It’s true that kids really do put the “fun” in fundraising. Whether their goal is to feed hungry families across the globe, or simply buy new uniforms for their softball team, the passion and determination that children bring to your fundraiser can be contagious! The most important thing, of course, is making sure that kids stay safe. In addition, fundraisers are a great chance to teach kids important lessons about responsibility and reaching their goals. Here are five top tips to help your organization’s kids stay safe and smart while fundraising.

1: Don’t Go It Alone

This is the first rule we always tell kids to follow, whether they’re selling value-priced laundry detergent or homemade cookies. Even when selling in their own neighborhoods, children should always sell in groups of two or more. Ideally, children should sell with an adult present, particularly in neighborhoods or situations they are not familiar with.

2: Never Enter a Home

This is another rule that is vital to keeping your kids safe, but can be easy to break in practice. On hot days, people may offer a cold drink or a place to sit for a bit. They may ask kids to step inside for any number of reasons, and these people are probably well intentioned. However, for your children’s safety, it’s important that they understand that they can never, ever enter someone’s home, under any circumstances.

3: Practice Your Pitch

Fundraisers are a great way to teach children the basics of sales, and they should practice their sales pitch for parents and mentors before heading out. This should include identifying the organization they’re with, what the organization does, what the overall goal is and what they’re selling. Once they know what they need to say, they can put it into practice – even if they’re a bit nervous at first!

4: Stay Organized

Learning to stay organized while selling can be challenging for kids, which is why quality fundraising campaigns always offer customized forms that make tracking orders and deliveries easy. Make sure kids know what information needs to be filled out on the form. It’s also important to have a designated spot for payments, and to track them as they come in carefully so there’s no confusion later on.

5: Be Accountable

Lastly, fundraisers are an awesome opportunity for parents and leaders to teach kids how to be accountable. Many kids are excited when they start fundraising, but find themselves a little less excited down the line. If they’ve set a personal goal, make sure they understand the importance of continuing to work towards it. Also, as representatives of your non-profit, make sure they understand the importance of keeping their word. If they tell supporters they will deliver their product in a certain time window, it’s important for them to keep their word, even if they don’t necessarily feel like doing it.

Fundraisers are a great way to earn money for sports and trips while teaching kids important safety and life skill lessons they won’t get in day to day life. By following these simple rules, kids can stay safe while reaching goals and supporting a great cause.

Whether you’re a new non-profit organization, or you’ve been around for years, one of the most important things you can do for your long-term success is create solid foundations for fundraising. No matter what your organization’s goals are now and for the future, one thing will remain the same: your need for loyal and committed supporters to help your non-profit get where you want it to go.

The recurring need for fundraising is something that can create a bit of anxiety. After all, your organization is dependent on those funds, and there always seems to be an element of uncertainty to each fundraising campaign. What fundraising method should you use? Will you reach your goals? What will happen if you don’t? By building and maintaining solid fundraising foundations, you can reduce that uncertainty and increase your non-profits overall stability.

So, what is a solid fundraising foundation? Imagine that you are a farmer, because farmers have a lot in common with fundraisers in this regard. At the end of the season, the farmer needs to have a healthy and abundant crop, just like your organization needs to end its next fundraising campaign with a healthy infusion of funds. Now imagine this same farmer standing in his field at harvest time – and there is nothing to harvest, except for a few scraggly plants that came back on their own, because he didn’t plant any seeds.

Many non-profits take this approach to raising funds without even thinking about it. Although they’ve been in the community for months or even years, the donors or potential supporters that they approach may never have even heard about them or what they do. This should absolutely not be the case! Your non-profit is an important part of the community, no matter what you do or who you help, and it’s important that you plan accordingly.

Community members want to give and they want to help great causes succeed – they just need to know about them first. If you approach someone, asking that they help support your organization, they are far more likely to do so if they already know who you are, what you do and how you impact their community. You need to already be in their minds before the fundraiser, so they will feel confident when supporting you financially.

Creating a fundraising foundation and increasing awareness sounds great, but how do you get there? While spreading the word may sometimes have costs associated with it, such as placing an add or printing off flyers, you will be surprised at what you can accomplish with a little creative thinking. At the beginning of the year, or when you start your non-profit, consider spreading a flyer around your community that explains who you are and some of the recent, great things you’ve done. Did your junior league team make it to the playoffs? Great! Did your food bank feed 200 families over the holidays? Great! It doesn’t matter what you accomplished. What matters is letting people know.

