Especially during the winter holidays, people get lots of gift cards for presents. Sure, you will most likely want to go shopping and spend them yourself, but what about gift cards you receive that are for stores you don’t care much about, or that are partially spent and are adding up in your wallet?

Chances are you have a gift card in your wallet right now with just a few dollars on it (or that’s for a store you never get to) that you’ve had for over a year. You’d like to use it somehow, or get rid of it, but you certainly don’t want to throw it away. If you saw a box where you could simply drop it and have it be for a good cause – you might just donate it, wouldn’t you?

With this fundraiser you simply collect gift cards, new or partially spent, through a drop box or jar that’s easily accessible to your potential donor. You would set this up similar to how you would set up a jar asking for people’s change as a donation. Secure the box or jar to a counter for example, add a sign, and you’re ready to go.

As with any fundraiser, be sure to announce it on your website and Facebook page or any newsletter you’re sending out. This fundraiser also works well as an add-on fundraiser; think Walkathon, crafts, sales at a game etc.

The perfect time to start this fundraiser may be at the end of a year or beginning of a new year, when people are flush with gift cards for presents.

What can you do with donated gift cards?

You can sell your gift cards at websites like PlasticJungle.com or GiftCardGranny.com, which will pay up to 92% of the gift card’s value. You can choose from receiving a cashier’s check, an Amazon gift card, or a PayPal payment into your account.

They will also buy partially spent gift cards, or cards with store credit. You can find out the value of a gift card by calling the number on the back of the card.

For other sites that buy gift cards, search get cash for gift card.

If you receive gift cards of a very small value, instead of trading them in, it may make more sense to hold on to them and use them yourself. For example, if you receive cards for office supply or wholesale stores you could buy your office supplies there, items for a booth fundraiser etc.

In any case, gift cards are almost like cash, so make sure you keep any donated gift cards under lock and key until they can be traded in.

(Image: iStockPhoto/alexsl)

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• Box Tops For Education Fundraiser

Why A Cookbook Fundraiser?

Cookbook fundraisers are beneficial in many ways:

• Cookbook fundraisers become a “community” group project that brings everyone together

• Group members and volunteers can participate without having to spend money (making this a fundraiser for all income levels!)

Create custom cookbooks at Lulu.com

So what’s the downside? There is quite a bit of organizational work to be done, but overall it is comparable to that of many fundraisers. Also, a cookbook fundraiser generally requires an up-front expenditure for either printing supplies or wholesale purchase from a cookbook fundraising company, or local printer and that cost can be difficult for cash-poor groups to manage. The other disadvantage is that there is no guarantee the cookbook will sell at the desired quantity, so there is the potential for loss or low profits – unless you use an on-demand printing service (see below).

Options For Cookbook Fundraisers:

1) Use an online cookbook fundraiser company

Online cookbook fundraiser companies offer support, online resources, programs and downloads. Basically, your group collects the recipes, turns them over to the company, and they do the rest. Some provide software that you use to enter recipes and then the company will organize and print the cookbook. Additionally, some companies offer both services (you do the typing and entry or they will), but also offer a discount if your group does the entry work.

Some cookbook fundraiser services also give you the choice of either using only your own recipes or choosing from a selection of stock recipes to add to your cookbook.

2) Use cookbook fundraiser software and you print the book yourself

Providers of cookbook fundraiser software offer a program similar to that used by the online companies with entry fields that automatically format recipes; but you do not have to be online to use it (similarly, some online programs can be downloaded for use offline and then the data can be uploaded later). After the information is entered and proofed, your group handles the printing and binding.

The downside to a software cookbook fundraiser is that your group is responsible for all the work, and the cost of printing, ink, papers, and binders may be higher than ordering through a dedicated cookbook fundraiser company. The upside, though is that there is never a minimum order because you control the process.

3) Use an on-demand book printing service

If your group has access to someone with graphic design experience and software programs, you might want to try an on-demand book printing service. Once you upload your book files to the service’s site, you can then link to your book from your group’s website and your supporters can order directly online, or you can order any amount of books yourself to sell at any of your fundraising events.

There is no downside here if you have someone who can format the pages and upload them to the site. You can buy as many books as you like whenever you like, and you can also easily sell single copies through your website.

