Sorry I don't have any suggestions...but just wanted to say It's good to see you here...I don't think I've seen you here much in awhile....

You must have a real life...lol

patti

Candles do well around here..

Our PTA is going to decide on our fall fundraiser over the summer. Feel free to post your thoughts-good or bad-on various fundraisers. With the economy a candy bar sale wouldn't break anyone. We did Worlds Finest Chocolate a couple of years ago.

Those local 2 for 1 coupon books for local restaurants do well here.

The most successful "unofficial" fundraiser I've done was when my DD was a cheerleader and some of girls wanted to defray uniform costs for their squad. We requested permission from a local grocery store to set up a root beer float and hot dog stand in front of the store. Not only did they let us but when they saw how hard the girls were working at it they donated some of the hotdogs, buns and root beer. It was completely unauthorized so I don't know if it could be done today.

We LOVE the World's Finest Chocolate bars! I'm always willing to buy at least 20 at a time. Then from time to time I'll leave one anonymously on a coworker's desk as a "job well done" treat.

Another fundraiser that's popular at our house is the tubs of Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough.

Around here the Senior Class sells a coupon book every year to help with Project Graduation, local business say what they will give and the books are printed up.

Other popular ones are the Pizza Kits, Cookie Dough and Candles (Home Interiors apparently has a fund raiser, I used to get them every year from the Soccer Kids)

I'll buy anything, but I looooooooove that frozen cookie dough!
:-)

Let me just say I hate to "buy" fundraisers! Elementary school when all the kids were in school would just about break us! Now that only one is left in HS, it is much better. It is usually the parents who have to do the selling. We made the decision to give a donation to the group, team, activity rather than buy more stuff we didn't need. That way all the money was going to the group instead of maybe 25%-40% of what I bought.

That being said, the one thing I did buy recently was one of the sports teams was selling a discount card for local stores. It was $10 and had a huge list of places it could be used. I would buy that again if asked.

One of the best fundraisers I was involved with was just asking for a donation. I don't have the paper anymore, but it was stated in a nice and somewhat humorous way that you wouldn't have to buy anything and ALL the proceeds went to the group.

They raised a great deal of money. No one had to deliver anything and no one had to buy any crap, LOL!! Boy, the response was POSITIVE.

The paper also stated how the monies would be used - and who the parties were that handled the money.

Candles always do good here! I work at a candle shop and we do fundraisers! We have customers/organizations that come back time after time!

Only kind of fund raising I participate in is "riding your bike for a fee". Usually they have routes of 10, 20, 50, 60 or 100 mile distances you can ride. They provide a map, a T-shirt and some rest stops where you can get cookies and drinks.

Cost is between $20.00 and $40.00 except the MS 150. That one is spensive.

But, I haven't done to many of these lately. I really got enough T-shirts. :)

Moni

Here is a link that might be useful: T-shirt ride

I don't like the pizza kits but there are a couple of local pizza companies that I like (they just sell the pizzas frozen, already prepared instead of a kit). I like buying and selling good subs or pretzel sandwiches too. Most people pay for lunch at least every once and a while and don't mind buying them.

I miss the Kid's Book coupon books. They focused on family activities and restaurants. You can still get Entertainment Books but I preferred the Kid's Book.

Our local fire house will run a chicken bbq fundraiser for other organizations. They do the prep and cooking and the organization has to serve it, take the money etc.

I like the $1 each chocolate bars. Hate the wrapping paper and the cookie dough ones.(Too expensive).

#1 favorite-car wash ones where the KIDS actually participate in the fundraising and its not just Mom and Dad begging everyone at work to buy the goods.

~And a big pet peeve of mine is to stick the kids at the stop lights with a bucket and no sign or anything to explain what the money is being raised for. We saw one last week and my husband rolled down the window and asked. It was for state softball tournaments.We did give a dollar because the young lady was respectful and did not roll her eyes at us.LOL

#2 favorite- The restaurant one like McDonald's or Sonic 2 for 1 are a good seller here.

When they bring a form to me for cookie dough or whatever(stuff I do not want) I wish there was an option to donate a flat amount to the SCHOOL or ORGANIZATION instead of my buying more expensive
stuff I do not need.

That being said Congrats to Jewels for volunteering! Most people no longer want to help with anything but they all want to sit back and criticize the ones who "will" help.
I hope you find just the right fundraiser that makes you all the money you need for the soccer team.

I agree with the candy bars! They go fast--

Donna (^_^)

Blue and Gold Sausage sells itself here. It's an Oklahoma based company, but the website says it is also in Kansas and a couple of other states. They sell sausage, bacon, and chicken strips. The product is really good and the prices aren't all that much more than buying from the store. After people discover the product, they will willingly buy more.

I've seen a few different groups selling. A group I participate in finds a local grocery store to volunteer freezer space. Then all of the parents come on that day during a set couple of hours to the grocery store to pick up the product. The main drawback to selling a frozen product is that you either have to have freezer space or you have to deliver that day. If you sell it to coworkers, you need freezer space at work where they can keep it after they sell it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue and Gold sausage.

