From cookie dough to gift wrapping, product fundraising supposedly covers a wide variety of fundraising ideas. It’s an old concept that works, or does it? We are here to tell you why product fundraising has become outdated for the millions of organizations looking for easy fundraising programs.
1. It’s A Gamble
With product fundraising, you have to buy all the items you are planning on selling before you start your fundraiser. This can be an out-of-pocket cost that many organizations can’t afford. When you do buy these items, you never know if you will sell all of the product. Not to mention, you are left with an overflow of food or supplies you have no idea what to do with. It’s definitely not a great fundraising program for start-up nonprofits or smaller organizations looking for a simple and creative fundraising idea.
2. Pressure To Sell
The success of your product fundraiser is completely on your shoulders. Over 71% of parents sold fundraising products to friends, family, and co-workers in 2018. This means that this popular fundraising idea has a completely over-saturated market.
Most product fundraising programs only give you a percentage of the money you raised, so you aren’t even getting all of the money you earned from your hard work. Don’t forget that you will also have pressure from your program representative to sell all your product because their commission relies on your success.
3. Prices Are High
The prices you see in brochures look a lot different than what you see in grocery stores. Product fundraising companies can get items at a discounted rate, but then they add a service fee to make a profit. Add on shipping and processing fees to every order and you have one seriously expensive tub of cookie dough.
4. Lots Of Calories
Candy and cookie dough fundraisers promote sweets in schools and communities. There are plenty of zero-calorie fundraiser options, which are far more effective and keep the kids away from junk food.
There are also limitations in certain states regarding these high-calorie-driven fundraising programs due to federal laws dating back to 1966. The Child Nutrition Act has been updated over the years to ensure the well-being of the nation’s children in correlation with learning. In fact, states like Connecticut enacted laws on the state level to combat product fundraisers and events that promote unhealthy foods. Many PTOs across Connecticut felt the impact of this law in their fundraising efforts.
5. Not Educational
There is only one lesson that can be learned from product fundraising, the more you sell the cooler prize you can get. Instead of focusing on material prizes, focus on doing social good! A lot of schools who participate in our shoe drive fundraiser program love the fact that when they raise funds by collecting gently worn, used and new shoes, they get to teach their students the importance of giving back to the world.
Overall, product fundraising is simply just not the best fundraising idea anymore. With so many challenges and hoops to go through, it seems the payout just isn’t worth it with so many other alternatives available. To learn about a no-calorie, no-cost and no-selling alternative to product fundraising, call us at 407-930-2979 or check out our homepage for more information.