Marketing Your Fundraiser: A Complete Guide
We’ve been supporting fundraisers in Canada for decades, and if there’s one thing we know, it’s that marketing a fundraiser can be tricky. Organizing a campaign is one thing — but promoting it is quite another.
We also know that most organizers are parents, administrators, or volunteers who are short on time and resources. If you’re in charge of promoting an upcoming fundraiser for your school, organization, club, team, or community group this year, we’re here to help.
As a Canadian-owned fundraising company, we’ve helped with hundreds of campaigns across the country. We’re proud to be able to share our experience with the teams, schools, and organizations like yours.
In this blog, we’re offering a complete guide to marketing a fundraiser. We know that when you make a little more profit, it can make a big impact—whether it’s more food for a community pantry or reduced field trip fees for low-income students. It’s our mission to help you make it happen.
Here’s our complete guide to marketing your next fundraiser.
Choosing a Profitable (and Canadian) Fundraising Idea
Of course, before you start marketing, your group needs to select a fundraising idea. We know from experience that it’s not always easy to find an option that is both effective and engaging.
What do we suggest? One of the most profitable fundraising ideas for schools, teams, and community organizations is product sales.
That’s why Indeygo Fundraising offers a range of high quality Canadian goods that people love, including cookie dough, coffee, and tea. At a time when more people are thinking about buying Canadian, our products are a great option for fundraisers of all sizes.
Locally focused and community-minded, we source over 70% of our ingredients from Canadian suppliers. We’re proud to partner with schools, organizations, clubs, teams, and community groups of all kinds in pursuit of their fundraising goals.
Once you’ve selected your campaign, it’s time for the next step — supercharging your marketing efforts.
Marketing a Fundraiser: A Complete Guide
Ready to promote your fundraiser? Here’s everything you need to know about marketing your school, community, or team fundraiser.
Set An Ambitious (but Achievable) Fundraising Goal
Believe it or not, marketing starts with setting your fundraising target. Trust us — nothing gets attention quite like a big, ambitious goal.
Here’s what we suggest. At the start of the campaign, share your goal with your community to inspire them to lend their support. You can announce it at a kickoff event, on social media, or in other marketing materials. Remember, everyone loves helping to make an impact.
Still, we know that fundraising goals can also be intimidating. As you get started with your sales, it can help to break that big number down into smaller, more manageable goals for each volunteer. To learn more about fundraising math — including a simple trick to increase your profits — read our previous blog post here.
Fundraise with Courage
Much of your best fundraiser marketing happens one-on-one. That’s why one of our top tips is to fundraise with courage.
As an organizer, you can help your volunteers boost their individual sales by inspiring them to speak to new people and share information about your fundraiser. Make sure they feel confident talking about your cause and explaining how the campaign will make an impact. Most importantly, encourage them to be courageous, reaching out to their friends, family, and wider community for contributions.
For many volunteers — especially youth — this activity can be an excellent opportunity get outside their comfort zones and try something new. With the help of their parents and caregivers, they can approach adults they know and ask them to place an order, either via a paper order form or online. In addition to raising money, kids may come away from the experience with valuable new skills and confidence.
You may also be surprised by how quickly a few extra sales can impact your fundraising. Consider it this way. If each of your volunteers sells just a couple more units of your fundraising product, how much closer could you get to your fundraising goal?
At first glance, it might not seem like one or two more sales could make a difference, but when you multiply it by all your sellers, it can really add up.
For example, say your group is selling bags of cookie dough. Let’s do the math.
If 50 youth each sell six bags of Indeygo cookie dough, they’ll make $9.00 of profit per bag, resulting in a total of $2,700.00 of potential profit for the group.
6 x $9 = $54 x 50 kids = $2,700.00
But if those same 50 youth each sell 10 bags of cookie dough — just four more each — then their potential profits go up to $4,500.00.
10 x $9 = $90 x 50 kids = $4,500.00
For each individual volunteer, that’s just four extra sales — four extra conversations with their neighbours, parents’ coworkers, or family friends. That’s why it’s so important to inspire your volunteers to be courageous in their fundraising efforts. It’s the best marketing you have!
Promote Your Fundraiser on Social Media
Although it’s probably not the first time you’ve heard this, it must be said — in this digital age, promoting your fundraiser on social media is essential. It’s a quick, effective, and low-cost method for getting the information out to your audience, whether that’s your school, neighbourhood, or larger community. Plus, social media posts are easy for your fundraisers and supporters to share with others to get the word out.
The good news? When you fundraise with Indeygo, we provide pre-designed marketing graphics specially developed for social media. All our fundraising groups have access to our library of helpful images, so all you need to do is download, post, and go.
Try Fundraiser Marketing the Old-Fashioned Way
Social media is a great start, but it doesn’t hurt to cover your bases with some old-style print marketing. You may also consider creating posters and putting them up in strategic places —school bulletin boards, local coffee shops, or wherever you know they’ll be seen.
Flyers can also be an asset. Add a modern twist by including a QR code that leads directly to your fundraising page. The easier you make it to support your organization, the more likely it is that people will do it.
Fortunately, when you register for an Indeygo fundraiser you get access to pre-designed posters and flyer graphics. Just download them from our online library and print—no graphic design expertise required.
Get Everyone Inspired
When your fundraisers are more engaged, they’re more likely to put in the extra effort it takes to get you over the finish line. One of the best ways to motivate volunteers is to remind them about the impact they’re making.
Don’t forget to regularly remind your volunteers about where the funds will go and why they will make a difference. Track your progress towards your goal and celebrate the small wins along the way.
For more tips on engaging volunteers, read our blog post, Top Ideas for Increasing Engagement in School Fundraisers.
Your Canadian Fundraising Solution
Organizing a fundraiser in Canada this year? Indeygo is a 100% Canadian-owned fundraising company committed to helping community initiatives get funded with products that make fundraisers up to 40% profit.
Curious to see our products in action? Watch this short video to learn how the Calgary FC Soccer Club raised over $1,000 to get new turf for their field.If you’re ready to kick off your Indeygo fundraiser, click here to get started. Sign up takes as little as 5 minutes.
