PTO Today

Dont know what I did to make it post twice, must be Tim's new baby playing with the server.. j/k

Like the posts above.. Talk to others, talk to parents, see what others have done, their experiences. Dont do it just because it always been doen that way, then again, if it does work well, why reinvent the wheel.

WirelessG

The reality of fundraising in my experience is Moms and Pops really sell the stuff. They take it with them to work or ask other family members etc. The kids might call Gram, but that is usually the extent.

The parents are more willing to do that if the child comes home from school Excited about the "FUNdraiser" and if not only the school, but the child gets some benefits too.

Whatever company you use, see what the benefits to the students will be. They should provide perks for the kids. These are not perks provided from PTO, but from the fundraising company.

With the company we use, If the student sells 1 item, they get a Prize. The prizes level after that. 2-5 items X prize plus the prize below that level. 6-15 items Prize plus the other 2 level prizes and so on all the way up to Xboxes and big prizes. Then bonus's for top sellers per grade, and per school. If the child sells 30 items, they get a limo ride & Pizza Party.

Another local school sold candles, the kids got $.25 per candle they sold.

One company we worked with, Gave us a fall Festival with Huge Blow up jumpers. They came and set everything up and the kids got a day of play.

There are tons of ways to get the kids excited about doing a "FUNdraiser" as long as you keep the FUN part of it. A good company will do everything in their power to keep it fun. They know that they are going to sell more product if they keep it fun and offer perks for the kids.

For us, the real goal is getting the fundraising packet out of the kids backpack into the parents hands, sometimes that is easier said then done.

[ 02-22-2006, 09:04 AM: Message edited by: OaklandparkMom ]

Shawn gave you some great answers, but I would like to add a little to two of your questions.
Are time restrictions a turn off ie turn in forms by this date?A cut off date is an absolute MUST. And you need to stick to it, even if it means that you lose a few dollars in sales. The sooner you can get your parents trained, the better off you will be. And if you let one person slide, the next time there will be one more, then one more, then one more...

What we do to get the money/orders in on time is to offer a "grand prize" drawing for those students who turn CORRECT money and orders in by a certain date. For example: if we want the orders by Friday, we tell the students that those who get their orders in by Wednesday will have their name go in a drawing for a $50 gift card to Toys R Us. It is a GREAT motivator!

We also offer weekly drawings of smaller prizes like $5 cash or logo items. For our catalog fundraiser, the students got to fill out a drawing slip when the first item was sold. After that, they could turn in a drawing slip for every 5 itmes sold. We required the parent to sign the slip, and only handed the prizes out when the orders were turned in and verified. Oakland Park Mom was right on...you have to keep the FUN in it.

If i launch a fundraiser at a meeting and pass out brochures and instructions with dates and stuff, is there a reason they wouldn't do it? Let's assume its decently priced products people would actually buy. Send out a survey and ask the parents what they want to sell. Give them the list of fundraisers that you have found and give them space to write in any ideas that they might have. Once again, Oakland Park Mom was correct. The parents are really the ones who do the selling, so you might as well sell what the majority of the parents want.

HTH!

Gotta be careful though. In our county we aren't allowed to give prizes....so you've got to check...d

Our district doesn't allow raffles or games of chance, period, no matter what the reason. If we have a fundraiser like t-shirts we are encouraged to presale. Most candy fundraisers are presale, same for pizza. The only thing we don't are bake sales. WirelessG, you're gonna love this site. I look in it a least once a day. Even if I don't have any questions or problems. I just like getting the input from people all over. WELCOME!!!!!

Wireless G -- You never mentioned what grade level is in your school? What other groups/clubs are in the school? We are a prek3-5th school so much of the fundraisers we do are done by the parents not by the kids. Are you looking for fundraisers to target strictly kids, adults both? We try to do fundraisers where we get 40-60% back, involve the children, and make it fun for everyone involve. Some of the fundraisers we have done or are doing is 1. cookbook 2. golf tournament 3. originial artwork 4. social at cold stone creamery 5. fall harvest dinner with show put on by the kids 6. silent auction 7. box tops, campbell soup labels, 8. target credit cards 9. grocery store cards. Some of the ones you can to target adults is pampered chef, home interior, chic fil nightetc. If you have a website and the school is willing you can post links on your website for certain sites and you get a % of each sale done through your site ex. birthday party express...There are so many different fundraisers you can do you just want to ensure you don't burn the parents out especially if you are private school.