Product Sales are a good choice for your school if:

• You only have a few adult volunteers who can actively participate
• You have a student population that can actively sell to family and friends and the families have the resources to purchase items
• You don’t have money to put out ahead of time for a fundraiser
• You have 6 months of lead time to contact a company and organize a sale before expecting any profit
• You are fundraising for only part of the student population – i.e. a sports team or after school club.

Step One:  Choosing a Product to Sell

• Take into consideration the school population, the time of year and the needs of the students.  Sell wrapping paper in the fall to ensure that it arrives before the holidays, or candy for Valentine’s Day. 
• Visit the websites or call the resources listed below for suggestions, timing and complete details on running a sale.

Step Two:  Outreach to Parents/Students

• Advertise to the school community that you are planning this sale.  Be specific on how to order, what the dates are, and when the product will arrive. 
• Make it easy for people to participate in both selling and buying the product.  Visit the websites or call the resources listed below for suggestions on promotion.

Step Three:  Management and Distribution

• Have a small committee of people in charge of receiving the orders and money, sending orders and money to the company, receiving the inventory, organizing the orders and staffing a location for easy pick up.
• Organize each order ahead of time so that you can move people in and out of the pick up line quickly.
• The companies listed below can help to customize the steps for your school and provide you will detailed instructions for how to manage the orders and distribution.

Product Sales Resources

Organizing sales can be a daunting task, but there are many resources to help you effectively fundraise in this way.  Several companies and websites specialize in school fundraising sales and can walk you through the process.  They will explain to you exactly how it needs to be done, how much time you need and they will answer your questions.  A few suggestions of companies are listed below; contact these organizations for complete details and planning for a sale.

www.qsp.com – QSP Reader’s Digest is a leader in helping schools fundraise.  Their website is informative and can help schools figure out what items to sell and how to go about the process.

www.school-fundraisers.com – This company offers several products that can be sold by the school community to raise money.  This website provides a toll free number that you can call to talk to a fundraising consultant to determine the best method and product for your school.

www.cherrydale.com/  - Cherrydale has a variety of products that can be sold, and an easy internet form you can fill out for more information.

School Store

An alternate idea from PS 236 in Brooklyn is to open a school store.  At the elementary school level, the school store can be a cart wheeled into the cafeteria twice a week.  The store can sell all the school supplies a student would need to purchase, such as pens, pencils, folders, notebooks, rulers, and crayons.  At a junior high school or high school level, if the school has a room that can be used for the store then it can be more permanent store.  In addition to school supplies, this school store could sell school t-shirts and sweat shirts, as well as greeting cards or other small items.  If you would like more information on this idea, please contact Parent Coordinator Antoinette LaBella at PS 236K at ParentCoord236@aol.com.