4) Collect and organize recipes and hire a local printer to make the books

Requirements for hiring a printer will depend on the printer your group chooses. Be sure to get samples of other books they’ve printed and decide together with the members of your group if quality and pricing are acceptable for your project.

A cookbook fundraiser is a fun community project that, with good organization and a strong sales-effort, can turn in some very good profits while providing a keepsake for group supporters. It’s a great way to create a lasting impression of your fundraising organization.

(Image credit: iStockphoto/dkapp12)

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eScrip is a simple program that lets you earn money from your grocery purchases for your school or group. Depending on your region there might also be other merchants that participate in the program.

In order to sign up for an eScrip program with grocery stores for example, your supporters need to have a loyalty card from a participating grocery store and then register that card with eScrip. eScrip will collect the funds (a small percentage of each purchase made with registered cards) from the grocery company and then send quarterly payments to participating groups.

How to sign up:

Go to eScrip and click on ‘sign up’; it’s free. See if your school or group is already registered in the program. If not, here is the information on how you can apply for your group to participate.

As a user you create your own account, add your grocery loyalty cards and define which school the proceeds are supposed to benefit. Done!

Get the most out of this fundraising program:

This is the kind of program, where the more people sign up, the more successful it will be. Add information about this program to your website and to all your newsletters. Remind your supporters to sign up for grocery cards – which can be done in-store, or online – and then to sign up for this program.

Some stores also offer this program with their home delivery service, so adding a link to that store on your website would be especially useful! Home delivery is great for busy moms, seniors, or anyone with health problems that prevent him or her from leaving the house.

EScrip also offers an online shopping mall that pays a percentage of each purchase to the school you’ve signed up for.

Schools and other groups constantly have to look for more ways to raise funds, and having a simple ongoing fundraiser like this one may not yield thousands of dollars every month, but will provide a steady stream of predictable profits for your group. This type of fundraiser requires some preparation and steady reminders to use certain loyalty cards at certain stores, but the fact that this is an otherwise completely free fundraiser makes this one worth implementing!

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• Deciding How To Spend Fundraiser Profits

Calendars:

In the old days you’d have to go through a lengthy process of designing a calendar on your computer (or hire a designer) and then have the pressure of ordering a minimum amount for your fundraiser. Those days are over and creating a calendar for your next fundraising event is easier than ever!

There are several services out there that let you assemble calendars from your own pictures and preset designs and then order any number you choose with the option of printing more in the future ‘on demand’ without any additional setup costs. Look for tiered pricing options to get the best deal.

You can easily order calendars through software you may already have on your computer, like iPhoto for example, or you can use pictures from your Flickr page and create a calendar with them.

Online publishers like Lulu.com (sponsored) also offer several different custom calendars at good prices. You can choose from several different themes and designs.

Tip: When choosing pictures for your calendar, try to choose pictures that you think will please the majority of your supporters and any people portrayed in them. It’s best to decide on pictures and design together as a group. Be sure to get a ‘release’ signature from any person appearing in the images. If there are under age kids in the images, get permission from their guardians.

Also, only order ONE calendar with your first order as a ‘final proof’ copy. This will allow you to make any changes and get more feedback from others involved in the fundraiser.

Search for more calendar fundraisers…

Cookbooks:

Creating a personalized cookbook for your group has also become much easier with the new print-on-demand online services. You can upload your own recipes and photos collected from your group members, or use recipes that have been made available by a cookbook service like TasteBook for example.

Online publishers like Lulu.com also offer different options for creating custom cookbooks, including wallet size cookbooks.

The ordering process is made easy with the availability of choosing from pre-made templates and layouts for your pages. Supporters can either go online to order their copy, or you can keep a stock of cookbooks for direct sales. If your group has a website, you can simply add a link to the site where the book can bought online. You can also add the link to any e-mail campaigns.

Since the books will always be ready to ship, this is a great way to raise funds year round. You can set your own price and periodically offer special pricing for specific holidays for example.

