Fundraising Success #39

Fundraising Success - Issue #39 - Article: "Valentine's Day Fundraisers"; Supplier Spotlight: "Entertainment Publication "; Free ebook: "101 Romantic Ideas"

Our seemingly endless stream of houseguests from four states brought
along all the bad stuff they could unwittingly carry. Our early January
wave of sickness sent three of us to the doctor for relief from sinus
infections, strep throat, and the flu.

I think next year, we'll just send presents. No need to visit!

Just kidding, all you in-laws (I think).

The Supplier Spotlight is on Entertainment Publications. They provide
the Entertainment coupon book that many school groups sell to
raise funds.

This month's Bonus is a Free Jovan Pink Musk Sample. You need to act
quick as these free perfume samples always go quick. Details in the
SiteSeeing section of the newsletter.

This month's ebook is "101 Romantic Ideas" which should come in handy
with Valentine's Day just around the corner!


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Readers Q & A: "Printer Cartridge Recycling"
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Question: Kimberly, we'd like to setup a printer cartridge recycling
fundraiser to raise funds for improving our computer lab. Can you
recommend a supplier?
- Beth Davidson

Answer: The one that's been around the longest and does the
best job is the

- Kimberly


You will find my book, Fundraising Success, very helpful in any
fundraising endeavor.

Buy a copy today because it will save you time and money!
Yours for only $17:


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FEATURE ARTICLE: Valentine's Day Fundraisers
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Valentines' Day is a great time for fundraising, particularly for school groups and small nonprofits. Here are some quick ways to raise funds with Valentine's Day fundraisers.

Sell Roses

One of the easiest ways to raise funds on Valentine's Day is to sell roses. You can offer single roses, a full dozen, various flower bouquets, or delicious chocolate roses.

Each one can usually be sold at 100% markup for a 50% gross profit margin. You can source discount roses from supermarkets with flower departments, wholesale florists, or websites that specialize in bulk shipments from rose-growing areas on the West Coast.

Obviously, men will make up the bulk of your target market for flower buyers, so you should gear your marketing to them. You'll need to pre-sell your roses or stake out some high-traffic areas to reach a lot of last-minute guys.

Chocolate roses are a great seller in schools and workplaces. They are a great gift that fits a good niche on Valentine's Day. They are unique and generate a lot of interest. They are also a safe gift to give for non-romantic purposes, and they never go to waste.

Take advance orders whenever possible and have a central pickup point. You can also increase your results by providing extra services on Valentine's Day such as gift delivery, singing telegrams, offering last-minute roses in high-traffic locations, etc.

Create Gift Baskets

It's easy to create gift baskets for your group to pre-sell for Valentine's Day. Simply go to a craft store such as Michaels and purchase the quantity of baskets you'll need. Then do several shopping runs to major wholesale clubs like BJ's, Sam's Club, and Costco for your gift basket contents.

Create some baskets with a selection of wine, cheese, chocolates, coffee, candy, gourmet biscuits, etc. Give them each a theme and establish a variety of price ranges.

Once you have your samples ready, you can start pre-selling. Use a simple order taker form and collect payment upfront. Then, create the rest of the baskets needed to fulfill your advance orders.

Use a central pickup point or offer local delivery or UPS shipping for an extra charge.
 

Auction Valentines Day Gifts

Another great Valentine's Day fundraiser is to conduct auctions of gifts appropriate for the holiday. Your choices include running an event-based auction, conducting a silent auction, hosting an online auction on your website, or listing your gifts on eBay. You can even do combinations of these four auction styles.

Some simple items to auction are the gift baskets mentioned above. You can also offer restaurant gift certificates, specialty items, business services, or donated items.

High-ticket items that you can offer might include spa visits, limo rides, romantic monthend getaways, and a night on the town at a gourmet restaurant.

Don't forget to offer gifts for men such as sports memorabilia, event tickets, bottles of wine, etc.
 

Raffle Themed Prizes

Another way to raise funds is to sell raffle tickets. You can offer a selection of prizes such as those Valentine's Day gifts previously mentioned. Or, you can even include some with a different theme or timing such as ski vacations or a condo stay with a month at the beach.

