Fundraiser - PLEASE VIEW!

[boehm558]

Hey guys,
If anyone is familiar with Ipswich Grammar School in QLD, it's the oldest secondary school in QLD, and next year is our 150th year. I recently got elected music captain for 2013, and discovered something quite sad. Being a sporting school, our rugby teams (I also play rugby, so it's not really a complaint..) get to go to South Africa, UK, New Zealand, etc. on tours, yet our music groups have never been anywhere, during 149 years so far.. I have brought forward the first ever music tour in the history of the school and it's been approved, but I need some funding. One of the fundraisers is a raffle, but what's the point of selling $2000 of tickets and spending $2200 on prizes right? So I'm pitching it to all the Ford Forum fans to either donate some money towards prizes or donate a prize. Any help is immensely appreciated, even if it's a $2 donation, it's still help!

If anyone is interested in donating, just PM me, also donated prizes should be new.. Unless special circumstances...

Oh and if you're interested, the tour is to Melbourne for the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, so if you want to help out in some other way, i.e. reduced rate accommodation etc. Would be great (:

SIDE NOTE:
I have four BA falcon stockies and a BA falcon winter white bonnet for sale, offers appreciated, and the money they're bought with will be used to help fund the tour!

[zdcol71]

I am a taxpayer and have already contributed far too much to your schools previous rugby trips, as well as the coach for the team and the groundsman who takes care of the facilities, sorry, I have nothing left to put towards your trip to Melbourne.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by boehm558

Hey guys,
If anyone is familiar with Ipswich Grammar School in QLD, it's the oldest secondary school in QLD, and next year is our 150th year. I recently got elected music captain for 2013, and discovered something quite sad. Being a sporting school, our rugby teams (I also play rugby, so it's not really a complaint..) get to go to South Africa, UK, New Zealand, etc. on tours, yet our music groups have never been anywhere, during 149 years so far.. I have brought forward the first ever music tour in the history of the school and it's been approved, but I need some funding. One of the fundraisers is a raffle, but what's the point of selling $2000 of tickets and spending $2200 on prizes right? So I'm pitching it to all the Ford Forum fans to either donate some money towards prizes or donate a prize. Any help is immensely appreciated, even if it's a $2 donation, it's still help!

If anyone is interested in donating, just PM me, also donated prizes should be new.. Unless special circumstances...

Oh and if you're interested, the tour is to Melbourne for the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, so if you want to help out in some other way, i.e. reduced rate accommodation etc. Would be great (:

SIDE NOTE:
I have four BA falcon stockies and a BA falcon winter white bonnet for sale, offers appreciated, and the money they're bought with will be used to help fund the tour!

Ok, a few questions if I may:

1) What is the age group of the kids you are raising for? Upper secondary or lower secondary?

2) How many students are you raising for and how much are you needing to raise to make the trip a reality?

I have just gone through this with my year 6 class. The school hasn't been to a camp for years and the venue they used for their graduation dinner in the past was not the nicest of places. Why? Money... well lack of it.

My goal was to buck the trend on both accounts.

In 1 and a half terms we raised over $5000 PROFIT by selling small stuff at recess and lunch as well as a Bunnings BBQ.

They got their graduation, one to a standard that the school community has never had before and with all families getting subsidised tickets it was cheaper than the previous venue the school used (at 150 guests it was more of a mini wedding!). Oh, we also had a professional photographer as well, all paid for through the students fundraising.

They got their camp, 2 nights cheaper than a 1 night camp.

The best thing of all was the fact that the students felt empowered by the fact that THEY worked hard for what they got. They will also be getting a little something extra in their Christmas card tomorrow ;) Probably their first paid job they ever had out of home ;)

So, while raffles / donations my work, hard yakka and a little ingenuity will go much further.

Sit down, nut out ways to make money using what you have available to you.. Do you have a school tuck shop? Is it possible to open your own on days that it isn't open?

Bunnings allows people to use their facilities for fund raising BBQ's. All you need is a roster system of able bodied people, a ton of snags, bread, ice and drinks and you can make $1500 profit in 1 day like we did.

Do you have a school newsletter / paper? If anyone donates stuff what's in it for them? Local businesses are more inclined to offer goods and services to you if you are able to give them some good exposure within the school community.

There are companies dedicated to school fundraising. They sell stuff in bulk for you to onsell. Chocolate, cards etc.

What 'events' can you host at school? Talent night, trivia night, concert etc etc etc. Do you have space to host a fete / carnival? (no out of pocket expenses for that, you just get a cut of the takings, generally 35-40%).

