Thanks for your post Tim. You gave me some things to consider.
I understand where you are coming from.
I am just looking for ideas to maybe make changes in the fundraisers we have, and ways to raise funds during the school day like on Fridays selling Smencils and things like that. There are only so many years in a row you can sell gift wrap. Curious what else is out there.
Our festivals are not marketed as fundraisers. They are events that people can come and enjoy as a entire family and are not huge money makers.
Worth adding a word of caution, I think. Why are you looking for more fundraisers? You have the big sale and the two festivals. Sounds like you do a few collecting programs.
The proper number of fundraisers is different for every group, but for every group there is a number that is too many. As fundraising chair, your challenge isn't only to find as many as you can and make as much as you can. It's also to find the right number (and then hold the line) and pick the best fits for your group and execute just those well.
Why wouldn't we want to raise as much as possible?
Well, your group, I imagine, has more goals than just $$. You want to build involvement, encourage more volunteers and create a great community around your school. 'Too much fundraising can get in the way of all of those. Not to mention that too much fundraising can make all your best fundraisers less successful (yes, fundraising too much can earn you less money in the long run).
In addition to BoxTops, Fast Fixin Home Team Rewards and Tyson A+ both offer similar programs; the labels are worth more and there are no expiration dates or submission dates, but there is also less support, fewer products and the programs are less well known.
If you are in the South Community Coffee also had a similar program, but I don't know if it's still in place.
Many areas (not ours unfortunately) have milk cap collections and of course Target and many grocery stores have customer loyalty programs.
TerraCycle offers several programs, some are messier than others. There are quite a few ink cartridge recycling programs and many schools sell scrip.
Other organizations in our school raise money by selling freeze pops on Friday, Smencils, etc.
You can set up a school store, contact local restaurants and or book stores to hold special nights for your school where you receive a % of their profits, and there are always Book Fairs.
Depending on how much help you have I'd suggest carefully selecting a few programs you feel will give you maximum return and concentrating on doing them well rather than implementing every program you come across and confusing everyone. (Yes, that's experience talking, lol.) Good luck to you!
Box Tops is a great one to start up of you haven't yet.
These come off everything that parents purchase-- so there is no extra cost to them and each one is worth .10 cents each. There are collects sheets on the fiel exchange to use.
