subject: Using Professional Help To Maximize The Sales Of An Elementary School Fundraiser [print this page] School fundraisers often fail to attain their objectives despite having been based on excellent ideas. Failed fundraising efforts result in low sales volumes and subsequently low profitability or even significant losses in the worst case scenarios. Poor organization and misplaced resource commitment are more often than not the causes of such failure and in these instances the amounts of money collected can hardly justify the effort that was put in. As such, obviously the most important consideration when planning, organizing and conducting a fundraiser is to ensure that the exercise is going to be worthwhile for the school as well as for the children engaged in the same.
For many teachers and school managers who have the desire to organize fundraisers for their students there is always the problem of finding the right fundraising ideas, gathering enough supplies, and having adequate time to organize the fundraising event alongside demanding school calendars and chores. Perhaps the best advice in such instances is to partner up with a professional service provider. Such a service provider will not only eliminate the stress of organizing for the fundraising event but also ensure that the project's potential to generate funds is maximized.
The input of this professional facilitator can help the school to select the best possible ideas, items and packages to interest potential buyers. Whether a fundraiser is to be based on selling food items, jewellery, artwork, electronics, clothing items or stationery, the important rule of the thumb is to ensure that the offers are packaged and priced appropriately and supplied efficiently during the fundraising campaigns. Entrusting the logistical and planning details, including the generation of easy fundraiser ideas, to a reputed professional facilitator rather than the organizing school/teacher/students can certainly be expected to yield better end results for a fundraising campaign.
Indeed, some of the salient issues in planning and facilitating a fundraising may be too complicated and/or demanding to entrust to elementary school children and teachers. For instance, it is always important to gift-wrap all items in high quality attractive wrapping paper. Wrapping sale items in high quality paper works to add value to these items and to make them even more appealing to potential buyers. The likelihood that potential buyers will accept to purchase these items at prices well above their market value will therefore increase, as will the fundraiser's turnover. Besides the wrapping, proper presentation and packaging of the sale items will help to accentuate their appeal and attractiveness. Having a professional fundraiser take care of such details instead of the otherwise engaged students and teachers will no doubt lend an air of professionalism to the entire effort thereby increasing the likelihood of the fundraiser's success.
Creating incentives for the sales team is yet another important inducement that will help to improve the chances of the fundraiser's success. A fundraising campaign should have a way of tracking all what each participant sells so that the highest ranking salesperson will be recognized and rewarded with desirable prizes. This will no doubt help to boost morale and create competition among the participating students in a way that will boost the achievement of fine results.
