Offer candles to your supporters

Why not offer candles to your fans for your next fundraiser? They make wonderful gifts for loved ones. Your supporters can choose from five candle deals: Collegiate Team Spirit Candles, which have the logos of your favorite college sports teams; Magic Melts, which are fragrance bars that come in beautiful natural scents like Sea Mist & Lavender; Quote Candles, which come with inspirational quotes; Touch of Elegance III candles and diffusers; and Earth Candles, whose gift boxes are made of recycled materials.

Not sure your fans will find something they like? Not to worry; we offer a wide range of candles with fragrances for every taste, whether your fans like the scents of fruit, flowers, or food. The many choices include vanilla raspberry, honey pear, pumpkin pie, gardenia, apple pie, and Ocean Breeze.

Or try restaurant discount cards

Another one of our cheerleading fundraisers is to offer Restaurant.com discount cards to your supporters. These are a great way for your fans to enjoy a night out on the town—and to donate to your team in the process. For this fundraiser, your team members will sell restaurant discount cards worth $50 to fans for $20 each—saving them a cool $30 per card. The cards can be used at more than 18,000 restaurants across the country, and your group will raise up to 65% profit. Not only is this fundraiser a clever idea, it’s also quite convenient, since most people eat out every so often.

Hold a show for your fans

Dazzle your neighborhood with a magnificent cheerleading show. Most people know about cheerleading—but many of them don’t know about the amazing stuff your team does. Have your team do the biggest, best show they can. Don’t limit yourselves to traditional cheerleading moves, either; also incorporate other movements in your routine, like those from baton twirling, rhythm gymnastics, or jazz dancing. The show will let your supporters see what your team does—and how talented your cheerleaders really are.

“Rent out” your cheerleaders for a day

Many school sports teams have a group of cheerleaders…but not every sports team has one. Consider “renting out” your cheerleaders for a day to local sports groups, like your nephew’s Little League team or your neighbor’s bowling league. Why should football players get all the fun? Perhaps you could have your supporters pay a little extra for a customized routine. Your supporters will love that they get their own cheerleaders for their games and matches.

Hold a cheer-off

You don’t need to be a cheerleader to do a routine! Hold a cheer-off in which your fans can be the stars, with a great prize for the winners. Encourage your contestants to get out there and give it their all! They’ll develop routines to show off their moves and, of course, they’ll get a great workout at the same time. They’ll have so much fun cheerleading with their neighborhood friends; everyone will get a kick out of this fundraiser.

No matter which fundraising campaign you decide on, you’re sure to find something that’s great for your team, which both your team mates and your fans will adore. Good luck with your cheerleading fundraisers!

 Created by Angela Mancuso

Do your supporters like cookie dough?

Selling cookie dough is one of the most popular fundraising programs. The cookies are extremely easy to make—supporters just have to shape the dough and bake it. Cookie dough comes in a great range of tasty flavors, like chocolate chunk, oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodle, and white chocolate macademia, in both wet and dry formats. Simply have your group members show the colorful brochures to their friends and families and then take orders from them. Your group can make up to 55% profit with this fundraiser. Easy as pie!

Or maybe they’ll like flower bulbs instead.

We offer 3 catalogs full of flower bulbs for your supporters to enjoy. They both have a wide variety of items which include bulbs to grow tulips, dahlias, freesia, and daffodils, among many others. The premier-quality bulbs are guaranteed to bloom, and they do so in a short time. Supporters will like this fundraiser so much your group can make it an annual seller. Your group can make 50% profit by selling flower bulbs.

Got change?

One of the possible elementary school fundraisers is the loose-change fundraiser. This one is simple: simply have your group members ask their friends and family to dig up all the stray change they have lying around—in coat pockets, stuck inside the sofa, lying on the floor below piles of clothes—and donate it to your group. This fundraiser is very convenient—it’s free and doesn’t take long—so have your group members ask for loose change from as many people as they can. No doubt this easy little fundraiser will be a pleasant surprise for your supporters.

Hold an old-timey game tournament for the student body.

