Long-term Fundraising Contracts – A thought on signing on the dotted line.

Fundraising Contracts - Sign on the Dotted Line

What are your thoughts on your cell phone contract?  How do you feel when you sign for a loan?  Would you sign a long-term contract to eat at the same restaurant every day?  These are pretty bad examples but do you feel trapped by these examples?  So, do you think that you should be able to switch services if another better, faster company comes along?

There are a lot of businesses that would rather have your business than earn your business.  Take a doctor, lawyer or a dentist.  Would you want to continue consultation with them if you knew they couldn’t help you just because you had a contract?  Probably not.

The fact remains, long-term contracts have been around for a long time.  They are an implicit agreement that two groups will agree to work together for a time but with a catch – they can’t NOT work together.  Businesses that have the luxury of having customers readily agree to long-term contracts must be excited.  It really means that they only have to earn the business once and that’s it – from there on out, it’s not a performance based agreement.  In other words, if we don’t perform, we get to work together again anyways.

Take school fundraising.  If a company asks you to sign a long-term contract and they don’t have the goods or services to make you happy should you be obligated to use them again the following year?   We doubt that a long-term fundraising contract is enforceable but beyond that, we just don’t think you deserve to be tied down.  If a fundraising company doesn’t have the good sense to show you first-hand their product and services and let you decide for yourself if you want to work with them again, there is a reason for it.

In the end, we believe it is a companies responsibility to produce consistent value to a customer each and every time.  If that isn’t the case, the customer should be able to choose to go elsewhere.

Here are some quick tips to finding a good fundraising company:

• Get plenty of recent references and actually call them

• Comparing a fundraiser is tough – apples to apples comparisons should include things like quality of customer service, hidden fees, product quality, packaging, ease of use, damaged / missing item policies, backorders and turnaround times.  There are a number of ‘intangeables’ that are important to compare.  If you can get just a bit deeper in your comparison a true winner will likely emerge.

• For reasons above do not assume that one catalog or fundraising brochure can be compared to another – item value, price and quality are not the same from company to company.

• Get samples – a good fundraising company will send you product samples if you need them.

• Don’t let a company ‘convince’ you to use them.  Put your Sherlock Holmes hat on and compare the entire picture until you deduce your fundraising partner.  Ask yourself who will help me succeed most!  Whomever this is deserves to earn your business.

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Believe Kids does not use long-term contracts.  We will earn your business time and time again, one fundraiser at a time.  Please visit www.BelieveKids.com for more information about our elementary school fundraisers.

Quick Pick – Best Elementary School Fundraisers…

What fundraising type works best for elementary schools in spring?

It’s our belief that a frozen cookie dough sale, spring catalog sale or a well-organized event (such as a spring carnival or auction) is the the way to go for Spring 2010 – especially when it comes to elementary schools and larger groups nationwide.  A cookie dough, catalog or event that is school-wide will regularly bring in the most funds – especially when the events are well-promoted.  Not only do they bring in the big bucks but schools may find that the need for many smaller fundraisers diminishes. We have found that when schools and groups limit the number of times they call on the parents for donations, participation increases.  If participation increases on the big heavy-hitting fundraisers the school and the parents win out!

So, consider a big profit fundraiser for spring 2010 and raise some significant profits!  You may even find that some of the least productive sales will become largely unnecessary.

Sneak Peek – Believe Kids Fall 2010 Fundraising Catalog Preview

Believe Kids 2010 Fall Fundraising Catalog

We took the liberty of posting a preview version of our 2010 “Magical Holidays’ Fall Fundraising Catalog!  Take a look: Preview the 2010 Fall Fundraising Catalog

Invitation to visit Believe Kids Denver Headquarters!

Open House Invitation

Invitation to visit Believe Kids Fundraising Open House!

We would like to invite you to the Believe Kids office & warehouse open house!

Come on over and grab a gift bag, see our 2010 product line, take home some product samples and see for yourself how we provide amazing service to each and every group fundraising with us nationwide!

This is an amazing opportunity to meet our amazing staff, see our warehouse and checkout the 20 passenger Escalade limo!

Thursday February 18, 2010 11 A.M. – 2 P.M.

Invite as many people involved in your fundraising efforts as you would like! Please R.S.V.P. on twitter if you can come or email us www.Twitter.com/BelieveKids letting us know how many people in your group will attend.

We can’t wait to show you how we do it!

P.S. Our office has a relaxed dress code so come as you are!

P.S.S. Don’t forget to take a look at the pdf invitation

Fall Fundraising Season – Elementary schools are still registering!

Fall is in the air! Schools still registering for fall fundraisers!

Fall is in the air. Leaves are falling and it’s getting cold. As a nationwide fundraising company, we host many fundraisers for elementary and middle schools in every state. Our headquarters are in the Denver Tech Center in Englewood, Colorado. So, check this out… we just had a snowstorm! While it’s 80 degrees in Florida, we’re snow shovelling. Oh well. Here’s really the point:

Schools are still registering for fundraisers!

We know that we are a trustworthy and profit generating fundraiser but let’s face it… It’s not because we’re good that schools are still registering. We are registering schools because schools need funds and don’t have a way to get them.

If you are a school or group looking to fundraise, we can talk it over with you, process your materials and ship to you immediately so you can get started with an amazing fundraiser.

It’s not too late and we have many groups starting so give us a call if we can help. If for some reason our services are not appropriate for your group, we will talk you through a strategy to best help you raise the funds that you need. Toll free number over here is 1-877-723-5438. We’re open Monday – Friday barring any blizzard-like conditions

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Summary: Elementary schools are still registering for fall fundraisers and are welcome to call us for straight-up information and fast delivery of materials if we are a good fit with the school or group.

