Post: How to have a successful discount card fundraiser!
Posted by Mark South on 10/10/08
So you have decided on discount cards for your fundraiser,
now what?
This article will give you a brief overview of what it will
take to have a successful discount card fundraiser. You most
likely will need detailed step by step instructions as you
go through your campaign. For this reason it is absolutely
vital to choose a company that continues customer service
even after the cards are ordered. This brings us to the most
important step, choosing a full service fundraising discount
card company.
Choosing a full service fundraising discount card company.
When choosing a card company for your fundraiser there are
many items you will want to take into consideration. Most
importantly; will the card company get the merchants for
your fundraiser card or do they expect you to do the hard
work? Getting the merchants takes a bit of skill, if you
tried and the merchants aren't popular or are not offering
great deals then the value of the card won't be as great. A
company that SPECIALIZES in fundraising discount cards will
be able to gain popular merchants in your area and negotiate
great deals. This increases the value of the card and makes
them easy to sell. Additionally, gaining the merchants takes
a lot of time, between your regular life and volunteering
your time, you have enough to do, so leave this up to the
professionals. The quality and feel of the card is of utmost
importance, a card made of credit card stock with your logo
and colors will have a much greater value and will be easier
to sell than a generic thin paper card would be.
Additionally, make sure support does not end after the order
is placed, whether this is your first fundraiser or you are
a pro, the experts can give you great tips.
Selecting the optimal number of cards
With most companies you will be able to place quick
reorders, this gives you the chance to be conservative with
your numbers, but don't be too cautious! If you were to
order 1,000 cards at $2 each your cost would be $2,000 and
selling them would raise $8,000. This great but what if you
could have sold 1,500 cards? If you had ordered 2,000 for
$1.50 and you sold only 1300 your cost would have been
$3,000 but your profit would have been $10,000, even
throwing 700 cards in the garbage your group would have
raised more funds. If you have a bunch of cards left you can
always have a "secondary" campaign to raise even more. With
large groups you will want to order 5 to 7 cards per
participant (remember if there is a price break you might
want to go over that a little). With a small group you can
increase the numbers because you will be able to work more
effectively towards a common goal. With a 15 person group
the local grocer might let you sell cards at their entrance.
Greater traffic means more sales.
Creating an incentive for greater sales
The children and parents must have a specific reason for the
fundraiser. "Just to raise money" does not give anyone a
reason to put themselves out to sell the cards. However if
the fundraiser is specifically to "get new uniforms" or "Pay
transportation so the band can march in the Macy's day
parade or compete at Disney" or "buy a concession stand",
you will get much greater results. People want to be part of
a cause. If Christopher Columbus had just wanted to go
sailing, would he have gotten the funding for a trip that
made him world famous? Secondly, motivate the participants
by offering a prize, like a Wii or bike to the top seller.
The better the prize, the greater the effort. Think about
it, if you could win a brand new car by selling the most
Fundraising Discount Cards how much effort would you make?
For obvious financial reasons the prize can not be a car.
But what if the prize for your little league fundraiser was
two tickets to a sold out professional base ball game? How
motivated your peewee football team be if they were
competing for an autographed football by an all-star from
your local NFL team? Be original and work towards a prize
that will be the most motivating to your group.
How to distribute the cards
If you have a registration or start to a season or an event
where you collect money, the cards should be set up as a
"pay to play" sort of situation where everyone pays for
their cards in advance of selling them. With a "pay to play"
set up you will want to give each person a reduced number of
cards (5 is fair) as you do not want to prevent anyone from
joining your organization because of the cost. You will want
to offer the availability to take more cards without paying
for them to try to win the top prize. However, you will want
to limit the number of cards given out as extras to avoid
fraud and underselling. Give them a number of times that
they can turn money in for extra cards, then get more cards
to sell. If your organization does not have a formal start
or registration, like a church or highschool marching band
or you just got a late start, you will want to distribute
cards and set a specific date the money is required back in,
again extra cards can be gained from turning in money from
previous card sales. In general you do not want distribution
of cards and money to go through many hands, there should be
one or two people that are in charge and allowed to hand out
cards and collect money. Don't give out 100 cards to a coach
to distribute to their team and collect the money. They
signed up to coach or teach and they are already
volunteering for your organization, additionally if they are
not motivated or believe in "the cause" the results from
that 100 cards will not be as great.
Tracking your progress
If cards are given out in a prepaid distribution (pay to
play) you will not need to keep track of those particular
cards, and the accounting of the money will be very easy,
multiply the number of registrants times your required up
front money. In a prepaid distribution tracking need be done
ONLY on additional/extra cards. The person(s) in charge of
the fundraiser or their assistant will want to track the
number of cards that are out for which money has not been
received and also the money that has been received. At the
very least all remaining cards or money for the cards needs
to be turned in before the set deadline. You will find on
"turn in day" many will have "lost their cards" or
"forgotten them at home" (the old, "dog ate my homework
routine") In these cases you should ask them to pay for the
cards and reimburse themselves when they sell them, most
people are ok with that, (Note: make sure not to push too
hard as some might have some financial hardships). Even if
they try to turn in unused cards, remind them of the
importance of the fundraiser and the reason for it, then ask
them to write a check for the $50 rather than turning in the
5 cards, then they can sell the cards and keep the money.
Fundraising discount cards can be a very easy and profitable
way to raise funds for your organization. Once you have a
system in place, with help from your card provider, it will
run smoothly. You may even decide to swear off other types
of fundraisers for your organization.
Mark South
http://www.easyfundraisingcards.com
About the Author
I started in fundraising as a reluctant volunteer for a
small soccer organization in Florida, now fundraising has
become a way of life for me
Fundraising Discount Cards
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- How to have a successful discount card fundraiser! , 10/10/08, by Mark South.
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