Otsego Local Schools in Bowling Green, Ohio has benefited from a relationship with Stoller Fundraising for the last seven years. For Jon Rife, Junior High Principal and tour coordinator for middle school trips, the word “relationship” is key to Stoller’s success.

When Stoller’s sales representative, Derek Fry, first dropped samples off at the school, the two quickly built a rapport that has only grown since they started working together. In between sales orders and fundraiser planning, Rife and Fry regularly banter back and forth about their Michigan and Ohio State loyalties. 

“Derek is a great guy to work with, very personal,” Rife shared… even if he is an Ohio State fan. But that’s one of the great things about working with Stoller—the personal touch that makes the relationship far more than just a business transaction. Stoller’s staff truly cares about their customers, from friendly team rivalry with their contacts to sharing photos and stories about each other’s families. That kind of relationship makes doing the day-to-day business of fundraising easy and enjoyable.

Fundraisers Help Make a Way for Middle School Students to Experience the World

The school district relies on Stoller Fundraisers primarily to offset the costs of various student activities. They first began raising funds for their students’ trip to Washington D.C.

“Everyone who tried the sale for the first time raved about the product,” Rife said.

They’ve since expanded their fundraising efforts to help the kids that aren’t able to travel to D.C. attend other experiences while the trip is underway. Proceeds from fundraisers have also been used to offset the costs of a trip for the 6th and 7th graders to visit the courthouse and an art museum. The money raised is used to cover extra costs, like buying lunch or paying for admission.

Hands-Free Fundraising

“One of the great things about Stoller is that they make things so easy,” said Rife. “We just come up with the date. Then Derek comes and does a kickoff for us. He ships the promotional materials prior to the kickoff so that they’re ready to go.”

Stoller added online fundraising options in addition to the paper method sometime during their relationship with Otsego, which only increased the degree of accessibility and convenience for students and families. Now, students can send friends and family a link to the order page, where they can select the student and place their order, automatically applying credit to that particular student.

Once the sale is over, all of the orders are boxed up and sorted individually by number affiliated with each student, and delivered to the school for parents to pick up. The process goes very smoothly, with very little error.

“They make it so easy, essentially doing everything for us,” Rife said. “It’s one less thing that I have to worry about throughout the school year.”

Stoller’s Star Products Make This Repeat Fundraiser a Huge Hit

Two products that seem to be particularly popular are the Butter Braid® Pastries and Amish-made pretzels. 

“People rave about them,” said Rife. “Sometimes we have families that buy in bulk and keep them in their freezer for family members. We’ve even had some families after the sale who wanted to buy a couple hundred dollars more worth of products, and Derek made it happen.”

The quality and popularity of these products contribute significantly to the success of this fundraiser year after year. People actually look forward to fundraising season.

Rife highly recommends Stoller to other groups looking to raise money. The ease of working together, the continuous communication, and the streamlined process make it an easy and effective fundraising solution.

“Derek made it so easy to work with Stoller,” Rife shared. “They’re cooperative and they tailor their sale around our needs. We’re able to raise a few thousand dollars, which directly benefits student activities.”

Stoller’s partnership with Otsego Schools isn’t just about raising funds; it’s about fostering relationships and creating positive experiences for students, parents, and staff alike. Are you interested in what a Stoller Fundraiser could do for your organization? Access our Group Earnings Report or schedule a call with our team today! We can’t wait to help you meet the fundraising goals for your organization.

With so many students involved, band programs are constantly searching for effective and hassle-free fundraising solutions. For the Howland Band (Warren, OH), the answer came in 2013 when they discovered Stoller Fundraising. 

Shawn Reynolds is primarily Howland Band’s middle school band director but he also assists with the high school and younger grades. Reynolds had tried Butter Braids® before somewhere and just so happened to be near Stoller’s booth at a conference. 

“Nancy, a Stoller Fundraising Coach, reached out to me and hit it off right away,” Reynolds said. The band has worked with Stoller for over a decade now.

The Howland Band’s fundraising efforts play a pivotal role in offsetting the costs of spring trips, including a trip to Disney the band makes every four years. Stoller’s products, known for their high return rates and popularity, have become a staple in the community.

