We hear this alot because we run hundreds of school fundraisers every year. One thing I can tell you is my take on "WHY" most of these groups didn't meet their fundraising goals. The only problem with me saying it is that most people seem to simply choose not to believe it and then go on their way forgetting the piece of gold they are hearing simply because it sounds to simple or basic to fix or it goes against their own idea of what really happened.
I can tell you this, that as long as a school does atop line and quality product for their school fundraiser, they can and will have above average sales IF they do one thing. One simple thing, that's it. You can sum up the way to go about having the best fundraiser ever can be summarized in three simple words... Do Awesome Prizes!
That's all there is to it! If you do ordinary prizes you are probably going to have an ordinary fundraiser. If you skimp on prizes, you will have a poor sale. If you partner up with your fundraising company and dive into giving premium prizes you will make more money than you thought possible. Period. The facts, figures and track records do not lie.
This is not my opinion. This is based on the results that even you could take a look at on our website. If you "Wow" the students and families with the prizes and incentives you offer with your fundraiser, they will "Wow" you with results that you did not expect. The main idea I want to get across to you here is, if you make it worth their while to participate in your school fundraising drive by giving them better prizes for simply participating, they more than likely will do just that... participate! It is participation in your sale that makes your school more profit.
The method of going about putting the "Wow" in your incentive program is a little more involved than adding a drawing for a 40 gig IPod, but it is pretty simple. In fact, if all you do is add a $200 IPod or Xbox game as your top seller prize, the only thing that will happen is you'll waste $200.
However, you can structure your "Wow" factor in such a way that it will increase your participation in your sale. Most of the time when you set up your prize program in a "Wow" way, you'll more than likely see anywhere from a 40% - 200% increase in your previous sales.
Like I mentioned earlier, this is too simple and the claim just a little too far fetched for many people to actually believe it. It's simplicity and outlandish nature however, does not change the fact that it works for school fundraisers almost every time it is tried. Period.