order forms after the end date for your fundraiser, let people know that they only have a certain time period to turn them in. We ask our sponsors to mail their order forms to us for processing about a week after their end date. This allows time for them to collect and process late orders. Any late orders that come in after that time can still be faxed in; however, we encourage them to set an additional 2 day deadline date for faxed orders as well. Any orders that come in after that are not guaranteed to ship with the original order but rather will arrive in a separate late shipment.

Follow up with late money as quickly as possible

TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THE ARTICLE, PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ORIGINAL

Photo by: ben.ramirez

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Just the other day, I was working with a group of sixth graders on a high ropes course. This was a mixed group with both boys and girls.

I was amazed at how many of the kids were wearing those little rubber bracelets with a cause slogan printed on them. You know, like the yellow LiveStrong ones that Lance Armstrong made so popular a few years back.

Among this particular bunch of kids, breast cancer bracelets seemed to be all the rage, which makes sense, since this is breast cancer awareness month.

This made me think of what a good fundraiser rubber bracelets would be for a school. Then, I remembered that FastTrack Fundraising, the sponsor of this blog, actually has these wristbands available on their website at a very reasonable cost.

Custom Fundraising Bracelets

How Bracelet Fundraising Works

	Choose your fundraising bracelet color and font. Need to split up colors? No problem – just mention it in the comments box during checkout.
	We will print and ship your rubber wristbands in 10-13 business days. Need it sooner? No problem! We have a 6-day rush production available.
	Give them to supporters as a “thank-you” for making a donation or sell each bracelet for $2.00 – making up to 75% profit!

Custom wristbands are a fantastic complement to any fundraiser. Either sell the silicone bracelets on their own, or give them as a “thank-you” to supporters for their generosity!

These pure silicone fundraising wristbands are just like the Livestrong cancer bracelets that have become so popular. Now your supporters can show their support for YOUR group!

Your fundraising bracelets are made from 100% silicone - comfort-quality, durable, andfashionable.

continue reading

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Today, I’d like to share a very practical piece of fundraising advice.  Sometimes, a product sale can be just the right fit for your school’s needs.  Of course, you want the product to be high-quality and a proven seller.  You also want it to be good for the people buying it, because you know how important it is to keep a relationship built on trust with your fundraising audience.

It can be tough to find an item to sell for your school that meets all of these criteria.  However, FastTrack Fundraising has an excellent solution.  It’s the Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Fundraiser.  Read on to find out how this fundraiser works, what kind of money you can raise in your school, and even read reviews of how this fundraiser has worked in other schools.  I think you’ll be very impressed!

Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Fundraiser

Jack Link’s Beef Jerky has produced the world’s finest meat snacks for more than 100 years. Due to popular demand, the eXtreme Stick is finally available for fundraising!

You get quality and nutrition you can count on, with pure beef seasoned to perfection, No sugar and high in protein. As a nutritious snack and quick meal alternative, your supporters won’t stop at just one.

Each X-Stick case contains 360 1.25 oz sticks that can be stored for up to 9 months—no refrigeration needed.
Each Mixed Meat case contains 2 carrier cases that each contain 30 Original Flavor X-Sticks (1.25oz), 24 Beef Steaks (1oz), and 46 Beef Sticks (0.92oz) for a total of 200 items.

Nutrition Information: Original X-Stick | Pepperoni X-Stick continue reading

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Every once in a while, I like to draw your attention to the many great fundraising ideas that Fast Track Fundraising offers on their website.

I regularly tell you readers to make sure you are offering a variety of fundraising options to your students and their families. Not everyone is going to be fired up for a walk-a-thon or an auction. Therefore, in order to get as many people as possible participating in at least one kind of fundraiser, make sure you cover all the bases.

Fast Track Fundraising is a great place to start. They offer all sorts of items you can sell very quickly and for big profits. Most importantly, these are products that have already proven popular in many schools around the nation. You’re not going to have to wonder if your fundraiser will be popular with your families or not.

I urge you to spend some time reading the reviews of their individual products. This will give you valuable insight into how a particular fundraiser worked.

Fast Track also has great customer service. If you have any questions, you can call them for quick and pressure-free answers.

Below, I have included just a fraction of what you’ll find on the FastTrack website. Go check it out!

Thanks!

Jim Berigan continue reading

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