In addition to this, consider other easy ways to spread the word. Volunteer to help out at local events as representatives of your non-profit, and wear t-shirts with your logo while doing it. Contact your local paper and tell them your story – they might be willing to feature your group, or at least do a short write up about you.

When fundraising time comes around, regardless of what you’re selling or how you’re campaigning, more of the people you contact will already know about you. Making sure your non-profit is widely seen as a valuable part of the community will make you more available to those who need you, and open you up to greater support from the people in your area overall.

For every great cause, there are the funds needed to keep it going. Nonprofits are called “nonprofits” for a reason – we do good things, things that usually don’t pay for themselves. Whether you run a local sports team, community theatre or food bank, fundraising not only keeps you running – it shapes what and how much you can do, making it a vital part of your operations. As you already know, every dollar counts, and every fundraising campaign is carefully planned. Whether your fundraiser involves selling event tickets or laundry detergent, knowing how to use online resources can provide a significant boost to your bottom line.

The Internet, and social media in particular, has an amazing ability to spread information to a wider audience than previous generations could have even imagined. As part of a nonprofit, it only makes sense to use all of the resources available to you, and the majority of online promotional opportunities for nonprofits cost absolutely nothing! That means sales derived from your online presence will generally have no cost for your agency and, therefore, will represent pure profit.

So how do you get started? If your nonprofit doesn’t have a Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter account, then you should set one up immediately. People love hearing about the good things that good causes are doing, especially in a social media feed filled with negativity. From a fundraising perspective, you need to be building up your relationships with your supporters all year long. Not only do people love hearing about good causes, they also want to know that the causes they support are actually doing good things. If they have regular evidence that you are making a difference, they will be much more likely to say “yes” during any fundraiser.

A good rule of thumb for Facebook updates is twice a week, at least. If you have noteworthy updates more often, then be sure to post them! It’s a good idea to post photos with descriptions of what’s going on to really catch the attention of your supporters and make them feel truly involved. However, if you don’t have any big updates with photos, just make sure to post something that is positive and keeps your nonprofit in their thoughts. Twitter and Instagram update intervals can vary, depending on what you have to say, the tone you want to set and how many photos your particular nonprofit produces regularly.

When your fundraiser comes along, you will be perfectly positioned to not only gain funds from your supporters, but get their help in spreading the word. Let me emphasize just how incredible this is – an email from a friend or family member letting them know that your incredible organization needs help can be more effective than a dozen emails from you. It can not only increase your fundraising sales, but increase your online followers, which is a cycle that will help your nonprofit grow exponentially in the coming years.

For most non-profits, the only people who will see your organization’s Facebook updates and content are those who have specifically “liked” your Facebook page. This leaves many non-profits in a difficult situation – how do you get followers and, once you do, how do you increase the size of the audience you’re reaching? Facebook is a powerful tool for businesses and non-profits today, and we have great news: it is possible to get into the Facebook game from scratch and grow your online support for a healthier, more robust organization.

So, you’ve carefully created a beautiful and informative Facebook page to represent your group and what you do. Start off by asking your staff members, volunteers, friends and family to like your page. This will expand your page’s visibility, especially as those who have followed your page “like” and comment on your content and updates.

Next, you should work to connect your current supporters to your Facebook presence. Bring up the records from your most recent fundraiser (and maybe even the one before it). Look to see if those supporters or their businesses have Facebook pages. If they do, reach out to them via Facebook and ask that they “like” your page. If you cannot find your prior donors on Facebook, it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have a page. For these supporters, you should email a request asking that they follow your new Facebook page. You’ll be surprised at how much exposure you’ll get from these simple requests.

Another great idea is linking; by providing links to your Facebook page on your website and in every email, you’re giving people who want to follow you an easy way to do so. With millions and millions of Facebook pages out there, it’s also a good idea to cross-promote with other non-profits in your area. Ask them to link to and share your updates, and do the same for them. It will benefit both of your organizations and, once again, there’s no cost to either of you to do so.

