Otis Spunkmeyer For Your School Fundraising Campaign

The quality of your products is one of the most important contributing factors to the success of your school fundraising drive.  That is a very bold statement but it is completely accurate.  One of the hottest products that you can offer your community in your school fundraising program is frozen cookie dough.  Especially if it is  Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough.  That’s because the Otis Spunkmeyer name is recognized all over America.

Cookie Dough

When running your school fundraising campaign with Otis Spunkmeyer or Chippery cookie dough you are at a distinct advantage over other types of products. The advantage is that everyone likes cookies. Try to think of someone that you know who does not like one kind of cookie or the other and the Otis Spunkmeyer reputation preceeds your sale.

Another major advantage with this kind of school fundraising is that the product is pre-sold. You do not have to worry about carrying around a roll of tickets or a stack of cards and you don’t have to have any money up front. All you have to carry is a brochure, an order pad, and a pen. Just visit the homes of friends, neighbors, and relatives and make your sales pitch. No heavy lifting involved.

Running this kind of fundraiser is very straight forward and usually quite easy. Your sales personnel (teachers, parents, students, volunteers, etc.) simply present their sales brochure to potential customers and then take orders, allowing them to choose what they would like. Payment is collected from your customer at the time the order is placed and your volunteer moves on to the next prospect. Pretty easy so far isn’t it?

On the specified ending date of your fundraiser all of the orders and payments are collected from your sales force and are submitted to your fundraising company. Your order will arrive in two to three weeks and be ready to distribute to your customers.

Cookie dough fundraising with Otis Spunkmeyer or Chippery brands requires no out of pocket expense and that is a distinct advantage when trying to raise money for a cause. Since all of your orders are paid for when placed, you also have the advantage of having your cash on hand much quicker than when using a pay upon delivery method. The income you can expect when using cookie dough as your fundraising incentive is in the neighborhood of 40 percent.

As with any other type of school fundraising effort there are some additional expenses that you must factor into your equation. These expenses might include added prize incentives to help motivate your sales force.

Use Chippery or Otis Spunmeyer cookie dough when conducting your next school fundraising program and you will not be disappointed. Everyone loves cookies.

AIM Fundraising was one of the pioneers in cookie dough fundraising.  One thing that should be noted is that while cookie dough is the hottest thing going in school fundraising right now, the success of your fundraiser does not hinge on picking cookie dough as your product.  For some insights into what does make the biggest difference in your school fundraising outcome, visit aimfundraising.com and listen to the recordings on the site.

Smencils: A New Fundraiser To Replace Candy Bar Fundraising

The jury is in and the verdict has been read.  Smencils are a GREAT alternative to traditional candy bar fundraising.

More and more schools and school districts are banning the old fashioned methods of candy sales as a way for schools and school groups to raise money. For a few years there seemed to be a void in viable alternatives to replace the candy bar as a fundraising product.

Smencils came on the scene just a few years ago and what we have found is that they are an instant hit. Unlike candy, smencils have no calories but still appeal to one of the five scenses. Kids and parents alike are going so far as to collect all the flavors! This means that many will spend $10.00 on smencils where with candy bars they would buy only 1-3.

So, if you are looking for a way to raise money but want to have a quick selling and profitable option to candy bars, smencils is it!

To find out how your group can profit from doing a smencil fundraiser go to http://www.aimfundraising.com/smencils.htm

What is the Hottest Thing In School Fundraising Right Now?

I hear from lots of people who are in charge of their school fundraising project, “How can we make our sales better?”  That seems to be on the mind of most people who are in charge of their school fundraiser!

A simple answer (and simple is better) is in two parts.

1. Pick a product that is going to do the best for you.

2. Prize the heck out of it.

You can find “The Hot Fundraising Product” on our website.  Hint: It’s cookie dough.  And you can find out what upping the ante on prizes will do for your fundraising results in the “Prize” section of the site as well.

Just follow this link to our School Fundraising website and find out more about it.  But it really is that simple.