Selling snack food generally returned 300 - 400% profit. I think the bunnings BBQ cost us $500-$600 in raw materials.

As for your trip. Be creative. You can make your $ go very far if you shop around. look into a group booking for flights, stay in a Hostel and book out whole dorm rooms, ask a few parents to come and hire vans to get around.

Don't forget, you also need to be part politician. You need to liaise with parents, keep them informed, explain exactly what you are doing and why, follow up letters with phone calls / meetings. If you want this to work you will go nowhere without having your parents on side. Don't be an anonymous name at the bottom of a letter. Make yourself known, earn their trust.

I'm working on following through what I did with my kids into the high school and all the way to yr 10... apparently they don't do ANY camps and ANY educational overnight trips... Something I wish to remedy ;)

Good luck with it!

[FGII-XR6]

this kind of thing is supposed to be approved by admin prior to posting .
you also mention items for sale and you are breaching for sale T&C

[boehm558]

Firstly, thanks for your response! To answer your questions, it's a senior group, the tour is only open to grade 10 through to 12. There's 15 student places and 5-6 teacher/parent places on the tour, so ideally to fully fund it will need around $25 000, which isn't feasible so the idea is to try to fundraiser $10, 000 to heavily discount the overall price per student.

In terms of fundraising, I've had similar ideas to what you've put forward. We do have a tuckshop, who are open every day, except they fail on two parts. In the middle of summer, they do not sell soft drinks, which has nothing to do with the "healthy school" ideology as they're sold in the vending machines.. They're also ridiculously over priced, so instead of liasing with them, plan on just undercutting them.

Small items at recess - cans of softdrink, in the middle of summer, maybe cheap ice creams too like icypoles. Also planning "pancake Tuesday's" each fortnight, considering the tuckshop sells three pancakes that taste like **** for $5.00, sell the same amount of good pancakes for $3.50, easy win.

In terms of a raffle - great idea, good way of fundraising, but we will need some prizes, and that's what I'm spending my time currently trying to find..

Another idea we're currently entertaining is a charity dinner, charging say $50 a ticket for 30 people will generate around $1000 profit, plus donations made on the night.

Bunnings barbeque - have also thought of this, and after looking online some websites say that the waiting list is 6-12months, and I don't have that kind of time.. Tell me more from your experience? I'll be calling them tomorrow anyway.

The school news letter, I haven't even thought of, going to a GPS school with a lot of rich parents owning their own business', I'm sure will pull in some sort of donations!

Have also looked into the chocolates etc. Cadbury seem to be the way to go, only thing is a lot of guys did the $1 freddo one, and it just started to annoy myself and all my mates when they'd constantly be around "ANYONE WANNA' BUY A CHOCOLATE" so, would have to look into a different aspect for it to really take off.

As far as liasing with parents go, I'm currently in the process of setting up a parent support group of those who are willing to help with the efforts, also to liase with all parents concerned with the tour, tour meetings are going to be held, the first one in about a month and a half time.

Thanks again, your comment was immensely insightful and helpful. Let me know more about the barbeque though please.

P.S. zdcol71 - my school is currently running out of money pretty quick, we even cancelled all senior camps last year to cut costs.. If that makes you feel any better. ;)

[Mr Brooksy]

Hey mate, in my line of work I have to fundraise approx $100,000 to beak even per year to run my branch of an international organisation (and for a guy who hates fundraising) its hard work but not impossible!

Some tips:
Do not take knock backs personally. Golden rule!
Easy $$ are in things like chocolate fundraisers. You can raise $500 - $1000 within 6 months if you are creative and have lots of people selling boxes.
Local Rotary / Lions etc groups are setup to raise funds for stuff like this, contact a few, make sure you know what you're asking for, be prepared.
Local councils have staff that are supposed to know what's going on in the community etc. see if you can make a few contacts that way.
Also, big supermarkets give to this kind of thing, its PR gold to them. Just need to pitch it and do some paperwork.
Mines etc usually have community grants etc too, its amazing how much they "can" flick of to a good cause.
And finally, ASK, don't make decisions for people before you ask them. Eg, I wont ask x person cause they already give to heaps of stuff...

They are some tips and directions for you.

Another few things, think about what you can do to promote those who give especially businesses. It looks allot more tempting if you have the right carrot (sponsorship of team uniform etc).
Do some kind of thank you for those who gave (large or small).
News paper is a great way to drum up interest as well, eg a story on your 150 years etc and mention you need funds etc. most journos love getting this kind of thing.
Finally, once you have cash, gone and come back, thank you's in every paper you can think of will help the next guy for the next fundraising event. Don't be lazy, promo the balls off your experience and this who made it possible.