Raffles offer an easier way to reach a larger potential audience than you might draw for an event or for various types of auctions.

A raffle allows you to put a larger sales force to work than you can with other methods, but be sure to check your local regulations regarding selling raffle tickets.

Summary

A key point with any fundraiser is to attract plenty of advance publicity. Here's a link to another article that explains how:

Good luck with your Valentine's Day fundraisers!

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Supplier Spotlight: Entertainment Publications
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(Excerpt from my book, Fundraising Success!)

Supplier: Entertainment Publications, Inc.
Phone: (212) 468-4921
Fax: (248) 637-9792
Website:

Address: 2125 Butterfield Road
City: Troy
State: MI
Zip: 48084

Description: Provides travel and entertainment discount books for fundraising to schools, community organizations, and corporations.

Product Lines: Coupon Books

Terms: Prepay

Notes: Free shipping.

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Places To Go, Things To See, Bonus Item & More
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Places to go:

Fashion In Colors

Fashion in Colors creates a new way to explore the history of costume - by color. Historic garments are displayed along with fashions designed by over a dozen twentieth century designers, including Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Emilio Pucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Junya Watanabe.

For example, the blue grouping includes an English brocaded taffeta dress from the mid-18th century; a late 19th century day dress dyed mauve, the first synthetic aniline dye color; a Balenciaga cocktail dress from 1959; and a pleated polyester organdy dress designed by Watanabe/Comme des Garcons in 2000.

Yellow, red, black, multi-color and white all provide similar groupings. Visitors may also browse by designer, or take a virtual tour of the galleries by color.
 

The YoYo Museum

Perhaps no toy is as maligned as the yo-yo, despite its long and colorful history. The roots of the yo-yo can be traced back to antiquity, and there is even a Grecian urn in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that depicts that most well-known of yo-yo maneuvers: walking the dog.

Visitors with a penchant for the yo-yo will appreciate the wide range of materials that can be found on the site, particularly the rather compelling online exhibit of highly valuable yo-yos, such as the 1984 Olympics No Jive model. There is the “Profiles & History” area, which contains player and company profiles, along with historical photographs of yo-yos in action.
 

Things to see:

British Public Information Films

At the time of their creation, public information films created by the British government after World War II may have been seen as overly didactic and pedestrian in their approach to filmmaking. Fifty years on, they are most correctly seen as a fascinating way to gain some insight into this particular moment in British history.

The National Archives has created this website which contains several dozen of these public information films that deal with such diverse subjects as public health, a trip on a London bus, and the Berlin airlift. Before delving into the films, visitors may wish to peruse a timeline of pertinent events during the years 1945 to 1951 and also read about the austere conditions around much of the United Kingdom during the period.
 

Your Free Ebook:

This month's ebook is "101 Romantic Ideas" - Just in time for Valentine's Day,
this handy ebook provides some quality tips for adding some romance to
your life.
39 pages, Adobe PDF format, 460kb download.

That's all for this issue. See you next month.


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Copyright 2006 by Kimberly Reynolds. All rights reserved.

Maximize your fundraising success!

Related Pages

Newsletters - All the Back Issues!

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Donor Recognition - How to use donor recognition to increase your capital campaign results.

Fundraising Ideas - Ideas for fundraising that focus on the best activities for high school, elementary school, sports teams, and youth groups to raise funds with events, activities, programs, projects and products.

Fundraising Events - Three profitable event ideas for small group or school fundraisers - Fundraiser events that are quick and easy - Event ideas you can do in a monthend that work anywhere from Canada to Australia.

School Fundraisers - Easy fundraising ideas for schools that consistently produce excellent results. Includes articles on cheerleading, high school football, soccer, and band, plus more great youth sports team activities and events for other high school groups.

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How To Write A Fundraising Letter - Advice and tips on what works and what doesn't.

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Church Fundraisers - Church fundraising ideas for capital campaigns through donor recognition - Christian fundraiser charity activities and events that produce quick results.

Articles - Full list of articles on high school fundraisers, nonprofit fund raising, and great event ideas.

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