7 Simple Fundraising Ideas for Profitable School Fundraising

Planning and managing a school fundraising event can make you want to pull your hair out or perhaps start banging your head on a table out of frustration. Here are seven helpful fundraising ideas that will help make your next school fundraiser a smooth and profitable success.

1.) Plan for Success

Efficient planning is integral to the success of not only your school fundraising campaign but any project you might think of. Without a well thought out plan of action chaos will reign and your project will suffer as a result no matter how good your fundraising ideas are. In fact, you should have a primary plan as well as a secondary and tertiary.

2.) There can be Only One!

There can only be one captain of a ship and the same holds true for your school fundraising program. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians is a recipe for failure as well as a bad idea. Pick a competent person to be in charge and then let them be in charge.

3.) Delegate Authority

Assign specific tasks to people in whom you have confidence and trust. In your planning create a list of tasks that must be accomplished and choose personnel for each task. Ensure that each of your chosen staff understands that accountability for their assigned task falls squarely on their shoulders.

4.) Promotion is the Key

Get the word our about your school fundraiser. Proper promotion of your event will ensure that you reach your goal. Send out press releases to local media outlets. Don’t forget your own school web page is a great way to post your fundraising ideas and opportunities and get the word out about it. Depending on the type of fundraiser you are planning will dictate if creating flyers and asking local business to place them in store windows would be helpful. There are many ways to promote an event and you should take advantage of as many of them as possible.

5.) Pre-Sell for Success

This tactic will work effectively for any type of school fundraising event. If your event is a dance, dinner, guest speaker, or other ticketed type of event you must pre-sell your tickets. Start the revenue stream long before the actual event. When items such as cookie dough or Christmas gift items are your main products start mentioning it to friends, family, and neighbors ahead of time.

6.) Multiple Income Streams

Do not put all of your eggs in one basket. Multiple income streams have been a recipe for success in business for many years and you should be running your school fundraising just like a business. If all of your efforts are concentrated in only one program, then your market may become saturated. You might even have another nearby school start the same thing your were planning to do the week before you kick your fundraiser off. If you are located in a small town, this can be a huge blow to your school fundraising success. Try using multiple events to your advantage. This is an excellent way to reach your goal as quickly as possible and spread out some of the risk.

7.) Post Event Analysis

While not part of the actual event planning phase this is something that you should not overlook. Analyze how each of your school fundraising efforts performed. Which ones did your customers like the best? Which ones made you the most money? Which ones were the easiest to do? You can use your analysis of your current campaign to enhance future fundraising efforts. It is especially helpful to write these things down in a journal for the next board to view in case all the faces on the board change from year to year. This way, they don’t have to re-invent the wheel like you did!

---

If you have been disappointed with your school fundraising results lately, you should click on this link and see how you can imporve your results.

Smencils Are Proving To Be A Very Successful Fundraiser

Well, here it is Christmas time and first I’d like to wish everyone a Cool Yule and a Frantic First!
Secondly, I wanted to give a quick report on how the Smencils fundraisers went this past fall.
All I can say in that regard is that EVERYTHING we heard from customers who ordered them was great! Many groups simply reordered, while others who can do only one fundraiser a semester indicated they ordered too few and next time around will “up” there order! From the viewpoint of a “fundraiser guy” that is the kind of feedback that tells us that with Smencils, we found a winner!

Have Your Best School Fundraiser Ever

Have Your Best Fundraiser / How to Increase School Fundraiser Participation

Most schools rely on fundraisers to generate the revenue for their projects and events. As tax revenues change from year to year, some schools actually have to raise money for things that are normally included in the school budget! Fundraising events are great ways for schools to raise money and accomplish their goals.

However, many times fundraising is taken to the extreme and due to huge or unrealistic fundraising goals or due to ineffective fundraising events, parents and communities are inundated with fundraising drive after fundraising drive which wears them down. It’s a downward driving spiral that ends up with schools making less and less with each fundraiser. Without active and enthusiastic participation, however, fundraisers cannot succeed.

