But at the end of the day we realize we may not offer everything for everyone. So we finally decided to create a page showing some trusted fundraising companies you might also consider.

We are careful to limit our suggestions to companies that are leaders in their specialties.

1. Easy Fundraising Ideas: Easy Fundraising has been the leader in product fundraising since 2000. They are usually the first company to offer fundraising products that they believe are affordable and have a ready market. If they offer a product you can feel confident that groups are currently selling those products and raising money. Their site is designed to help groups easily locate multiple fundraising options.

2. Read-a-thon: If you’re raising money for an elementary school than you should consider holding a Read-a-thon. This company has modernized the old fashion reading fundraiser by integrating all of the benefits of crowdfunding. Schools on their website report they are raising more money reading than they’ve made selling fundraising products in the past. So if you are raising money for school aged children you might consider this program.

3. GoFundMe: GoFundMe has become the leader in online crowdfunding. The company makes raising money online easy. You basically create a cause page and then share that with friends and family. Those people are asked to donate money online. The company helps thousands of individuals and groups every single year.

4. Boosterthon: Boosterthon was one of the early players in turning a field day into a fundraiser. The company sends a team to your school and basically runs the fundraiser. It combines physical fitness and raises money by getting sponsors to make pledges based on laps completed on the actual field day.

5. Top School Fundraisers: If you’re looking for a school this website does a good job of making suggestions based on your grade level. They offer some of the fundraisers they suggest and just act as a reference point for some they don’t offer themselves.

We hope to continue to add resources here as we identify them. Please feel free to make suggestions.

The post Fundraising Companies first appeared on Step By Step Fundraising.

So knowing that school fundraising is a necessary if unpleasant part of the school year we thought we would share 10 easy school fundraising ideas you might consider.

1. Hold a Read-a-thon: Readathons are perfectly suited for elementary or middle school students. Since the basis of the fundraiser is getting people to support reading efforts and since those are the grades in which students should master reading skills then it only makes sense that people will support reading efforts. There is an online company called www.read-a-thon.com that has brought the concept into the modern era so we strongly suggest you check that out.

2. Have a school wide garage sale.  Every student’s family will have some gently used clothes or toys that they could contribute to the school. Have them bring all of their unwanted stuff up to the school parking lot on a Saturday and have a group sale with all proceeds going to the school or PTA. We’ve heard of schools raising thousands and thousands of dollars selling household items no longer be used. It helps your families do a little clean up and easily raises money for the school.

3. Create an online fundraising event. There are tons of great sites that facilitate online donation type fundraisers. One that comes to mind is GoFundMe. It only takes a couple of minutes to set up and then you use their tools to contact friends and family requesting donations. Some of those events can go viral very quickly.

4. Consider signing up for a recycling fundraising plan. There are companies out there that will pay you for used printer cartridges, old cell phones and more. The programs vary greatly so it’s best to do a little research. We do not feel comfortable suggesting any particular company. But the concept is very sound. Just get your families to remember to bring those items up to the school instead of tossing them into the trash.

5. Lollipop fundraisers. There’s probably no better item for an elementary school to sell. Lollipops are cheap and kids love them. Some schools and PTA’s set aside Fridays as lollipop day. They set up tables near school exits so the kids can purchase a couple of lollipops on their way home. It’s important to hold those days on a regular schedule so that parents know to send money to school with their students.

6. It takes a little work but how about a school talent show combined with a spaghetti dinner? There’s nothing like performing kids to draw a crowd into your school. So you might as well monetize the traffic by offering spaghetti or some other inexpensive dinner and sell tickets.

7. Partner with local restaurants. There are tons of local restaurants and you can even find some national chains that offer a percentage of sales on group nights. The percentage varies but some local stores can offer as much as 20% of the money spent that night. It’s an extremely easy way to raise money and all you have to do is promote the event and be on hand to greet your supporters.

8. Scrip fundraising can be a steady cash generator. If your school has never gotten involved with one of the scrip card companies let me explain how they work. Companies purchase gift cards in bulk and are able to sell them to your school at a deep enough discount that you can re sell them to your supporters and make a nice profit. Thousands of groups sell the cards and you will be impressed by the national retailers and restaurants that participate. The risk in the program is that you must purchase the cards so there’s always the chance that you might not be able to sell all the cards.

9. Cookie dough fundraisers. I know we started this column by taking about hidden brochures in back packs but if your school is going to sell a product it might as well choose one that’s very popular with children and families. The good thing about cookie dough fundraising is that there’s no cost to start your sale. It’s definitely a kid friendly product!

The post 10 Easy School Fundraising Ideas first appeared on Step By Step Fundraising.

It seems like the start of a school year brings new excitement and life to the school. There are new families and teachers in some cases and other families have had enough summer and are ready to get back to school. There is a distinct energy that unfortunately wears thin as the year progresses.

