Have You Been Waiting To Try Out A Coupon Book Fundraiser for your next school, church or non-profit fundraiser?

Could a Coupon Book Fundraiser be the perfect product for your next fundraiser? Fund out if a Coupon Book Fundraiser can help you to reach your fundraising goals?

 

Getting Started Right With A Fundraiser Is Important

Fundraising is simply the cement that fills the cracks where critical projects and services are not covered in the traditional budget. One way to meet your fundraising goals is to sell a product and to use the proceeds to meet your goals.

There are many items to consider when working with a product. Follow along to learn more about Coupon Book Fundraising.

Please keep in mind that the goal is to identify a fundraiser that you can get comfortable with, is easy to pass on to the next fundraising team, produces the most proceeds for the effort and is a product that is in high demand year after year.

 

Coupon Book Fundraising – Step-By-Step Instructions

To accomplish a highly profitable fundraiser you should expect to pull together a combination of motivated people (parents, students, club members, etc.), a dedicated amount of time and minimal materials to ensure your fundraiser is a success.

Let’s Look At An Example Scenario
Based on the product/products that you are looking at potentially selling you will need “a” number of people to sell “b” number of products in which you make “c” in profit per sale. Does this scenario sound complex to you?

Number of People    x    Number of Coupon Books    =    $$$ Fundraising Profit

By working through a real example we will be able to show you important aspects of a successful coupon book fundraiser that should not be overlooked:

 

IDENTIFY YOUR FUNDRAISING IDEAS & NEED: New Elementary School Playground

COST OF FUNDRAISING IDEA: $25,000 for Playground equipment and installation

TIP: If you have more than one item that you need to do fundraising for it is always a good idea to break it down everything into separate items and for each item to have individual costs associated with it.

 

FUNDRAISING PROJECT NAME: Operation Playground Addition

SCHOOL: Alexander Elementary School

NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 725

PRODUCT FOR FUNDRAISER: Fundraising Coupon Book

COUPON BOOK SOLD FOR: $12.00 per book

PROFIT FROM EACH SALE: 50% or $6.00 per book

 

Lets Take A Look At How To Make This A Successful Fundraiser

A.    HOW MUCH DO WE ACTUALLY NEED TO RAISE WITH OUR FUNDRAISER - The first item to consider when fundraising is how many Coupon Books Need to be sold to purchase and install your shiny brand new playground system?

To figure this out all that we need to do is divide the amount that we need to raise by the amount of money that we receive by selling a single fundraising item:

 

$25,000 (Project) / $6.00 (Profit) = 4,167 (Fundraising Coupon Books)

 

 B.    FUNDRAISING DISTRIBUTION – The next item to consider is can your school sell this many books?

4,167 Coupon Books / 725 Students = 6 Coupon Books Per Student 
(if you reached your goal in this scenario you would actually sell 4,350 Coupon Books and make $26,100)

 

(Next you would need to shift your focus on how to accomplish this task.)

 

C.    FUNDRAIAING SUPPORT MATERIALS – What materials would you need to make this not only a successful event but also an easy event for any volunteers and the children who are involved in the fundraising process? 

You will need the following items to make this a smooth event:

a. You will need Heavy Duty Zip Lock bags which are large enough to handle the volume of books each child will be selling. Common sizing examples would be:

1. Quart size = 1 to 3 Coupon Books Per Child

2. Gallon size = 4 to 20 Coupon Books Per Child

3. Cardboard box = 20 to 250 Coupon Books (event based sales)

 

The quantity of books that you are going to want to issue each child is largely going to depend on:

1. Is this a general school fundraiser where all students are involved (normally 6 or less)

2. The type of group they are involved in - Band, Football, Chorus, Etc. (Up to 25 per child)

3. Functions, events, football games, family fun days, etc… (Up to 250 per group)

Just be sure that the money that is raised is turned in after every single large event so that no child or parent is responsible for carrying around large quantities of cash and checks.

 

QUICK TIP

I normally recommend that when the books are sent out with the kids that, as an example, the ”5 Books” are put in the “ZIP Lock” bag with a blank envelope (to safely conceal money and checks), the safety of all children involved should always be considered first in any fundraising activity, with the “Final Letter (See GO below)” and that a label be placed on the front of each bag with the following information (you will see why this is a critical step later).