So, as school leaders, there are certain strategies that can be employed to change the situation and ensure successful fundraising efforts. Here are a few ideas to help you maximize parent and student participation in your school fundraisers:

1. Limit the Number of Product Sales Per Year. Like anything else, you don’t want too much of a good thing. Realize that most parents have other children involved in other non-profit groups, that are also doing product sale fundraisers. Families only have so much of a budget for this sort of thing. Be considerate in your planning.

2. Explain the Reason for the Fundraiser. It’s hard to get motivated if you don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing. In the information that goes home to parents, make sure you are making a strong argument for this fundraiser. Even if the revenue from the program you choose goes into the “general fund”, I would still give it a name and a purpose of something already approved in the budget. Make it something that parents can really get behind- something visible and popular, like a long-established field trip or a popular performer for a school assembly.

3. Tell Parents the Goal. Make sure you clearly state the financial goal for each school fundraiser. If you need $1,500, be sure that families know this. Likewise, when you complete the event, be sure to tell people how close you came to your goal or if you met or exceeded it. You never know, if you fall short, someone might offer to make up the difference. You won’t know until you put it out there!

4. Create Good Fundraising Incentive Prizes

Kids love incentives. Do some research to find out what some hot products are that would motivate kids to sell. If you don’t want to spend money on a prize, consider coming up with a prize that doesn’t cost anything, but still has great value, like five free homework passes or they get to be first in line at lunch for a week. Something like that can be very effective.

5. Regularly Communicate With Parents during the Fundraiser. You’ve heard the old expression, “Out of sight, out of mind.” This definitely applies to fundraising. The kids can get all pumped up on the first day of a sale, but after they leave a couple of messages with aunts and uncles, they can get bored and forget about it. If you have a means to communicate with parents on a regular basis (email or a flier put in the child’s folder, for instance), you should plan on updating parents on the fundraiser’s progress toward your goal, a reminder of why you are conducting the fundraiser, and some encouragement for parents to keep after this for the duration of the sale or event. Don’t do this too often- maybe once or twice is plenty.

If you are going to take the time and put the effort into a school fundraiser you might as well do the things that will maximize your sale. It takes just as much work to run an average fundraiser as it does to run a massive successful fundraising program.  So you might as well go for the “Big One.”

Smencils Smell But They Don’t Stink

Smencils, The Smelly School Fundraising Sensation

There are a may ways to get money for your group, school or non-profit organization that are both fun and effective.  This article will be aimed primarily at school groups and how they might hit their financial needs in a way that is both… Fun & Effective.

Of course there are roughly as many ways to fundraise as there are people to think of ways to go about doing it.  Nevertheless, not all of those methods are as profitable as some might believe.  And many are just more trouble than they are worth!  So when you narrow down your list to “good and effectual” fundraisers you are left with a fairly small list of options.  Smencils make that list hands down.

Smencils are a bit different than the established $1.00 Candy Bars that have been around in fundraising for so many years. There are certain aspects of it that make for a different reaction from students and parents alike. To begin with, they are not fattening! Actually, that is a huge positive in today’s environment. The other is that because they are made out of recycled newspaper they are a Green Product. Students are inundated daily about this kind of thing and actually get excited that they can now do their schoolwork without sacrificing another tree!

But that goes without saying the best and most exciting part of Smencils is that they smell.  Not only do they smell, but they smell in 10 different ways.  There must be something about all these factors combined that draw out an emotional reaction from students and parents alike. I can not explain it, but I can simply tell you it is there. This can be noted by the single fact that you can go onto Youtube today and do a search for Smencils and you will find student made videos about Smencils! I have been in the fundraising business since 1986 and have never seen anything like this before. From elementary age students to high school age, it seems Smencils are making a big stink! (Pun intended.)

It is no miracle that groups that sell Smencils, sell out of them quickly. Many students will buy and collect all 10 of the flavors that are offered.