Stoller Makes Band Fundraising Effortless

One of the standout features of partnering with Stoller is the simplicity it brings to the fundraising process. For a busy band director, the allure lies in the fact that Stoller handles most of the legwork. From sending occasional emails to having everything in place when the fundraising period concludes, the entire process is streamlined. 

When it’s time to kick off the sale, Stoller’s team comes in and offers students tips on selling, explanations of their ingredients, and even a taste of the products so that they can speak with confidence about what they are selling.

“When the kids leave the room, you overhear them saying, ‘Oh my gosh, these are so good!’” said Reynolds.

Besides sales tactics, though, Stoller is committed to treating each kid like a member of their own family. They advise students on staying safe and making sure to sell in familiar neighborhoods. Each fundraiser receives a link to the online store that automatically tracks their sales and makes fundraising something that can be done from the safety of home. 

Once the fundraiser kicks off, Stoller runs with the rest—managing online aspects, tallying, fundraiser setup, order processing—all is expertly managed by Stoller, leaving the band director free to focus on the music.

Diverse Products People Anticipate All Year Round

The Butter Braid® pastries remain a crowd favorite year after year, but recently, Stoller added, of all things, dog biscuits! These have been a surprising hit with customers, says Reynolds. Granola, traditional pumpkin rolls, and chocolate cream rolls also contribute to the diverse product lineup that resonates with the community.

“My fundraising has gone way up since working with them,” said Reynolds. “I’ve got a couple of people in my community who will start calling in early fall, asking when we will be selling so they can stock up.” 

Some customers buy as many as 30-40 Butter Braids® (one of Stoller’s most popular items) each sale to stock up for the holidays. Another customer told Reynolds that he has 20-25 in his freezer at any point in time.

“The quality is incomparable,” said Reynolds. And the community knows it.

It isn’t just that the product is highly popular. Customers buy these delectable treats each year because they know they’re supporting a good cause. The fundraisers make a huge difference in the affordability of trips for students in the band.

Customer Service That Measures Up

Reynolds emphasized the value of the Stoller team’s responsiveness and excellent customer service throughout their fundraising campaigns. From checking orders meticulously to promptly resolving any issues, the Stoller team has demonstrated a commitment to ensuring a smooth and trouble-free experience for the band. They’ll even drive all the way to the school to remedy an issue if it’s necessary.

Reynolds appreciates the company’s commitment to remaining local. It helps to build trust and familiarity with families in the community.

“Stoller makes you feel like you’re their only customer,” Reynolds said.

From exceptional products to unwavering support and a genuine connection with the community, Stoller has proven to be more than just a fundraising solution—it’s a partner in the pursuit of musical excellence.

Are you interested in multiplying your fundraising efforts for your music program or another organization? Find out just how much other groups are able to raise using Stoller Fundraising by accessing our Insider Report!

The latest craze in the hands-off, third-party fundraiser movement is Dine for Dollars (or Dine to Donate) nights. 

Restaurant fundraisers feel like a no-brainer. Who doesn’t want to eat out for a good cause? No one has to sell anything, no one has to make anything, all you have to do is order off the menu on the right night of the week and you’re golden!

As attractive as these and other third-party fundraisers seem, the rewards just don’t add up. It’s important to remember that third-party fundraisers are just that—third party. They don’t have your organization’s interests at heart. What they want is for their business to benefit, and if they have to toss some extra change your way to attract additional business, it’s a win for them.

Here are four reasons you might want to think twice before launching yet another Dine for Dollars event.

It’s On You to Draw a Crowd

It’s a night out at a restaurant—it’s already built. The people will come… right?

No, Ray, the people won’t come. (Field of Dreams, anyone?)

Most, if not all, restaurant fundraisers rely on you to do the marketing. Some restaurants will only grant a portion of the proceeds to your organization if the customer mentions the fundraiser (more on that “portion” later). 

You still need to organize the night, attract customers, make flyers, post to social media, nag your neighbors, and send out yet another reminder email to convince people to eat out at a particular restaurant on a particular night of the week.

