# Trying to do fundraiser to schools looking for sample letter to send to schools



## yourcutetees (Jul 31, 2012)

Hi I have been doing rhinestone tees for a year now and have been doing ok with it. I am trying to reach the schools now and wanted to do a fundraiser. Does anyone have a sample letter to give to school explaining a fundraiser or know where I can find one. I also would like to know what would be a good percentage to give. All help is welcomed. Thanks!


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

schools are the last organization that needs to have fundraisers explained to them, lol. 

fundraising is, as far as i'm concerned, a volunteer thing. if i was fundraising for a school or whatever, i'd give 100% of the profits to them, minus out production costs. i wouldn't even pay myself. that's the point of fundraising and charity work, eh? large companies that say 'a portion of the proceeds go to x' is a bit different ~ they have lots of employees to pay and shareholders to make money for. now, you could set up a booth at a game (for a fee) and put a sign out saying proceeds go to the school, and you might recoup your losses, but if you're suggesting using fundraising as a backdoor to making profits of your wares, that's kinda shady, imo. i mean, where there's an ulterior motive involved, a red flag would go up to me. selling fundraising shirts for the school at the grassroots level connotes volunteerism in my mind, as opposed to 'i'll give the school 50% of what i make and pocket the rest,' which tells me the whole fundraising thing is just a marketing ploy. dunno, maybe it's just me on this one....

you could probably call any school principal's secretary and ask her the skinny on the dillio. she probably knows as much or more than the principal, whom you'd be best off making an appointment to see as not to waste either of your time. i don't know if you have to go through a lot of channels and paperwork as essentially what you're doing is making a donation, though perhaps there's a waiver the school board has for such situations. i would guess the board has a secretary full time between meetings, not sure on that, maybe you could just call that person or drop an e-mail to one of the board members. (some school board/city sites have an online store to order from.)

if you plan on selling the school shirts to be used as a fundraiser (i.e., having someone else sell them however they can), there's probably not going to be a lot of profit in it for you. a lot of companies cater to this market already, and you would have to compete against them and their profit-guarantee potential, established quality (such as it is), reputation and delivery, not to mention battling against everyone else already selling school shirts as opposed to cheese logs, cheap candy, and discount cards/coupon books. to top it all off, then you have to worry about sizes. 

so, imo, this avenue won't work too well, so you're back to hawking them on your own. my advice? maybe set up a booth at the 1st football game/homecoming and donate however much you feel like it. don't donate at all if you don't want to, it's not as if the space they charge for rent isn't going to them anyway. small shops may put them out for you if you provide a rack (a convenience store, used sports equipment store (often called something like 'pass it on' or 'play it again' or 'second time around' lol) or trophy shop, for example) or some non-corporate owned place without corporate policies and/or merchandise suppliers that already stocks them. some corporate-owned places will allow the manager some discretion. then you get into wholesale pricing and such, and there's likely going to be a buy-back option in the contract ~ when you sit down and do the math, it may be a case of having to sell just too many damn shirts at wholesale to make it worth your while given the number of shirts you will probably sell.

the female i'm currently still technically married to and i have talked about the booth at the games thing, and we may do that, though what we're more serious about is making up a lot of shirts for a lot of local schools and selling them at the flea market (indoors, and there's a huge flea market near us). a few of the designs i'd shy away from just because they're something other than the typical pirate/vikings/bulldog fare, but these would follow the trends and be more fashionable and distinctive that the normal ones you find on a rack at the grocery store. so, if you're looking to make money, which i'm totally in favour of because i'm a capitalist, perhaps that's an idea, eh? too, you'll meet a lot more people than those just in your town.


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## printingray (Apr 4, 2012)

Try to write a letter by your own. Or just use your company letterhead for offer. This might be a good suggestion.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

If you want to get into a school you need to be juiced in, otherwise faughetaboutit!. Don't give them a heart, they will rip it out and laugh at you. Operate as a FOR-PROFIT and let them worry about their fundraising. They have money and will spend it. You just need the inside contacts. 

One of the fastest ways to go out of business is to give away the store to these groups. 

Good luck.


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

it's funny, though: sure, there's plenty of being juiced in, a lot of nonsensical expenditures that baffle the outsiders (probably because it's a crooked deal, lol), and all that... then again, you get a new athletic director and he wants to make changes... or there's a new coach looking for something new and/or cheaper.... it can be more volatile than people think. one thing is for sure, though ~ that job you have this year may not be there next. and if you're doing this out of your garage, it's going to be very, very hard to get anyone's attention. 

wait long enough and a screen printing will go under. eventually you'll get calls for quotes, then you've got to compete with online, and that's where you lose 'em right there.


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## league33 (Jun 30, 2012)

I'm with Ryan and Binki. Unless you have a special in with the "right" person at a school or are offering a proven something that has never been done before, I think you can be doing something more productive with your time. Most schools already mark up their spirit wear sales and it goes back to some program within the school.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

Binki's right. 

It appears that most new screen printers, etc. think that it's easier to get a hold of schools to get started. Also, that they have lots of needs. 

In reality, everyone needs t-shirts. You need to find who everyone is. 

Learn to search out contacts. For schools, start with your childrens schools. Join the PTA, or find a neighbor who belongs. 

Next, athletic directors, coaches etc. For that matter all coaches. Instead of giving samples, make one, and wear it to a game. Also find the one person whose in the know. 

If you know whose in charge of the student store, or school buyer. My daughters school had one person per grade in charge. The school was so big they had a principle per grade then one overall principle. 

It takes a little work. 

Send flyers or post cards to the admin office.

Churches are also good buyers. 

Don't know if you're only selling rhinestone stuff, but just so you know, many men won't wear it. That being said, try cheer.


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

we've done trophies and awards for almost 7 years now, the previous owner had been in business doing the same thing for nearly 27 years to the day, the point being we're in pretty tight with coaches and ADs, etc., and we *still* don't get their business for shirts, lol. it can be a very closed loop, and it can take years for that loop to open up. when it does it's a free-for-all, and often the person that takes over is clueless, makes a few local calls to get quotes, and gets something off the internet based on nothing more than price (which is *not* the only selling point, but that's what it amounts to for a lot of these people). 

a tough gig, schools. it's hard enough doing trophies, which has a relatively high buy-in and there's still competition, but nowhere near the competition that shirts have. coupled with the craziness of schools and, yikes, that's going to be interesting seeing how well that business model works out, lol. 

here's the thing: the people running things aren't spending their own money, so unless someone new comes along to shop around, they're probably going to roll with whoever they already have. screen printing is kind of like hair dressers, mechanics and jewelry stores ~ once you find one you like and trust, you probably don't shop around all that much, if at all.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

We were lucky to have a Saleman find us. He sells to schools and looks around for local companies for each product he sells the schools. He does the marketing for whatever he needs. 

This last year was our first year with him. Lets hope he continues this coming year.


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