Fundraising ideas?

November 9, 2009 5:28 PM

Do you have good fundraising ideas for a high school junior?

I've read the previous AskMes on this topic, but none seem as specific to my situation as I'd like. I'm not fundraising with a group.

I'm a high school junior, with a fundraising quota to meet for a program I'm doing. I'm going to get to go to Guatemala and participate in some sort of service project (I find out tomorrow what I'm doing) either construction of a school, picking coffee, working in a clinic/hospital, or reforestation. The money I'm fundraising goes directly into the fund fund that's funding our projects - none of it goes to the organization, my tuition, airfare, or anything else. Basically, this is a pretty much universally-liked cause.

This isn't, like, fundraising to offset my tuition or anything - it's required that we earn this - I couldn't even pay it off with my own, already existing money.

We've been provided with some tools - we can sell coffee, wreaths, tote bags, etc. The coffee is direct trade, which is great - it's from the farm where we will be staying/working, so that's awesome.

So, the first part of my question is, other than nicely worded emails and things, how could I sell these? I've sold ~20 bags of coffee and ~5 wreaths from this. I'd like to sell coffee throughout the year (I go next summer) but I don't want to be repeatedly emailing people if they didn't like the coffee or would rather purchase elsewhere (it isn't cheap).
As far as this goes:
-I don't go to a church but have already contacted one neighborhood church about putting a sign up
-I only have one more week to sell wreaths
-I've contacted those at my mom's office, though my dad's is more corporate and he doesn't think it'd be appropriate
-Many organizations around here sell similar goods, so I have decent amounts of competition


The second part of my question is, what are some things that people would buy that I could make? Are there recipes I could assemble or make and then freeze, providing people with ready made meals/cookies/whatever? Do you think people would be interested in purchasing entire pies or other baked goods? I'm a fairly skilled baker, always get compliments, and I have a few specialties up my sleeve. I also LOVE to make homemade ice cream, and I'm confident I could sell pints for $6-7 (is this reasonable?) that would far exceed even premium store-bought ice cream (think Ben&Jerry's. etc.).Would another email to the people who already bought things be inappropriate? I've pretty much harnessed my entire network of adults for it, so there aren't many other people I could contact (I could also include handwritten, colorful notes about it when I deliver the wreaths and coffee. Could attach it to a 'sample'?

Sorry for the length, brevity is certainly not my strong suit. Do you guys have any ideas? I'm happy to do whatever, labor, making stuff, etc. I'm not fantastic at physical labor but I am fairly artistic, kitchen-savvy, love to babysit but already do that for profit.

posted by R a c h e l to work & money (16 comments total)

I don't know if there's a specific philosophy that you want to stick to for fundraising, or some reason that you're targeting adults and not other students. If so, this suggesting may not work out. But when I was in high school, I made over $1000 one year by buying candy in bulk from Costco and selling it to my peers at a mark-up - usually $1 per item earning 25-50 cents per item. After a couple weeks, I was easily making $10 a day just between classes and at lunchtime. It does require an initial investment.
posted by muddgirl at 5:48 PM on November 9 [1 favorite has favorites]

Seconding selling candy at school. When we did fundraising in high school we'd grab big buckets of those wagon wheel lollypops and sell 'em for a quarter or fifty cents, couldn't sell them fast enough!
posted by yellowbinder at 6:40 PM on November 9

*Fellow High School Junior Here*

Something that one of my friends did was walk around with a basket of brownies, sort of like a walking one man bakesale. I'm pretty sure she sold out quickly, especially if you walk around during lunch.

One of the things that my clubs does is sell blowpops. You can bow a box of one hundred for around 10$, and then sell each one for 25 cents, making a 15$ profit per box. You could probably easily get away with selling them for 50 cents, most people think 25 cents is pretty cheap.

Have you considered talking to local businesses about putting donation cans or whatever on their counters? That could be worth a shot.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, if I remember any others I'll try and remember and post them.

Also, use facebook to organize. Make groups and events, and invite everyone you know. It's really the best way (at least at our school) to organize kids and let them know about causes.
posted by kylej at 6:45 PM on November 9

Mrs. flt here. I am a high school teacher and I have several comments and suggestions.

Firstly, be very careful with the idea of selling candy or bake sale products. You have to watch out that you aren't breaking any campus rules or creating any issues with ASB.

I would also recommend talking to teachers and getting them to purchase.

Also, some of my students who are part of groups and attempting to raise funds will actually partner up with a teacher. If you have a teacher that you look up to or appreciate you could always ask that teacher if they would be interested in putting it forth to other teachers or community members.

The ice cream idea is wonderful, you could maybe even appeal to some local businesses.

Just make sure you are careful with any ideas where you are selling your own product. There are rules from FDA and all that kind of stuff associated with production and selling even on a small scale.

Other than that, good luck! I do really recommend getting a teacher or several behind you, because they often have a wide variety of contacts. :)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:12 PM on November 9

I don't quite get the restriction that you could not pay this off with your own existing funds. IF it is truly a fundraiser, as long as it comes from a legal source, who cares how you come upon the funds.

Set up a raffle. Sell 1,000 tickets at $10 each. One winner gets half the funds or $5,000, the other $5k goes to your cause. I would actually try to sell 100 tickets at $100 each.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:17 PM on November 9

Another idea: if you know any knitters or sewing folk? I know some who constantly make things, but might run out of people to gift them to, so you could profit from their compulsive creativity. Ditto jewelry (do you have a jewelry class at your school? Mine did pretty well for itself).

