Like most organizations, schools in the United States are subject to constant budget stress. Important athletic and scholastic programs are subject to budget cuts as demographics change and taxpayers become increasingly budget aware. As a result, schools include fund raising resources in their planning for programs.

Education should rank high on the list of tax payer funding. With exception of defense, it is hard to imagine a governmental effort that is more important to our country than good education. Education and schools focus on our future leaders and it is in the schools where lessons in character are coupled with the development of skills required for success in a modern society.

Fund Raising and Healthy Products

Schools, both public and private, have turned to fund raising to help fund sporting and educational events. Where large number of people have gathered, schools, through sports teams, booster clubs and scholastic societies have raised funds by selling products for a profit at events or by using team members to sell products to friends and family..

Historically a number of products were sold that generated revenue and these were mainly food products like carbonated soft drinks, cookies, pizza and candy. As a group these products were not considered healthy by many. Recently, for example, an agreement was finalized to discontinue the sale of carbonated soft drinks in schools and this is a landmark effort to help reduce obesity and create a healthy lifestyle for students.

Many schools are now exploring fund raising with healthier products. As a result private label water is becoming increasingly popular as a healthy alternative method to raise funds.

Private Label Drinking Water

Private label drinking water is an effective and healthy way to raise funds for a number of reasons:

• If the water is purified, it represents a wholesome addition to a healthy lifestyle.

• Creation of a private label is an effective form of advertising that adds value to the water and the event. This additional value is reflected in a higher price, greater revenue and more profit.

• Private label water is consumable advertising that is often carried from the event and serves as a reminder to participants and others.

• The label design offers flexibility that allows schedules and scores to be listed and updated.

• Private label water is ideal for outdoor events and is very cost effective. The cost decreases as volume increases.

• Private label water can easily establish a brand identity for the school or team.

• The design of one label can be used for many school events.

Two Avenues of Fund Raising

Private label water is a versatile tool for fund raising. It can be sold directly at school events and players and participants can resell private label water to friends and family to raise revenue. Either avenue is an effective fund raising device.

Both avenues are available to schools most of the calendar year and provide consistent fund raising opportunities.

Student Participation

Students are both the beneficiaries and the key assets of fundraising. They can control the quality of their own athletic and scholastic programs by actively participating in the event and friends and family fund raising activities. Gaining a student “buy in" for programs will guarantee success.

What to Look for in a Private Label Water Supplier

There are a number of private label water suppliers but they vary widely in the quality of their product offerings. There are three areas to investigate when choosing a supplier:

Quality of Water

Events with a large number of participants require proper hydration with water of the highest quality. High quality water in terms of health and taste is also critical for the acceptance of the theme and event message. If the water is low quality or tastes bad then the message will fail. The best quality water on the market today is purified using a distillation/ filtration/ oxygenation process that removes all impurities, including all bacteria, and creates a light, refreshing taste.

Quality of Label Design and Production

The label is the message part of the product and poor-quality labels send a poor-quality message. Production of a poor-quality label is a waste of money and adversely affects the message and theme.

It is very important to know that the vast majority (almost all) of the private label opportunities in this country come from water resellers (not bottlers) with desktop-model “thermal" (or “thermal wax") printing devices with a quality level that cannot compare well to even consumer-grade inkjet printing devices widely available for less than $200 at your local electronics store. These label printers are very cheap in both quality and cost, typically ranging from $10-20k depending on configuration, and are widely used throughout the private label water industry because of their low cost.

In sharp contrast, a quality label, i.e., one that looks like a top-shelf brand that you might find in your local gourmet grocery store, needs to be produced with professional-quality equipment using professional-grade printing equipment. There are three types of printing equipment that can produce a high-quality label.

1. Rotary offset lithography;

2. Flexography; and

3. High-quality digital presses.

For most smaller runs (under about 10,000 units), digital equipment offered by Heidelberg or HP is the most cost effective solution, but instead of $10-20k, the minimum equipment costs for these professional solutions range from $750k to $1.25M per station.

These facts are very important to understand when choosing a private label bottler — because those who sell low-quality labels would have you believe that nothing better is available because of the short runs required by private label customers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In order to succeed, your label must be professionally designed and produced with high-quality materials using a printing process that renders a high-quality result. Waterproof lamination is also required for long lasting labels. This is easily achieved for an affordable unit cost using the right equipment for the job.

Quality of Customer Service

The design and production of private labeled drinking water is complex and requires intense interaction between the customer and supplier. Communication and a culture of customer service excellence is a prerequisite to the creation of an effective theme message and a successful event. Without a significant commitment to customer service on the part of the supplier, the impact of the theme message will fail.

A supplier with a fully interactive e-commerce site is an ideal way to create a high quality label, modify the label to reflect event changes and to order more water as demand changes.

A supplier that is experienced in fund raising and is willing to commit management resources to support a school fund raising program is a definite asset to individual schools.

Choose a quality supplier to help develop and communicate your message and to create success for the school fundraising event.