Label details:

Homeroom Teacher: Deborah Johnson
Student Name: Connor Jackson

 

In addition to the materials you may want to put the appropriate notices on your school sign, web site, email newsletters, any other generic printed materials that may be going out and at the road in advance with the dates of the fundraising event. Always check to see if the fundraising company provides any other materials like a banners that can be displayed in the area where parents come to pick up their children. 

 

D.    HOW LONG WILL OUR FUNDRAISER TAKE- Then you would need to determine the length of the fundraiser.

In general the shorter the fundraiser the more successful the fundraiser will be. Typically, regardless of the group size, you will see fundraisers being held for either:

1. Two weeks = Over either the 1st or 15th of the month to accommodate for “1″ payday

2. Three weeks =  Starting on a payday to accommodate ”2″ separate pay days

3. Four weeks = For groups and professional clubs that only meet once a month

4. Annual = To accommodate event facilities and businesses selling for the groups

** The most common for school fundraising events is the two to three week fundraiser.

 

E.     WHEN WILL WE HOLD OUR FUNDRAISER- Fundraisers in school systems are scheduled for either the Spring or Fall.

However, this strategy is normally out of convenience for planning. In the PK, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grades this can be very effective so that it is at the beginning of school and they can experience the results soon after the funds are raised (family fun days, field days, field trips, etc.).

In Middle School Fundraising environments it is normally up to the PTA/PTO Coordinator and the Principal of the school based on the years events.

In High School Fundraising environments you are normally looking at one of two options:

1. Club based fundraising – (Band, Cheerleading, Football, etc) which can happen at any time

2. Entire school fundraising – Typically once a year and at the discretion of the Principal

 

F.    QUALITY FUNDRAISING COMMUNICATION – Now that you have decided when you are going to have the fundraiser and the length of the fundraising event you will need to notify the parents that you are about to have the fundraiser so that once it actually occurs they will be prepared to make a Coupon Book purchase and be ready to help sell the remainder of the books if needed.

 

It is very important for an effective fundraising campaign to occur to have adequate communication between the fundraising group or school and the parents. 

There are three strategies for this related to a “Ready, Set, GO” environment:

 

1. GO - (For fundraising campaigns around 100 to 400 coupon books) 
Is simply where you you send the entire fundraising lot out the door in one fail swoop with no real warning that it is coming. This can be effective with smaller more passionate groups that are selling a smaller quantity for a very specific cause.

These fundraising groups would include:

Football Teams, High School Bands, Cheerleaders, Church Youth Groups, Special Interest Clubs (Humane Societies, 4H, Boy Scouts, etc.), Fraternal Groups and Civic Groups.

 

2. Set, GO – (For fundraising campaigns from 400 to 1,000 coupon books) 

Is where you give the parents one warning shot across the bow so that the fundraiser is fresh on their minds when they see it. You typically see a little more detail on the “Why” and ”Amounts” that are being raised. This level of fundraiser tends to be larger. 

 

3. Ready, Set, GO – (For fundraising campaigns from 1,000 to 5,000+ coupon books)

At this level of fundraising, which is very common, you are holding one of your larger annual fundraising campaigns and you are raising between $6,000 and $30,000 in a two to three week period of time.

** Both the “Fundraising Company” that you are working with and the parents need ample warning to make sure that this level of fundraising event goes off without a hitch.

 

Usually communications for the larger “Ready, Set, Go” campaigns will follow this pattern:

 

a. 14 Days Out (Ready) – A single page letter is sent to the parents of each participating child to educate them on “WHY” this particular annual fundraiser is so important. This letter is designed primarily for the ”WHY” and a brief explanation of how the money is going to be used.

 

b. 7 Days Out (Set) – A single page letter that is broken into 3 simple parts:

I. A reminder of the “WHY”

II. A reminder of the “FINANCIAL GOAL”  

III. A brief ”SALES GOAL” for each child (5 books, etc.)

 

c. In the ”BAG” (GO) – A single page letter that is broken into 2 simple parts:   

I. A brief reminder of the “SALES GOAL” for each child (5 books, etc.)

II. Show how the money will be used (show pictures of the playground concept, instruments, pictures of where the kids will be going on the field trip, etc.)

 

** REMINDER #1 - Make sure that you put the name of the organization (PTO, School, etc.) that any checks need to be made out to so that there no problems depositing the checks that come in.

 ** REMINDER #2 - Make sure that there is good contact information, phone and email, in the event that a parent has any questions about the program or if they need larger quantities that are safe for a child to transport.

