Fundraising Chairperson's Tips for Success

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Chaiperson's Tips for Success
Dear Chairperson:
Congratulations! You have been selected to organize a fundraiser for your group. You should feel good about being selected for a responsibility that can provide for your group and help everyone to meet their goals. With just a little planning, you can make your efforts more rewarding.

Campaign Kickoffs
Take the time to hold a Kickoff. A time to inform all the participants of what the plan is, what the goals are, and why the project is important. A Kickoff is like the “Bang!” at the start of a race and gets everyone excited to participate and do their part to help the group succeed and meet the established goals.
Gather as many sellers as possible together in one room or assembly. Instruct them beforehand to bring a pencil and paper on which to write.
At the start of the Kickoff quiet them down and then ask for a volunteer. If someone volunteers have them come forward. If you do not get a volunteer right away, that’s alright. Pick someone and tell them they are your volunteer. Have them come forward.
When the volunteer comes forward ask them their name and grade and their teacher’s name. Once they give you that information, thank them for their cooperation and hand them a dollar bill and tell them they may go back to their seat.
Now, when you ask for a volunteer, everyone in the place will raise their hand enthusiastically. For a mere dollar you have purchased the attention and cooperation of all those in attendance. Now that you have their attention you want to focus on:
·       Explain what you are selling
·       Tell them the features of the product or products
·       Tell them what the money will be used for
·       Tell them how important they are to make the sale work
·       Highlight any prize program
·       Use volunteers to role play prospects and sellers
·       Incorporate teaching them how to sell
Safety
Any fundraiser that involves children should stress safety principles. No profit from a fundraiser could ever be worth the harm of a child. Please make certain everything you do for your fundraiser protects the children.
1.    A child should never solicit door to door without a parent or adult going with them. It’s best to only go to houses where you know the people.
2.    A child should never go inside the house or apartment of a stranger.
3.    Do not solicit for a fundraiser after dark. Most people don’t want someone knocking on their door after dark anyway.
4.    Be very cautious when a dog is present. If a dog is running loose in a yard or on a porch, bypass that house unless you are acquainted with the animal or the owner has control of it.
5.    Encourage people to write checks to your organization instead of using cash.
6.    It’s best to have the parent or adult oversee the money or making change, when necessary.
7.    Don’t carry large amounts of cash when soliciting for a fundraiser. This is a good time to teach children how to handle money safely. They should not take their money out unnecessarily.
8.    It’s also a good opportunity to teach how to make change. Don’t take yesterday’s money with you when you go selling today. Leave any larger sums of money at home in a safe place before going out to sell.
9.    Go over some of the scenarios the student may encounter and have them role play making change for those amounts.
10. Place all fundraising money in a safe place. It should not be stored in a school desk or locker. Some school systems collect money daily for fundraisers where it is placed in a floor safe. In this day when crime is rampant, don’t tempt someone to try to steal your money. Secure any fundraising products in a safe place. Do not leave them where they could be stolen or damaged by younger brothers or sisters, etc.
Teach the Sellers How to Sell
So many fundraisers start out with an announcement and the handing out of brochures/order takers. Then, the sponsor turns them loose with little, or in most cases, no instruction as to how to “sell” the product.
Time spent instructing and teaching your sellers how to sell the items you are raising funds with will be time well spent. To not give them some basic sales training is shortchanging your fundraising campaign and it shortchanges your sellers because they are not adequately prepared to do what you have asked them to do.
Gear your training to the age of your sellers. Obviously, with smaller children, the training will be very basic, teaching them a few short and uncomplicated ways in which they can enhance their sales efforts. As you deal with older groups the amount of training that they can absorb and remember will be greater.
People buy products or services from fundraisers for only three reasons. By understanding this you will better see the need to help your sellers with sales training.
People purchase fundraising products or services because:
1. They like the organization
2. They like the individual selling
3. They are sold on the product or service.
The first two items are already established for the most part. The area in which you can make the most improvement is getting the prospect to like the product or service you are selling more. That is done with selling techniques.
The following will apply to sellers of any age:
1.    Appearance IS important! Dress appropriately. Dress neatly. Avoid shirts or clothing items with advertising or slogans that may be offensive to someone.
2.    Be clean. Would you like to buy a pizza kit from someone who was dirty in their appearance?
3.    Look prospects in the eye. We all unconsciously get suspicious when someone with whom we are talking looks away from us or looks down when they are talking with us. We want them to look us in the eye. So do your prospects.
4.    Greet your prospects with a friendly smile and greeting. Tell them who you are and what organization you represent. Always immediately follow that up with a question.