Rain, Snow, Competing Events… Too Much Is Out of Your Control

What if I don’t like chicken wings? What if I just ate at that restaurant last night? What if it snows? What if you didn’t see that the basketball team has a big game out of town and the whole city will be traveling to watch during your fundraiser?

It doesn’t matter how many flyers you sent home, a one-night-only event is going to have a conflict for someone. 

And if the turnout that particular night is low or the restaurant has a slow night, your fundraiser is going to be a disappointment.

It Seems Easy, Until It Isn’t

One of the biggest draws to the third-party fundraiser is its simplicity.

“Just” show up! They say. It’s easy! 

But since it’s up to you to make sure people show up in order to benefit from the fundraiser, you’re likely going to invest the same amount of time and effort into a third-party fundraiser as you would for any other… but with paltry results.

And that’s the real kicker.

It Says “Dine for Dollars” but It Means “Pig Out for Pennies”

Restaurants promise a portion of their profits, ranging from 20% of pre-tax sales to  as much as 50%, depending on the chain. 

This sounds great, until you do the math. Let’s say you are able to attract 100 customers to Chipotle for your (50% of net sales) fundraising night. The average check per person is around $11. Your efforts will earn your organization $550.

The same fundraiser at Panera (20% of pre-tax sales) with the same turnout at $15 per person will only earn your organization $300.

To earn that kind of money, you had to convince 25 families of four to eat out at one particular restaurant on one particular night.

The bottom line is that some third-party fundraisers require you to work really hard only to raise a little bit of money.

Or to host multiple events in order to meet your fundraising goals for the year.

We don’t want to see you “pig out for pennies” anymore.

Stoller Fundraising specializes in goal-crushing fundraisers, fundraisers you only need to do once in order to meet or beat your fundraising objectives with the same—or less—promotional work, time, or competing efforts.

The proof is in the pudding, as they say. We’ve gathered the averages of our customers by group so you can see what your organization is capable of doing. And we’ve also shared our heavy hitters—the Stollar Stellar Sellers—so you can see what happens when your organization really dreams big.

View the results of our partners’ average fundraising efforts now, and then find out how we work with you using a simple fundraising model to help your organization get the results you need.

Say farewell to operating as your local chain restaurant’s free advertising campaigners. Let’s work together to earn more money and take back more time for your cause’s real concerns.

The Stoller Fundraising Group Earnings Report

Every organization has a fundraising goal they want to hit each year. Hundreds of organizations just like yours have used Stoller Fundraising to meet—and even exceed—their fundraising targets. 

Check out the average fundraising results for real groups who have worked with Stoller between 2021 and 2023 to hit their goals with simple, easy fundraising tactics.

Why show an average? Rather than showing off our biggest, most aggressive partners, averages give you a far better idea of what your organization is capable of achieving, even if you don’t have that one future entrepreneur in your club. 

BUT, keep scrolling to see the numbers from our heavy hitters!

Average Fundraising Results by Group

Schools (Public and Private)

Clubs (School and Non-School)

School Music Groups

Sports (School and Non-School)

Meet Stoller’s Stellar Sellers! 

We LOVE to see every group succeed with their fundraisers, but there are some groups that crank out sales like none other. Just look at what some of our highest earning groups have been able to raise:

Add Your Group to the Stoller Stellar Sellers

Are you ready to rake in the cash for your organization? Sell the products every household craves — explore our product offerings and schedule a call today!

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If your last fundraiser generated more headaches and nightmares than profits, it’s understandable if your head throbs at the thought of helming another one. Perhaps you agreed to the first one because you saw “fun” in the word “fundraiser”—it was bound to be a blast, right? 

Before you begrudgingly agree to roll that fundraising boulder up that hill again, we just want to say one thing: There is a better way—and we don’t want you to miss out on it!

At Stoller Fundraisers, we’ve distilled the art of successful fundraising down to a simple three-step process and used it to help over 3,200 groups raise over $17 million. When you reach out to us for help, our expertise and methods become yours. 

Whether you are fundraising for a band, choir, church, school, or sports team, working with us involves the following three steps: scheduling a call with us, promoting your fundraiser, and getting your profit check. We keep it simple—and we offer that simplicity to you—so you don’t miss out on the satisfaction that comes with fundraising when the process is streamlined for success. 