The new energy that exists at the beginning of the school year is the main reason that fall fundraisers work better than spring fundraisers. Parents are more willing to help. Getting their attention is easier. Customers have not yet been bombarded by fundraiser after fundraiser.

So the real question is how do you keep that energy throughout the year and make sure your spring campaigns are as good or better than those held in the fall?

Like it or not energy is often one of those top down forces. If the people in charge are excited then more often than not that energy will flow throughout your group. One suggestion, then, is to make sure your spring fundraiser involves a product or event that you can rally people around. Since there’s already excitement at the beginning of the year it becomes more important for the actual spring fundraiser to drive some excitement.

Many schools choose to do carnivals or other fun events in the spring because students and their families get more excited when the event or fundraiser is fun. But you don’t have to do a carnival for the kids to have fun and raise lots of money.

Consider offering fun rewards for the students that participate. Maybe you can give each participant an extra recess. The as participation grows start rewarding results. If your doing a cookie dough fundraiser you might let everyone who sells 5 tubs wear pajamas to school. Or you might let kids who sell 10 or more tubs put their name in a hat to become principal for a day.

The point is that spring does not have to lag behind fall. You are more in control of your spring fundraising results than you know!

The post Why Are Spring School Fundraisers Less Effective? first appeared on Step By Step Fundraising.

When you’re the fundraising company it can really be hard to bite your tongue and ask spiteful questions like did you even hand out the brochures or did you do anything other than hand out brochures?

It seems like laziness has creeped up the school fundraising chain and more and more teachers and parents care so little about fundraising they exert zero effort.

But I digress.

The real reason I wanted write this post was to tell these people it doesn’t take much more effort to get good results than it does to simply sleep walk through the process.

So start with choosing a fundraiser. If you’re not excited about the fundraiser or the product you’ve chosen than don’t waste your time. If your not excited how can you expect others to be motivated by you.

Develop some expectations of success before you get started. If you don’t plan for success the odds of achieving it are slim. So before you start set a financial goal you want to raise and explain what each member of your group must do for you to reach or exceed your goal. Don’t be afraid to tell kids they need to get something done.

Spend just a little time motivating your sellers during your sale. When your group members see the least possible effort from the person planning the fundraiser is it realistic for you to expect any more than that from them?

So I hope I have the courage to boldly question people when they call to place ridiculously small orders. Maybe I’ll learn something.

Or maybe I just need to keep my mouth shut.

The post I Don’t Know Why We Didn’t Raise More Money first appeared on Step By Step Fundraising.

There are many people in the US now who can benefit directly from your help; all that is required is that you plan out your fundraiser carefully before diving in, and finding the support of other likeminded people in your community to help lighten the load of work.

The best way to find people to help you reach your goals is by announcing your plans at a local social group or church. This will hopefully stir interest in friends and neighbors who otherwise may not have heard about the charities you are supporting.

Once you have a team of helpers, it is time to plan out your event. Now would be a good time to hold a meeting where everybody involved can bring ideas to the table. If you want to get the ball rolling, you might like to suggest selling some great fundraising products.

We have a wide selection for you to choose from, like our Preformed Cookie Dough Fundraising or Journey of Faith Candle Fundraising package, and you will likely find something that will cater to everybody at your group.

Of course, finding the right products is only the start of the work you are going to have to put in to make your disaster relief fundraising event a hit. You should attempt to promote your fundraiser at church or in your community center by putting up banners and posters, and handing out flyers to people around the neighborhood.

With these simple considerations you should find that your next fundraising event runs better than expected.

The post Thinking about Disaster Relief Fundraising first appeared on Step By Step Fundraising.

People are recycling more and taking care not to overuse commodities that previously we wouldn’t have thought twice about using.

Governments are now looking to renewable energy sources to help fuel our homes and vehicles, and many people are also volunteering for environmental programs that help to improve the world’s issues head on.

But what can you do to help? If you want to do something good for an environmental cause in a way that can involve everybody at your church, then why not go with green fundraising to start to make a difference?

Green fundraising is a positive way to raise money for one of the many environmental charities, but it also helps to raise awareness for some of the planet’s more serious environmental issues.

Having everybody in your church group get involved in this cause will help them to change their ways and become more proactive in things like recycling in their daily lives. One way to really make a difference with green fundraising is to sell fundraising products in your church group.

We have a selection of fundraising products that are perfect for a church group wanting to do something good for a green cause. Whether it’s our Earth Candle Fundraising package, which offers a variety of candles in several highly aromatic scents and colors, or our Faith Lollipops Fundraiser, which is great for the younger environmentalists at your church, you are sure to find something on our website that will help to make your next green fundraiser and event to be remembered.

The post Green Fundraising for Church Groups first appeared on Step By Step Fundraising.

