If you ask your team to sell crappy, cheap bracelets – your fundraisers suck.
If you have them stand in the middle of the street promoting half-naked car washes – your Fundraisers suck.
If you ever lost money on a fundraiser – your fundraisers suck.
If you have them selling over-priced chicken sandwiches that a company dropped off in a cow outfit and they are called and you had to pay upfront and promised you all the revenues after you cover your expenses – and then it rains and nobody shows up to the football game where you were selling them….
If you are helping your local sports team hock their worst seats to their lowest-attended games (usually on school nights… at like 8 p.m. on a Tuesday! Go team) – well, you get the picture.
Point is this. Some companies think schools are stupid. Not the physical building, but you.
I know that stings and it hurts me too but you have to address the issue here. They know you are over-worked and under-appreciated. Stressed out and underpaid. You don’t have the time and resources to sit around making cold calls to raise money or the energy to develop amazing fundraisers that will get television coverage. So these companies sit around board rooms and come up with programs that have you sell their product, service, or brand for them and you see what minimalism truly is.
Here’s why they love you:
You’re Kids are Great Salespeople – they are free labor and (mostly) cute. In the business world, you can’t hire and fire by looks and, let’s face it, the older we get the uglier we are. You also definitely won’t get buy in the business world having somebody peddle your wares for free. But somebody came up with the word fundraising and the tables were cleared.
There’s a “Cause” Involved - Cause Marketing is, according to Alden Keene’s definition of cause marketing: “a relationship that bridges commerce and cause in ways that benefit both parties.”
This is only true to a point. When a company asks you to sell yo-yo’s to raise money for your tennis program and they’re going to give you 2% of all the profits (after they take out their marketing and shipping costs) and you have to handle:
• Distributing all the product to the students
• Promoting the fundraiser with signage, etc
• Keeping track of the inventory
• Handling the cash
• Handling unsold product
• Taking the risk
It’s not worth it. And, to boot, at the end of it all, you and your team invested dozens of hours and maybe even some money up front for $26 dollars.
The Cone Millennial Cause Study in 2006 showed that 89% of Americans (aged 13 to 25) would switch from one brand to another brand of a comparable product (and price) if the latter brand was associated with a "good cause".
Companies know that they need to align with a cause. I’m just saying be selective. The company you partner with is going to walk-away with many benefits while you burden the cost and responsibility of making the program go.
Free media exposure (they may not give you much money but they’ll pay their PR firm plenty to ensure that every media outlet in town is there when the program starts, when it finishes, and when the big fake check gets presented to your school). Some companies do this with poor communities and there is actually a name for this: Poverty-pimping. When you see those photo opp’s of politicians reading to an impoverished kid in a poor neighborhood; that’s poverty-pimping.
Free brand alignment with your school and your highly-desirable parent (consumer) Companies love getting their product in your hands or in the hands of your students or in the hands of your parents as much as car companies love getting you to sit in their car.
Solutions to improve your fundraisers –
One At A Time – Do not do multiple fundraisers at one time. If you can prevent it, don’t do a fundraiser overlapping with another group’s fundraiser either. Keep it simple and don’t dilute your message.
Brand alignment – Align your school or program with an appropriate and established company. That hurts your schools and destroys the value of your brand. That’s right… imagine you are Nike or the Yankees. They aren’t going to align with something that doesn’t fit what they want you to think about them.
Quit Taking Free Stuff – Companies will give you free stuff and then you’re in their pocket. Anytime they can go around giving your school real money, they most likely will.
Demand a base fee – Ask companies for a set minimum donation up front. If you don’t sell the 2,500 bird feeders that they promised you 6.5% of, then you still get X amount of dollars. Put a value on the time it will take your school to distribute the information, the number of people that will receive the information, and how much money the potential partnering company stands to make.
Look, I’m not saying get greedy but with the pressure and budgetary restraints we’re all under, let’s start getting our fair share. Good luck and, as always, if you have any questions or want additional help, contact me directly at brian_siatkowski@yahoo.com.
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