Search for more cookbook fundraisers…

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Anyone with a Twitter account automatically gets 50 Twollars to start with. Claim your Twollars here. You can then give away Twollars to anyone you like as a ‘thank you’, or to your favorite charities. (The person or charity receiving the Twollars also needs to have a Twitter account.)

The main point of this service is to help out charities, that’s why charities can sell their Twollars for ‘real’ money to businesses. Businesses can buy the Twollars from charities at the rate of 1$ for 10 Twollars.

Private persons can not sell their Twollars, but can pass them along or donate them.

Why would businesses want to buy Twollars? Businesses can use their Twollars to reward their customers in a meaningful way and at the same time create a social media presence on the web. It’s a win-win situation for them.

Do you work for, or run an organization with 501(c)(3) status? This is a good reason to open your free Twitter account now. Once you have your Twitter account, register your charity on Twollars website. Your supporters can then donate their virtual Twollars (which they can claim here) to your organization.

Twollars seems to be an easy and automatic, low effort way for charities to raise funds on the web. It looks like it’s also a great way to add another income stream without much fundraising efforts.

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Monthly contribution commitments work well for individual donors because they allow them to give more than they could give in a single annual donation, by budgeting for a small payment each month. It’s also good for the organization because it improves monthly cash flow and increases the average individual donation.

Advertise

If you’d like to start a monthly giving campaign, start advertising. Put information in your newsletter and send out flyers to those who have donated in the past. Also put together a mailing list of people who have not donated to your organization, but might be willing to do so. This list can consist of people who have attended functions or asked for information about your organization. Set up a specific campaign period, to encourage donors to take action on the request, rather than putting off making their commitment. When the campaign is over, be certain to share the results with all who subscribe to your newsletter, and all who participated in the campaign.

Timing

Timing your monthly giving campaign with other activities will improve its success. If you have an annual fundraiser, for example, make monthly contributions an option for those who attend this fundraiser. Or, hand out flyers on monthly contributions at celebratory events. You’ll likely find that you have more people who are willing to make a commitment when the information is handed out face to face than through mailings. However, mailings are great reminders and follow up tools.

Payment Options

Be certain to offer payment options to your contributors. Automatic credit card payments make monthly giving simple for both the organization and the contributor and help ensure that contributors don’t forget to make their payments. (For an easy way to accept credit cards, consider PayPal.com.)

Records

It’s important to keep good records of your monthly contributors. Of course, you’ll need the information for tax records. However, you’ll also want to keep track of the ending dates for those who contribute each month for a year. You’ll want to contact contributors whose contribution period is nearing its end, to thank them and to try and sign them on for another year. Also, if they don’t sign up for another year, you want to be certain to stop any automatic payments on time.

Automatic monthly contribution programs will certainly require more administrative support than other types of contributions. However, in the long run, they can help your organization bring in more individual contributions and can help improve your monthly cash flow, making them well worth any additional bookkeeping work they require.

Especially during periods of a slow economy, charitable organizations must be creative in finding funding in order to keep contributions coming in. Automatic monthly payments help individual contributors give more-more easily. And, they help charitable organizations bring in cash every month, ensuring that the bills get paid during tough times. There’s certainly room in every organization’s donor program for simple monthly payment options that increase your chances of gaining donations from a larger number of individuals.

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Ongoing fundraisers are designed so that they virtually run themselves. Registration and information sharing is all it takes to get this kind of fundraiser going.

Beyond that, all that is required is an organized effort to collect and/or redeem or claim your group’s funds. Sometimes, though, sponsors even take care of that for you and simply put the check in the mail.

Ideas For Ongoing Fundraisers

There are a number of nationally available, well organized ongoing fundraising programs. There are even a few you can set up yourself and maintain on a smaller, local scale. Following are some ideas and providers of easy ongoing fundraising programs:

National Brand Fundraisers

Several national product manufacturers and large companies are teaming up and offering ongoing fundraisers. Most of these programs consist of a process of collecting and redeeming coupons from product packages in exchange for goods or cash.

General Mill’s Box Tops for Education Program is a very popular example; you’ll receive 10 cents per label. (Read more about Box Tops For Education.)

The makers of Campbell’s Soup have offered an ongoing fundraiser based on label collection for many years and will pay your group in the form of educational materials and playground equipment.