Kids today are glued to the TV and hooked up to the Internet, so bring them away from their technology with games like Clue or Battleship…or go back a few thousand years and try classics like Go, chess, and backgammon. Whichever games you choose, make sure the students have never played them before, since they’ll have more fun learning new games. Prepare a table with snacks for the kids to munch on during the event, and reward the winners with great prizes.

Field trip!

Time for an adventure! Bring your students to somewhere that’s fun and educational, like an aquarium, zoo, or museum. Set the field trip on a pedagogical day, when the students wouldn’t otherwise have school; their parents will be glad to get their kids off their hands for a day. Charge a reasonable fee, and enlist reliable parent volunteers to help you out if necessary. Students and teachers will both enjoy this fundraiser. Plus, it goes without saying the kids will love the opportunity to get out of class!

So these are just a few of the many elementary school fundraisers you can do with your group: you can offer your supporters cookie dough or flower bulbs, hold a loose-change fundraiser, host an old-timey games tournament, or go on a field trip with the students—or maybe even combine some of them. Once you’ve made your decision, it will time to begin your fundraiser. You can do it!

 Created by Angela Mancuso

Hold a school carnival.

Everyone loves a carnival! Open up the schoolyard on a sunny Saturday, and have teachers and parents organize stands with carnival games like darts, a ring toss, skeeball with beanbags, and spill the milk. Invite the entire student population to come with class memos. Have the principal sit at a dunk tank filled with slime and watch as the money comes rolling in!

Have the students sell something related to their cause.

Green teams can sell Earth Candles (sell for $12 to $15, at 50% profit), flower bulbs (try our Nature in Bloom selection, at 50% profit), and Dodo reusable bags (sell for $10 to $12, at 40% profit). Home ec classes can sell our cookie dough (try $10 Gourmet Cookie Dough: sell for $10, at 55% profit), and choir students can sell Sweet Yummy Lips lollipops (sell for 50 ¢ each, for 52% profit), All the fundraising products mentioned above can be found here.
Hold a benefit concert.

This is a rare opportunity to showcase the talent of the soloists in your ensemble! At the end of the concert, let the whole ensemble play the very last piece. Have student volunteers sell goodies in the stands. Don’t forget to ask for donations—the audience members will be happy to pay money to help out their talented friends!

At Halloween, turn the school into a haunted house.

This one requires more work than the other ideas, but the profits are amazing. Choose which rooms you want to decorate in the school, with cobwebs, chains, fake blood, torn drapery, fancy chandeliers and slime. Have volunteers dress up in scary costumes and position themselves around the school. Let some of them hide in nooks, crannies, and closets—they’ll jump out and scream at everyone who passes by!

Hold the fundraiser at nighttime. Sell candy apples, eyeball cupcakes and edible blood outside the school in addition to admission fees. If you time the groups which are coming in throughout the day, then you can have your actors play out scenes for each group, like Dr. Frankenstein creating his monster.

Warning: sign guests before they enter the school, gather them into large groups so that no one gets lost, and have plenty of costumed adults inside the mansion to watch over them.

For extra cash, put a swear jar in your classroom.

We all know that young people shouldn’t swear…but they often do, especially the teenagers. To capitalize on this (and to help teach them a lesson), place swear jars inside classrooms. Impose a small fee, like 25¢, that a student has to pay every time you hear them swear. If a student swears multiple times, increase the fee for each time they swear: first it costs 50 ¢, then it’s 75¢, then it’s a dollar….

There are so many choices for school fundraisers! Aside from what’s already been mentioned, you can also hold non-uniform days, football matches, a guess-the-number-of-jellybeans-in-the-jar game, a Jeopardy!-type quiz game, and book sales….among dozens of others. Have fun planning your school fundraisers! The students will love them—and so will you!

 Created by Angela Mancuso

Sell Smart Snacks.

Snacks are enough to make anyone feel better. Why not sell Smart Snacks and cheer your supporters up? You can raise 50% profit by selling the mixes for just $6 each. Smart Snacks come in 12 classic types: some consist of nuts; some consist of trail mix, including salsa mix; and one of them even consists of sugar-free fruit candy.

