So you have decided on fundraising discount cards, now what?
This article will give you a brief overview of what it will take to have a successful fundraising discount cards. You most likely will need detailed step by step instructions as you go through your campaign. For this reason it is absolutely vital to choose a company that continues customer service even after the cards are ordered. This brings us to the most important step, choosing a full service fundraising discount card company.
Choosing a full service fundraising discount cards company.
When choosing a card company for your fundraiser there are many items you will want to take into consideration. Most importantly; will the card
company get the merchants for your fundraiser card or do they expect you to do the hard work? Getting the merchants takes a bit of skill, if you tried and the merchants aren’t popular or are not offering great deals then the value of the card won’t be as great. A company that SPECIALIZES in fundraising discount cards will be able to gain popular merchants in your area and negotiate great deals. This increases the value of the card and makes them easy to sell. Additionally, gaining the merchants takes a lot of time, between your regular life and volunteering your time, you
have enough to do, so leave this up to the professionals. The quality and feel of the card is of utmost importance, a card made of credit card stock with your logo and colors will have a much greater value and will be easier to sell than a generic thin paper card would be. Additionally, make sure support does not end after the order is placed, whether this is your first fundraiser or you are a pro, the experts can give you great tips.
Selecting the optimal number of cards
With most companies you will be able to place quick reorders, this gives you the chance to be conservative with your numbers, but don’t be too cautious! If you were to order 1,000 cards at $2 each your cost would be $2,000 and selling them would raise $8,000. This great but what if you could have sold
1,500 cards? If you had ordered 2,000 for $1.50 and you sold only 1300 your cost would have been $3,000 but your profit would have been $10,000, even throwing 700 cards in the garbage your group would have raised more funds. If you have a bunch of cards left you can always have a “secondary” campaign to raise even more. With large groups you will want to order 5 to 7 cards per participant (remember if there is a price break you might want to go over that a little). With a small group you can increase the numbers because you will be able to work more effectively towards a common goal. With a 15 person group the local grocer might let you sell cards at their entrance. Greater traffic means more sales.
Creating an incentive for greater sales
The children and parents must have a specific reason for the fundraiser. “Just to raise money” does not give anyone a reason to put themselves out to sell the cards. However if the fundraiser is specifically to “get new uniforms” or “Pay transportation so the band can march in the Macy’s day parade or compete at Disney” or “buy a concession stand”, you will get much greater results. People want to be part of a cause. If Christopher Columbus had just wanted to go sailing, would he have gotten the funding for a trip that made him world famous? Secondly, motivate the participants by offering a prize, like a Wii or bike to the top seller. The better the prize, the greater the effort. Think about it, if you could win a brand new car by selling the most Fundraising Discount Cards how much effort would you make? For obvious financial reasons the prize can not be a car. But what if the prize for your little league fundraiser was two tickets to a sold out professional base ball game? How motivated your peewee football team be if they were competing for an autographed football by an all-star from your local NFL team? Be original and work towards a prize that will be the most motivating to your group.
How to distribute the cards
If you have a registration or start to a season or an event where you collect money, the cards should be set up as a “pay to play” sort of situation where everyone pays for their cards in advance of selling them. With a “pay to play” set up you will want to give each person a reduced number of cards (5 is fair) as you do not want to prevent anyone from joining your organization because of the cost. You will want to offer the availability to take more cards without paying for them to try to win the top prize. However, you will want to limit the number of cards given out as extras to avoid fraud and underselling. Give them a number of times that they can turn money in for extra cards, then get more cards to sell. If your organization does not have a formal start or registration, like a church or highschool marching band or you just got a late start, you will want to distribute cards and set a specific date the money is required back in, again extra cards can be gained from turning in money from previous card sales. In general you do not want distribution of cards and money to go through many hands, there should be one or two people that are in charge and allowed to hand out cards and collect money. Don’t give out 100 cards to a coach to distribute to their team and collect the money. They signed up to coach or teach and they are already volunteering for your organization, additionally if they are not motivated or believe in “the cause” the results from that 100 cards will not be as great.