We also don’t want you to miss out on any of the following five benefits that come with partnering with Stoller Fundraising:

1. Your own personalized online store. Stoller Fundraising offers a simple, user-friendly online ordering system that enables you to track your fundraising progress, manage orders, process payments, and view reports in real-time. Supporters can pay online using their credit or debit cards, Apple Pay, or Google Pay.
2. A fundraising program that is tailored to your group’s needs. We work with you to determine the approach that suits you best. One popular option, for example, is our traditional brochure fundraiser, which uses a mix of paper order forms and your group’s online store to raise money fast with great products—specifically our famous Butter Braid® Pastries and Joyful Traditions® Cake Rolls. Read about our other options—the Grab & Go Fundraiser, and the Ship-to-Home Fundraiser—here.
3. High-profit margins.  We promise high-profit margins on our fundraising programs, offering up to 50% to help your group reach its financial goals quickly and easily. Most groups that work with us run 2-3 fundraisers a year and raise between $5,000 and $20,000.
4. Free promotional materials. We provide you with a range of free promotional materials to support your fundraising efforts, including customized order forms, posters, parent letters, and social media graphics. When you and all the people in your fundraiser’s orbit use these materials to spread the word, monetary magic happens!
5. Dedicated customer support. We are committed to providing exceptional customer support with a team of experienced and knowledgeable representatives who are available to answer questions, help with ordering, and provide guidance every step of the way. In other words, you don’t have to slug it out solo anymore when you work with us!

While it’s true that anyone can fundraise until they’re blue in the face, no one wants to end up looking like a Smurf. Keep your complexion and raise the money you need by partnering with Stoller Fundraising.

Schedule a call with us today so you don’t miss out on an easier, better way to reach—and even surpass—your fundraising goals. We look forward to talking with you and making your life easier, too. Who knows, maybe this time around you’ll even find the fundraising process (dare we say it) fun?

Professional sports organizations emphasize different areas of their operations depending on which season they find themselves in. The off-season is all about strategic thinking, team building, and goal setting. 

Once the season is underway, the staff’s attention shifts fully into play-by-play analysis and game-by-game adjustments to tackle each tactical move. 

But in between off-season and the season, there’s an important transitional phase: the pre-season.

This is true for fundraising organizations too.

Shift from “Off-Season” to “Pre-Season” Thinking 

We covered what you should be doing in your organization’s off-season in an earlier article, so how does the off-season look different from pre-season?

Off-season is all about big picture thinking. That’s when you want to be identifying your annual goals, your long-term vision, your budget, and your strategic plan for how you’ll get where you want to go. 

As soon as you can see your active fundraising season on the horizon, it’s time to shift gears, from off-season to pre-season.

Pre-season fundraising steps down from the 40,000 foot view of your organization back to maybe the third or fourth rung of the ladder. From here, you probably can’t see everything on the horizon, but you also don’t have your boots on the ground in active fundraising event mode.

Plan Ahead to Make the Season Go Smoothly

Pre-season fundraising planning begins several months before your actual fundraising event. If you have a fall event, you’ll probably want to start planning in early summer. It’s best to give yourself about 3-4 months for in-person fundraising events.

Since there are fewer physical details to iron out, online events can be assembled quicker, but you’ll still want to begin planning about 30 days beforehand.

In either case, the person who starts to prepare all of the details for their fundraiser weeks or months in advance is far more likely to have a cool head and clear eyes once they get into the thick of the event.

Set Fundraising Goals for Your Group

If you’ve already done your off-season work, you know what your overall budget is for your organization, and you probably already know how much you need to raise.

Chances are you have several different fundraising objectives to meet your budget goals. Do some research, see what you were able to raise last year, know what you need to raise this year, and determine what you want to aim for this year.

Most organizations need to rely on diverse funding sources. Clearly stated goals for each fundraising initiative will give you, your team, and your donors a clear picture of what you’re aiming to achieve. It will also give you a way to measure success after all the work is done.