The important thing when launching and growing your Facebook presence is to not get discouraged. Growing your audience will take time, but it will reap great rewards for your cause. Make sure that your content is useful, compelling and relates to what you do. When it’s time for your fundraising campaigns, be sure to use your new Facebook platform to spread the word and boost sales. For instance, if your organization takes part in our great laundry detergent fundraiser, make sure you include information about the quality, pricing and value of the product – as well as why you’re raising the funds.

Facebook and other social media sites offer non-profits just like yours an easy, accessible and affordable way to increase awareness and raise more funds, so you can do more of a good thing.

So the new year has begun, and the incredible fundraising boost that December brings is over. If you’re like many non-profit groups, you probably think that January and February are among the worst months of the year to launch a fundraising campaign. People are still recovering from all of the year end craziness, and many are a bit financially shell shocked after spending so much money on expensive gifts for friends and family – things that they would never splurge on for themselves. The whole thing tends to understandably make people a bit twitchy, but there are unique advantages to fundraising during these early months.

When you’re involved with a non-profit, regardless of what it is, you understand that your organization’s funding needs don’t stop when the ball drops at midnight. You still have to pay all the day to day administration costs and support the needs of the people you’re serving, whether it’s new softball uniforms or restocking the shelves of your food pantry. As a fundraiser, it’s your job to think creatively. The early months of the year are a great time to start knocking out your organization’s resolutions with an infusion of funds. Here’s how:

You Won’t Get Lost in the Clutter

November and December are considered magical months for fundraising. Many people plan on giving during this period, and even set aside money for it. It puts them in an attitude of giving, which is a wonderful thing. However, because of this, nearly every non-profit organization – local, national and global – runs an annual campaign during the holiday season. During a holiday fundraising effort, then, your team will have to work extra hard to stand out from the crowd and make sales or get donations. If you choose to start a campaign in January or February, the focus will be on your organization.

Make More Connections

Have you ever gone door to door, and knocked on ten doors that all went unanswered? Or called twenty five potential donors, and only talked to four of them? If you have, you know how unbelievably frustrating it can be. During the holidays, it can be even harder to reach people, as they hurry about shopping, attending parties and heading off to school pageants. During January and February, people tend to be a little bit more responsive. Overall, I’ve found that people are more likely to answer the door or their phone. They’re a bit more likely to listen, and that gives you the opportunity to make your pitch.

Catch the Late Givers

The holidays truly do put most people in a giving spirit, but consider this – while they want to support the organizations they support, they are also spending a significant amount of money on gifts for friends and loved ones. In all honesty, those who want to support your organization may not have been able to. By approaching your supporters in January and February, once they’ve had a chance to financially recover from year-end giving, you are giving them an opportunity that they missed out on at the end of the year. They can feel good about supporting a great cause, and your organization can benefit from the infusion of funds during what is usually a slow time of year.

If your non-profit missed out on year end fundraising, or you simply have goals that still need to be met, a fundraising campaign in January and February is a creative and innovative idea. This is especially true if your fundraiser involves meeting your supporters needs, and not just their wants. While a surprising number of people are open to giving early in the year, it is true that they probably don’t want another canister of flavored popcorn or overpriced candles. Offering a value-priced necessity – like trash bags or laundry detergent – will get a higher response ratio and benefit everyone. Good Clean Fundraising offers a great line of high-quality liquid laundry detergent that will actually save your supporters money, which is an easy sell at this time or year. However your organization chooses to raise funds, don’t be afraid to get out there and make the most of these early-year fundraising advantages!

People love supporting a good cause, but they hate wasting money.

This may seem like common sense, but it’s something that many non-profits don’t consider when they are deciding what product to sell as part of their fundraiser. Maybe it doesn’t seem to matter. After all, they’re mostly buying to support your organization, right? Right, but you want them to feel good about supporting your group and about the product they’re receiving in exchange. If they buy something from you that they do not want or need, they are still going to feel good about supporting you, but they’ll feel bad about the portion of the money that went to something they’ll never use. As a fundraiser, you want them to feel good about their entire experience with your organization, from order to delivery and beyond.

The product that they need or want at any given time will vary based on person to person, but also on other factors, like the season. When you look at the campaign from your supporters’ point of view and plan accordingly, you’ll maximize your sales and reach your fundraising goals much more quickly. Even more importantly, you’ll have happy supporters – and happy supporters are repeat supporters. So how should you decide what (and when, and where) to sell?