We loooooooooooooove our Blue and Gold!

I don't like any of them and refuse to participate when the kids bring that stuff home. It's lightened up some but when they were in grade school it was a continuous thing and very annoying.

The only thing I don't mind is Girl Scout cookies. All I did this year was mention that Lauren was going to sell the remaining cookies that one night with her troop at Krogers and I had a ton of orders from my co-workers. They had already ordered from someone else at work too before this. I didn't feel like I was shoving it down their throats.

One year I got a thing from one of the kids' schools for selling frozen dinners. How stupid, I have a little bitty freezer, now where am I going to store them?

Something I organized in our Junior year in High School was a Silent Auction night-to raise funding for our Senior Washington trip.
We had 10 parents act as team chairmen and divided the classmates amongst them. Being our school was a jointure of 4 neighboring small towns-the teams went to their assigned towns & asked for new merchandise from the stores in their town. We asked for items from $20 and up-perhaps discontinued items, etc. WELL..one place gave us a boys and a girls bicycle!
The night of the silent auction, held in our school gym-we served soda, coffee and baked goods (all donated). We raised an incredible amount of money.

The one "card" that I DO buy every year is sold by the Highschool Football team. It's $10, and using it once or twice will pay for it, but we have it for a whole year, so I definately get my monies worth out of it.
The Softball/Baseball program sells this awful one for $20, I refuse to buy that one, because it's for places we'd never use.

Here's a few of our "deals":
Dairy Queen buy one small blizzard get 1 free (2nd most used "deal" in my house.)
Cinemas~buy 1 matinee get one free M-Th though
Dean's Sports~(skateboard, snowboard, bikes) 20% off non sale items
Papa Murphy's Family size 1 topping for 7.99 (I use this one alot)
Pizza/Bowling place Buy 1 game, get one free
Baskin Robbins, buy 1 single cone get one free
Fitness Center, 1/2 price enrollment fee, buy 1 get 1 free tan or 50cents off a smoothie
Blue Fox Drive In~$1 off movie or go kart
Plus there is another 7 or 8 deals

Around here, the thing that makes the most money for the littlest effort is carwashes.. anywhere from 300-1000 in a day.

Here is a link that might be useful: Elite fundraising~ the company that makes the card

The "pizza kits" I've seen here are from a local shop you order them, you opt to get a coupon to go pick it up, or have it delivered.

That being said, the one thing I did buy recently was one of the sports teams was selling a discount card for local stores. It was $10 and had a huge list of places it could be used. I would buy that again if asked. Terri mentioned this too. We always buy one of these cards because DH can get free coffee each time he stops for gas, so it is well worth the $10.

I don't mind the cookie dough, pizzas and candy bars ... but I hate the wrapping paper and trinket stuff (it's all like dollar store stuff, just not dollar store prices lol).

I'm not big on buying overpriced candles, chocolate, wrapping paper or pizzas. I don't really mind the coupon books -- if it's the first year and people aren't clued in yet that they don't really use them all that often. I would personally really just prefer to give/pay extra money rather than see part of the profit go to a fundraising company.

I'm bigger into fundraising activities that include a fun activity rather than an overpriced item. Auction, trivia nights, etc. may take a lot of work, but often bring in some big bucks. A friend of mind did a "mice races" night with a silent auction on the side for her kids BB team. I think they earned a lot of money but you would need some help and people that would want to come. Is the soccer team tied to a school or church? You may be able to set up a 50/50 or other type of raffle at a major school event to bring in some money. What about a used book fair type thing? Selling cakes/cookies after church? Again, these may be for bigger groups, but I would way rather just give my kids team $30 bucks than have to fork out $75 for some candles to help raise the same $30.

How much are you looking to raise? Have you thought of corporate sponsors for the team? Anyway, I bet because the scale of it, you'll just go with like candy or pizzas or something, but be sure to give the parents the option to just buy out of the fundraiser and pay the amount needed. Many parents nowadays really prefer to go that route.

Whatever you decide to do, please give people the option of donating without buying.

I don't want candy bars, cookie dough, or coupon books, but I do like to support the kids. I have offered to write a check to their organization rather than buying the stuff, but have only occasionally been taken up on the offer. I think that's because no one prepared the kids on how to react to that offer.

Good luck with it!

A couple of people mention my favorite--the "credit card." For $10, you get discounts at the stores and restaurants listed on the plastic credit sized card. 2 for ones at the fast food places, or free drink with a certain large sandwich, 10% off on cleaning, etc, ice cream store, car wash, etc. You end up saving far more than the $10 purchase price many times over, and it is almost 100% profit for the kids' organization. Our various booster clubs sell them usually.

I also like the Please Don't Come Tea. You mail out a cutely worded invitation with a tea bag attached and tell the reader to sit back, enjoy a cup of tea at home, and send in a donation in the attached envelope.