Sell $10 Gourmet Cookie Dough.

$10 Gourmet Cookie Dough is called that for a reason – it features 6 amazing flavors, like Chocolate Chunk and Peanut Butter. Your supporters will love the easy-to-make cookies: they only have to shape them, pop them into the oven, and hit ‘bake’. It’s so easy and fast that anyone can do it; your sales won’t need to be restricted to people who like baking and who have the time for it. Make up to 55% profit with this awesome cookie dough!

Hold a bake sale.

This isn’t the most popular fundraiser for nothing, folks. The bake sale has it all: delicious desserts, home-cooked food, and bonding between your group and the community. Why not hold a bake sale with your group? Some big sellers are crispy rice squares, chocolate cake with icing, cupcakes with icing, brownies with fudge and icing and sprinkles (okay, pretty much anything with icing). On the big day, also have milk and lemonade on hand so your supporters can wet their throats.

Host a pancake breakfast.

Hold this event around Mardi Gras; it’s known for being the day to eat pancakes, after all. Charge your guests to come to your house—be sure to decorate it for the occasion—and feast on pancakes to their hearts’ content. You can also hold a pancake-tossing competition at the event. Alternately, consider fundraising with IHOP; they help out dozens of organizations every year.

Host a wine-tasting fundraiser.

For many, wining and dining is a favorite pastime. Satisfy the first part of that urge with a wine-tasting fundraiser: bring guests to your house – have them dress formally – and serve them several types of wine.  It’s best to establish a committee to help you with this fundraiser so that you can gather enough wine (and guests). If you don’t have enough wine, have your group members give you their bottles, and contact local companies about them sponsoring you; do these parts months in advance so that you have time to gather enough wine. Lastly, don’t forget the cheese! This is a time-consuming fundraiser, but it’s very profitable.

Good fundraising ideas are those which not only earn your group more than enough money, but they also please your customers and have them coming back, clamoring for more, next year. Some examples of these are selling Smart Snacks and $10 Gourmet Cookie Dough, holding a bake sale, and hosting a pancake breakfast and wine-tasting fundraiser. Your supporters will love these delicious ideas!

 Created by Angela Mancuso

1) Hold a can drive:

Fortunately, our society is getting greener and greener every year – which is why more people are saving their used-up bottles and cans to recycle them for cash. Instead of having your group members ask for money, have them ask their friends and neighbors for these instead. Separate the students into large groups and challenge them: have the groups compete with each other to see which one can obtain the largest number of bottles and cans. You can also have the students collect bottles and cans after school gatherings, like the school barbecue.

2) Rent-a-Kid: have the students work for others:

Here’s a nice spin on the tradition of giving someone a coupon-book offering your services: have your supporters pay your students to do tasks for them. The students can do any kind of task, as well as chores; for example, they can offer rollerblading lessons, or give supporters haircuts.

3) Hold a movie night:

Everyone loves a good movie! One evening, screen a movie in your school (be sure you get the rights to do this). Have an admission fee for the moviegoers—students, staff and faculty alike – and sell them delicious goodies as well. For ideas, Deanan Products, Inc. offers a Gourmet Popcorn fundraiser, and JustFundraising sells Smart Snack mixes which can be sold for $6 each, at 50% profit. Make sure the movie is suitable for the young ones – Pixar and Disney favorites are great, as are classics like Harry Potter and Indiana Jones. Hold a small party before the movie starts, to let the moviegoers socialize among themselves; you can also sell raffle tickets for a chance to win movie merchandise.

Choose to screen a movie made by a production company in your area, and you may be able to get crew members—extras, set designers, gaffers, perhaps even an actor—to come to the screening and sign autographs. If you do this, have the teachers tell their students that someone from the film business is going to be at the movie night!

4) Have students and staff guess the number of jellybeans in a jar:

This is as simple as it sounds. Fill a large jar with jelly beans—you can also substitute other candy, like gummy worms or gummy bears—and have students pay to guess how many pieces are in it during recess and lunch. If someone guesses correctly, then they win the whole jar!

