Our school for the past 3 years has held a walkathon fundraiser. Our elementary school consists of approximately 450 students and we raised over $12,000 each year. The selling of it to the parents is the magic behind it. We ask each family to collect $50-60 in pledges, and we won't bother them for the rest of the year. We tell them if they all obtain thier goal, there will be no need for the other fundraisers that collect 40-60% of the profit. The walkathon is 100% total profit for the school and has been a smashing success for the past 3 years. The parents love the idea that they don't have to sell, collect, bother and deliver items numerous times throughout the year. Some parents don't even obtain pledges--they just write the check!!! (myself included) If you explain to them that school is in session for 10 months, their $60 donation is only $6.00 per month---and look at what it buys for your children. If you need more info email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I will be glad to forward more info to you!
We tried direct donations in '98 or '99. It flopped. But we didn't abandon it completely.
We went back to a catalog fundraiser, but chose to discontinue the prize program. The vendor increased our portion since there were no prizes to buy. The first year was the 35th anniversary of the school, and we used part of that increased profit to buy every student an anniversary school pennant.
We also have continued to offer parents a donation option. Every year we have a number of parents who choose to make a donation instead of selling. And we have a few blessed souls who do both.
Based on my experience, it's a great offer to make available, but don't count on meeting your budget with only donations.
Direct donations are good, but probably won't be enough. With giftwrap, we can usually about $9,000-- and we're a pretty small school, a little under 400 students.
Everyone hates fundraisers, so we try to keep the obvious ones to a minimum. We do one big fall giftwrap sale and a spring fling. Membership drive is another money maker for us.
Everyone talks about all these different "new" fundraisers -- selling cookie dough, pizzas, candy bars, holiday greens, DJ parties, etc. -- but we just haven't found anything that can make the big money in one swoop. We figure it's better to stick with the giftwrap and not have any other catalog/fundraisers.
This year we're adding a Bingo Night. We have a partnership with a local chain restaurant, so we're lucky enough to have all the food provided. We can sell the food and keep all the money.
Has anyone thought about selling flags????? A gentleman from my husband's service group was talking about how their group sells flags. Unfortunatly he walked away and I didn't get to ask the questions you and I are askiing now!! I'm thinking about calling the American Legion or Elks group to see if and how they can help.
A few years ago, our PTO tried a "No Fuss Fundraiser" (direct donation). I don't know how it waa marketed, but I do know it fell way short of the goal. PTO programs had to be cut that year.
Last year, we considered trying it again. We figured out that, based on our recent fundraising participation (50%) and our average sales per participant ($75), we would need to ask for $50 per family! That's alot of money up front.
Consider this: when you run a brochure fundraiser, the sales are usually spread over the neighbors, Aunt Sally, the people at work, Grandma and Grandpa, etc. With a No Fuss, each family writes a check from their own pocket. The expense isn't spread out, plus you don't get anyTHING for your money.
My conclusion is that a No Fuss might get us started, but our PTO would need to run other fundraisers throughout the year to be able to fund the plans we have.
