ORGANIZE
An active and motivated fund raising committee is critical to your success. Meet often to set your goals, plan your dates, determine prizes and prepare parent/member letters.
Kick off the sale with enthusiasm!
Keep the campaign short - two weeks is plenty of time for each member to sell at least 10 to 20 cards.

CONTROL
Passing out one $10 card is the same as giving that person 10 – $1.00 candy bars. Each card is worth $10.00 in real money and you need to emphasize that to every participant.

Make sure everyone knows that they have been given cards which are the same as cash and are responsible for turning in the money collected at the end of the sale.

A Control Form is included in this manual. Make a list of everyone who gets cards so you can keep a record of money collected as well as those who have not returned cards or money.

If possible, establish small teams with leaders, teachers or coaches to be responsible for working with each participant on a daily basis.

Before issuing additional cards to members, collect their money from the first batch of cards they were issued.

COMMUNICATE
The best way to inform members of your group (and their parents) about all of the specifics of your fundraiser is to use a series of three letters called FUNDRAISER-GRAMS.

FUNDRAISER-GRAM #1 - This letter #1 goes to the parent/members one week before the sale begins. It explains the concept of the cards and the purpose of the fund raiser. This way the parents are not surprised when their child comes home with the cards.

FUNDRAISER-GRAM #2 - This letter #2 is passed out to each member along with the actual cards at your campaign kick off. It explains how to sell the cards, who to contact, what to say, when to turn in the money and prize information.

FUNDRAISER-GRAM #3 - This is the most important letter! It goes to parent/members half way through the sale and serves as reminder that the campaign is in progress and they should get going if they haven’t already. Highlight definite turn in dates and emphasize the importance of selling all of the cards and turning in all of the money.

Taking the time to do all three FUNDRAISER-GRAMS can DOUBLE your profit!
Remember, if they don’t know who, what, where, when and why, they won’t participate.

PROMOTE
ALL Fundraising Campaigns will ALWAYS benefit from a Fun & Exciting Prize Program. An innovative prize program will get (1) more members to participate, and (2) more sales from each member.

When putting together your prize program, consider the
following time-tested, successful ideas . . .

APPEAL TO “BIG” SELLERS > Top Seller Award (i.e. a prize for the most cards sold over 25 cards).
APPEAL TO “MIDDLE” SELLERS > i.e. everyone who sells 10 cards attends a special pizza party.
APPEAL TO “LOW” SELLERS > Sell 5 Cards & Win [ ? ] (maybe a Free Card).
KEEP IT EXCITING > DAILY Top Seller Wins [ ? ] (anything to create excitement – like a big bag of M&M’s).

Other Fun Ideas are to . . .
1. Divide your group into teams (with 4 or 5 people on each team) and have the teams compete with each other.
2. Divide your group into 2 teams and have a “Steak & Beans” contest. (After this contest, both teams go out to eat and the winning team eats steak while the losing team must eat beans.)

Prizes don’t have to be big and costly to be effective.
The concept of WINNING coupled with a FUN & EXCITING Prize Program is what you want to accomplish.

SUMMARY
The secret to success is to Organize - Control - Communicate - Promote.

Since you “volunteered” (or were volunteered) to run this fund raiser, why not put in a little extra effort and make it the biggest success in the history of your organization.

Follow this plan and you will have a fantastic fund raiser.

The following three Fundraiser-Gram sample letters should be re-typed by you with the appropriate information.
The top right corner of each letter indicates when you should send the letter home with your members.