Are you getting ready to kick off another year of fundraising for your group? When you oversee a fundraiser, you have a lot to prepare for. You help plan the kickoff meeting, create the budget, manage volunteers, and organize delivery day. You make sure everyone has all the information they need to go out and start working on their goals.
While you’re busy planning for your next event, don’t forget to prepare your sellers for one of the trickiest parts of fundraising: selling. Have your sellers had a hard time finding people to support them in the past? Have you had some difficulties getting new supporters involved in your organization’s annual fundraiser? You’re not alone. That’s why we’ve come up with some tips to help you and your sellers find supporters for your next fundraiser.
1. Make a list of family and friends
Typically, sellers are going to be more successful getting people they know to buy from them than people they don’t. So, have a brainstorming session where your sellers can come up with a list of family and friends who would love to support their fundraiser. To help get them started, we’ve created a worksheet to guide your sellers through the process of making a great sales list. Once they have their ideas down, they’ll be on their way to reaching their fundraising goals in no time.
Be sure to save this document to use in your next fundraiser.
2. Get information
There are plenty of people throughout the community who would be glad to support your group. Sellers should be encouraged to ask their dentist, coaches, neighbors, congregation, or even their parents’ coworkers to consider purchasing from their fundraiser. Remind your sellers to carry their order form and program information with them wherever they go, so they’ll never miss an opportunity to make a sale.
If your fundraising program utilizes an online store, encourage your sellers to share their unique link through multiple channels, so everyone knows there’s a fundraiser to purchase from. With out online store, sellers can share their link through social media, email, and text.
3. Encourage everyone to work together
If some members of your group are friends with other sellers in their neighborhood who are selling the same items, get them together to map out a territory for each kid to avoid flooding neighbors with multiple requests. Do the same thing with shared teachers, coaches, club leaders, etc.
Another option is to have the sellers team up and go around the neighborhood together, with a parent, and split the sales evenly. Whichever option you choose, the important thing is to encourage your sellers to get out in the community without overwhelming potential supporters.
4. Have sellers keep people updated on their progress
If a seller has a goal of selling 20 items and they’ve sold 15, they should tell people that. They or their parents can post about how close they are to their goal on social media or include it in their sales pitch. They may find someone who will buy those last 5 items because they want to help them out.
Always Fundraise the Safe Way
When running any fundraiser, safety is always the most important factor. There’s nothing more valuable than the wellbeing of your sellers. Before you send your group out to start selling, emphasize these important safety rules:
- Don’t ever sell alone.
- Do not go inside someone’s house, regardless of how well you know them.
- Don’t sell after dark.
- Avoid carrying cash when you’re selling. Give it to a parent to hold onto until it’s time to turn it in.
