subject: Common Elementary School Fundraiser Errors That You Must Avoid [print this page] Common Elementary School Fundraiser Errors That You Must Avoid
Elementary school fundraiser campaigns are carried out for a wide array of purposes and reasons. I am pretty sure that you are aware of the fact that these things require a huge amount of effort to do. Essential to any type of school fundraiser would be careful planning. Now, if you are new to this type of business, you might want to get yourself acquainted with the different common errors that you must avoid during the course of your fundraising campaign. The errors that I will be presenting here may sound very simple but they are often neglected by most school organizations.
First off among these errors would be choosing the wrong product to sell. You may have done promotional or marketing efforts well but if you are going to offer customers charcoal, I am pretty sure that you are going to bag in nothing at the end of your campaign. With this given fact, it is of prime importance that you sell something attractive. In choosing your merchandise, be sure to put into consideration things that are in demand today and in your community. For example, you can choose to sell cookie dough. Products like these are extremely popular and you will surely draw in a lot of customers if you choose to sell this during your fundraising campaign. On the other hand, you can also choose to go for products that are staples such as coffee and cleaners that people need to purchase on a regular basis.
Another common error would be setting your eyes on the wrong numbers. One of the most common things that PTAs talk about in a fundraiser would be profit margins, which is right. It may be true that focusing on larger profit margins would be better as compared to settling for small ones. A larger amount of profit that the group gets to earn will work wonders for the group. However, the thing that most school organizations fall into in here would be overpricing. Now, this may look good at first glance but I assure you that you will be making a fewer amount of sales if your products come with extravagant price tags. With this, you need to remember that pricing your merchandise fairly will allow you to draw in more customers as compared to raising their prices too much. An elementary school is about making profits anyway, not profit margins. Profit is basically composed of two basic elements namely profit margin and quantity, which means that if you get to sell more products, you get to earn more cash.
Next would be selling products at the wrong time. If you try talking to parents about fundraisers, they will tell you that these things come too often to an extent that they get tired of supporting them. School fundraisers typically take place during the fall, which is not a good time for you carry out yours. Instead of this, you can try spreading your campaigns all throughout the year. Moreover, you also need to remember that having an event at the end of the school year will highly lead to failures as to the reason that parents have already become fed up with these things by then.