Tyson’s Project A+ pays 24 cents for each label turned in.

Other more localized suppliers have helped communities closer to their business’ home such as the Kemp’s Dairy with it’s Nickels For Schools program. Check your local dairy, or pizza restaurant for similar offers.

Ink Cartridge and Cell Phone Recycling

There are several companies who will pay fundraising groups for collected ink cartridges and cell phones that meet their acceptance standards. These companies in turn refurbish and recycle the still useful cartridges and parts. This easy ongoing fundraiser is a simple matter of collecting and mailing in ink cartridges and cell phones. This easy ongoing fundraiser is great for the environment, too.

Read more about Recycling Ink Jet Cartridges, or click over to FundingFactory, which offers a popular ink-jet recycling and cellphone recycling fundraising service.

Loyalty Programs

Some retailers (like Target) and service providers are wiling to kick back a percentage of profits to groups whose supporters patronize them. Often a card or registration of some kind is needed to identify supporters and designate the recipient program. When these patrons make a purchase or hire the services of the partner company, they earn cash or redeemable bonus points. The company benefits from better business, the group benefits from easy money, and the program runs itself until ended by one or the other party.

Homegrown Ongoing Fundraisers

There are other programs groups can set up and manage themselves on an ongoing basis. Bottle and can collections and spare-a-penny tip jars are two fairly easy ongoing fundraisers that don’t cost a lot but can return pretty well on the low investment.

The potential to profit from ongoing fundraisers is significant, but it does take a concerted effort to get supporters to participate continually. The effort is small, so most do not mind it, but it is easy for busy donors to forget, so periodic reminding is a must to succeed with an ongoing fundraiser. Most groups find that ongoing fundraisers are better when run as supplemental income of sorts, with two or three larger efforts being run for the bulk of their funds. Either way, there is virtually free money out there to be taken in ongoing fundraisers; you need only to tap the source!

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2. IF YOUR GROUP DOESN’T HAVE A WEBSITE

- If you’d like to have a website:

If you feel comfortable setting up your own site with the help of templates, you can get started easily and inexpensively by signing up with one of the larger hosting companies like aPlus.net or Hostgator. They offer starter packages and templates to help get you online. Advantage: low cost, less than $10 a month. Disadvantage: requires time to use tools and set up site.

If you don’t want the hassle of setting up your own website, you could hire a company to build a customized site for you, either locally or through the internet – search for “web design services”. Advantage: professional design is done for you. Disadvantage: high cost.

If the expense of a customized site is too much, but you need help with design and marketing, try SiteSell.com (sponsor link). This company has a great track record of helping to build successful sites with easy to use design and marketing tools and lots of motivation! Advantage: much lower cost than customized site, lets you set up a site in minutes. Disadvantages: None really, if you need help with setting up and marketing your website.

If you have the knowledge to set up your own site, we recommend the hosting company of our site, Hostgator.com. Advantages: great live tech support 24/7. Disadvantages: None, if you’re able to design the site yourself. (For more info on finding a webhost, visit RankRaiser.com.)

- If you don’t want to deal with the hassle of having a website

You can still very successfully raise funds online even without a website!

For example, you could run an online magazine fundraiser with the help of an e-mail campaign. It is very important here, that you have a substantial e-mail list to help with your fundraising efforts. An online magazine fundraiser is one of the most lucrative online fundraisers out there! Search for ‘online magazine fundraiser’.

Another way to raise funds online is to set up an account with any one of the popular online fundraising services. You set up a campaign and then rally your supporters.

With any of these online fundraisers it is very important, that you inform potential donors on a regular basis about your fundraising efforts. That’s why, as with other online efforts, having a good size e-mail list will be a major factor in the success of your fundraising campaign.

Another way to get online exposure without your own website is to set up a dedicated page for your group on sites like Ning.com, Twitter.com or Facebook for example. This allows you to get the message out about your group.

Any of the above strategies might be more effective however, if used in conjunction with your own website. A website can give useful information about your group or cause and strengthen trust of the public in your fundraising efforts. It is also a great tool for collecting e-mail addresses and sending messages.