Many More Fundraising Ideas For Schools

In closing, we only touched on a few fundraising ideas for schools, like can drives and movie nights, as well as having the students work for others and having them pay to guess how many jelly beans have been placed in a jar. There are many more great ideas.If one of the fundraisers we mentioned above is not to your liking, brainstorm with a few friends or class. Whatever you do, though, make sure the students have parental consent wherever it’s needed, and that every detail is accounted for. Have a blast with your fundraiser, and good luck!

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 Created by Angela Mancuso

If you don’t know how to base your fundraiser around the spirit of the season, there’s no need to fear (you can save that for Halloween): there are several fall fundraisers your group can hold.

5 Great Fall Fundraisers:

1) Sell nuts and snacks for 50% profit.

Nuts and snacks are a great choice for fall fundraisers: their nutty, crunchy tastes will call to mind the character of the season. It’s a good idea to sell our snack mixes a few weeks before Halloween – many people crave candy in the weeks leading up to October 31^st. We offer different programs for this fundraiser, each with unique types of snack packs, so pick the one you like best.

2) Sell Warheads candy.

The good thing about Warheads is that they can be sold to anyone. Candy has mass appeal, and the sour taste will appeal to adults, teenagers and children alike. In fact, Warheads is one of the top-selling brands of sour candy in America. Your supporters will trust the candy – so they’ll be happy to take it off your hands.

3) Hold a “candy carnival”.

Like Boxing Day, but for Halloween! For this fall fundraiser, you’ll ask your supporters to give you guys the candy they weren’t able to give away on Halloween – and all the candy their kids don’t want – so that you can sell it in a makeshift marketplace. Your group members – and perhaps even willing supporters! – will set up market stalls in a large area, like a school gym. Kids are going to be your biggest source of revenue, so advertising to them is a must. Also contact local vendors; they might be willing to sell their merchandise at the candy carnival for a reduced fee.

4) Hold a cornucopia raffle.

Celebrate the season of the harvest with a cornucopia raffle. Have your group members ask their friends and family to donate food, put the food together in baskets tied with ribbons, and raffle them off to supporters. Organize the food by type – fruit and veggies in one basket, breads and buns in another, and so on. If they’re not told otherwise, supporters may think that the food will be donated to the less fortunate, so make sure you tell them what it’s really for.

5) Jump into piles of leaves with your supporters.

Remember when you were a kid and you jumped on newly made piles of leaves, causing them to explode and you to get yelled at? Well, you can, and should! – invite your supporters to do the same this fall, even though they’re adults. For this fall fundraiser, rake up piles of leaves with your group members, then invite your supporters to bounce around in them – just like you used to do in old times. Make sure you have your group members keep an eye on your supporters, on the off chance they get hurt.

There are several fall fundraisers your group can carry out for the fall season: you can sell our snack mixes or Warheads candy, sell leftover Halloween candy, hold a cornucopia raffle, or hold a jumping-into-piles-of-leaves fundraiser. All of these will make your supporters really feel the spirit of the season, so don’t be shy—take your pick of one (or many!) of our creative fall fundraisers.

 Created by Angela Mancuso

This is an effective fundraiser because most people like saving money. In fact, it’s one of the few types of fundraisers where your supporters save money! They are spending money, yes, but they’re saving money while they do it. Plus, your supporters get unlimited use on the cards for an entire year! If you order 500 or more cards, we’ll even customize the cards with your group name and logo, so your supporters will remember your group and help you again next year.

Is The Discount Card Fundraiser Profitable:

The discount card fundraiser is one of the most profitable fundraisers we offer: you can use it to make up to 70% profit, which is more than most of our other fundraisers. Not to mention, shipping is always free! Profit starts at 50%, so you’re always guaranteed half of what you make. You get 60% profit once you’ve sold 500 cards, 65% profit once you’ve sold 1000, and 70% once you’ve sold 2000. The minimum order is 250 cards; for a well-sized group, you simply have your group members sell 7-10 cards each.