Tracking your progress
If cards are given out in a prepaid distribution (pay to play) you will not need to keep track of those particular cards, and the accounting of the money will be very easy, multiply the number of registrants times your required up front money. In a prepaid distribution tracking need be done ONLY on additional/extra cards. The person(s) in charge of the fundraiser or their assistant will want to track the number of cards that are out for which money has not been received and also the money that has been received. At the very least all remaining cards or money for the cards needs to be turned in before the set deadline. You will find on “turn in day” many will have “lost their cards” or “forgotten them at home” (the old, “dog ate my homework routine”) In these cases you should ask them to pay for the cards and reimburse themselves when they sell them, most people are ok with that, (Note: make sure not to push too hard as some might have some financial hardships). Even if they try to turn in unused cards, remind them of the importance of the fundraiser and the reason for it, then ask them to write a check for the $50 rather than turning in the 5 cards, then they can sell the cards and keep the money.
Fundraising discount cards can be a very easy and profitable way to raise funds for your organization. Once you have a system in place, with help from your card provider, it will run smoothly. You may even decide to swear off other types of fundraisers for your organization.
Mark South
http://www.easyfundraisingcards.com


If you’re having trouble coming up with a new idea to raise money for your organization, consider fundraising cards. It is really difficult to come up with a product that isn’t the same old thing, yet offers high profit margins. Whether you are trying to generate enough money to build a gym for the youth group at church or raise money for the PTA at elementary school, fundraising cards are a very attractive option. Easy to sell, simple planning, great value and exceptional profits make them the fundraising item of choice.

Fundraising cards for schools have long been one of the easiest and least stressful methods of raising money for school groups and organizations. Most schools have several fundraisers during the year, whether for updates to the library, an educational trip for students, or other needs. Raising the necessary funds involves a great deal of preparation and work, to say the least. Does it have to be so involved, laborious and time consuming? Not when you choose a product that holds incredible value for the customer and is reasonably priced.
many tasks, one of which includes making sure the participants are happy. You want the crew to enjoy selling the product and you want to make great profits, so choosing the right product is essential. It’s necessary that you consider the size of your group, and which products offer the highest profit margins with a minimum of fuss. Products that have high shipping charges or high minimum orders are probably not a great choice.
years time. People feel good when they know that they are getting a real bargain and supporting the school along with local merchants. Kids love selling them because they are so easy to sell, and there is no order-taking involved. It is a very simple and profitable way for your group or organization to raise the needed funds without a great deal of work and stress.
Most schools, churches and other organizations search for easy fundraising ideas in order to raise the money they need as quickly and efficiently as possible. Truthfully, some products can be really hard to sell because of the complications involved such as choosing a product or having to wait for an order to come in. Most people want the item they paid for immediately, and would rather not have to wait. This article offers some easy fundraising tips so that your next effort will be a huge success!
customer will actually use. For years, popular fundraising products have included chocolate candy bars, cookie dough, candles, popcorn, and catalog items to name a few. The problem with this is that a customer pays a hefty price for a candy bar, and it’s gone in 5 minutes. Customers like to feel that they are getting great value for their money, and easy fundraising is accomplished when you offer a product that provides real value for the cost.
Every aspect of your efforts should be as simple as possible. With some products, there is tax to consider, shipping costs, estimated arrival time, etc. Every additional detail makes things more time consuming and confusing for you, the children or individuals selling the product, and the customer. Simplicity cannot be stressed enough when it comes to
People in the neighborhood are always ready to support a good cause, but when you offer them a really good deal it becomes even easier. School fundraising cards offer your buyer a great deal that is not overpriced. In fact, they will save quite a bit more than they spend on the card by saving money on products and services they already use! Friends, neighbors and relatives will be glad to put their money to good use by helping out the school and supporting local merchants at the same time.
to feel involved so that they develop a sense of their importance as part of a team. School fundraising cards make the entire process simple and easy; no catalogs or candy to lug around, and a great product that people in the community will gladly spend money on!
College fundraising is a fantastic way to raise money. Whether you are fundraising for a college society/group, for charity or just to help support yourself through what can be a very financially challenging period, with thousands of students around campus to appeal to, your fundraising efforts can be very fruitful. Here is a selection of college fundraising ideas.
bars love to take money from students. Approach bars and ask for discounts for a large number of students on a specific night, perhaps 50-100. Maybe arrange an initial payment in return for a free drink and entry for everyone on the bar crawl. Then sell tickets for the crawl, advertising the free drinks and entrance to the various bars. These tickets can be sold to members of a student group or course. Make sure to let them know the time and bar in which the bar crawl will start!
