<p>As soon as school starts, I need to start a coffee fundraiser to help raise money for the debate club so we can go on competitions for the first time since the 1990's. Im so souped!!!!!!! </p>
<p>The thing with the fundraiser im trying to do is that people would never buy coffee that they can't actually taste. Do you know what i mean? The people would have a list of flavors to choose from but they would have to wait a couple weeks to get the coffee which might be a turnoff. I hope this is making sense. Here is the website for a better reference of what im talking about: javajoesroasting.com
The company that agreed to partner with my club is the Java Joe's Roasting Company.
I need help please.</p>
<p>Well I’m glad to help you with as much as i can but, first how is this fundraiser work, can you get me the details of it like, how you plan on giving out the coffee to the people, how you’re getting the people to buy the coffee? stuff like that would be helpful.</p>
<p>^well the Company will give us free brochures containing flavors etc to give out to people in my school and then let the people decide on what they want (thats what i love about this company–there aren’t any upfront costs). The fundraiser will run for two weeks. But i need help in what context i will do that in? Im mean, can i just give out the brochures during class? Lunch? What’s appropriate? How about school events? I run the debate club and from what i know, there will be about 4-5 people willing to help.
After the 2 week campaign is done, all the orders will be placed and the coffee will be distributed to the people that ordered them. Do you think that the people waiting for two weeks might actually convince them to not buy coffee?</p>
<p>I HATE the fundraisers in which students sell overpriced products that I don’t want. I think most people hate those kind of fundraisers.</p>
<p>I don’t think that students will want to buy coffee. If they drink coffee, they drink what their parents buy. I’m guessing the only people who’d buy the coffee would be the parents of the debate students, and a few sympathetic teachers.</p>
<p>If you want to do a fundraiser, I suggest doing bake sales and car washes. They may sound cliche and boring, but people tend to be happy to buy bake goods and to get their cars washed. People don’t feel ripped off by such fundraisers, and you wouldn’t have to worry about paperwork, deliveries, etc.</p>
<p>If you want to do a creative fundraiser, then do a teacher talent show. It would take a lot of work to organize it, but more than likely it would draw a big crowd and be a fun event.</p>
<p>Okay it’s just that the reviews i’ve read online on coffee fundraisers went really well (like 2K dollars raised). A teacher talent show huh? That’s assuming teachers would want to do it in front of a crowd. IDK wouldn’t that make it more vulnerable for them to be embarrassed.</p>
<p>To raise funds of $200 at $5 a unit while only keeping 50% of your revenue, you will need to sell 80 coffees.</p>
<p>Now let’s put this into perspective. If you manage to sell a coffee to 25 school staff (my public school has 50 staff members), that’s a 50% success rate. Extremely good as far as sales records go. (I am also being optimistic. Expect sales successes to be in the neighborhood of one buyer for every ten/twenty people, give or take a few depending on the socioeconomic status of your community.)</p>
<p>70 to go. The rest needs to be pitched to students, parents, and family/community members. Considering that many students do not drink coffee (you’d be better off hustling coke. Don’t do that lol), your best bet is parents/family&community members.</p>
<p>Even then, 70 units to be sold is unrealistic. You better be pretty damn convincing or you will not meet your $200 goal.</p>
<p>While I have never pitched products for fundraisers (not unique, not entertaining, not convincing, and little potential), I have a good grasp of the general buying market behaviors, and I will be the first to say that commercial fundraisers are not set to raise a lot of money. Unless you are willing to lose a piece of your dignity (begging others to buy, calling and annoying people with your sales pitch), have extensive family relationships, or have a strong network of people who are willing to stick up for your product, I discourage commercial fundraisers.</p>
<p>Especially if you don’t have an actual product to show/taste, you will have a hard time raising $200.</p>
<p>^How about door-to-door selling? I think people in my community would be willing to buy coffee especially considering the flavors the company is willing to offer. I don’t care if door-to-door selling is dangerous. People in community are chill. We’ve never had a situation like that before anyways.</p>
<p>"Okay it’s just that the reviews i’ve read online on coffee fundraisers went really well (like 2K dollars raised). A teacher talent show huh? That’s assuming teachers would want to do it in front of a crowd. IDK wouldn’t that make it more vulnerable for them to be embarrassed. "</p>
