EcoLight Candles - Fundraising Information

Organizing A Successful Campaign

Planning your campaign

Setting goals: In fundraising, the first thing you need to do is set your goal.
How much do you want to raise? Or how much do you need to raise? What will you use the money for? When do you need the money by? Once you determine your fundraising goals, maximize your fundraising opportunity by telling EVERYONE about them! Tell your members. Tell your organization's officers. Tell your supporters. Tell the community. You'll generate more support and motivate your sellers.

Set a deadline: Your campaign should run a maximum length of 1-2 weeks. Keeping the campaign short will keep your participants motivated and on track.

Know your group: Knowing how many of your group members will be participating in the fundraiser is important, since it will help you organize a selling strategy. This will help determine which geographic area to be covered by the participants, as well as the best time to solicit donations.

Motivate your group: It is important to maintain close and constant contact with your group members, and to motivate and encourage them constantly. Being a positive role model for the group is also important, not only in terms of how much money you raise, but also in terms of how much time and effort you put into your fundraiser to make it a success.

Leader of the Pack: When selecting a person to be the Leader of your fundraiser - look for a cheerleader! Choose the person that's going to be excited about the products and prizes. A person who can motivate the members is going to be your #1 asset. Of course your leader should also be organized. It does take time to keep the products and money organized, and EcoLight Candles offers tools and advice to make it as easy as possible.

Group Leader Check List:
1. Be sure to communicate your group's goals to the members. Encourage each member to set individual goals - how much they'll sell. Use a goal chart to track your accomplishments.
2. Give members ideas on how to sell the product and who they should sell to.
3. Show members how to use cash collection envelopes to keep money collected from getting lost.
4. Keep an accurate record of money collected. EcoLight will give you a form to help you.
5. Remind every member of deadlines to have product sold. Set a specific date when all money needs to be turned in.
6. Make the fundraiser FUN!

Managing Your Campaign

Recipient: Remember, you must provide us with the name and address of the recipient of funds to do your fundraiser.

Delivery: Once you have placed your order, allow 2 weeks for delivery.

Money Business: Your fundraiser will go smoothly if you assign at least two people who are experienced and comfortable with handling money. Appoint one to serve as treasurer; the other as fundraising leader. Both should be present when counting the money that has been collected. Both should sign all requests for money using a numbered receipt book for all cash disbursements. Members should collect money when they take the order and accurate records of all money collected are necessary.
Deposit money in a timely manner - preferably daily. In between bank deposits, make arrangements to keep money under lock and key.
EcoLight Candles gives your group free record keeping charts so you have an organized way of keeping track of all product distributed and money collected by each member.

Tallying and packing orders: It is a good idea to solicit volunteers in advance to help with these tasks. Your Leader will oversee and coordinate these activities. The Leader and each participant should ALWAYS check and double-check orders for errors. You will be provided forms to facilitate this task.

Incentive Prizes

Not all fundraising campaigns need additional incentives to motivate the participants. If a baseball team needs to raise $75 per player to be able to participate in a tournament, the incentive is already there. With many campaigns, however, this is not the case. The following are some additional ideas intended to help motivate your participants.

Individual completion prizes: Everyone who sells a pre-determined minimum amount receives a cash prize, movie tickets, or any other prize available. You could also use the samples as prizes!

Best-seller prizes: Offer a special prize to the individual who raises the most money, or sells the most units.

Draw prizes: Every participant who sells a pre-determined minimum amount is entered into a drawing for cash prizes or other merchandise.

Intangible prizes: These are often the most effective for the participants, and as a result, create the most incentive. For example, have your coaches agree to coach a game in a silly costume! Being creative in this aspect is important, and can help make your fundraiser a true success.

Make it a GREAT Finish! Celebrate your successful fundraiser with a fun, energy-filled meeting. Have every member turn in their money and record sales to determine the top sellers. Announce the amount of money you've raised.
Present prizes to top sellers. This is also a great time to take a group photo. You'll encourage teamwork and congratulate everyone on a job well done!

Tips for Participants

Approaching a potential supporter:
The manner in which a potential donor is approached may determine whether or not a donation will be made. Try this simple but effective approach:

"Hello, my name is ____________, and I'm raising money for ___________. Would you like to support our group by purchasing some candles?

"Thank you for your generosity, and have a nice day."

Key things to remember

List as many potential donors as you can before you begin approaching people for support. Start with family and friends, and then proceed to your neighbors and other people whom you feel would be interested in your cause.

Know why your group is holding the fundraiser, and communicate this to potential donors. For example: "Our group is raising money in order to finance our trip to the annual tournament."

Smile, be polite and most importantly, be enthusiastic about your cause.
If possible, always carry your fundraising samples with you.

Sales Options

Option 1 - Brochure method:

The group has a brochure with the picture of the candles and description of the fragrances.

Option 2 - Purchase Sample Candles: Order a sample set of 1.5 oz. candles (1 in each fragrance) for each participant. Candles in particular are more easily sold when they can smell the scents. The participants carry these with an order sheet as they sell. These sample sets are yours to keep. Payment for these is due upon delivery.

Thank you for your interest in having EcoLight Candles
as your Fundraising source!

The Healthy Candle Choice!