P.E.R.K. up your fundraiser. School Spirit Coffee is dedicated to helping you have a successful and profitable fundraiser. Part of a successful fundraiser is smart programming. These are suggestions to help you not only with School Spirit Coffee but also other fundraisers you may choose.
P is for Plan - Whether you need to raise $200.00 or $2,000.00, the first step is a plan of action. Choose two or three fundraisers for the year that offer good profit potential and that your students and parents can get excited about selling. We do not recommend that you sell more than one fundraiser at a time. It will fragment you sales and keep your students from focusing clearly on selling one product really well.
Establish how much your organization needs to earn from each fundraiser. Determine how many students and parents will be participating and then set a reasonable goal for each individual. The most effective fundraisers do not designate profits to individuals according to their sales. Instead, they adopt a "one for all and all for one" attitude which encourages teamwork and strengthens the organizations overall mission.
Set a kick off date and a completion date, clearly communicating both dates to all participants. School Spirit Coffee provides a place on every order form for your students to write in the "sale end date". We recommend that you have the students write that date themselves and be committed to finishing the sale on schedule. The reason we emphasize this is that if your sale lasts two weeks and the product takes two weeks to be delivered, the longest a supporter will have to wait for their product is one month, assuming they purchased on the first day of your sale.
E is for Energize - Get excited about selling and your organization will reap the profits. Recruit parent volunteers ,if possible, who will help organize the sale. Sell the product and then distribute the product once it has been received. Parents are a huge asset to any fundraiser, which is why School Spirit Coffee provides a Parent/Guardian letter that can be copied and given to your students with the order forms. It encourages the parents to take the order form to work with them and to sell among their friends and family.
Publicize your sale. Have the students make posters or flyers and place them around the school. Ask the principal to announce that you are conducting a School Spirit Coffee Fundraiser and leave an order form (with an envelope for payment) in the office and teacher's lounge so all the faculty and staff will have an opportunity to buy your product. If your school does a morning television broadcast, have your students prepare an advertisement or skit promoting your sale to be aired throughout the school.
Ask the students daily what they are doing to meet their sales goal. If a student meets their goal early, have them share their success with the class to encourage the other students. Constantly remind them that the sale is only for a limited time and they need to make sure everyone they know gets an opportunity to support your organization. Count down the last few days of the sale to prepare the students for turning their order forms in on time.
R is for Reward - Offering rewards to every student who meets their goal can boost your sales tremendously. A reward can be as simple and inexpensive as offering your students a "homework pass" or a "drop the lowest grade pass". Most community minded businesses will donate discount coupons, movie tickets and concession coupons. Restaurants will usually donate appetizer coupons at no charge. Offer these to the students who exceed their goal.
If your students are already divided into groups (by classrooms, school year age, work teams, etc.), reward the group that has the largest sales with a pizza or ice cream party. We don't recommend dividing them for that purpose but if they are already in groups this will encourage team work, boost your sales and the cost is minimal.
K is for Kash in and Klean up - (sorry, but I had to use the K) School Spirit Coffee recommends that you collect the money as you presell the product. Therefore, at the end of your sale, the bookkeeping is much easier. You will have your profit up front and you will be able to pay your supplier as soon as the products are received. Remember not to leave cash or checks in your classroom for any length of time. Turn it in to the school office or booster club to prevent any loss of your profits.
Ask your parent voluteers, or officers, to total the sales. School Spirit Coffee provides a Summary Form in order to help you with this task. Check and double check the totals. Make a copy of the original sales forms if they have to be returned to the vendor. School Spirit Coffee does not need the student order forms. We only need the totals of each flavor type from your Summary Form.
Once your product has been received, try to deliver to your supporters in a timely manner. The longer it takes to distribute your products the greater the chance of losing product, order forms, or both. Again, recruit parent volunteers or officers to distribute the products to the students and emphasize timely delivery. Ask the students to check the products as they are received and initial the summary form that the amounts are correct in order to prevent any discrepancy.
Celebrate your success. Reward the students who met and exceeded their goals. Recognize and thank the parents who helped. Let everyone know what the funds will be used for and enjoy.!!!