 

G.    RUN YOUR FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN – And they are off to the races. Good luck is not needed when there is proper planning and everyone is informed and motivated. To recap what you have done up to this point you have:

 1. Mapped out how much you need to raise and for what cause

2. Determined how much product would need to be sold to reach your fundraising goals

3. Identified all support materials that were needed

4. You have determined the length of the fundraiser (based on the group type and size)

5. You have dates set in stone and will be well prepared

6. Proper communication has been put in place to notify parents (Ready, Set, GO)

 

Now you can take a quick breather and let the children do what they do best while checking to make sure that there are not any challenges that have popped up.

 

H.    FUNDRAISING COLLECTIONS – There is a little preparation that needs to be done and a little education is needed in this area to keep everyone on the same page. 

1. Educate the “Teachers” on the campaign dates (Consider having a quick prep meeting)

2. Educate everyone on the fact that all of the money and books is to remain in the “ZIP Lock” bags

3. Designate a location and person, that has a simple “By Name” check list where everyone can turn in their bags.

4. Provide a good contact number and email in case there are any questions in the school

 

I.    FUNDRAISING RINSE AND REPEAT – If you have followed these steps than, regardless of the size, your fundraiser did/will likely go off without a hitch and you can set up the next years fundraiser as soon as the current fundraiser ends.

1. Have a quick recap meeting for feedback and planning

2. Document any adjustments that need to be made

3. Schedule next years fundraiser

4. Turn your details over to the next group in charge (they will be glad that you were so prepared)

 

Believe it or not the most difficult part of fundraising is not the activity which you are doing to raise the funds but the proper planning to make sure that there are not any problems before, during or after the event.

 

I personally get a tremendous amount of pleasure when one of the groups that we are working with succeeds and overachieves their goals. We try to do everything that we can to strengthen local communities and make the world a better place to live.

 

I would be happy to answer any fundraising questions that you may have and please let me know if our team can help your group out in any way with a Coupon Book Fundraiser for your next fundraising event!

Chris Manning, CEO
Community Fundraising Books

Are you reaching and rewarding every possible customer?

As someone who has been around in sales for many years I was always taught that “if you were not in front of your customers then your competitor probably was”.

That statement has rung so true over the years, so much so in fact, that I have been able to say hello to many of my competitors as I was leaving a customer after having just inked a deal.

In the marketing world this thought process translates simply to effective Business Branding. You may have noticed that I put the word “effective” before Business Branding because many businesses keep themselves out in front of their customers but do not give them a “single reason” as to why they should use their products or services.

In the United States the social norm has changed drastically. Over the last 12 to 15 years just about everyone who has wanted to jump into a business has had the ability to due to financing. It just so happens that they started a competing business to yours.

Today it is also standard practice for your competitor to open up directly across the street from your you to give consumers a choice. The problem with this scenario is that the corporations and brokers allow to many of the same types of business in the same general vicinity which ultimately dilutes the market to where someone is guaranteed to fail…

Before you hang me out to dry by making this comment let me say that I am as entrepreneural and capitalistic as they come and I think that a certain amount of competition is healthy. However, to much can hurt all of the businesses involved and keep everyone from making a good living.

In comes “Coupon Book” Branding…

You see with a coupon you not only keep your business in front of your customer but you actually give them (in most cases) a reason to purchase your product or service v/s a competitors product or service. Or, worst case scenario, you reward existing customers for continuing to use your products/services.

In fact – when you choose to be apart of a coupon book I will go so far as to say that you actually become apart of a long term positive experience with a potential customer. Think about it: they keep the product for a long period of time, use the product over and over with a positive experience (sometimes saving money weekly) and get to try out new products and services which fall out of their normal habit or comfort zones.

Personally, I have never seen this level of experience happen with a phone book, billboard, radio ad, newspaper ad, magazine ad or direct mail piece except in rare circumstances.

Imagine for a moment… A potential customer has had a coupon book in their car that they purchased for $10 to $20 that they bought to support a great cause. They have been using the book regularly and have saved a few hundred dollars on meals, entertainment and services by frequenting businesses in the book.

Then POW!!! their Air Conditioner at their home breaks just when company is coming into town for a long weekend.

The Obvious Question – How would you like to be the HVAC company in the front of the book that they have been flipping past to get to all of those great offers that they have been taking advantage of with a service call special?

