December is that time of year when it seems like everyone is running as fast as they can, but the list of “things to do” never ends. A holiday shop at your school or church may be the answer to shorten that endless list.

Here is what I have seen as a result of running a holiday shop from various perspectives: Students love it!

For many students it may be the first time they experience the thrill of picking out their own gifts for family and friends. The excitement leading up to the day of the shop is contagious. I truly believe there is nothing that can replace the joy in a child’s eye as he or she selects gifts for parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and even pets!

Parents love it! As parents try to complete their own holiday chores what a relief it is for them to know that their child is shopping in a safe, non-commercial setting. A holiday shop is truly a great help during such a hectic time.

I believe most parents would agree that this fundraising event is irreplaceable!

Teachers love it! Many faculty members have used the holiday shop to teach their students about budgeting and spending wisely, but at the same time emphasizing the joy of giving. Our economy has experienced so much turbulence and teaching students the value of money is certainly a necessity.

Fundraising companies may offer the holiday shop to parent groups as either a service to the students or as a fundraiser. In either case, many shop providers offer the gifts on a consignment basis.

However, there are several important questions to have answered before you sign that contract.

1. Who is responsible for the shipping costs?

2. What is the price range of the gifts?

3. Are the items price coded to provide a fast checkout?

4. What is the profitability as a service vs. fundraiser?

5. What additional supplies are provided for free? (gift bags, parent letter, budget envelopes)

Something to consider when exploring school fundraising ideas!

The online magazine fundraising program is a sales fundraiser that can be conducted entirely online, very quickly and easily.  An online magazine fundraiser raises funds when your supporters to purchase a magazine online. Your group gets a free custom website and promotion tools to help encourage people to support the fundraiser by purchasing one or more magazines.

Participants simply collect email addresses of potential supporters anywhere in the US. The online system sends out personalized emails inviting them to order magazines through your own customized website. The company processes and sends all the orders so there’s no money to collect, no items to deliever.

This email campaign allows friends and family from across the United States to support your group by purchasing or renewing their favorite magazines at up to 85% off newsstand prices, while your group keeps 40% of the purchase price.

Frequently Asked Questions About Online Magazine Program:

What size group does the magazine program work best for?

The Online Magazine Program is really unique, as its good for any group size. The key point to having a succesful fundraiser with the program – is entering as many email addresses of people you know as possible.

It’s fast and easy. For example, a choral group of 13 participents, raised over $1300 profit in just a few days – because they all entered emails, and told these people to expect their email.

How many email addresses should be sent to in order to get a good number of magazine sales?

A minimum of 12 emails per person should be entered to get the best results. Also there’s a reward you for doing this – a free movie ticket (as long as they are valid emails, and you sell minimum one magazine). To obtain more email addresses, ask parents to email co-workers, make sure everyone in your group is taking part in the fundraiser, include a link to your store in any existing e-newsletters your group sends out.

What success strategies should people participating in the magazine programs use?

Tell people ahead of time to expect the email, maximise your network of friends and family members, ask them to send emails for your group as well, launch your campaign every couple of months, look to see how much money you will save, by extending your existing subscriptions online to support your group. Saying you have done it yourself is the best way to add credibility to your campaign.

Click Here for more information or to sign-up
or call Toll Free 1-888-778-2580

Online Magazine Fundraising Benefits:

• No door to door selling
• No money to collect
• No delieveries
• 40% Commission on all orders
• Over 650 magazine titles to choose from
• Program can be done fast
• Works for any size non profit group

Combine Fundraisers & Raise More…

It’s easy to combine the online magazine program with other fundraising projects that you’re doing. Since it’s all online there’s very extra work required.

PLUS…just for Step by Step Fundraising Customers…You’ll get free shipping on all chocolate and scratchcard orders when you participate in the online magazine program.

Create an Online Magazine Fundraiser Account – it’s Free!

iGive is an online portal to a wide variety of online merchants. Instead of going directly to the merchant’s online store, members start their online shopping experience at iGive.com.

There are over 650 online stores represented, with at least 1 new store being added every week. Some of the most popular online stores include Lands’ End, Barnes & Noble, Staples, eBay, Target, Dell Computers, The Vitamin Shoppe, Petsmart, QVC and Petco.

With iGive up to 26% of the purchase is donated to charity. The percentage varies by merchant, but one of the great things about iGive is that you know beforehand how much that percentage will be.

Some stores offer flat dollar donations (rather than a percent-of-purchase). This is particularly true for magazine/newspaper subscriptions, financial services, credit cards, loans, and similar services.

Just browse through the mall directory and you can view stores by category or alphabetically, see a description of the store and the donation percentage.

Benefits for Shoppers & Non Profits

iGive is equally concerned about the shopper’s experience and the benefit to non profit organizations. The system is free and simple for both members and organizations to use. Members can support any cause. They can choose from a list of thousands of charities already registered or add a new one.

Besides offering shoppers the ability to help a worthy cause, iGive offers members a steady stream of coupons, sale announcements, and exclusive discounts.

At a conference in July of this year I met Nassim Nazemi, who has been with iGive since 1999 and manages its website content. We talked about the site and how fits into the growing popularity of online shopping.

She points out that, “Whenever possible, we try to partner with stores that have been suggested or requested by our members, dozens of whom write in every week to tell us about stores they’d like to see at iGive.com.”

iGive also adds a layer of comfort and security in what can be an uncertain world of online shopping. Nassim comments that “by partnering only with high-quality, reputable online stores, we’re able to reduce much of the anxiety that online shoppers may experience.”

In fact on the off-chance that you have a bad experience with one of their stores, iGive will jump in and provide an extra level of support to make sure that shoppers receive the proper attention from the store’s customer service folks.

“Our commitment is to the iGive member, and we will discontinue any relationship with a store that proves itself to be unreliable or dissatisfying to our members.”

iGive Helps A Wide Variety of Causes

iGive has advantages over other online malls. Bahareh Sahebi, who works closely with registered causes, said that “sites like Schoolpop and UPromise limit the types of charities which can be supported. In those two cases, it’s limited to educational organizations and money for college.”

In contrast, members of iGive can support any cause in the U.S. or Canada and it doesn’t need to be 501(c)3 to qualify.

Support for the charities that sign up for the service is available in the “Cause Toolbox.” Printable flyers, pre-written emails, graphics and other tools are included to help groups get the word out.

How much can a charity expect to raise using iGive?

Since its inception in 1997, iGive has given over 2 million dollars to worthy causes all across the US and Canada. In fact it has sent checks totaling $374,892.95 for the 2006 year to date.

The amount that individual organizations can raise depends largely on the number of shoppers that participate. iGive estimates that groups receive an average of $20 – $50 per shopper per year.

One thing to keep in mind is that even a seemingly “small” percentage donation on a big ticket item (such as most computers and electronics) will mean a sizeable donation.

To get a better idea, you can view a list of organizations and check amounts sent out over the past 120 days.

Unlike other fundraisers, iGive is more of a long term fundraising program. Checks are issued monthly, 75 days in arrears to allow the merchants time to report merchandise returns. So it may take a few months to start seeing the benefits.

Of course the more people use it, the more funds will be raised. Plus aside from publicizing the program to supporters, there’s really not much work involved. People are shopping online anyway, so why not participate in a system where everyone benefits?

Nassim sums it up by saying, “We’ve found that simply presenting iGive.com as a free, easy, supplemental way to raise funds for the organization is quite effective. In our experience, once folks realize how easily iGive.com works, their only question is “why isn’t everyone doing this?!”