Cute School Fundraising Displays! We love it…

Thanks for sharing photos of your elementary school fundraising display with us!  We love seeing how the fundraisers are being promoted.  Here are the most recent submissions of school fundraising display photos.  Thanks for sharing!

School Fundraising Display

School Fundraising Display

Fundraising Drawing Laptop Winners – Cardinal PTO

Believe Laptop Drawing Winners!

Congrats on winning the laptop giveaway!

Yes, we give away a lot of cool stuff. This was a drawing that all registered schools were elegible for. We deal mostly with elementary and middle schools across the country so our prizes are technology based – laptops, cameras, flip HD video cameras, etc. Things that PTA and PTO parent groups ask for most often.

If you are a elementary school parent group and do school fundraising, ask a Believe representative if we have a current drawing promotion!

Fundraising News Update

Believe Kids Fundraising News

Thank you for visiting the Believe Kids fundraising blog.  Generally, this area is reserved for our company announcements.  We do want to respond to recent news but may have more recent information here.

For anyone visiting this page with specific news on fundraising companies, let us take just a moment to clarify what is going on today in the fundraising industry.

As you know, the state of the US economy is taking a toll on many companies nationwide in many industries.  Companies of all types are closing, merging or re-structuring as a result of our recent economic struggles.

Experts agree that this year will continue to be difficult economically and companies that do not have a strong position in the marketplace may close in favor of other opportunities.

Believe has been very fortunate in this regard.  We are a strong and seasoned company with a diverse product line.   This year, we are paying close attention to the economy and how to our schools and groups will succeed like never before – even with our current economy!

Quick Believe Stats:

• 12 Years in Business
• Specialize in Catalog and Cookie Dough Fundraisers
• Work pre-dominantly with large elementary schools
• Believe offers a simple and complete fundraising solution
• We fundraise successfully with schools in every state every year
• Literally thousands of references for your review
• By far the best customer service in the industry
• Free tools for fundraising success in a bad economy
• Our award-winning catalogs earn schools more money

If you have not requested our free fundraising samples packet yet this year, we invite you to join the hundreds of schools and groups that have already decided that Believe is their best option for fundraising this year!

Our commitment is to help schools raise more money than ever while remaining insulated from fundraising company troubles and the state of the economy.

We will continue to post the newest fundraising news but we want to invite anyone needing more information on the industry or wanting fundraising advice can speak to any of our consultants toll-free: 1-877-723-5438.

Not sure if Believe Kids is for you?  Take a moment to review our un-moderated comments on our website – we think you will agree that our fundraisers are impactful while remaining easy to operate!

As with any of our posts, if you find our information interesting, please subscribe, leave comments, follow us on twitter @BelieveKids or leave a comment at our new fundraising discussion board.

We look forward to helping in any way we can!

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A note to fundraising companies: As we outline on our news blog, we have the ability to help a small number of fundraising companies and even individual fundraising representatives.  We encourage you to call us toll free 1-877-723-5438.

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Source – re: New Goody’s Giftco, LLC • Varsity Gold Fundraising

Fundraising News – Giftco Closing to Affect Companies Nationwide

Many fundraising companies, schools and parent groups are just finding out about the closing of Giftco, Inc. who closed it’s doors March 18th.  The economy has taken it’s toll on yet another well intentioned company and it will affect fundraising companies nationwide.

Giftco is not a household name but has helped literally every fundraising company over the years since their inception in 1975.

The fundraising industry has long relied on Giftco as the one major vendor behind-the-scene that sourced, imported and warehoused products for resale through schools and groups.  The benefits to fundraising companies were numerous and our hearts go out to the employees and families who are affected.

Given the news, companies will respond in various ways.  Companies with a high percentage of products may be in trouble.  The difficulties surrounding creating and importing may simply be too high and many companies will not be able to continue fundraising in a conventional sense.  Others may not have as much difficulty.

Believe for instance, has a very diverse catalog and if you are here specifically to find out how we are affected,  please know that we have been aware of the consolidation of the industry for a very long time.

We have taken steps not only to import our own products but to dramatically increase the number of US vendors we rely on for our products.  By limiting our exposure in any one area, we are insulated from the problems many fund raising companies are faced with today.

We will not miss a beat.

Please be careful in a time like this to keep focused on the reality of the situation – there is a need to raise funds in schools more than ever before. If you hear any negative responses or selling on fear be cautious and please let us know.  By working together, fundraising companies, schools, parent groups and communities will gain tremendous benefit as the industry is reshaped over time.

If you have questions, please contact us anytime and please follow us here or on twitter @believe and also at my personal blog http://believejay.blogspot.com – as always if you like the information we have to offer, please subscribe, add to rss feeds such as aol, yahoo, google etc or leave comments.

Fundraising Companies:  We are willing to help in any way we can.  At this point, it seems that everyone is looking for answers and it’s really too early to say how things will shake out, but, if you would like to be in contact with us please feel free.

Fall 2009 ‘Magical Holidays’ Fundraising Catalogs are Here!

Shipping Fall 2009 ‘Magical Holidays’ Catalogs to all the interested folks out there as of NOW!  We are really looking forward to hearing from you all about the catalog and all the other elements we are putting into effect to combat the economy and raise participation this year!

We want you to succeed in your fundraising efforts so if you haven’t taken a minute to request a copy, please do so at http://www.BelieveKids.com/

Please post any questions you may have at our BRAND NEW discussion board – http://www.BelieveKids.com/Talk

Magical Holidays Fundraising Catalog