There is the cost of things like clothing, toys, and food that require constant funding, not to mention the cost of education once your child grows older. When a couple decides to adopt a child they need to be sure that they can cater for the child financially, and this will become apparent when the adoption costs materialize.

If you are serious about adopting a child then adoption fundraising ideas may be the best way to go to help pay all of your adoption charges. It is also a good way to show people that you are serious and to gather support for your new family member. It will encourage everybody in your group of friends, colleagues and neighbors to help out for the sake of this good cause, and help you reach your financial targets in no time at all.

But in order to raise money fast, you are going to need some great fundraising products to help you reach your goals. For people in your neighborhood you might like to consider selling from some of our brochure packages. These offer the ease of brochure ordering without the need to carry around large quantities of products door-to-door. Our Earth Candle Fundraising and Flower Bulb Fundraising packages are fun choices to help make sales fast.

The post Fast Adoption Fundraising Ideas first appeared on Step By Step Fundraising.

I’ve attended trade shows and conferences and have never walked away a single time thinking anything other than that I was in the company of the a bunch of depressed people that had no idea what to do to fix their industry despite the fact that it is still a very large industry.

But the seminars and classes offered to help companies grow offer the same tired suggestions and conversations.

So why am I writing about this?

It occurs to me that the industry to changing in spite of itself. There is actually tremendous growth in fundraising – it’s just not through selling products – although product fundraising still has and always will have a place in fundraising.

So where is the growth?

The growth is cause and support type programs. Some of the fastest growing companies like Rally, Gofundme and others have created systems that allow individuals and groups to bring their needs to friends and acquaintances through social media and other online resources. Now needy organizations can make global pleas for help and donors can offer support online.

Then there’s companies like Read-a-thon fundraising company that takes a tried and proven concept like read-a-thons and brought it into the modern era using the same tools and resources that the cause sites offer to groups.

While I hate the fact that product fundraisers are not as popular as they once were, as a member of the fundraising industry, though, I am excited to see the new products being developed that actually make fundraising new and exciting again.

The post Fundraising New and Exciting Again first appeared on Step By Step Fundraising.

In recent years it seems like the only people considering read-a-thons were librarians. But when you consider the amount of money that can be raised it becomes very clear that read-a-thons should be tops on the list for principals and PTA’s needing to raise money.

Consider the following:

If a school has 1,000 students and each student is willing to read 5 books over a 2 month period can you guess the potential net result of a read-a-thon?

Don’t you think it’s reasonable that each student can get 10 people to pledge $5 per book read?

So do the math. One thousand students times 5 books equals 5,000 books read. The students got $5 pledges for each of the books they read so that’s now $25,000.

BUT 10 different people pledge the $5 per book so the potential for the fundraiser is now $250,000!!!

So you’re first reaction is that you never get 100% participation, right? So let’s say half the students read. That’s still $125,000.

You question whether each student can get 10 people to pledge money for books read? That’s why we were intrigued with www.read-a-thon.com. They provide all of the tools to bring read-a-thons into the digital world. Readers are now no longer limited to family and neighbors. Now they can request pledges from anyone they have an email address for or are connected to via any of the major social media. Now getting 10 people to pledge their support is easier than ever.

Finally consider how reasonable requesting $5 per book is. Don’t you think grand parents, aunts & uncles, good friends, etc will support a student and their desire to read books to raise money?

The post Read-a-thons Can Raise Lots of Money first appeared on Step By Step Fundraising.

Now we read where school districts might be rethinking that position. Consider a recent article in the Taunton Daily Gazette. It talks about schools in the town of Norton:

“When the school committee made the decision in June to ban bake sales and candy bar fundraisers during school hours it was under the impression new state standards in nutrition and physical fitness forced it to do so. In light of new information being released from the state that might not be the case. “We were under the understanding that (eliminating) fundraising counted as part of the state standards but now we know that is excluded,” school committee Chairman Deniz Savas said.”

Apparently there was a change of heart.

“We value that these fundraisers are for good causes,” Martes said. Committee members Beth McManus and Phillip Lynch both voted against banning of bake sales in June.

It appears like there has been some back pedaling possibly because the decision makers did not completely think through the implications of their decision. Unfortunately that happens quite often. Most of the time it’s innocent. But in this case decisions were far removed from the people on the ground that do their best to raise money for the schools and students who most need it.

“I think in doing so we are cutting off the PTO (parent teacher organization) at the knees,” McManus said. “They raise so much money to supplement our budget.” Henri A Yelle Elementary School principal Lisa Farrell said $10,000 was raised in sales last year during its candy bar fundraiser.

We are a huge believer in product fundraisers. We’ve been associated with companies that have literally helped more than 100,000 groups raise money over the past 10 years and we know how hard they work to fill in the loose ends that school budgets ignore. So we are so happy to see food fundraisers revisited.

The post Food Fundraisers Revisited first appeared on Step By Step Fundraising.