Read more about online magazine fundraisers at Tips For Running A Successful Online Magazine Fundraiser

OVERWHELMED? NOT ENOUGH TIME?

If you’re unable to actually start any online fundraising campaign at this point, you can still prepare for it by collecting e-mail addresses from members of your group, potential donors and other interested parties.

Get into the habit of always collecting e-mail addresses at functions, meetings, or on your website, if you decide to create one. Of course, assure anyone who signs up that you won’t use their e-mail addresses for anything else, but for the sole purpose of keeping them informed about your cause.

People will appreciate being updated on any fundraising efforts and successes. Be sure to include a link to your website in each e-mail.

For more about fundraising online, visit our “Fundraising Online” category where you can find articles like Create Your Own Website!

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• Raise Funds in your Neighborhood with the G-Team

If you’re looking for an online fundraising service that lets you create your own fundraising campaign and page, click over to 15 most popular online fundraising services.

Part 1. IF YOUR GROUP ALREADY HAS A WEBSITE

Asking for donations on your website:

- If your site already has a lot of visitors,
consider adding a “Donation” button. PayPal.com (sponsored link) offers a very simple way of accepting donations online: supporters can pay by credit card or through direct debit and there aren’t any set-up fees. You only pay a small percentage on each amount donated. You can also try Google’s Checkout service, but in order to display their ‘donate’ button you have to be a certified 501c3 non-profit. (Tip: Raising funds online may present new legal considerations for your group. It may be best to consult your legal adviser before raising funds online.)

- If your site has only a few visitors,
you can add donation buttons to your site, but you should also spend some time promoting your site on the web. With simple marketing techniques, including social media marketing and e-mail campaigns you can easily increase the amount of visitors to your site. The more visitors you can attract to your site, the more people can learn about your cause and donate to your cause!

Read more about increasing traffic to your fundraising website:
>> The Basics About Internet Marketing SEO When You Raise Funds Online
>> Promote Your Fundraiser On The Web With Social Media Marketing

Selling products online to raise funds

You can also sell products online in order to raise funds for your group. You could create your own online store, but an easier alternative would be to set up your own hosted store on a site like CafePress.com, or create an account with an online charity mall like iGive.com. Setting up your non-profit with eBay is also a viable option: you can sell donated goods and services through their auction feature, or sign up through their Givingworks Program

Another very lucrative fundraiser is an online magazine fundraiser. Read more about Running A Successful Online Magazine Fundraiser, or search for ‘magazine fundraiser’.

Once you’ve set up an account with any of the services above, you can simply send visitors from your site to the respective sites and each sale will generate income for your group!

Use an online donation service for your fundraising campaigns

You don’t need to have your own website for this, but when you set up a campaign with one of the popular online fundraising services, you can send visitors to your website over to your campaign. You can also send visitors who go directly to your campaign to your website for more information about your group and your campaign.

Be sure to collect e-mail addresses!

Any type of online fundraising will be easier and more lucrative, if you have a substantial e-mail list, since it is important to send out periodic messages to remind people to buy through your site, or other websites’ programs your group is signed up with. Having a website isn’t even necessary for some online fundraisers, since all the ordering, e-mail management and payments are done through the fundraising company’s website. However, having your own website can greatly contribute to the amount of visitors taking part in your online fundraising efforts.

Get into the habit of always collecting e-mail addresses at functions, meetings, or on your website. Of course, assure anyone who signs up that you won’t use their e-mail addresses for anything else, but for the sole purpose of keeping them informed about your cause.

People will appreciate being updated on any fundraising efforts and successes. Be sure to include a link to your website in each e-mail.

For more about fundraising online, visit our “Fundraising Online” category where you can find articles like Create Your Own Website!

If your group doesn’t have a website, but you’d like to raise funds online, go to
Raise Funds Online – With Or Without Your Own Website! Part 2
for information on how to raise funds online without your own website, or how to set up your own website if you’d like to have one!

Tip: Raising funds online may present new legal considerations for your group. It may be best to consult your legal adviser before raising funds online.

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Online magazine fundraisers do require some effort on an ongoing basis to keep them profitable. Here are some extra things your group can do to increase the profitability of your online fundraising campaign.