Hope this helps, it will take work, but if you put the effort in, you'll be surprised. But don't sit around waiting for handfuls of individuals. Individuals give often to longer term projects but ask them anyway.

Good luck.

[Yellow_Festiva]

No worries.

Ok, Yr10 to 12 students are of legal working age. Perhaps subtly hint that the kids can do a few hrs work over the weekends to help their trip funding along? Private tutoring can also be an option for them.

Your student / adult ratio looks a little heavy on the adult side of things. I would suggest 2 teachers / 1 parent max for a group of 15. I say this as I assume fund raising will be also paying for teachers / adults. If you then need to get around you can hire a Coaster if someone can drive it, or 2 mini-vans. (Having said that - there are guidelines on ratios for different school activities so make sure you keep to those at a minimum).

Be careful when selling stuff at school. Many school canteens are run like a business. The owner leases the facilities like a shop etc. Selling the same stuff as they do and undercutting them will certainly ruffle some feathers. Who owns the vending machines? Soft drinks are a good way to make money, buy in bulk at 50c a unit and sell for $1.50. Our school only runs its tuck shop Tue and Thur, so our little stall was run on the other days. No one loses out then!

If you are going the stall route, I concentrated my sales on these items: Franklins Black and Gold branded ice blocks (the 70ml ones in the tubes) 24pk cost $2.79, sold @ $1 each. Big W 10pk Popcorn, $2.70, sold $1 each. Mamee style noodles, 10pk for $1.99, sold for $1 each and Woolworths (Safeway?) branded jelly, 38c a box, made 4x200ml cups + spoon + cup so was about 15c a pop to make but sold for $1. Asian style large bags for rice crackers - pack of like 32 were $4.79 and we flogged them off at 50c a pop.

I would buy this stuff by the carton every few weeks and also got a cash discount where possible as well ;)

Of course, this was for a primary school - older kids will want a slightly different menu.

Be careful... things that need to be cooked / prepared (jelly - Pancakes etc) are VERY labour intensive.. plus stuff that doesn't sell cannot be kept for long, if at all.

If you want to run a dinner, think bigger than 30 guests. Make it an event worthy of attending, offer finger food, activities and perhaps musical performances and try and get 100 - 150 bums on seats. Sell tickets 'by the table' for a small discount.

Regarding Bunnings. Walk in to a store, look for the person who arranges the fundraising BBQ's and talk face to face. Look presentable and be ready to sell your proposal. Forget what any internet site says. Generally speaking, they have 'last minute' spots during the school holidays, more-so on Sundays. And they generally only allow 1 BBQ per school per year. But, of course there are ALWAYS ways around this...

I got a 'last minute' spot with 3 weeks notice. No worries at all if you are prepared to rush through the paperwork regarding permission and then ready to order your food. I think we had 50kg of decent quality snags @ $4 per kg, 700 rolls, 30kg onions, 240 cans of drinks and a bunch of assorted sauces. Sold the lot! Bunnings will give you 'food handling' guidelines, and I think the helpers behind the BBQ must be 15 and older. You NEED at least 5 people behind the counter at any one time (1-2 cooking, 2-3 serving and a gopher to replenish drinks / bread). Anything less and you will struggle at lunch, any more and you will stretch the friendship. Each group of 5 works on a 2-3 hr roster and each person that turns up brings a bag of ice with them. Better still, if you do go the Bunnings route, sit back and watch a few prior, take note of where they can do things better, then ask them (during a quiet time) what they would have done differently next time. I did this as I spent the whole day helping the P&F BBQ 2 weeks prior to mine and fine tuned the opperation. Saved money, generated more sales and had less headaches.

I did this all with the help of the school P&F. Again, you will want to keep everyone of importance (who can also help you) in the loop. The school will also need to provide a public liability policy (if memory serves), so it will need to be an endorsed school activity.

Keep all receipts, ask the school accountant or a trusted office person to handle / bank the money on your behalf. This way everything is transparent.

Oh, and make sure you go out of your way to personally thank all that helped you ;)

If you achieve what you set out to do it will be a great addition to your resume as well ;)

As I said... Good luck with it!

[Feathers]

I would assume you have a school band or orchestra? Instead of a dinner, put on a concert!

We had a "musicale" night every year where all the music students performed in the school hall.
Tickets were between $5-$8 (I don't remember, I was in the orchestra), we filled the hall easily with just the parents of the students involved!
Soloists, groups, the orchestra, the band, even the year 7 classes on recorders (ugh, maybe not..), everyone who had anything to do with the music department was a part of the night.
Show off what you can do, it'll get people more interested in what you're working on.