The answer is simple. People like electricity will follow the path of least resistance and if they saw your sponsorship each time they flipped through their Coupon Book than they are likely to remember that you were in there with a special offer when they need your services.

The Coupon Book Secret is “to be there when they need you” and not have any competitors there when they come looking – “NOT be in a book with your top 25 to 30 favorite competitors – Hint, Hint”

To find out if a Community Fundraising Book is available in your area and to learn the benefits of Coupon Book sponsorships visit: www.CommunityFundraisingBooks.com

There are a variety of types and values of Coupon Books which are available in most highly populated areas.

• Many coupon books are worth as much as $1,000+ in value. Allot of the Coupon Books which are available are promoted by organizations which provide as much as 50% back to non-profits and special organizations in the community.
  
• Coupon Books come in all shapes and sizes, can have as many as 1,000 pages of coupons and vary in price from $8 to $50 on average per book. The offers that you are likely to find in most of the Coupon Books are restaurant, dining, fast food, family entertainment, and special service offers.
  
• Coupon Books can suport all types of “non-profit” and “for-profit” groups. Normally the book identifies what it has been designed to support. If it does not it may be because it supports multiple organizations and the community awareness information is usually posted on the companies web site. Be aware however that there are groups that sell books in the larger metropolotin cities and in areas that there are major theme parks that do not necessarialy support causes in the community. This does not mean that they are not worth exploring or a good value when you are taking a trip – just that they are a “for profit” company seeing the books as a convenience service.

There are a few key things to consider when selecting a good coupon book:

1. Know what the book is being sold for and be proud to support the organization selling the books.
   
2. Make sure that you will have enough time (say at least one to three months – or longer) before the book expires so that you can get a good return on your purchase. It normally only takes one to two coupons to cover the value of a $10 to $12 Coupon Book but it may take as many as six to twelve coupons to cover a $40 to $50 coupon book.
   
3. Be sure that the book has the type of offers that you will use frequently – a good reason to buy a book that has plenty of restaurant coupons – we all have to eat! It is always good to support the community “just because” but if you enjoy using the book than the businesses win and you are more likely to be a long term supporter of the non-profit group that sold you the book.
   
4. Be sure that you will get your purchase price back by using “4” or less coupons. This will ensure that you will feel good about supporting the organization by buying additional books in the future. Most of the time you get your money back by using one or two coupons. If you are a savvy shopper you will buy a book for $10 or $12 and get $200 to $300 in savings out of the coupon book without any problem.
   
5. Be sure to continue to support the businesses who were kind enough to put offers in the book after you use the coupon. In many cases these businesses go out on a limb to support coupon books which help the community and it is a valuable part of their business and marketing plan. Businesses like the exposure to new customers so that they can show them how good their products and services are. Reward them by going back and showing them how much you like their products/services and thank them for supporting the program – it means the world to them to be able to support the local community.

Welcome to Community Fundraising Books!
Savings That Support Your Community…

This Blog is dedicated to helping local non-profits with Fundraising. By utilizing our Coupon Book organizations that we support are able to raise critically needed funds for their programs.

Our program is currently available for the following areas in Georgia:

1. Athens, Georgia (Includes: Athens, Winder, Jefferson and Statham Georgia)
2. Gainesville, Georgia (Includes: Gainesville, Flowery Branch and Oakwood Georgia)

Our coupon book will be available in the following areas soon:

1. Lawrenceville (Includes: Lawrenceville, Suwanne and Buford Georgia)
2. Marietta (Includes: Marietta and Smyrna Georgia)
3. More areas will be coming online in 2009. We will update our site and this blog as the new areas become available.

In this blog we encourage discussions about our product and it’s application in the local community. We would live to see live testimonials and discussions about what is being done with the proceeds of our program.

We will be happy to offer any assistance that we can to your non-profit by answering any questions that you may have and by providing world class education and feedback.

We look forward to making your next fundraiser a success through the use of our coupon books!

With kind regards,

Chris Manning, Founder & CEO
Community Fundraising Books

You make a living by what you make; you make a life by what you give…

 Visit us online for program details: www.CommunityFundraisingBooks.com

- Learn more about me by checking out my professional Linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/christophermanning

 

Additional sites that we will be bringing online in the near future to serve both our Coupon Book buyers and our non-profits are: 

1. www.FundraisingBook.com

2. www.Coupon-Book.com

3. www.Coupon-Books.com