The Robot Club at our high school had a Carrabba's Restaurant fundraiser and made quite a lot of money. It's a wonderful way to get families, friends and teachers together.

After the kids sold tickets for the chicken marsala dinner, Carrabba's came to the school cafeteria and cooked the dinner right there. You could eat in the cafeteria, or you could get it as take out. It was priced below what it costs to order the meal in the restaurant, and the Robot Club kept a huge chunk of the cost of each ticket. Google carrabba's fundraising or something like that to learn more. Good luck!

Our local high school band has been selling hoagies for years and making a bundle...Enough to send the band to Disney every year...You do have to get enough help and sometimes that's a problem...Also a car wash, spaghetti dinner, card party, calendar party or a book sale...

Our girls were on Drill team. Their most popular fundraiser IMO was the Soup and Sandwich supper. Group of Moms got together and made 3 big kettles of homemade soups. Asked the rest of the members to donate sandwiches and a dessert. They then had an auction after the meal, all kinds of things donated from the girls, parents, businesses, and local people. Crafts, new items, used, Holiday things you name it. The prices paid for some of the stuff was out of line, but it was for a good cause and nobody cared if it went a little high priced.

Our cheerleaders have a calendar raffle. They sell so many raffle tickes and that's it. Then they do the raffles for something like one month. Every day somone wins $25, on a couple of days someone wins $50 and for the grand price it's something like $100. Anyway, it's a big seller around here because you are not getting hit up by every kid and someone wins. Some people are so lucky, they win more than once.

I personally like the braided bread, although I have only bought this and did not sell it. I love that stuff.

Just a note -- check with someone about the gaming laws in your state. We do a Pampered Chef Bingo or a basket Bingo for our philanthropic sorority every year. And we have to get a gaming license from the state. That includes doing a raffle... Some of the school organizations sell the 10% off cards, Italian dinners [like the Carbonna], chili suppers, auctions, etc. The local Area Agency on Aging does a silent auction but you need to do this either one night or over a week in a place where you can secure the items /list and people have good access to it.. Not just 8-5 pm.

Current Catalog has a couple ways to go. Cataloges and they order themselves, you get 50% or you order. You can go on line to find out.

The major fund raiser for Project Graduation at our high school is a live and silent auction. All items are donated from businesses and members of the community. We have it in April and it always does well. Enough to completely fund the all night chemical and alcohol free party for the seniors.
Another fun fund raiser that the music boosters put on is called "Tricky Tray" night. The parents and the kids come up with themed ideas to fill a tray(or basket). One idea was "Hot Cha Cha". A hot pepper shaped tray, hot sauces, an apron with hot peppers all over it. Another was "Wash Me" a large plastic bucket filled with car cleaning products and a wash mitt. We usually get at least 80 different trays. We place paper bags in front of the trays lined up on tables. The kids sell tickets and the tray that you want to win you put in a ticket stub into the paper bag. A ticket is drawn from each bag and who ever it is wins that tray.
They don't do pizza kits here. But cookie dough, sub sandwiches, poinsettias, and chocolate sales do very well. NancyLouise

I forgot a big one in our area....One of the churches has a "Burger Bash" once a month...They do it on a Sat., 10:00 - 2:00, only hamburgers, with or without onions, sell them for $2.00 and most of the time they are sold out within a couple of hours...Everyone talks about the burger bash....

I usually welcome buying the plastic merchant discount cards, or the merchant discount coupon books.

I also welcome magazines,,,usually renewing a subscription of mine, and gifting a subscription to a loved one or two. Often the prices charged are very reasonable too

Sue

A few fundraising groups in our area for a few days before and on "holidays" when the stores are busy bag groceries. They have signs and wear t-shirts of that groups name/what they are raising $ for. The students are tipped by customers. It's easy and only for a few days here and there, nothing to buy. Its hard in our area to get a "spot" at the stores now that it has become popular.

Put me next to BunnyRaiser.
I dislike traditional fundraisers as well.
I'm much more generous when the kids actually have to do something more than peddle dreadfully expensive trinkets from door to door. I used to buy the maximum from my kids instead of asking the neighbors. This stuff embarasses me.

Our cheerleaders wash cars at a car dealership to earn their money. They wash the cars on the lot once a week. Half the team does it on one day and the other half another day. When they come around in the winter selling ball caps and sweatshirts I always buy because the kids had to work for their money.

The 4H in Evanston sets up a gift wrapping table in a large farm store from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The store furnishes the paper and the 4H kids wrap presents for tips. I leave them a big tip. Again. I like to see kids earn their money instead of just sticking their hand out for it.

JMHO.

Lori

I'm unusual in the fact that I loved (and actively go out seeking neighborhood kids who offer this fundraiser) the "expensive" wrapping paper (like Innisbrook) because the quality was very good and the amount you got on one roll was amazing.

I also miss my son's Boy Scout troop offering every year of live Holiday door and candle wreaths. They would deliver to whoever you ordered them for.

Jodi-