Planned Parenthood found out recently that fundraising can be difficult and unpredictable.

Just recently the Susan G Komen Foundation announced it was ending its partnership with Planned Parenthood. Komen ended the relationship because Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of abortions in the country and the new director had a difficult time reconciling their organization with that practice.

But as it turned out the publicity Planned Parenthood received from the breakup has encouraged lots of pro choice people to step up and try to make up the different. Planned Parenthood reported on Wednesday raising $400,000 in the 24 hours following its announcement that Komen was ending its partnership with the group.

So why bring that up here in our fundraising blog?

When we stopped and thought about what was going on we realized that the most important lesson from this was that you want to keep your organization and its needs in front of the public in general and your supporters specifically. That means sharing both the good and the bad news.

In this case the organization found itself in a difficult position and the cause of the problem was a political time bomb. But by having their situation made public they raised a lot of money that they would not have otherwise raised. It just goes to show you that remaining in the public eye is usually a good thing.

It remains to be seen what the long term affect will be on either organization but for now there are lessons to be learned.

Successful PTA Fundraisers don’t happen by accident. They happen for a reason.

Most successful PTA fundraisers begin and end with parents who are. So the fact of the matter is that it might make more sense to work on developing a group of parents who are involved with your school before you worry about fundraising ideas. The problem is that this is much easier said than done. Much.

The fact of the matter is that fewer parents have the time or desire to be as involved with their children’s schools as they once did. There are lots of contributing factors here but the one that stands out the most is that more and more households depend on two incomes now than ever before. That means there are far fewer stay at home parents who have the time to get involved at school.

The other sad fact is that there have always been a small percentage of people willing to volunteer. Where a well run PTA 10 years ago may have had a pool of a dozen dedicated parents who were the engine of the organization that has now become closer to 6 or 8 people. Those are the people who volunteer for lots of other things. They are probably also involved with their kid’s sports and their churches as well. There is only so much time these people have no matter how well intentioned.

So in order to have Successful PTA Fundraisers the PTA board needs to spend its time building its core of volunteers through all means possible. If you have a great core of parents not only will your school fundraising goals more likely be met but all aspects of your school will be improved.

That’s a certainty!

There was a time that Candy School Fundraisers were the most common way to raise money. But that’s changed over the past few years. There’s a few reasons why it is not as common. Some are valid and some not so much.

The biggest reason there’s been a reduction in candy school fundraisers has been school districts that determined youth obesity was caused in part because kids were eating too much candy. Part of their solution was to ban one of the easiest ways to raise money. After all candy fundraising offers products that are extremely affordable and well received. And even though only a small portion of candy sold during the fundraiser was actually consumed by the students many districts felt compelled to appear to be taking action.

Another reason that candy school fundraisers started shrinking was that the candy bars being sold were also shrinking. At first it was rather startling. Hershey fundraising candy was offering bars that were sold more inexpensively in vending machines. That is no longer the case. Hershey got smart and created a larger candy bar for their fundraising products line and it corrected the dilemna of discount stores selling candy cheaper than the school could purchase candy for.

Finally lots of schools chose to avoid candy fundraisers because they had to commit to a certain amount of candy. Pricing was based on the number of cases a school purchased so the tendency sometimes was to overbuy. The mistake was not intentional. It was just hard to accurately predict sales. And if you got a better price for buying a few more cases many people tended to error on the high side. But that meant that there was unsold candy which would seriously eat into profits.

Interestingly, though, now that there are few candy school fundraisers being held it might make more sense now to hold one. After all there is not the competition there once was and the fact of the matter is that most people eat candy bars now and then.

I just got off the phone with someone asking for Unique Fundraising Ideas and it got me thinking about whether there really were unique fundraising ideas or had most every idea been done before.

I probably should have just answered the question but decided to pursue the conversation with the caller to see what they were really looking for. It turns out they were not so much looking for a unique fundraiser as they were looking for something different than what the believed every other fundraising group in their town was selling.

So we talked about that. At the time she know other groups holding cookie dough fundraisers and promoting candy fundraising so she knew she did not want to do those. So we talked about unique fundraising ideas that she had not considered.

Interestingly she had never considered something like a flower bulb fundraiser. In fact when we talk to people about good fundraisers for the spring and fall we oftentimes suggest flower bulbs because they are competitively priced, relatively inexpensive and attractive products. Besides, more and more people like the idea of healthier fundraising and there is certainly nothing unhealthy about flower bulbs.