Communicate Your Plan with Your Group

Visionary leaders are inspiring people with big ideas, which is why you do what you do! Now it’s time to take your big idea and the goals associated with it to the rest of your organization.

The best fundraisers aren’t successful on their own; the trick to their success is that they’ve figured out how to communicate their enthusiasm and vision to a group of people who are then able to buy into the importance and value of your organization. 

With fully invested team members, you have a whole fundraising team ready to reach their personal contacts with the fire of your passion to carry with them.

Delegate Roles to Your Team

Once you’ve established the goals for your fundraising efforts, you don’t want to be stuck doing every task yourself. Identify which of your team members, board members, staff members, or volunteers are going to spearhead the main tasks to have a successful event, and then give them the autonomy and authority to go and do the thing you’ve entrusted them with.

If you try to micromanage every part of your fundraiser, you will burn yourself out, disenfranchise your team, lose funders, and probably fail to meet your goal. Stop trying to be the superhero—assemble a super team instead.

Broadcast Your Fundraiser to Your Community

With a team of fully invested volunteers and fundraiser advocates, it’s time to market your event.

It’s no secret that different generations have different communication preferences. If you’re old school and prefer hanging up posters around town, you’ll probably reach some people who are just like you while missing out on people who never visit those spaces.

But, if you’re a savvy marketing millennial who only relies on social media, you’re going to miss out on a ton of community members who gave up on keeping up online a long time ago.

In both cases, there are people you could be connecting with who would love to support your organization if they only knew about it.

Diversify your marketing efforts as much as you can. And since you started planning well in advance, you should have plenty of time to spread the word in all the places you expect people to be.

Don’t Operate in a Bubble—Connect with People In-Person

While the marketing tactics above are helpful to promote your event, there’s still nothing that compares to the power of word-of-mouth and referrals.

In these weeks and months before your big event, talk up your fundraiser at PTA meetings, parent meetings, rotary meetings, softball games, picnics, community events, and graduation parties.

Don’t be afraid to be direct: “Did you see that we’re selling Butter Braid Pastries this year? Joey should be bringing home a flier in a few weeks! Don’t forget to get some for his Aunt Phyllis for Christmas!”

Make your fundraising event the talk of the town. The more people who are in on it already, the more people who will experience FOMO for your fundraiser and want to jump on board.

If your pre-season fundraising planning has you sweating over your budget goals, maybe it’s time to add something fresh and simple to your fundraising strategy. Stoller Fundraising makes fundraisers that are easy to run and highly profitable for your organization. Connect with us today to explore how your organization can benefit from these simple moneymakers!

Phew! There’s nothing like that feeling after a successful season is complete. Time to kick back, right?

Go ahead and take a breather for a minute—you deserve it!—but just because your organization has ended its busy season does not mean it’s time to shut down until next season starts. There’s a lot that can be done in your organizational “off-season” to set you up for success next season. Here are some ways you can use this downtime to your organization’s advantage.

Build Momentum and Off-Season Enthusiasm

Just because you’re out of season does not mean you should be out of mind. Now that you aren’t up to your eyebrows in your organization’s busy season, there’s space to be more strategic with your communications and promotions. It’s important to keep people excited and informed about what your organization does, even when you aren’t actively recruiting, running, or fundraising. The fanbase you build now will pay off later. 

Maintain an active and excited social media presence, send regular (but not incessant) email communications to your list, and more to keep your current audience engaged and motivated for your cause, whatever it might be.

Develop and Share Success Stories

With a whole season of activity behind you, now is a great time to jot down several success stories to report back to your donors. What were the fruits of their investment? If you’re able, interview participants to gather testimonials and share them in your marketing efforts. Tuck the best ones away for next year’s fundraiser to help motivate your donors to give.

Cultivate Relationships with Existing Donors

You have a pile of people who have supported your organization in the past. Now is the time to be intentional about thanking them for their work, inviting them to lunch, and showing them what you’ve done with their generous gifts. Your organization depends on the generosity of others; show them your appreciation by nurturing relationships with them. 

Assess Your Operations

When you’re in the middle of your busiest season, it’s hard to lift your head out of the weeds and address the bigger picture. “We’ll take care of that in the off-season,” we say, waving our hand at that one thing that is important but not urgent. Well guess what? It’s time! 