Now for the question: Ask them a question related to the items you are selling.
If you are selling pizza kits, the question might be, “If you could have your favorite pizza almost any time you wanted it, what would you have on it?”
If you are selling discount cards you might ask, as you hand them a card, “How many of those businesses on the card have you been in this past month?”
You did not ask them to buy. They were not compelled to answer yes or no to your question. The all important question should be nonthreatening (not a question asking them to buy) but a lead in to your product. You should be able to follow their answer to your question with a positive and informative statement about what you are offering.
1.    Be sure to hand the prospect the item you are selling or the brochure picturing your products. Do not wait for them to ask for it. Reach toward them, close enough to them so that it is natural for them to take the item or brochure. Place it in their hands. Then step back a little and let them look it over.
2.    Be to the point. Don’t get involved in a long pitch about things in which the prospect is likely not interested anyway. People are busy. They don’t like unexpected interruptions of their time. Get with it.
3.    The prospect will always want to know What’s In It For Me? Isn’t that what you are interested in also when you are considering purchasing something? Show direct benefits to the prospect. Arm your sellers with ammunition that shows prospects how purchasing from them benefits the prospect.
4.    Anticipate ahead of time some of the questions a prospect might ask your sellers. Prepare your sellers with the answers to those questions. Let them know they are likely to be asked these questions and these are the answers you would like for them to give.
5.    Have some of your sellers role play the part of the prospect and the part of the seller in front of your group, after you have given them instruction. As they role play, reinforce everything they do correctly and gently correct anything they leave out or answer incorrectly.
6.      Always look for additional sales. When the prospect has purchased, ask, “Who else should you be ordering something for?
If all your sellers are taught these things and practice them, your sale is on its way to reaching its potential.
Publicity
Publicity for your fundraiser is vital. It can make the difference between a super successful fundraiser and a mediocre fundraiser.
Start your publicity campaign planning weeks prior to the actual fundraiser. Do not wait until you are kicking off your sale to start publicizing your campaign. If you do, you have already lost out on a lot of very effective potential publicity.
Long before your sale, you should know exactly what publicity you are going to be seeking and you should have people assigned to carry out each task.
Places to publicize:
·         Local Newspaper Press Release
·         Radio
·         TV/Cable Outlets
·         Bulletin Boards
·         Posters
·         Company Newsletters
·         Church Bulletins
Incentives-Prizes-Rewards
Are they necessary? In a word, YES! Many groups schedule fundraisers without any kind of incentive for those who do a good job. Guess what? They had far less participation than groups that had incentives.
In every fundraiser, special recognition should be given to those that participate. They should receive something more than those who sat on their rear ends and did nothing. Separate these two groups by giving participants something, even if it’s only recognition and a thank you. All participants should at least get that.
Ideas
This first set of ideas is group specific. When the group as a whole reaches a certain level of success in sales, these suggestions could be implemented. When you are designing a group reward, keep the age and circumstances of the group in mind. Design something that has broad appeal and would also be fun for everyone. Be careful if you are using a person in authority that you do not suggest or do anything that will harm their reputation or risk injury.
·         A person of authority, the pastor, the principal, the teacher, the sponsor, etc. would spend a night sleeping on the roof of the school, church, etc. Or wear a clown suit or dress like a bear or a hobo for the day. Kids love to see a person of authority humanize themselves or do something that is out of character or abnormal.
·         A homework free day, where students would have one day, preferably over a weekend, where they did not have any homework.
Ideas to reward individual sellers might be:
·         Special seats at a ball game
·         King or Queen for a day
·         In an elementary school they might get to shadow the principal for a day and be named honorary principal for a day.
·         Special recognition at an assembly
·         Some local newspapers will publish press releases where an organization names their prize winners.
·         A “CUT” pass signed by the principal that gives them the right to cut in any line for a week.
·         A banner the student could wear for a day or two, similar to a Miss America type banner that designated them a top prize winner.
·         A limousine ride out to lunch grade and back with the principal and an invited guest for the top seller in each grade.
We all like recognition. Various methods of drawing attention to the fact that the person excelled at their fundraising efforts sometimes is reward enough.
Thank you for choosing SchoolPals as your fundraising vendor.   We at SchoolPals want to see you succeed. If you need anything during your campaign, please be sure to contact:
SchoolPals, LLC
PH: 1-877-384-9653
Fax: 1-877-306-2156
Email
Much of the information provided was taken from the ebook “Let’s Raise Money” written by Jack Atwell. For information on purchasing the entire 122 page ebook filled with proven ideas, information and advice from a long time professional in the fundraising industry visit here.