Each and every time you hold a fundraiser, you learn something new. There is some area of efficiency which, through note taking and implementation, can and will be improved next time. These things will primarily be learned through trial and error, and are often affected by the group for which you are raising funds and the group from which you seek funds. In other words, if you are members of a church seeking to raise money from the community at large, you will learn different methods than if you are a group of student seeking funds from other students.



While all of the preceding remain true, it is the opinion of this author that there are two constants. First, the fundraiser can and should work best with healthy focus. At the very least, your healthy fundraising solution should not be one consisting of primarily sugar or fat. The reason for this is twofold.

Number one, you don't want to do damage to those who are helping you. They are providing your organization with much needed money; why would you provide them with a product like a candy bar or cookie dough which is harmful to their body? Certainly some will say, "What's the harm, one candy bar or batch of cookie dough won't hurt anyone." Well, neither would one cigarette or one beer, but you wouldn't raise funds with those. That is why you your healthy focus leads you to seek healthy fundraising solutions.

The fact of the matter is, the number one killer in America is heart disease, which is often directly diet related. Additionally, rampant obesity is a plague upon America. As a result, a large percentage of Americans are on diets. These people aren't helped at all by candy pushers seeking to prey upon their weakness for money. It may sound far fetched, but it isn't.

Would you try to sell cigarettes to someone who'd recently quit smoking, or beer to an alcoholic? Of course you wouldn't, so why would you sell candy or other junk food to an American population wherein 64.5 percent of Americans are classified as overweight or obese. Yes, you read that right, 64.5 percent of Americans are overweigh or obese according to the American Obesity Association. So, unless you plan to avoid selling to two thirds of the population (which would be both impractical and rude), you are better off avoiding unhealthy products and seeking healthy fundraising solutions.

The other constant in the field of fundraising is that you and your group are better off actually selling a product. This may seem to state the obvious, but it isn't. There are so many fundraising programs today which essentially have found clever ways for groups to go out and "Beg" for money. Basically, you provide nothing that someone might want or need and seek to extract money from them!

The aforementioned methods may in fact raise money and seem to work in the short run, but they are not good ideas. First, the money brought in will fall off as time goes on and people begin to resent the shakedown. Additionally, as many people approach friends and family for fundraisers, relationships will be damaged as resentment builds. This is why you should base your healthy fundraising solutions on a product or products. That way, the person giving is also receiving something of value while helping a great cause. In this way, everyone is happy, and the next fundraiser will be a success.

So there you have it. When fundraising and planning fundraisers, you're constantly learning and improving. However, there are two constants: Each fundraiser should be Healthy and based on a product.