It’s important for all organizations to take a step back at least annually to assess the health of our operations. Are the right people in the right seats on the bus? Where are the kinks in our system? How can we make our operations run more smoothly for our team and for the people we serve? Maybe upon taking a look at your organization you discover that everything is running smoothly. Great! Then take the opportunity to dream about the future and set goals as you prepare for the next season.

Prepare a Budget

You know what you needed to be successful this last season, and you have fresh knowledge of where you came up short. Now is the time to put together a budget for next season. This will give you a clear view of how much you need to raise and what you need to do to meet your goals. Putting together a budget also provides you with the confidence and information you need to approach donors for specific needs, whether it’s uniforms, equipment, facilities, or operational expenses. 

Evaluate Your Current Fundraising Strategy

Take a 40,000 foot view of your organization’s funding sources. Just because you’ve always done a certain activity doesn’t mean that it’s the best way to spend your time and resources. What is the return on your investment of time and energy? Are there better ways to raise money without adding yet another fundraiser into your programming? 

No matter what time of year your organization is active, you should always take the opportunity to ask your donor list for year-end gifts. Many organizations make their charitable gift decisions during the last quarter of the calendar year. If your organization is mostly active during the spring or summer months, you don’t want to be missing from another organization’s giving considerations just because you aren’t in session in the winter. 

Prepare for an (Even More) Successful Fundraiser

After you’ve evaluated your operations and dreamed big dreams for the future, you’re going to need funding to help make it happen. If last season’s fundraiser didn’t give you the results you were hoping for, it might be time to select a different fundraising company or an entirely new approach.

Your organization’s off-season is the best time to research fundraising companies, compare their strategies, and select the best option to meet your fundraising goals. A solid fundraising strategy will help you step into your busy season with confidence and space to focus on the day-to-day tasks that make your organization flourish.

When you’re ready to prepare for your next fundraiser, have a member of your organization reach out to Stoller Fundraising. We can help you incorporate simple, profitable fundraisers into the development of your organization. 

When it comes to selling, the general rule in sales goes as follows: for every sale, there are at least 3 rejections. It can be tough for professionals to stay in the game, but what about your fundraising crew? How can you help them weather the feelings of defeat and stay motivated? Keeping your participants motivated during the sale can be a challenge. Just like in sales, incentives go far. Keep motivation alive with enticing reasons to overcome defeat and keep trying.

All For One, One For All

Group goals struggle without a shared interest, so an incentive for everyone works great as a common goal. When you offer a reward at the end for all their efforts, the group is more likely to push through adversity—like rejection—to earn for the fundraiser. Destination awards to a theme park, or school trips to tour a new city, inspire everyone to earn their chance to go.

Sometimes, an incentive works best when aimed at the individual to inspire each person’s best efforts. With an incentive for their individual contributions, the participants feel a personal and immediately gratifying reason to fundraise in addition to the real reason, supporting the group’s goals. From a big-ticket item, like an iPad, to general admission tickets to a fun location, like Kalahari Waterpark, working toward a reward for themselves taps into an individual’s sense of purpose, making it easier to stay focused on the goal.

Assessing Rewards

Whether you want to reward the whole group or the individuals in the group for their efforts, incentives work best when they target your group’s needs. It’s important to assess the motivation of your fundraising group to select an incentive program that really feels exciting and worthwhile. However, a decision that affects the whole group may feel daunting, so turn to your fundraising coach to create a custom plan. All incentive programs are completely free, so confidently rely on your coach’s recommendations to select the best package for your group.

Our experienced fundraising coaches help guide your choice for an incentive program so you can form a realistic assessment about your group’s motivation. What type of reward would your group really desire? Which reward would motivate them the most? Is there a theme park, event, or city of interest to those who live in your region? Your fundraising coach asks the right questions to gauge your demographics and choose from several incentive programs to find a match for your group. 

Rewarding Fundraising

Incentives help participants overcome the challenge of staying motivated, making it easier to achieve your fundraising goals. Help your participants feel more invested and committed to your fundraiser with an incentive package customized to fit your group. After a successful fundraiser, you and your participants will feel rewarded by a job well done and by their prize, because you earned it!