With that said, let’s get to fundraising with Smencils. The first thing you need to do is to decide how much money you need to raise and decide how much of that goal you aim to raise with your Smencil fundraiser. You can do this by dividing the what you need to make in profit by $25.00 to figure with the number of buckets of 50 smencils that you need to sell to hit your goal. Divide that number by the number of sellers in your group and make sure that you don’t over order. I always recommend that you under order. If sales are going strong just order some more, they will be at your school within 5 days.  Never order more than 2 or 3 buckets (150) of smencils per student.  You don’t want to over tax your students… even with a good thing!

Typically, a student can sell out of a bucket of smencils in one day at school. Many students like to buy one of every flavor. What student wouldn’t want a pencil that breaks the boredom of daily life at Ye Old School?

Go to AIM Fundraising’s website for other school fundraising ideas to increase your fundraising sales and profits. Check out AIM Fundraising’s website to see how AIM can help you have a profitable and unique fundraising event. aimfundraising.com

2 Easy Secret School Fundraising Tips To Double Your Profits

Why is it most schools doing fundraising do not apply the principals you see discussed below, I have no clue. Maybe because most schools are trained to focus on the wrong things while choosing and planning a fundraiser.

School fundraising companies by nature emphasize their product lines and brochures. But that doesn’t answer the question why the school down the street that picked your second or third choice had a better sale! Your fundraising success has less to do with which brochure you pick (Don’t they all look pretty much the same anyway?) than with how you run the sale. Even profit % means little in how much money a school makes if the sale lacks the one key ingredient… MOTIVATION!

Here are the top 2 secrets on school fundraising that if heeded will make all the difference in your final profit.

First Secret – Run Your School Fundraising Event as Early in the School Year As Possible.

Deciding when to start the fundraiser can mean thousands in profit gained or profit lost. It is a well known fact that the first group to go into an office or neighborhood with their fundraising materials to ask for orders has higher sales than the groups that follow second or third or forth. Timing, however, is not the number one reason schools have profitable fundraisers.

Each month delay from the start of school that you put off starting your fundraiser will take $6.00 off every students sale! Multiply that by 500 students and a mid October kickoff and that school is missing out on $6,000 in sales simply by choosing that date on the calendar! Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that waiting till close to Christmas would be a good time to start your sale. It sounds reasonable, but the stats don’t confirm that at all. THE Main secret coming next…

Second Secret- (The Main Thing!) The Thing That Affects Your School Fundraiser Most is How You Run Your Sale.

Two similar elementary schools can have excellent leadership and both be excited and they both start their sale on the same date. They both can do everything they know to maximize their sale, so WHY can there be $5 – $10,000 difference in results?

Ready? Here is the number one, the most important, the “Big Kahuna” secret of all. Program Management (how you run the sale) is the most important element in running a successful fundraiser. You may Say, “I knew that but what is wrong with the way I run our fundraiser now?” The main problem I think is that not many fundraising companies train the fundraising sponsors in how to properly run their sales. In the interest of “getting the sale” they let the school have the lead, especially when dealing with a “headstrong” sponsor.

There are a couple of key elements in Program Management:

1) Set Goals

2) Have a Memorable Fundraiser Kick Off

3) Keep the Excitement Up During the Sale

4) Place Emphasis on Motivating Students and Teachers

The most important factor for changing the results for a better School fundraising event is the motivation you provide to the students and the teachers. The main reason why one elementary can have an $19,000 sale while the another, very similar elementary, will have a $40,000 sale is the way they do their incentives for students and teachers! It would surprise you how easy it is to do.

We at AIM have a saying “Kids can sell $5 bills for $10 and do real well if you motivate them right.” So part of your job in fundraising will be to find out what truly motivates your students and teachers! This can have a dramatic impact on your fundraising sales! For more information or ideas of prizes for elementary schools, visit http://www.aimfundraising.com/prizes.htm

5 Benefits of Fundraising for Youth Sports Leagues (and School kids)

There is more to a team fundraising campaign than simply reaching your goal. Through the process your kids will learn some valuable lessons that will help them in their personal growth and development and if run properly can even help coaches bring the team together while working toward a common goal off the field.

While they may not be apparent on the surface here are 5 benefits of participating in a well organized sports fundraising campaign.