Tips & Tricks For Successful Online Magazine Fundraisers

• Launch your online magazine fundraising store via e-mail and include a convenient link directly to your site.
• Build as large an e-mail list as possible for your launch and for all reminder e-mails; include all group members and associates, and strongly encourage them to forward the e-mail to friends, associates, and family members.
• Be sure to include in the e-mail that this is not just a one-time deal; that the store will remain open and they should come back repeatedly to renew or order new magazines they see elsewhere.
• Personalize your online magazine fundraising store space by using colors that represent your organization; add photos of your group working hard and having fun.
• Include a strong appeal on your site; tell visitors who your group is, what you represent, why you need money and how online magazine fundraising profits will be spent – show them exactly how they are helping and why that is good!
• Tell your visitors what’s in it for them personally; in most cases, ordering online through your magazine fundraiser will result in great discounts for your supporters.
• Create friendly competition among members by offering incentive programs and setting goals.
• Utilize address import features for e-mails and review lists to make sure everyone you know is included.
• Send reminder e-mails and thank you notes to keep your campaign visible and promote ongoing participation.
• Mention your campaign in all communications; discuss the effort on blogs, websites, and forums.
• Use any print material resources you have such as newsletters and local media to advertise your online magazine fundraiser.
• Re-launch your online magazine store at least annually so that all new group members are aware of the ongoing campaign, and so that old group members renew their fundraising resolve.

Search for magazine fundraiser.

Creating a large outreach is the key to success and big profits with online magazine fundraising campaigns. The more people you can communicate with, the more potential you have for orders; since not everyone will participate, your e-mail address list should be as large as you can manage. And list maintenance should be ongoing, ever growing the list so that new customers are added as often as possible.

More about online magazine fundraisers.

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Volunteers new to fundraising may not always realize that they have many options beyond product fundraising. And often non-product based fundraisers enjoy greater success because they give supporters fun, easy ways to support an organization at a variety of affordable price-points, without purchasing product they don’t really want or need.

One option for staging a non-product based fundraiser is to hold an event of some sort. If well organized and well-run, event fundraisers are great successes because they provide affordable, fun, community-based entertainment and/or education. Some event-based fundraising options include:

• Community carnivals or fairs
• Craft sales, bake sales, flea markets, or fairs where table space is sold (rented) to vendors
• ‘Taste of’ your town events – sell table space to local restaurants and caterers, bakeries, etc. and invite the town for samples for a small ticket fee
• Car washes
• Plays/theater/dance recitals
• Petting zoos
• Child-centered educational events like bike safety days, child safety awareness programs, youth-group events

Event-based fundraisers are lots of fun and can be hugely successful, but they do have a downside: event-based fundraisers require a lot of planning, man-hours, and initial monetary investment for supplies.

There are several other non-product based fundraiser options that can be completed in record fundraising time, and be very appealing to supporters, such as the following:

• Discount cards – sold for 5 or 10 dollars, worth percentage discounts at partnering local businesses
• Scratch cards – supporters scratch one or more circles on a card and donate the amount of money that is shown (donations are no more than $5 per circle)
• Lotto calendars - calendars are sold for 10 to 15 dollars, and buyers have the potential to win each day for a month (cash prizes are given for each day’s drawing)
• Raffles – sell tickets, draw a winner for the prize; 50-50 raffles are especially easy and popular (winner gets half the money collected from ticket sales)
• Brick fundraisers – sell bricks engraved with donors’ names and use them to build a garden, walkway, or partial building
• Spare-a-dollar campaigns – print letters explaining the campaign and simply ask supporters for donations

Product-based fundraisers give supporters something tangible for their money, but with multiple fundraisers being run in every locale several times per year, product fundraisers can be met with diminishing demand and support. Non-product based fundraisers and fundraising events are better options when the product fundraising pool is overflowing.

For discount cards and scratch cards, try FastTrackFundraising.com.

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Box Tops for Education—Simplicity In An Ongoing Fundraiser

Very few fundraisers are as easy to implement and maintain as the Box Tops For Education ongoing fundraiser. All your fundraising group has to do to get started is register with General Mills (call 1-888-799-2444 to register). After that, your group gets the word out to as many supporters as possible to start clipping the 10 cent ‘Box Tops’ coupons from participating General Mills products. Participants can turn their coupons into your group (or drop them in a designated drop box) at their convenience. All that’s left for your group to do is tally them and remit them to General Mills for compensation.

