Fundraising: Candy's In, Events Are Out - Sue Kust

According to a recent press release from Fundraiser Help (www.fundraiserhelp.com), "School fundraising events are becoming more popular due to school district bans on candy sales, parental concerns about door-to-door selling, and parental resistance despite increased funding needs. With fundraising product sales down 11% nationally in 2006, fundraiser events have helped fill the funding gap."

With the wave of childhood obesity and food allergies, more and more schools are replacing candy products with other items to meet the demands of parents. Fundraisers are a great way to raise the much needed funds to cover the costs of various activities, supplies, and new items for the school.

Instead of falling back on candy, The Spirit Zone offers a wide variety of products, such as t-shirts, flannel pants and boxers, car magnets and flags, fleece stadium seats and blankets, thunder sticks and spirit makers, and even fold up stadium chairs, that can be used to meet fundraising goals.

A great way to implement the use of the above products is to hold a Spirit Wear fundraiser that will encourage team spirit. One way to do this is to organize a sporting event, such as a teachers VS students baseball game that you can sell tickets for, but don't stop there, take it a step further and sell t-shirts and sweaters, stadium chairs and noise makers, and even car magnets and flags. You can sell these items before game day so that everyone can wear and use them for the game, but you may also want to set up a table to sell the items on event day too.

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Don't forget to sell bottled water and BBQ food, sell 50/50 tickets, and even set up games for everyone to play before and after the main event.