Are door-to-door fundraisers effective?

Question

I'm not just going to be asking for money. I'm going to be selling something, but I don't know what to sell. I want it to be something home-made.
But I don't know if I can make like...a thousand cookies.

Answer 1

The effectiveness of your fundraiser will depend on the cause you are raising money for. If you are raising money to go on vacation or buy an iPod, you will not be very successful. If you are raising money for a good cause/charity, you'll have more success. Check here for other ideas besides baking 1000 cookies:

http://www.fundraiserhelp.com/

Good luck.

Answer 2

You know the best way to do this is to order a bulk of chocolate or something online and go door to door. It depends also on what the fundraiser is about. As far as making a thousand cookies hopefully you have a lot of time on your hands. Make something like 40 cookies and see how you do with that, if that works out and you make money then you know what sells.

Answer 3

Selling your homemade goods door to door might not be real effective - if you try it, make a small number first and try to sell them, to see how it goes. Be sure to figure out what it costs you to make the items, to see whether it's worthwhile.

If you made 1000 cookies, and sold all of them at $3 a dozen, you would take in around $250 - you'd have to subtract what it would cost to make them to figure what you'd actually end up with.

Answer 4

I think they can be very effective!! Right now I am working on one for my son's school. We are making and designing our own online store, all proceeds will go to the school.

You can do this too, it is FREE to do.....you just have to let people know your store is there.

Im not sure how old you are, so you may have to have a parent sign up, but you can check it out if you want.

http://www.zlio.com/?r=125471


Here is my personal site (the one for my son's school is not done yet):

http://www.kidsrule.zlio.com


Here are some examples of others off the Zlio community:

http://buybarbecues.zlio.com

http://cosmetic-shop.zlio.com

Answer 5

A lot of people do this for school projects, girl scouts etc. but we do not see door-to-door solicitors much now adays with adults, other than halloween, political campaigns, and magazine subscription selling scams.

I suspect because it is labor intensive to sell door to door, so big business only do it when they can get the volunteers to work for free. Also time of day is important ... if only the babysitter is home, not allowed to let stranger into the home, and has no money, plus door-to-door "spam" has led to many communities to have signs "no solicitors" meaning no door-to-door sales people ... you find this all over ... apartment complexes, shopping malls ... you can be arrested by the police if you are doing door to door where sign says "no solicitors"

Depending on your gender and age, it is unwise to be doing this all by yourself. There are predators out there ... different kinds. There are other kids who might want to steal the money you have collected. There are older people who might want to force sex on you. There is a whole spectrum of threats out there. You are better off if you travel in some kind of a group, and/or other people know where you are, have cell phone pre-programmed to dial some emergency number very easily.

How the product is packaged is important. You probably heard about the food recalls, know about warnings during halloween that some people, perhaps as a prank, put stuff in the candy bag that is evil like nails. Food vendors on sidewalk need a license to be selling there, and evidence that they have been health inspected there, and at the home base where the food is packaged. That beaurocratic registration inspection process can get expensive. You want a product you can sell that either comes pre-packaged, or does not need to be packaged.

If it is food, does it need to stay refrigerated, or at least not exposed to 100 degree heat while you transport it around?

Are you good with any arts & crafts, like hobbies, where you can make something unique, that people are willing to spend money on, to use ... think what kind of knick knacks just about any of your peers might want to have.

Some people like to have clever slogans that you can stick on places. Here is one of my favorites

"Please do not use remaining eye to look in the laser."

(this implies someone already looked in the laser and burned out one eye)

There's stuff you can print on a home computer, if you can find the clever stuff that people might be willing to pay to get copy of.

I have seen various school based fund raising efforts.

I think there are several more effective than door-to-door.

Bunch of kids get permission from shopping mall to do a car wash on shopping center parking area ... I do not know where they get the water from, there have to be some details to work out. Then some kids hold up signs "Car Wash" and maybe "where", and they do this at entrances to the mall, where cars come in to the parking area, they do it at corners where traffic stop at intersection until traffic light changes, so anyone in the area knows this is going on ... do it at time of day when lots of traffic. Another bunch of kids are actually doing the washing, then after a while they change places, so no one is doing all the most boring, or hard work, all the time.

Seems to me most girl scout cookies are sold by the parents taking the order slip to work and making it available on bulletin board for friends and co-workers to write in what they want. I suspect bulletin boards other places, like church, or school home room, might also be used. Always get permission for the bulletin board you intend to use.

You could look at what is now on various bulletin boards, like in lobby of grocery store, or bank. What kind of foot traffic goes through there ... 1,000 people a day, an hour ... most not even give it a glance, but how can something be on there that will grab a person's attention?

I have also seen groups on sidewalk beside entrance to grocery store ... they have a table setup, they selling or promoting something ... assuming you can get permission from the grocery store to do this ... pick your site so that if it is raining, the prevailing wind is not a big deal, or the sidewalk already somewhat sheltered ... also pick a place where the shoppers are not just to the grocery store, and likely to see your operation.

Think of being a walking billboard. If you are selling something that goes on a T-Shirt, you might wear what you are selling, along with a message that people can order this from you. Remember that there may be places where the T-Shirt slogan not allowed, like in school, depending on the sentiment. Plus there is the security angle ... in some schools there is a risk that students will be mugged by other students if it is perceived that they are carrying lots of money.

I have seen advertising signs stuck to the door panels of cars, but I don't know how effective. It is not like you can see car go by, then do a buy right there.

Answer 6

I do candle fundraisers, organizations make $6 from each candle sold. With the holidays coming this would be good. Visit my website and click on fundraiser
http://www.scentforever.scent-team.com
don't forget to register for the free candle drawing, may be your lucky day.