You could run a small raffle on the night for something like a gift hamper - easily put together with a few $$ from ticket sales.
(Basket from the local $2 shop, some biscuits, jams, chocolates...wrap in cellophane and some curling ribbon!).

Have some chilled bottled water and soft drinks on hand for audience refreshments at $1 or so each.
(Any left overs can be stored somewhere in the school with limited access for your BBQ or next fundraising venture).

Check with local supermarkets for damaged carton stock. It happened all the time when I worked at Woolies. Once the carton was damaged it either had to be marked down, or broken and sold as individual cans. We often had a trolley or more, full of cans waiting to be tagged for individual sale, or placed in mixed bags of 10 or so.

Our school orchestra also performed at local shopping centres (not sure about how that would work if you were essentially busking) and once at an ex-student's wedding for which the school got a $500 donation.

[Burnout]

Some intelligent ideas here.
"Bradman studied Music & played Cricket".

[boehm558]

Thanks all for your overwhelming responses.

The parent/teacher to student ratio is high yes, but we're taking between 15 and 20 students, and with more guardians and a lot of spare time in the morning (concerts start after 12:00pm) gives the students more freedom in what they can do with a smaller group.

The tour is so far told it has to be funded by the students, but I'm trying to get as much as I can through fundraising to both lower the overall cost and also send one student on a scholarship named after a distinguished oldboy of my school. The aim is to have the tour to be only around $500 per student.

I will have to check about the canteen, but it's only once a fortnight we're looking at selling pancakes, and the vending machines are owned privately I'm fairly certain, except they don't sell softdrinks.. Instead vitamin water, ice tea, L&P and odd things, wimmers, soft drink, but not the common ones I guess..

As for the dinner, we've changed it to 50 people, this is because of the catering business so kindly doing it for the cost of food only and not labour will only accept catering for up to 50 people and the room booked for it seats only 60 comfortably.

Now bunnings, I don't have to work in the morning tomorrow and I'm on school holidays myself so I'll mission it up to a few different bunnings and have a chat, can you book in for one for your school at different bunnings/would they realise?

Mr. Brooksy, you sir, are a great man. Queensland Youth Orchestra's, is funded by peabody mining whom sent us on a two week tour of north qld for absolutely free, so I had the idea before, but was doubtful, but you've made me reconsider and I will definitely contact some mining business', what is the best way to go about it? E-mail or phone?
Although I did not think of the local rotary clubs, so I'll talk to them also, and another I had no idea was the local newspaper, how do I get into contact with a journo from a paper, would it be a plus that I've already been interviewed and put in the Ipswich Times paper representing IGS before?
As for the supermarkets.. I work at a woolworths so I'll try and talk to the head office about making some donations in the way of neccessities for the pancake day etc.
Ah and about "they already give this much" my school has provided me a list of previous sponsors and made it quite clear that I'm not to ask anymore from the same sponsor..

Now, feathers.
Also ideas that have sprung to mind and I will follow through with, one is the dinner which will formally be a charity auction dinner, however showcasing the school bands and students who are departing on the tour. Also will have a jazz night where an entry fee will be charged along with drinks etc. And raffle has already come to mind, I'm just working on getting some prizes donated to us.

Thank you to all of you for all your advice, has been really handy!

[boehm558]

Oh also, Mr. Brooksy, can you recommend any mining companies who would entertain this idea?

[xisled]

If bunnings a is a no go try woolworths, as they are owned west farmers to. Could make a deal buy all food for the event from the store and you can sell it out the front.

[Mr Brooksy]

Originally Posted by boehm558

Thanks all for your overwhelming responses.

The parent/teacher to student ratio is high yes, but we're taking between 15 and 20 students, and with more guardians and a lot of spare time in the morning (concerts start after 12:00pm) gives the students more freedom in what they can do with a smaller group.

The tour is so far told it has to be funded by the students, but I'm trying to get as much as I can through fundraising to both lower the overall cost and also send one student on a scholarship named after a distinguished oldboy of my school. The aim is to have the tour to be only around $500 per student.

I will have to check about the canteen, but it's only once a fortnight we're looking at selling pancakes, and the vending machines are owned privately I'm fairly certain, except they don't sell softdrinks.. Instead vitamin water, ice tea, L&P and odd things, wimmers, soft drink, but not the common ones I guess..

As for the dinner, we've changed it to 50 people, this is because of the catering business so kindly doing it for the cost of food only and not labour will only accept catering for up to 50 people and the room booked for it seats only 60 comfortably.

