Looking for some tips on improving your youth sports fundraising? Every youth sports league must fundraise to cover expenses and keep fees low. So, how do you raise more funds? Focus on these seven factors and you can easily double your results.

Product Selection
In youth sports fundraising, it’s so important to select the right products to sell. The right selection is one that has mass appeal, an above average price point, and good profit margins.

Don’t sell what’s always been sold every year. Consider choosing items that meet the criteria below.

Product Price Point
Your product offering should be at an attractive price point. This means it should be neither high nor low, but rather right in the comfort zone that encourages people to open their wallets.

If you’re selling a low-priced product, you are at a disadvantage because you aren’t maximizing your revenue from each prospect. In this situation, try bundling a small quantity together and ask for more dollars.

For example, if candy bars are being sold for $1 each, put together variety three-packs or a family ten-pack. Get your prospect thinking bigger numbers. Many of them will step up to the bundle.

Product Profitability
It’s important that your fundraising product has a high profit margin. Ideally, you’d like to make 80% or more if you can. This would be products like discount cards for two-for-one deals at fast food places.

Many standard items have a profit margin of 50% and that’s OK. It just means that you’ll have to pump up the volume to make the same net that you would with higher profit items.

If the product chosen is one with a lower profit range of say 40%, then it needs to either be a higher-priced item or it needs to be likely to inspire quantity orders from each prospect. For example, cookie dough is often in this range, but price points are $10 & up. Many families will buy two or three units.

Sales Script
Don’t send your sellers out unprepared. Part of youth sports is teaching and helping kids with their sales skills goes a long way toward building self confidence.

Here’s what to tell them:
1 – Make eye contact, smile and introduce yourself.
2 – Say one sentence about why you are raising funds.
3 – Say second sentence that asks for their help.
4 – Make sure that sentence includes the word “because”.
5 – Extend sample item, catalog, or order sheet.
6 – Suggest a personal favorite item or bundle.
7 – Always ask for the order.

Prospect, Prospect, Prospect
Now that your kids know what to say, they have to have prospects for their sales pitch. You can’t set sales records without having a large supply of prospective customers.

Have everyone make a list of their potential customers. Have them do it as a team exercise and make sure they write them down. It’s very important to do this and to have each seller commit publicly to doing their part.

Have each seller stand up in front of their teammates and state how many prospects they have. Then have them make a commitment to raising a certain financial amount. Set minimum amounts and encourage competition by offering prizes for various achievement levels.

Location, Location, Location
Another way to boost your youth sports fundraising is by going where the prospects are. Your group can reach incredible numbers of people just by setting up fundraiser sales tables at entrances to high-traffic retail locations.

Grocery stores, home improvement stores, and mass merchandisers are all places where hundreds of prospects are available. Get permission well in advance from the store manager.

Set up a small table to display your fundraising product items. Staff your spot with two adults and two kids for each 90-minute shift.

Decorate the area with league banners and large-lettered signs explaining your offer. Your signs must inform them well in advance of reaching your display and sales table. That way, those interested in helping your sports team will be primed to stop and will be more receptive to hearing each youth’s sales pitch.

Example:
“New Uniform Fundraiser”
“Tasty 3 lb. Cookie Dough – $10″

Imagine how many potential prospects there are at those locations who are completely outside your normal range of contacts. Now, go out there and sell them something!

Have Fun
Always make raising funds fun for the kids. Their emotions are subconsciously communicated to each potential prospect.
Read more…

Looking for some tips on improving your youth sports fundraising? Every youth sports league must fundraise to cover expenses and keep fees low. So, how do you raise more funds? Focus on these seven factors and you can easily double your results.

#1 – Product Selection
In youth sports fundraising, it’s so important to select the right products to sell. The right selection is one that has mass appeal, an above average price point, and good profit margins.

Don’t sell what’s always been sold every year. Consider choosing items that meet the criteria below.

#2 – Product Price Point
Your product offering should be at an attractive price point. This means it should be neither high nor low, but rather right in the comfort zone that encourages people to open their wallets.

If you’re selling a low-priced product, you are at a disadvantage because you aren’t maximizing your revenue from each prospect. In this situation, try bundling a small quantity together and ask for more dollars.

For example, if candy bars are being sold for $1 each, put together variety three-packs or a family ten-pack. Get your prospect thinking bigger numbers. Many of them will step up to the bundle.