As with any product fundraiser, your group members will make more sales if they talk to people they know. Make sure they don’t limit themselves to just friends and family members, though; they can also sell discount cards to their teachers, neighbors, classmates, teammates, and coworkers. Your group members likely know anywhere from 70 to 350 people each, so have them make lists of their acquaintances before they start selling the discount cards. Have your group members approach as many people as possible—especially middle-aged adults, parents, college students and teens, since many people within these groups are keen on saving money.

Have your group members talk to those who don’t seem like they’ll buy the cards; people can surprise you, after all. Besides, it only takes about a minute to ask someone to buy a discount. You might think you won’t be able to sell many cards, but—once you’ve approached everyone you know—the results will surprise you. Everyone likes good discounts on things that they regularly spend money on.

Who is The Discount Card Fundraiser Good For:

This fundraiser is effective for mid-sized to large groups (25 members and up—your group members will have to sell 10 cards each if you order the minimum 250 cards).

Research which merchants your customers will like the most, and make your choices carefully. When selling the cards to potential supporters—especially if you don’t know them—make a point of specifically advertising these popular merchants; people will be encouraged to buy the cards if they know they can get discounts at their favorite merchants.

A discount card fundraiser is a great choice, since everyone likes to save money, and a good idea for groups with 25+ members. Have your group members sell them to everyone they know—but especially to parents, middle-aged adults, college students and teens, who like saving money wherever they can—and watch as the profit mounts higher and higher. Give this fundraiser a try—you won’t regret it!

 Created by Angela Mancuso

First, decide which kind of candles you’d like your group members to sell. Earth Candles, for which the gift boxes and labels are made from recycled materials; Quote Candles, which come with inspirational messages; the Touch of Elegance III candle collection, which includes a choice of 27 candles and diffusers; and Journey of Faith, for which the labels are decorated with beautiful passages from Scripture. View all candle fundraisers

We recommend that you sell products from the Touch of Elegance III brochure: these candles and diffusers can be bought in our largest variety of fantastic fragrances, like Cinnamon Sticks, Lavender Fragrance and Buttercream Mint.

Order brochures for your group, and we’ll send them to you—1 per group member—at no cost. The minimum order is 1 case, so, if you like, you can just try this fundraiser out to see how it goes. In fact, if you’re not sure how many people will buy candles from your group, you can have your group members get the orders from your supporters first and then buy the brochures.

Next, find out if any groups in your area are holding a candle fundraiser with us. If there are, buy some candles from them to use as samples during your campaign. Your group members will be able to show them off while trying to convince others to buy candles from them.

Candles Make Great Gifts

So consider holding your campaign at Christmastime or before Mother’s Day. Give your group members 2 weeks or so to sell as many candles as they can.

Encourage your group members every step of the way. Everyone works better with a little motivation! To help them even more, we offer incentives to the top sellers in your group: if you choose, your group members will receive a free custom T-shirt for every 8 candles they sell.

Once you’ve sold enough—or more than enough!—candles, fax us the Order Form and calculate your earnings; you’ll keep half of what you made, no matter which type of candles your group sold. Then, we’ll ship the candles to you so that your group can deliver them to your supporters.

You can also hold a candle fundraiser alongside a larger fundraising event. For example, you can hold a night-time walk in which supporters light the way with their own candles (à la the Light The Night Walk, which is held annually by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society). After the event, ask your supporters if they’d like to buy some candles from you guys. They’ll be more receptive to your cause now that they’ve enjoyed an amazing fundraiser with your group.

Holding any fundraiser is never easy, but candle fundraising will be easier with our helpful advice: sell candles and diffusers from the Touch of Elegance III candle collection, hold your campaign before Christmas or Mother’s Day, encourage your group members throughout, and consider holding this fundraiser alongside a larger fundraising event. We hope that our advice helps your group meet—and exceed—its goals. Good luck!Created by Angela Mancuso

We offer several variety packs that your group can sell: packs with $1 chocolate bars; packs with $2 chocolate bars; Hershey’s variety packs; and variety packs of chocolate bars, Sour Jacks, and Nuclear SQWorms. Profit ranges from up to 50% profit to up to 65% profit ($2 Chocolatiers Community Pack), so choose carefully when deciding which candy bars your group will sell.