1.) Personal Growth

Your players will expand their personal growth by learning self confidence, self-esteem, and resiliency. They will develop more maturity and learn independence while gaining a better perspective of themselves and the world around them. Working in this environment fosters development of practical life skills and communication as well as problem solving and stress management practices. Oftentimes just the fact that your players have an individual goal that they then work to accomplish make great strides in helping them mature as individuals and as team members.

2.) Teamwork

Your volunteers are already part of a sports team and therefore understand teamwork. Working together on your fundraiser will do nothing but reinforce this understanding. They will gather that if the idea of teamwork succeeds in sports then teamwork will succeed in other endeavors as well.

3.) Goals

Volunteerism in fundraising will teach students that goal setting is a powerful force that makes a huge difference in outcomes. Goal setting and the accomplishment of them help your players to understand the goal setting process. That properly set goals can not only build self confidence but can be motivating as well. Fundraising is an excellent teacher in the art of setting goals, both long and short term, and how to achieve them.

4.) Value of Volunteering

The value of volunteerism is immeasurable. Not only will your players learn that volunteering can be fun they will also learn that it can be rewarding in its own right. They will learn new skills, get a taste of career possibilities, and have an opportunity to do something outside of themselves and feel good about the accomplishment.

5.) Sales Experience

Regardless of our chosen profession we use sales tactics every day. Our world is built on the concept of exchanging one item or another. Sales experience is invaluable to each of us in our daily lives. Even if you go to work from 9 to 5 in a factory you are selling your labor for cash and you have to sell someone on the prospect of hiring you to do that job. Learning effective and unique fundraising sales techniques is imperative to get the most out of our lives.

As you can see there is much more going on in a team fundraising campaign than simply raising money for this or that. It can also involve personal development and growth. When you are running your events and promotions remember that your kids are learning some valuable life lessons.

How to Raise Money With Smencils

There are all sorts of ways for raise money for your group, school or non-profit group. Right now some of the top fundraising programs are cookie dough, pretzels, shoppers programs and Smencils.  This article will be aimed primarily at school groups and how they might meet their fundraising needs. 

Of course there are almost as many ways to fundraise as there are people.  However, not all of those methods are as profitable as some other choices might be.  So when you narrow of list down to “good and effective” fundraisers you end up with a managable list of options.  Smencils would make that list.

Smencils are a bit different than the traditional $1.00 Candy Bar that has been sold for fundraising for so many years.  There are aspects of it that make for a “different” reaction from students and parents alike.  For one thing they are not fattening!  Actually, that is a big plus in today’s world.  The other is that because they are made of recycled newspaper they are “Green.”  Students are bombarded everyday about this kind of thing and actually get excited that they can now write without killing another tree!

Of course the best and most exciting part of Smencils is that they smell.  There must be something about all these factors combined that elliciate an emotional response from students and parents alike.  I can not explain it, but I can simple tell you it is there.  This can be noted by the fact that you can go onto Youtube today and do a search for Smencils and you will see student made videos about Smencils!  I have been fundraising since 1986 and have never seen anything like this before.  From elementary age students to high school age, it seems Smencils are making an impact.

It is no wonder that groups that sell Smencils sell out of them quickly.  Many students will buy and collect all of the flavors that are available.

With that said, let’s get to fundraising with Smencils.  The first thing you need to do is to decide houw much money you need to raise and decide how much of that goal you intend to raise with your Smencil fundraising.  The best way to do this is to simply divide how much you need to make in profit by $25.00 and come up with the number of buckets of 50 smencils that you need to sell to hit that goal.  Divide that number by the number of students or members of your group.  The last thing that needs to be decided is how much of that goal you want to raise and order 1,2 or 3 buckets of Smencils for each menber of your group.

Many schools and other non-profit groups find themselves needing to do something to raise the funds to buy equipment or fund certain activities. Whatever it is that you need, you may find it best to have a consultation with a fundraising consultant to help you come up with a fundraising plan to fit your groups needs and goals.
Simply go to AIM Fundraising for that help and experience.