We continued the conversation and discussed some online tools that sound good but rarely deliver the outcome one would expect. We talked about the different options of fundraising products that could be sold. In that conversation we touched on lollipop fundraisers using seasonal shapes that made them unique to the time of year.

At the end of the conversation the woman decided on a flower bulb fundraiser but I came to realize that there may not be many truly unique fundraising ideas left. If you have any to share I’d love to hear about them.

One of the best ways to insure spectacular attendance at fundraising events is to have a celebrity attend or even speak to your group.

The Restoration, a faith-based event sponsored by the New Hope Gospel Church youth ministry program Extreme Fire, has been holding a fundraising event for 5 years. This year they expect to break all records.

They are bringing in Tim Tebow to speak to their group.

So how do you go about attracting celebrities to your fundraiser? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Look for local celebrities that personally know your organization or group. Possibilities include local television personalities, radio deejays, athletes or actors that grew up in your town or city. Since those people have roots in your community they will most likely not be as difficult to contact. Tracking down friends or family members is a possibility. As for on air personalities, those people are easy to locate.

When you contact the celebrity make sure you let them know why they would personally impact support for your group. We all have egos. Let them know they can make the difference and why. Be as compelling as possible.

2. Contact a talent agency. Talent agencies represent potential speakers and other celebrities. While most have engagement fees many will help charitable efforts that line up with their personal beliefs. You should obviously weigh the impact your desired speaker will have on fundraising efforts. Will the appearance raise a substantially higher amount of money? If so would that more than cover the cost of the celebrity?

While its not possible for many groups to get nationally known people to attend their event you might be surprised at speakers and attendees that can impact your fundraising results.

There are different school fundraising cookie dough companies and different school fundraising cookie dough products you can choose as you probably already know. So how do you choose the best option?

Start with the easy decision. Do you want to sell frozen cookie dough or something that does not require refrigeration? Most large groups gravitate toward frozen cookie dough fundraisers because that’s what people expect. But there are dry cookie miz fundraisers you can choose from as well. The benefit of the latter is that there is no refrigeration needed which makes distribution a lot easier and less strict time wise.

The next decision is whether you want to sell tube of cookie dough or boxes of preportioned cookie dough. Historically more people have sold tubs. There is no definitive reason why other than its been around much longer. However more and more groups choose preportioned because its much easier on their customer. They can pull a few cookies out of the box, put them in the oven and bake only what they want without thawing the cookie dough or finding a scoop.

Now there is a new program where you can sell frozen cookie dough that is shipped directly to your customer. Many people call it home delivery cookie dough fundraising. Essentially you sell ecoupons that your customer use like gift cards to purchase tubs of cookie dough online. The price per tub is a little higher but it includes shipping. Many groups like the idea that there is really no delivery of products other than the e coupons.

So what is the best school fundraising cookie dough in our opinion?

There is a program where you offer the top selling cookie dough in slightly smaller tubs that sell for only $10 per tub. We believe this is the magic price point where people are more than happy to buy your product. Many of the name brand or national brands sell tubs of cookie dough for $15, $16 or more. Based on feedback we get that price is simply more than people care to spend.

There is an abundance of information available on fundraising ideas all throughout the internet yet people still wonder How to Have a Fundraiser. So let’s chat about that for a few moments.

We hear from lots of people wanting to know if they need to be part of a group to have a fundraiser. Most are surprised to find out that the same programs available to schools and sports teams are available to them. An individual can choose the same school fundraiser as an elementary school might. In fact there are now even cookie dough fundraisers designed for individuals and small groups.

The problem with some fundraising ideas, though, is the minimum order requirements. Many fundraisers require 100 or more items be sold. That’s obviously tough for a single person for a very small group. Other fundraising products are priced based on the number of units you sell. The more you sell the higher your profit on each item. Luckily there are programs like candle fundraisers and flower bulb fundraisers where you make 50% profit on each item regardess of the number of items you sell.

So How to Have a Fundraiser is a lot easier question than it used to be.

The first thing you should do is determine how much money you need to raise and whether you would rather sell a product or not. If you want to sell fundraising products the next question is whether you have money to spend on a product you have on hand or you need to a no upfront cost fundraiser.

Here are a few websites we recommend to help you research different fundraisers. They are also the best place to start your fundraiser:

1. Easy Fundraising Ideas

2. Fast Track Fundraising

3. Go Green Fundraising

4. Buy for Charity Fundraising

There are lot of times Community Fundraising becomes a lifeblood to need people and families. That happens quite often when members of a community rally around a family with extraordinary medical expenses or needs.