<p>Of course the company is trying to make it sound like everyone is thrilled to buy the coffee. That’s how the company stays in business – getting people like you to sell their overpriced goods.</p>
<p>I HATE being asked to buy stuff like that. I know very few people who want those kind of goods.I knew fewer people who actually enjoy selling such things. When students come to my door trying to sell such goods, I may give them a small donation, but I never buy their stuff. </p>
<p>S tried to organize a teacher talent show at his school. There was NO problem getting teachers and other staff members to participate. Not every staff member wanted to, but there were plenty – including some surprising staffers – who were delighted to have a chance to be hams. The principal – who usually seemed very formal – even was going to volunteer.</p>
<p>The only reason it wasn’t done was that the school board came up with a really boring way to raise funds for the same cause (helping tsunami victims), and wouldn’t let schools do anything creative.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think a teacher/staff talent show would be a great way to raise money and to raise the visibility of the debate club while providing lots of fun for all. Since debate also involves public speaking, the debate club members could practice their skills by serving as emcees.</p>
<p>Coffee isn’t the best choice for a fundraiser, you should try selling things people would want to wait for, people are used to getting coffee like that -snap-, it might discourage people that they will have to wait 2 weeks to get their coffee compared to a 10 minute drive to their local cafe or where ever they go for their coffee. If you really want a effective fundraiser is to ask around first, what do people in your school like?, how much would they be willing to pay for it? There are these factors that come into play when choosing the thing you’re going to sell for a fundraiser. Another reason why coffee isn’t a good fundraising thing is because coffee isn’t really a food people would buy, what i mean by that is that, they would go buy coffee from stores instead of making their own coffee, i’m not saying everyone does this but, some people do because they can afford to keep doing it. Enough about how coffee is bad, let’s see what you can take advantage of now that you’ve chosen coffee.
How big is a bag? </p>
<p>How much is each bag?</p>
<p>What profit do you make from each sale you make? </p>
<p>If you have any favorite teachers that you like or any teachers that seem that they would buy coffee from one of their students try selling coffee to them.</p>
<p>I don’t think a poster would be really effective considering the selling item. Usually people make posters for items that are more expensive. At my school, the senior class ordered American Apparel Hoodie Jackets and they made a lot of money off of it because it was the “cool” thing at that time and they sold them at around $27 per jacket. Is this fundraiser really crucial? Or do you still have time to have another one soon?</p>
<p>^No im just thinking of ideas of fundraiser right now (while i have summer vacation) so that when school immediately starts (around september 6thish) we can get right to it because competitions will be right around the corner.</p>
<p>In general, I hate selling/buying fundraiser items. However, if you are looking for something for a future fundraiser, fall flower bulbs are the easiest thing ever to sell if you are lucky enough to live in a nice area. With the company I used, the bulbs were sold at the same price as people would pay if they ordered them themselves. Bulbs are also something people would look for every year, so you/your school could do it year after year.</p>
<p>If you are going to do the coffee fundraiser, why not have an additional option of buying a pound for the troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. Lots of people might say that they don’t drink coffee, but they might be will ing to buy a pound–or half a pound–to donate. You would have to figure out how to ship it, but I know that there are organizations that will help you with shipping (around here AUSA Assoc. of the U.S. Army groups will help). The conflict has been going on so long that many people kind of forget about it. Heck, you might just turn your fundraiser into a help the troops fundraiser. Good luck.</p>
<p>That would be good also but i don’t want my advisor to think that i have an alterior motive for doing this fundraiser.
It just sounds illogical how im doing the fundraiser for DEBATE club and for TROOPS in Iraq/Afghanistan. It doesn’t “click.” I can tell you one thing, however. My school is suffering from a major budget crisis and most of the clubs are suffering big time because of a loss of budget to use for activities. How about i make the Fundraiser not only for DEBATE club but also the other important clubs in my school? Wouldn’t that be more logical? </p>
<p>On a sidenote, Im so glad Northstarmom, MDMOM, cuo are here to help. You guys are so experienced. Im at a loss of words.</p>