On one hand, the Hershey’s variety packs are a great choice because they include classic favorites like Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Kit Kats. On the other hand, One Dollar Bars cost (naturally) only a dollar, so potential supporters—especially strangers—are more likely to buy these from your group. Then again, you could just go for both the Hershey’s chocolate and the cheap price with the Hershey $1.50 Chocolatetown Plus Variety Pack and/or $1.50 Hershey’s Max Assortment; they both include the 3 sweet treats mentioned above, as well as others.

Everyone Loves Candy Bars

Since everyone loves candy bars, your group members won’t have to target your sales to any one group in particular; they can sell the products to everyone. So have your group members offer to sell candy bars to all their friends and family members. If you’re not sure how many candy bars your group will be able to sell, however, the minimum order is 1 case, so can order a case and give it a try.

Every time your group sells 6 cases of $2 Hershey Fundraising Assortment, or 8 cases of either $1.50 Hershey’s Max Assortment or $2 Hershey Chocolatetown Plus, you’ll receive a free 5-pound chocolate bar. This offer applies to all the Hershey’s candy bar fundraisers!

As with other product fundraisers, have your group members ask their friends and family if they’d like to buy the candy bars. Your group can also set up sell them at school and work events. Since many people are going to these events—and they’re already in the mood to spend money—you’ll make decent profits in no time.

If it’s possible, hit the streets for extra sales; go to places where there’s a lot of foot traffic, like downtown. Also approach people who are waiting for the bus or the train: they’re likely bored because they have nothing to do, so they’ll be more open to buying candy bars from your group members. Never do this with minors, though—make sure all participants are adults.

You don’t need to worry about your next fundraiser: fundraising is no problem at all with our candy bar fundraisers. We offer Hershey’s chocolate bars, lip-smacking $1 and $2 chocolate bars, and variety packs of chocolate bars and sour candy. Since people of all ages love candy bars, it’s extremely easy for your group members to sell them. So go on! Order a case or two, and delight your supporters with our delicious candy bars.Created by Angela Mancuso

Yankee Candle Fundraiser – High Quality Premium Candles

The Yankee Candle Company has been creating quite a stir in terms of their products. Many people have found their retail stores within large malls and storefronts, and upon smelling the scented candles, have purchased many. The reason why the company is thriving in many ways is because their candles are made with perfect combinations of wax and scents and burn for a long time. You don’t see that often with candles, but they have found a way to make a premium candle and something that is not easily replicated. Partnering with such a high quality product is the first element that is required for a long lasting relationship of moneymaking opportunities.

The way a good fundraiser works is not so much with how much you sell, but rather how enthusiastic you can be when selling. Most people will find that a Yankee Candle fundraiser will be an easy thing to sell to people. The reason being is because they are going to already want to buy this high end product, and at the same time they can help the local community earn money for a variety of reasons. This works great for those that are buying and for those that are going to be given the task of selling.

The sales that are needed in this idea don’t require much. A person simply takes the catalog of available candles and presents them to a person on a one on one basis, or many catalogs are passed around a large group of people in a congregation or gathering and special orders can be placed. Once the orders are in, the candles are either delivered door-to-door or shipped via direct mail. The process is painless and the products nearly sell themselves.

Yankee candle fundraiser – Easy Money

For those that have been looking for an opportunity that is not average, especially when most fundraisers seem tired, running a Yankee candle fundraiser can really be a lifesaver. The average sale alone can generate more money than the traditional bake sale or car wash can, and with a savvy team of sales people, especially those that are actually enthused about the process, making money for a group or occasion has never been easier. Always look into options that will inspire those that will be given the task to sell, enthusiasm, and you’ll see greatness develop throughout.Created by Angela Mancuso