Organizing a Successful Campaign
First Step: Determine Your Needs
- How much do you need to raise?
- When do you need your funds?
- How many participants, ‘sellers’, will be involved in the fundraiser?
- When are you planning to start your fundraiser?
- Will this be a targeted, continuous, or targeted then continuous fundraiser?
- Do you have a volunteer base to help organize and run the fundraiser?
- How important is the ease of administration?
- How would you rate the success of your previous fundraisers?
Second Step: Plan Your Campaign
Set an objective: The objective you set for your group should include a financial figure as well as a tangible element. For example, a group must raise $1000 to pay for new equipment, as well as traveling costs to an annual competition.
Set goals: Break the total sales objective of $1000 into manageable sales goals.
Example: each person is given a goal of selling 10 lbs. of coffee each. 10 lbs sold = $50. If you have 20 people, this goal will be easily reached. Your sellers are able to see that by doing their part, the common goal is quickly attainable. You may want to brainstorm about who to sell to and the best way to do so.
Know your group: Knowing how many of your group members will be participating in the fundraiser is important since it will help you to organize your selling strategy. Your selling strategy will be particular to your group.
Motivate your group: It is important to maintain close and constant contact with your group members, and to motivate and encourage them constantly. Being a positive role model for the group is also important, not only in terms of how much money you raise, but also in terms of how much time and effort you put into your fundraiser to make it a success.
Third Step: Managing Your Campaign
Money collection: ‘Sellers’ should collect money when they take the order. Also, it is easier for the campaign organizer to collect ONE check from each participant for the entire sum of money collected, rather than several checks.
Delivery: Once you have placed your order, allow 2 weeks maximum for delivery. We deliver to businesses, organizations, schools and churches but not to private homes. You can also pick up orders at our roastery in Delta, BC or we would be happy to mail your order to you. Shipping charges would apply.
To help you stay organized, we are able to package your orders according to the name of each ‘seller’ if they have an order of 10 lbs. or more. This will save you time when the order arrives.
Tallying and packing orders: Soliciting volunteers in advance is a good idea. They will help with these tasks. Appoint a chairperson to oversee and coordinate these activities. The chairperson and each participant should ALWAYS check and double-check orders for errors
Incentive Prizes
Not all fundraising campaigns need additional incentives to motivate the participants. If a field hockey team needs to raise $85 per player to be able to participate in a tournament, the incentive is already there. With many campaigns, however, this is not the case. The following are some additional ideas intended to help motivate your participants.
Best-seller prizes:
Offer a prize to the individual who raises the most money, or sells the most units.
Draw prizes:
Every participant who sells a pre-determined minimum amount is entered into a drawing for cash prizes or other merchandise.
Intangible prizes:
These are often the most effective for the participants, and as a result, create the most incentive. For example, have your coaches agree to coach a game in a silly costume! Being creative in this aspect is important, and can help make your fundraiser a true success.
To Help Support Your Fundraising Campaign
We at Pistol and BURNES would like to support you in attaining your fundraising goals. Invite us to an event that supports your fundraising efforts and we will supply our coffee. Another idea, invite us to do a presentation on fair trade and coffee grown in South America.
We will gladly help you. If you have questions about organizing a fundraising program using our fairly traded, organic products, just give us a call at 604.946.5767 or toll free 1-888-547-9309!
