Successful Fundraising ProgramOur Top Fundraising Tips to Getting You Started: The key to having a Successful Fundraising Program is to establish clear fundraising goals and set firm deadlines for reaching those goals. Identify what you need, how much money is required and how long it will take to get it. Otherwise, your successful fundraising program can be never ending. So simply set beginning and ending dates for all fundraising programs. That way everybody knows that there will be closure and things won't drag on. Fundraising programs don't need to be difficult or low profit. Here are some great, high profit fundraising ideas that you, your group and your supporters can really enjoy. There are all kinds of fundraising activities you can organize to boost your fundraising activities and make your next fundraising program more effective and exciting for your sponsors and group members. Your fundraising consultant will have numerous tips and suggestions to get you and your group started. Here are a few ideas to make your next fundraising program fun and very profitable. Step 1: Meeting(s): Setup a meeting with your group. During this meeting complete the following steps. Develop a game plan that details every facet of your fundraising program. Set Clear Financial Goals. Determine Firm Start and Ending Date. Fund Raising efforts usually continue for at least 2 weeks. Anything more than 2 weeks can be counter productive. Attach a detailed cover letter with each order form instructing the sellers to neatly fill out their forms with their name and phone number as well as the buyer's information. Go over forms with leaders and volunteers and answer their questions. Have them fill in the necessary information including dates and phone numbers. Create excitement and emphasize that the sale is to raise money for the benefit of the group. Step 2: Organize a team of volunteers and staff. Your fundraising staff consists of participants, parents, volunteers, your local PTA and anyone else who will be helping with your campaign. Participants need to know well in advance that the fundraiser coming and what to expect of them. Their parents will need to be kept up to date as well. Be sure to send letters home with contact information if there are any questions. Volunteers and PTA's are your support staff, so use them well. Divide up the responsibilities (responsibilities will depend on the type of campaign you're running, so speak with your consultants for this step. Be sure to delegate to the people you feel are best suited for each role. If everyone knows his or her role beforehand, your fundraising programs should go smoothly! Select volunteers and have them write a list of family and friends. Have them create a contact list of family members, business contacts, friends and neighbors. Step 3: Plan your budget Articles related to fundraising tips often miss this vital step. Many fundraising programs require products to be purchase in advance, but not all of them. Before you call your Fundraising Consultant, sit down with your group or committee and decide on a budget. Your fundraising consultant will be able to work within your budget. What is your goal of your fundraising program? Set fundraising goals and get approval. Get approval to hold your fundraising program and pick dates you want to sell. From many years of experience, we recommend you sell for 2-3 weeks. Explain all the benefits of Travel Vacation Vouchers including our great selection of travel destinations, superior quality, free fundraising materials, high profits and great customer service. We also provide free samples and posters to advertise your sale. Travel certificates are usually purchased in advance but they sell like hot cakes, so you'll quickly turn a profit in no time. Designate who will be fundraising chairperson or chairperson. Be sure to set specific goals and the specific reasons for your fundraiser so your participants will be motivated to help you achieve them. If you are on a limited budget, try a pre-sale fundraiser. Orders are placed in advance, so you only purchase what you have already sold. We provide all the order forms, receipt booklets and sample travel certificates. Then when you're fundraising is done, you order the products only for the products you have sold. Call to schedule your fundraiser at 1-888-557-7502 and you will be assigned your own fundraising specialist who will be available to assist you throughout your sale. Our fundraising specialist are very knowledgeable and can help you with any questions you may have. We will UPS you everything you need to run a successful fundraiser program including sample travel destinations, order forms, receipt books, posters and a copy of parent letter at no charge. Step4: Advertise your campaign Be sure to hang up the samples and posters that we provide at no cost to advertise and promote your sale. Write in the dates of your sale at the top of your posters. Be sure to make copies of the enclosed letter to the parents . A copy of each is available in PDF form on our website and can be downloaded and printed. Promote your fundraising program during morning announcements, school events, school newspapers. You can also send a letter to your local newspaper and radio stations to help advertise your fundraiser. People need to know about your fundraising program to support it and your group members need to get excited about the fundraising program to want to participate. Advertising is the best way to accomplish both. Get your group members involved in making colorful posters, banners and flyers. Most local businesses will gladly let you hang a flyer or poster