#3 – Product Profitability
It’s important that your fundraising product has a high profit margin. Ideally, you’d like to make 80% or more if you can. This would be products like discount cards for two-for-one deals at fast food places.

Many standard items have a profit margin of 50% and that’s OK. It just means that you’ll have to pump up the volume to make the same net that you would with higher profit items.

If the product chosen is one with a lower profit range of say 40%, then it needs to either be a higher-priced item or it needs to be likely to inspire quantity orders from each prospect. For example, cookie dough is often in this range, but price points are $10 & up. Many families will buy two or three units.

#4 – Sales Script
Don’t send your sellers out unprepared. Part of youth sports is teaching and helping kids with their sales skills goes a long way toward building self confidence.

Here’s what to tell them:

1 – Make eye contact, smile and introduce yourself.
2 – Say one sentence about why you are raising funds.
3 – Say second sentence that asks for their help.
4 – Make sure that sentence includes the word “because”.
5 – Extend sample item, catalog, or order sheet.
6 – Suggest a personal favorite item or bundle.
7 – Always ask for the order.

#5 – Prospect, Prospect, Prospect
Now that your kids know what to say, they have to have prospects for their sales pitch. You can’t set sales records without having a large supply of prospective customers.

Have everyone make a list of their potential customers. Have them do it as a team exercise and make sure they write them down. It’s very important to do this and to have each seller commit publicly to doing their part.

Have each seller stand up in front of their teammates and state how many prospects they have. Then have them make a commitment to raising a certain financial amount. Set minimum amounts and encourage competition by offering prizes for various achievement levels.

#6 – Location, Location, Location
Another way to boost your youth sports fundraising is by going where the prospects are. Your group can reach incredible numbers of people just by setting up fundraiser sales tables at entrances to high-traffic retail locations.

Grocery stores, home improvement stores, and mass merchandisers are all places where hundreds of prospects are available. Get permission well in advance from the store manager.

Set up a small table to display your fundraising product items. Staff your spot with two adults and two kids for each 90-minute shift.

Decorate the area with league banners and large-lettered signs explaining your offer. Your signs must inform them well in advance of reaching your display and sales table. That way, those interested in helping your sports team will be primed to stop and will be more receptive to hearing each youth’s sales pitch.

Example:
“New Uniform Fundraiser”
“Tasty 3 lb. Cookie Dough – $10″

Imagine how many potential prospects there are at those locations who are completely outside your normal range of contacts. Now, go out there and sell them something!
Read more…

Everybody wants easy fundraisers. The problem is that you also want good results. So, how do you get the best results
from an easy fundraiser?

Three things to consider in evaluating easy fundraisers:

Effort Involved
Resources Needed
Duration of Fundraiser

EFFORT INVOLVED
An easy fundraiser shouldn’t take a lot of effort, but let’s be honest. It is going to take SOME effort.

The level of effort is often directly proportional to the size of your group’s monetary goal, but not always. That’s why you are considering an easy fundraiser in the first place – you’re looking for less effort, not more.

RESOURCES NEEDED
Resources are always a problem in small group fundraising. You can never have too many volunteers and you usually never have enough.

For an easy fundraiser, you want programs that don’t require an excessive time commitment from a large number of people.

You want either a single weekend-only activity or a program that takes only a small amount of time each week. It’s easier to get people to help with something that doesn’t require more than a two-hour commitment from them.

Conserve your resources with an easy fundraiser and you’ll have more folks to draw on later when you really need help.

DURATION OF FUNDRAISER
Duration is important. An easy fundraiser that lasts more than a single weekend should not require a lot of attention to keep it productive.

Those that only last a single day or weekend shouldn’t require a tremendous amount of prep time.

So, which easy fundraisers only take a little effort, few resources, and have the right duration?

Three simple easy fundraisers:
Printer cartridge recycling program
Onsite or Online Yard Sale
Seasonal Specialty Item Sale
Recycling Program

A recycling program for collecting used printer cartridges costs nothing to put together. All collection boxes and shipping needs are covered by the supplier. We recommend FundingFactory.

Your effort involves finding businesses to participate in the program, leaving pre-labeled boxes with a site representative, and providing directions on calling UPS to pick up a full box.