You read stories like the following all the time:

“After 11-year-old Logan Baugher listened to his doctor say his leukemia had returned, he turned to his mother and said, “Did they just tell us they were going to send me home to die?” Unsure of exactly what the doctors had just told him, but faced with news that would be overwhelming for an adult, much less a child, Logan held fast. Today, the courageous young man continues to fight.

The treatment includes negative ion therapy and a regiment of vitamins and nutrients that will allow Logan to grow stronger. However, insurance will not pay for the treatment. People across Limestone County are already rallying around the Baugher family. A number of fundraisers have been planned in Logan’s honor and an account set up in his name at Compass Bank. “

So what do people do when community fundraising becomes the only option? The fact is they do just about anything. But here are some suggestions:

1. Lots of people will get local businesses to put our collection bottles and ask for donations.

2. Local restaurants might be willing to donate a percentage of sales of nights set aside as fundraisers the cause.

3. Consider putting together a discount card fundraiser. You sign up local businesses who advertise on a card designed with the community fundraising need in mind. The discounts are good for a year. This is typically one of the highest profit fundraising ideas available.

4. Consider selling a good old fashioned brochure fundraising item. People gladly support cookie dough fundraisers, candle fundraisers and more. The good thing about these fundraisers is that they cost no money to start.

There are lots of ways to rally around community fundraising campaigns. And that’s a comfort to the families who find no where else to turn other then their community in their time of need.

Yankee Candle Fundraising has become a popular option for groups wanting to raise money. But is it the best candle fundraiser for your group?

The answer to the question depends on your expecations of fundraising. How much profit do you think is reasonable? How much money will people pay for fundraising candles? Will the name brand help you sell more candles?

Let’s walk briefly walk through those questions.

1. How much profit is reasonable? Yankee Candle fundraising programs offer 40% profit. That’s not bad but frankly it is lower than most groups have come to expect and even demand when they sell products. Depending on the size of your group you could and should expect 50% profit from most fundraising ideas – especially a candle fundraiser. Here is a link to higher profit candle fundraisers.

2. How much money will people pay for a fundraising candle? Yankee candles sell for $24 each. While that is close to the retail price people pay for Yankee candles it is well above the prime fundraising price points. Historically people like to pay $10 or $12 for a fundraising candle. Anything higher can seriously impact the number of candles you sell. One would suspect that higher prices would allow for higher profits so before choosing a Yankee Candle fundraising program realize that their candles are priced higher than other candle fundraising programs.

3. Will the name Yankee Candle help me sell more candles? The name Yankee Candles is one of the most respected names in the candle industry. No doubt about it. But does that translate into higher sales? We do not know of any studies that definitively answer that question. What we do know is that in tight economic conditions people are sensitive to how they spend their money. While some people might be more attracted to the name brand we believe people will purchase more candles when the prices are lower. Combine that with higher profit margins available on other fundraising products we come to the conclusion that profits are the main goal of fundraising and should be considered when choosing your candle fundraiser.

There are lots of people looking for ideas for church fundraisers and there are as many ideas as people looking.

So how do you choose the best fundraising ideas?

We believe there is one basic question that needs to be answered first and then you can choose the right fundraiser. Ask yourself if you or your group has money to purchase a fundraising product that you can sell or not. If you don’t there are as many options available to you but the concept is different in many ways.

Let’s assume you do not have any money to start. You should choose among the different pre sell fundraisers like candle fundraising, cookie dough fundraising or flower bulb fundraising. They all work basically the same way. You choose your program and order free brochures and order forms for each member of your group. They use those sales materials to pre sell products and collect the money during the selling process. At the end of your sale you can use the money to pay for your bulk order.

One of the top candle fundraisers is called Journey of Faith Candles fundraising. The candle labels are all based on well known scriptures and sell very well with faith-based groups.

If you have money to spend then there are other ideas for church fundraisers that offer higher profits.

Church groups with money will find they can make up to 90% profit with discount card fundraisers. There are tons of options here so we know you can find a product your audience will gravitate towards. There are pizza fundraising cards, portrait studio cards and other discount cards. These card are customized for your group, are easy to sell, offer great value to your supporters and extremely high profits to your group.

The other ideas for church fundraisers for groups with some money to spend are the old tried and proven candy fundraisers and lollipop fundraisers that are the easiest fundraising ideas as far as administration goes.

So before searching for church fundraising ideas we suggest you decide whether you have money to spend in advance and whether you are willing to spend it and then go from there.