What you’re selling will be – or should be – largely determined by when and where. If you are going to sell items that make great gifts, such as candles and décor, doing so before a big holiday will boost your sales tremendously. The same can be said for selling foods like cakes, cookies, bread and pizza. Selling these items around a big holiday, like before the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving, will boost your sales as people can easily justify the purchase for upcoming events.

Fundraiser-savvy organizations also know how to create great opportunities, and this is where the “where” comes in. Let’s use lemonade stands as an example, as everyone likes to support children in their first business foray. Many children naturally set up their first lemonade stands in front of their houses. This tends to make parents cringe, as houses that are not on a main thoroughfare may get no traffic at all. But what if that same child set her lemonade stand up at a local park on a warm spring day?

This same way of thinking can be applied to fundraising sales. Get creative. If you can get permission, set up a stand selling fruit, baked goods or drinks at the finish line of your community 5K. Sell popsicles and iced drinks at a local park. Sell laundry detergent at a local laundromat – people will already be thinking about it, and it will be an easy sell when you explain the price difference between what they’re using and what your organization is selling. Remember, getting permission from the right people or agencies is important, as your organization’s goal is always to build bridges, and never to burn them.

Once you start thinking outside of the traditional fundraising box, you’ll be surprised at the many opportunities you can find to help your non-profit reach its financial goals.

Laundry Detergent Fundraiser –  Savings You Can Support

If you are looking for an effective solution to raising funds for your cause, you need to consider a laundry detergent fundraiser. The truth is, fundraising can be a challenging task. Here is something to consider. Whether you are operating a business or a non-profit organization, there is one simple key to success. You must fill a need. It is imperative that you are offering solutions to a problem or a product that fills a void. People work hard for their money. Most people do not mind supporting a cause, but you can certainly seal the deal if you offer them an effective product that saves them money. A laundry soap fundraiser does exactly that.

For the third year in a row a student/parent group in Wapato WA raised over $7500 using our laundry detergent fundraising program.  Consistently selling over 500 buckets of liquid laundry soap has proven to be a great and profitable fundraiser for this organization.  We  are happy to be a part of your annual fundraising program.  Great Job!!

Good Clean Fundraising based in Fredericksburg Va is changing the way Schools, Youth Athletics, Churches and Non Profits raise funds. The product is a liquid laundry detergent which is a staple on most shopping lists already. The laundry detergent fundraiser has been extremely successful with many schools and youth sports organizations raising between $10,000 to $20,000 or more.

The Laundry Detergent Fundraiser was voted Best Fundraising program for Schools, Churches
and Youth Athletics Organizations in a recent opinion poll. The company Good Clean Fundraising based in Fredericksburg VA provides a highly effective and profitable fundraising program for Schools, Youth Groups, Athletic Organizations, Churches, basically anyone that needs a fresh new approach to raising money. They sell a private label liquid laundry detergent that is similar to the big name brands at a fraction of the cost, manufactured by one of the largerdetergent manufacturers in the US.

Their fundraisers are different than most because they have a focus on selling Value Priced Necessity items which parents, neighbors and family were ALREADY going to purchase anyway. In contrast to the typical fundraising programs that schools and youth groups put on usually involve selling overpriced candy, cookie dough, etc.. and the parents purchase these things that they really don’t want or need in an effort to support the organization. The worst part is that the company supplying these items is most times making a larger profit than the group doing all the work.

The Laundry Detergent Fundraising Program provides a customized order form with the logo of the organization so that it can be printed out and distributed to all fundraiser participants. The profit margin is one of the best aspects of our program as it allows for your group to keep a large percentage of the sale price. Most smaller groups find that raising $3,000 – $5,000 is very realistic by following our program and larger groups have raised in excess of $25,000 in as little as 3 weeks time.

The Laundry Detergent Fundraiser has had enormous success with different groups. Another benefit of using Laundry Detergent fundraising program is that the company Good Clean Fundraising serves as a tremendous resource and guide in helping ensure the fundraiser is a tremendous success. From tips to achieve maximum participation to a Social Media campaign that we will help facilitate high participation.