A tip: depending on who you try selling items to, you can significantly mark up your items because they're for fund-raising. See: public radio T-shirts going for $50. That may be a bit high for a pint of ice-cream, but $15 or $20 could be reasonable for some markets (parents friends).
posted by filthy light thief at 8:27 PM on November 9

We've done something called "change for change." The idea is that you go around door-to-door with a water cooler bottle (decorated with related flags/colors/stickers to taste) and ask people to donate their pocket change to the social change (i.e., hospital work) you're helping with. I've seen everything from people literally giving the 40 cents they have in pocket change, to parents calling their kids to go get the family piggy bank, to a woman telling me she wouldn't need to go to the casino anytime soon and giving me a huge container full of quarters. The money goes in the bottle - make sure you load it up with a bunch of change before hand - and it's a really great way to get people to donate, because they don't have to buy anything. I've even have people give a few bucks in change after telling me as I approach that "I don't know what you're selling, buy I'm not giving you any money."

It sounds incredibly simple, if you can get a few bucks from each house, it adds up very fast with what ever time you spend walking around as your only expense.
posted by niles at 8:54 PM on November 9

When I was a junior in high school, I raised money to go to Germany and take part in the anti- missile protests. I was not part of any organization, but I wrote letters to people and organizations I thought would be supportive of the cause. People really responded to the sincerity of my letters, paper letters, not e-mails.

I asked for $25 dollars and usually got more. I did not attend any church, but I remember sending letters to American Friends Service Committee, Clergy and Laity Concerned and local Unitarian Universalist congregations. Most of my teachers and friends' parents kicked in some cash too.

I don't know how helpful that is, but maybe it's something you can do in addition to selling things.

If you're going to be selling something, can it be pertinent to your cause? I'm thinking something like designing a sticker you can print out or buttons to sell to people who can't afford the other bigger items. Can you sell your coffee in a local independent coffee shop and set up a display about the organization and your trip?

Can you start a blog documenting your need and your progress with information about the organization you're going with and add a paypal link? Go to in health-food markets or community centers and post flyers explaining what you're doing with the url to your blog (with those little tabs people can tear off and take with them).
posted by simbiotic at 9:56 PM on November 9

I don't think you can legally do a raffle unless you are an actual non-profit. Even then, I'm not sure of the laws about cash prizes. Check before you pursue that idea.
posted by simbiotic at 11:11 PM on November 9

Nthing using facebook and tapping your parent's social network and the one-man bakesale (that is such a bomb idea! Thank you for saying it!)

One thing I would add is to look at the money you do have and, based on size, guess how long it might take to match the money. Then, go to family members or relatives or a group and say if you can match your own money in x time frame, will they commit to matching the dollars raised?

This is a great good-faith fundraising opportunity because it tells funders that you are willing to do all the work. Don't forget to send them a link to your flickr feed when you get back from Guatemala! Good luck!
posted by parmanparman at 6:10 AM on November 10

When she was in high school, my daughter sold commercial rolls of 30-gallon black plastic trash bags to help support the girl's softball team. It sounds silly, but those things sold like hotcakes. People bought them for yard waste and business owners bought them to use in their offices. The team bought a palette of the rolls (wholesale) from a local supplier and sold them at a reasonable markup. They never had a problem moving them.

The advantage of the trash bags was that no-one else sold them. You weren't competing with all the other school-based candy or popcorn fund-raisers. And, the bags were something people actually had a use for.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:25 AM on November 10 [1 favorite has favorites]

Host a fundraising dinner: advertise a spaghetti or chili dinner, request people bring their own plates/forks/glasses, and explain it is a fundraiser; bill $20/ticket (you make ~$15/person). Have it at your community centre/church hall (if you're a member they won't charge, and if they do it'll be nominal; you will probably have to have an adult sign for you though). Entertainment: try to get a speaker from Guatemala, show a film, have music, some information on the group you're working with. Best of luck!
posted by variella at 7:12 AM on November 10

PS raffles = lottery = need a license under provincial law here. Oh, for the spaghetti dinner I was at we served boxed wine for $2/glass :), liquor license also required.
posted by variella at 7:14 AM on November 10

Ugh, apologies for multiple posts: host an ice cream social or make-your-own sundaes afternoon with some kind of entertainment; people are used to paying ~$5 for a single reasonably sized serving of ice cream.
posted by variella at 7:16 AM on November 10 [1 favorite has favorites]

I like the trash bag idea, but what about those biodegradable paper leaf bags instead? Or something like these apparently corn based bags.
posted by simbiotic at 7:50 AM on November 10

As far as selling candy to peers go, I'm at a new school this year and I don't know that many people all that well. Also, there's this infamous kid that did that until his graduation two years ago (even got written up in our big-city newspaper) and I feel like it's something I'd be a little scared to try, since there's already such a legacy around the issue. Also, selling any food on school ground is techinically not allowed, under the contract with the people that do school lunches. Clubs aren't even allowed to do bake sales.

I'm a little nervous about raffles because of the legal stuff - even the really small-scale ones are very careful about gambling laws around here.

I kind of love the trash bags idea, though, and the idea about an ice cream social - selling individual servings would be insanely profitable (seriously, people barely pay more for a whole pint at the store than for a single scoop at a shop.)

You guys definitely got me thinking about some sort of event - I'm sure I could do it at any of a few local community centers, and getting a speaker or some entertainment wouldn't be hard. I could get a couple friends in the program to work with me - it might actually be doable!
posted by R a c h e l at 5:51 PM on November 10