in their store window and community buildings like libraries and recreation center often have bulletin boards for the public to post information. Step 5: Hold a "kick off" rally. The kick off rally educates the volunteers on fundraising programs and builds enthusiasm to reach fundraising goals. Communicate clearly before, during and after the program is put in place. A good attitude equals better success. Give each seller a copy of order forms, sample travel destinations and receipt forms. Encourage participation to sell family, friend and parents coworkers, never do door to door sales. If at all possible, it is very important to get the parents of the group members involved in your fund raiser (depending on their age). You should do the Kick Off when the parents are available to be there. If that is not possible, make sure they at least get a Parent Letter explaining what is going on, so they will encourage their child to put forth the required effort to make your Fundraiser program the best it can be. Stress to your sellers the date order forms and money collected are due. Remind sellers to fill out the order forms neatly and have all checks made payable to your organization not Travel Vacation Vouchers. Sellers Order Forms We intentionally try to keep order form simple and basic so they are easy to fill out. To eliminate mistakes, make sure your sellers order forms are neat and readable. Please send us the original copies of your individual seller order forms so we can mail out travel certificates to the correct buyers. If the order forms are more than one page per volunteer, staple all pages of that seller orders together. Keep your group's profit you calculated on your Master Order Form and send the total due to Travel Vacation Vouchers in the form of a money order, cashiers check or organization check. Step 6: Monitor progress and provide encouragement and incentives to keep volunteers motivated. Six Ways To Motivate Your Fundraising Group. A little motivation can go a long way. Motivate your group with prizes, prizes and more prizes without it costing a lot! Rewards with no cash value are proven motivators and provide great entertainment. A few examples include: Pie Throwing: allow the participants to throw cream pies at the organizers' faces if the goal is reached! (you might not like this one but it usually gets the money raised) Activity of Choice: let your group have an activity of their choice that replaces their normal schedule (for example: a free afternoon of sports activities in the school yard instead of class) Raffles And Prize Draws: For each small goal attained (ex. for every 10 units sold or $100 in sales reached) the participant gets their name put in the raffle for various merchandise. The more they sell, the more times they can have their name put in the raffle and the more chances they have to win. Weekly Prizes: Enter top sellers into raffle to win a prize or have top sellers spin the wheel for prizes. Grand Prize For Your Top Seller: Reward your top seller with a Grand Prize. It may be a portion of their vacations paid for. Rewards For Top Class or Team: With the amount of money that can be raised using vacation certificates…take a small portion of the profits to reward your Top Sellers or Top Group Sellers. This is a great way to motivate team work in your group. If you're a small group, you can create teams by putting your members in groups of twos, threes or fours. If you're a school you can do it by class and if you're a league simply do it by team. You can offer the best selling group a free pizza party, a field trip outing to the place of their choice... ask them what they'd like. Try an ice cream social, everybody likes ice cream! Contact local merchants and ask them to donate items that may be used as prizes. You may have someone in your group who owns a store, knows someone who owns a store or related to someone who owns a store. It is best to ask for specific item or items (ex. we could sure use a TV, VCR or remote control car. Local merchants will be happy to contribute. Talk to your Fundraising Consultant about ways to generate prizes. Step 7: Ordering: The day your fundraiser program ends, add up all of the groups order forms and contact Travel Vacation Vouchers to place your vacation certificate order. The Campaign Manager calculates the forms prior to turning them in. Arrange your forms alphabetically once finished. Triple check all monies and orders before calling in or sending your order to Travel Vacation Vouchers. Trust us, this will save you a big headache if your orders are correct. Always keep copies of the order forms before you send them to Travel Vacation Vouchers. Delivery Date: The delivery date should be scheduled when you first setup your fundraiser with us. Delivery is made 2 weeks from the completion of fundraiser program. Travel Vacation Vouchers mails out all travel certificates ordered with a thank you letter to each buyer two weeks after end of each fundraiser. Double check products ordered against your order forms. A personal thank you letter by the volunteers can't hurt. Enjoy the fruits of your labor and start thinking of ways to improve your next fundraiser. Have fun. Fundraising Safety:
By following these simple fundraising tips, you'll be on your way to fundraising success. Of course, each group is different, which is why we have fundraising consultants to provide you with tips and tricks specially suited to your unique fundraising needs. Call 1-888-557-7505 today for your free consultation and get many more great fundraising tips for you and your group.
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