Unique Fundraisers for Unique Needs. If more groups would think like that they would most definitely raise a lot more money.

We all know there are tons of fundraising ideas out there. Lots of them are tried and proven like cookie dough fundraising or candy fundraising. But even though they are tried and proven doesn’t mean that they are right or the best idea for every group.

Consider a group called Loaves and Fishes. They have come up with a unique fundraising idea to raise money for their local food shelters. They want to all kinds of people to come and purchase a bowl of soup from what will essentially be a soup line and pay $25 for the soup. They hope that they can attract enough attention where people will be lined up out the door and around the block if possible.

Their idea is to give people an idea of what some people go through. Most people have no idea what its like to stand in line for the only meal you’ll get that day.

The idea is not just to raise money, but help people empathize with the plight of those who are experiencing homelessness.

They are enlisting the help of 10 local chefs to create a great selection of soups that can be purchased.

When we read about their idea we were very impressed and wanted to share it with you. We believe these people will have the best fundraising results they’ve ever had because not only have they identified a fundraising product that can be associated with the cause, they have created one that can be very profitable. The event raises awareness as well as dollars and what more could you ask for when choosing Unique Fundraisers for Unique Needs.

There is obviously a need for school fundraising. There is no doubt about that. School budgets are being slashed more quickly than I ever remember.

Some towns and school districts have really identified that growing need for outside fundraising sources and are acting on those needs. I found this recent news article from the Milford Daily News:

“...“It’s not OK to use your language as an excuse. Show up. We’re going to have people here to support you,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m going to hold those parents accountable.” Tremblay also said he wants to build off his Milford experience by forging new relationships between Framingham schools and local businesses and colleges.

He raised the idea of creating a fundraising board, for instance, to find funding opportunities in the area. He said one of his first moves in the district would be to get staff at all of the schools on the same page. “The one thing I’ve taken away (from yesterday’s visit) is the need to have everybody connecting across grade levels, vertically and horizontally,” he said. Tremblay would also get staff and residents’ ideas on budget priorities, he said. Asked about what he would do with Framingham’s School Choice program, Tremblay said he would look at the program before making a call and that, in general, he should avoid making hasty decisions on longstanding traditions in the district…”

It will be interesting as time passes and the need for school fundraisers becomes more and more pronouced how other towns and school districts will deal with those needs. Whether these initiatives are driven by politicians, school boards, school staff or parents, the one thing that is certain is towns and cities that aggressively meet their needs head on with strong plans of actions will be much better off than those that do not.

Successful PTA Fundraisers don’t happen by accident. They happen for a reason.

Most successful PTA fundraisers begin and end with parents who are. So the fact of the matter is that it might make more sense to work on developing a group of parents who are involved with your school before you worry about fundraising ideas. The problem is that this is much easier said than done. Much.

The fact of the matter is that fewer parents have the time or desire to be as involved with their children’s schools as they once did. There are lots of contributing factors here but the one that stands out the most is that more and more households depend on two incomes now than ever before. That means there are far fewer stay at home parents who have the time to get involved at school.

The other sad fact is that there have always been a small percentage of people willing to volunteer. Where a well run PTA 10 years ago may have had a pool of a dozen dedicated parents who were the engine of the organization that has now become closer to 6 or 8 people. Those are the people who volunteer for lots of other things. They are probably also involved with their kid’s sports and their churches as well. There is only so much time these people have no matter how well intentioned.

So in order to have Successful PTA Fundraisers the PTA board needs to spend its time building its core of volunteers through all means possible. If you have a great core of parents not only will your school fundraising goals more likely be met but all aspects of your school will be improved.

That’s a certainty!

I just got off the phone with someone asking for Unique Fundraising Ideas and it got me thinking about whether there really were unique fundraising ideas or had most every idea been done before.

I probably should have just answered the question but decided to pursue the conversation with the caller to see what they were really looking for. It turns out they were not so much looking for a unique fundraiser as they were looking for something different than what the believed every other fundraising group in their town was selling.

So we talked about that. At the time she know other groups holding cookie dough fundraisers and promoting candy fundraising so she knew she did not want to do those. So we talked about unique fundraising ideas that she had not considered.

Interestingly she had never considered something like a flower bulb fundraiser. In fact when we talk to people about good fundraisers for the spring and fall we oftentimes suggest flower bulbs because they are competitively priced, relatively inexpensive and attractive products. Besides, more and more people like the idea of healthier fundraising and there is certainly nothing unhealthy about flower bulbs.

We continued the conversation and discussed some online tools that sound good but rarely deliver the outcome one would expect. We talked about the different options of fundraising products that could be sold. In that conversation we touched on lollipop fundraisers using seasonal shapes that made them unique to the time of year.

At the end of the conversation the woman decided on a flower bulb fundraiser but I came to realize that there may not be many truly unique fundraising ideas left. If you have any to share I’d love to hear about them.

There are different school fundraising cookie dough companies and different school fundraising cookie dough products you can choose as you probably already know. So how do you choose the best option?

Start with the easy decision. Do you want to sell frozen cookie dough or something that does not require refrigeration? Most large groups gravitate toward frozen cookie dough fundraisers because that’s what people expect. But there are dry cookie miz fundraisers you can choose from as well. The benefit of the latter is that there is no refrigeration needed which makes distribution a lot easier and less strict time wise.

The next decision is whether you want to sell tube of cookie dough or boxes of preportioned cookie dough. Historically more people have sold tubs. There is no definitive reason why other than its been around much longer. However more and more groups choose preportioned because its much easier on their customer. They can pull a few cookies out of the box, put them in the oven and bake only what they want without thawing the cookie dough or finding a scoop.

Now there is a new program where you can sell frozen cookie dough that is shipped directly to your customer. Many people call it home delivery cookie dough fundraising. Essentially you sell ecoupons that your customer use like gift cards to purchase tubs of cookie dough online. The price per tub is a little higher but it includes shipping. Many groups like the idea that there is really no delivery of products other than the e coupons.

So what is the best school fundraising cookie dough in our opinion?

There is a program where you offer the top selling cookie dough in slightly smaller tubs that sell for only $10 per tub. We believe this is the magic price point where people are more than happy to buy your product. Many of the name brand or national brands sell tubs of cookie dough for $15, $16 or more. Based on feedback we get that price is simply more than people care to spend.

CLICK HERE for details on the top cookie dough fundraisers.