A used cartridge is worth between $1 and $20, depending on the popularity of the printer and the cost of a new cartridge. Many businesses encourage recycling efforts. For good prospects, check with the leasing manager of large office buildings that house multiple companies.

Another good location is an electronics store or office supply retailer. Customers often bring in their old cartridge when shopping for a replacement. You are doing the retailer a service by providing them with an environmentally safe way to dispose of these leftovers.

A good recycling program will cover a couple of dozen sites and not require much work after the initial placement. Over time, working this many sites can produce a considerable amount of funds for your group.

One good source for a complete turnkey cartridge recycling setup (at no cost to your group) is the Funding Factory. They recycle inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges, and old cell phones.

Mega Yard Sale

A big yard sale is another easy fundraiser to pull off. It’s short in duration, usually just a Saturday sale with some prep time the night before.

Choose a nice high-visibility location like a school or church parking lot. Advertise in the local paper and put up signs for the cagey veterans who troll around on Saturday mornings looking for bargains.

Group your items together by category – kids clothes, tools, toys, books, pictures, music, etc. Place general price signs around items instead of pricing everything individually.

For example, “$5-$10 Tools” or “Books: $1-$3″ are signs that allow people to haggle and help you avoid putting price stickers on hundreds of items.

Resources are needed most for helping to sell. Recruit outgoing types who can be enthusiastic about these odds and ends. Make it a fun time with some helium balloons for small children and have coffee and doughnuts available for adults.

By grouping items together from multiple households, you create a bigger draw as well as a bigger workforce.

If you attract enough shoppers along with enough donations, you can raise as much as $500 per participating household.
Read more…

When someone is put in charge of fundraising, their first instinct is to look for something new and different. While change is great, sometimes the tried and true fundraisers work best. That’s why they are tried and true, right?

Whichever fundraiser you choose for your group, consider the amount of time and resources you will need to accomplish your goal. Ask anyone who has organized a quick and easy fundraiser, and they will tell you there was not much quick and easy about it. That’s where tried and true fundraisers come in.

Try one of these ideas for your next fundraiser:

Yard Sale/Garage Sale
Athlet-A-Thon Events
Product Sales
Car Wash
Overlay Fundraiser

Yard Sale/Garage Sale
Parents, neighbors, family members all donate their unneeded belongings to the cause. Locate a site to hold your sale. One person’s yard or the parking lot of a business work well, with permission of course. Advertise cheaply in the local newspaper and by using flyers.

Increase your traffic by advertising that this is a multi-family sale. Each family can attend their own table or you can schedule block times for groups of volunteers to work. How many working volunteers you need will depend on how much stuff you collect. By the end of your sale, you will see that, indeed, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Athlet-A-Thon Events
Called by various names, these “thon” events not only raise money, but showcase the talents of the team! Each team member gets sponsors to sign up for a flat amount or a certain amount they will pay per lap, distance throw, accurate kick, whatever talent or group of talents works best for your team.

Your target sponsors can be local businesses, neighbors, family members, and so on. Save money by making your own pledge forms.

Product Sales
Product sale fundraisers can vary in duration and complexity.

There are three basic categories of product sales:

Immediate sale
Flyer sale
Catalog sale

If simplicity is your goal, go for the immediate sale, or cash and carry items. These are usually low ticket items and often involve something edible. Consider the size of your target audience and order products accordingly. You don’t want to get stuck with leftovers.

For medium complexity and higher revenue and profit than immediate sales, is the one to two-page flyer offering products from a similar category. This is more complex than a cash and carry sale because a second visit to the customer is required to deliver the products they bought.

The more complex product sale fundraiser is the catalog sale. Suppliers offer all kinds of product catalogs from candy or seasonal items to safety and first aid kits. Because catalogs offer a wider variety, the first sales call is more involved. Before choosing which catalog your team offers, consider who you will be selling to. The usual suspects are family members, neighbors, co-workers and local businesses.

Knowing what other area groups are selling or have recently sold can help determine what kind of product you choose to sell. Imagine trying to sell sweet treats on the heels of the Girl Scouts cookie sale. Knowing your competition can determine your level of success.

Car Wash
The most tried and true of them all, the car wash stands true as a great way to raise money. Some advanced planning is involved and getting your volunteers lined up is an important step. Secure a place to hold your car wash; many gas stations and convenience stores are very approachable about having a car wash at their site. It increases their traffic and brings in more potential customers.
Read more…