Expanded Box Tops Programs

General Mills has recently expanded the reach of the Box Tops program to include an online Box Tops marketplace and a book club.

Your supporters can shop online at the Box Tops marketplace from more than sixty major retailers (the likes of JC Penney and Land’s End) for other needed items. Your group receives a percentage of every qualifying purchase.

The Box Tops program will also offer your school group book order forms several times each year. Students can buy books (for personal use) and your school will receive one 10 cent box top for each dollar spent.

Boxtops4Education.com

Benefits Of The Box Tops For Education Program

Box Tops is a great program to participate in because it is easy to register for and easy for supporters to participate in. Supporters simply clip coupons from items they need to buy anyway and turn them in. There is no cost to anyone to get the Box Tops program started.

Potential funds raised can reach a very handsome figure if your group is able to access a good supply of Box Tops. Even small to moderate sized schools find it easy to raise one to two thousand dollars with little effort. General Mills caps the Box Tops collection reimbursement at a lofty $20,000; in addition, the two expanded programs, Box Tops Marketplace and Box Tops Book Clubs, can earn up to $20,000 each for a potential grand total of $60,000 for your group.

A Few Tips For Box Tops Success

The Box Tops program is so easy that it’s tough to add a lot of pointers to it. You can, however, make the life of those redeeming the tops easier by asking supporters to trim the tops before remittance, and asking them to check the expiration date on the coupon.

The real key, though, is getting people to turn tops in. A classroom incentive program, such as a pizza party (donated from a local pizza restaurant) or other reward for the most successful classroom, can go far towards getting kids to get the word out for you. Box Tops programs are most successful with a good outreach for collections and registered marketplace/book club users, which means getting the word out is your big key to success. Once you’ve accomplished that, your battle is mostly won. The Box Tops for Education program is an excellent ongoing fundraiser that helps to supplement larger fundraisers and fill in the fundraising gaps.

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Quick-View Of Ink Cartridge Recycling

Setting up and running an ink cartridge recycling program couldn’t be easier. A few simple steps and you’re there.

Here’s what you’ll have to do:

• Identify your ink cartridge recycling partner – this will be a company who buys used ink cartridges so that they can refurbish them and resell them. Most of these companies operate primarily online, and that is where you can expect to find several good ones.
• Register your organization – pretty much anyone can set up an account for ink cartridge recycling—and it’s all free! At registration, you’ll receive all the information you need to start recycling. Soon after, you’ll be provided with bags, boxes, or envelopes to send the collected ink cartridges to the company in. In most cases, the postage is prepaid—the whole program could be run entirely free!
• Start collecting – you’ll need to do something to get the word out about your program; utilize all your information disseminating resources. Blurb the fundraiser in a newsletter, send out letters explaining the program, write a press release for the local paper, send around an email and/or post the collection on your website. (Note—you don’t have to wait until you get you materials, you can start collecting any time.)
• Remit Collections – remission guidelines vary by company, but by and large they are pretty open-ended; you just send in your ink cartridges whenever it best suits you. On average, a monthly remission works well, but if you collect a lot of cartridges regularly you could send them in more often. On the flip side, organizations that have just a few sometimes prefer to send in the ink cartridges when they’ve collected a fair amount to make the postal trip worth their while.

How Much Will You Make When You Recycle Ink Cartridges?

The potential for profit is limited only by your access to ink cartridges. The more you collect, the more you can remit; on average you’ll get between one and four dollars for each accepted cartridge (depending on the type and your company). The nice thing is that ink cartridge recycling doesn’t have to cost you a thing and the fundraiser can continue on alongside other efforts without competing. If you can partner with some area businesses and/or organizations that go through lots of cartridges, you can turn quite a nice profit. At any rate, ink cartridge recycling is something every needy organization should undertake because the extra income can’t be gotten elsewhere as easily.

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Raise funds and recycle used ink cartridges and cell phones at FundingFactory. (Sponsor link)

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