Now bunnings, I don't have to work in the morning tomorrow and I'm on school holidays myself so I'll mission it up to a few different bunnings and have a chat, can you book in for one for your school at different bunnings/would they realise?

Mr. Brooksy, you sir, are a great man. Queensland Youth Orchestra's, is funded by peabody mining whom sent us on a two week tour of north qld for absolutely free, so I had the idea before, but was doubtful, but you've made me reconsider and I will definitely contact some mining business', what is the best way to go about it? E-mail or phone?
Although I did not think of the local rotary clubs, so I'll talk to them also, and another I had no idea was the local newspaper, how do I get into contact with a journo from a paper, would it be a plus that I've already been interviewed and put in the Ipswich Times paper representing IGS before?
As for the supermarkets.. I work at a woolworths so I'll try and talk to the head office about making some donations in the way of neccessities for the pancake day etc.
Ah and about "they already give this much" my school has provided me a list of previous sponsors and made it quite clear that I'm not to ask anymore from the same sponsor..

Now, feathers.
Also ideas that have sprung to mind and I will follow through with, one is the dinner which will formally be a charity auction dinner, however showcasing the school bands and students who are departing on the tour. Also will have a jazz night where an entry fee will be charged along with drinks etc. And raffle has already come to mind, I'm just working on getting some prizes donated to us.

Thank you to all of you for all your advice, has been really handy!

Originally Posted by boehm558

Oh also, Mr. Brooksy, can you recommend any mining companies who would entertain this idea?

Ok, lets break this down a little shall we.

Use the networks you already have or are 1 or 2 steps removed from... this is very important. This is where you start.

If you have someone who has personal contact with Peabody mining, go and talk with them. Its ALWAYS easier to talk with a warm contact (one that has some kind of relationship with you or the school) than it is with a cold contact. Find the person who made the application and see if they will introduce you to their contact. IF it was an online grant application process, then see if you can get that contact to lodge a new one for your project, or ask them to help you apply.

Other mining companies I cant really help you with as I am in NSW, but Google search the companies closest to you. I picked up a $3000 grant years ago with something as simple as a letter to my closest Steal company. Local companies are your friend as they have a vested interest in your and especially your schools future believe it or not.

If you are not sure how to contact your local Rotary club, then a call to the national center will give you the details your after. Just a little tid bit of advice, these guys can often promise the world, if they do GET IT IN WRITING! No disrespect to them as a group, but they are business owners who are first and foremost interested in their bottom line, then the community.

Newspaper. Again Google is your friend here. Look for the local rag by all means, but seriously mate this is actually a BIG deal. 150 year celebrations is something that the Fairfax media's of this world want a scoop on. Don't be afraid to contact the head office and ask to talk with the community bulletin people (or someone who looks after covering community events). Again, I recieved a $1000 donation from these guys for a school program I was running that the school ran out of funds for. I was after $3000 max and ended up with $4000 from local groups after the paper ran a story in the middle of the paper. But with your schools 150th year, this will be much bigger (don't expect front page stuff though). One word of caution, don't agree to anything more than information for YOUR story. You may find that once they learn of the 150 year celebrations for the school, they may want to do more than will help you. This stuff pass to your Principal... KEEP him or her IN the LOOP.

Pit the 2 big supermarkets against each other if one says no... They love to get one up on each other.

Finally, honor the list that your school has provided, but don't be afraid to go ask them if they have suggestions for anyone else to contact. Those contacts as I mentioned at the beginning are WARM contacts, much more likely to be interested.

See how you go with this info and Ill keep my eye on this thread during this week to help in any other way I can.

[boehm558]

Ok thanks man, I would have gone straight to peabody if you didn't say that. I have the number of the QYO manager from when we went on tour, and he was the one who had all the dealings with peabody energy, so I've thrown him a text and just waiting for his response..

Well, Ipswich is a coal town, so I'll google and see what companies are around and see if they're keen to throw some cash our way. The marketing manager at IGS just got back to me with the list that I was meant to stray from.. It ended up only being a list of 6 companies who he said for me to call (past sponsors and oldboys), then the rest just hunt around Ipswich for sponsors.. So no need to worry about that anymore.

Also waiting on the marketing manager to get back to me about the newspaper article, merely because I don't want to get my school offside, but depending on his response, I'll endeavour to contact the Ipswich Times sometime today. See what they can pitch, and even in the story to ask for donations from the public and small business' etc.


xisled - bunnings did say no, went up and saw them today.. They see any travel as "a paid holiday". I'm actually a woolworths employee, so I doubt they'll say no, hopefully. Haha, thanks for your input mate.

[Mr Brooksy]

Hey mate how is all this going?