Let us help you make your fundraisers simpler and more profitable by keeping your group motivated with exciting rewards for your efforts. Schedule a call to learn more about your fundraising opportunities with Stoller Fundraising. 

Warm pastries baking, melted icing drizzling, and flavors that taste like sweet baked apples, caramel, or cinnamon. Is your mouth watering yet? Just imagine the joy of your supporters who can have the real deal baking in their ovens! Our Butter Braid® pastries are easy to love because they are simple to store frozen, thaw, and bake for the taste of homemade pastries. Your supporters will keep coming back for more. 

Fill The Freezer!

Butter Braid® pastries are the perfect treat to share with guests, and it doesn’t hurt that they also impress! The look and taste of these pastries seem bakery-bought, and any supporters who host will love the ability to make and serve these right at home. The advantage of choosing Butter Braid® pastries for entertaining is that they are stored frozen so it’s easy to stock up. Since they come in flavors of fruit, cheese, or cinnamon, there are plenty of options to satisfy everyone. With all the variety, it’s possible to host a handful of times without making the same one twice. From guests to family dinners, the host with the most will love these pastries!

Easy Baking!

Not only are Butter Braid® pastries delightful, but they are also practical. Supporters will love the fact that from packaging to table there are only three steps: thaw, bake, and share! With the scent of baking pastries quickly filling their kitchens, supporters will appreciate such an easy and unforgettable at-home baking experience. Within minutes, they can make a professional-level baked good.

Flavorful Fare!

Can we talk about flavor? This is perhaps the best feature… they taste amazing! In one bite, the blend of the light, flaky pastry and the mouth-watering fillings enhanced by the topping is a decadent experience that repeats with every bite. The delicious blend of flavors and textures melt together to create a real bakery sensation. From sweetly spiced, to fruity or savory, there is a flavor for everyone. With 10 varieties to choose from, it would be hard to pick just one! 

With delicious flavors and easy baking instructions, this is a completely approachable product that your supporters will want again and again. Filled with flavor, these pastries will fill the freezers of your supporters (and, if a few end up in your freezer, that’s perfectly alright, too!).  

Give your supporters an impressive, mouth-watering treat they can make right in their own kitchen. Schedule a call with us to set up a free sampling of Butter Braid® pastries at your school or business, and learn how you can add these popular pastries to your next fundraiser with Stoller Fundraising. 

The fundraiser has a green light, but don’t sit down just yet! Now is the time to really address a key component of fundraiser success—promoting your event. Your fundraising coach will have plenty of ideas to support your efforts in promoting your fundraiser. But, here are the top strategies we suggest to really draw in your supporters.  

Emails Are Everything

The beauty of an email campaign is being able to instantly reach multiple people at once. Great promotions build interest by teasing about the upcoming fundraiser and informing your supporters about the cause. Use a fun visual within your message to promote the details of your fundraiser and let people know what you will be selling. Be sure to keep your supporters informed of important dates and details, like the start date and duration of your fundraiser. 

Savvy Social Media

If you have cringed at the content of tweets and TikTok, that’s okay, but also appreciate these mediums for the good they can create. Facebook groups work well to unite like-minded people around a topic they care about; tweets grab attention and inform as much as they entertain; TikTok is a great quick-visual; and more. From Instagram to LinkedIn, great options exist to socialize your fundraiser and reach a wide-ranging audience. When you get your audience excited about the fundraiser and the cause, they will be more likely to participate. 

Be Present Online

An online presence is not only helpful, but expected, in today’s culture. With Stoller Fundraising’s online store, you can direct supporters to order online and bridge the gap between telling someone about your fundraiser and achieving a contributor. When there is an online option, a supporter at the fundraiser who does not buy immediately can still contribute at their leisure. Imagine the potential when you send a simple email during the sale with a link to an online store to anyone who may be interested. Harness the power of online shopping!

Don’t Forget The Fliers!

Plenty of options still exist to capture the attention of people when they aren’t focused on a screen—standing in lines, walking on sidewalks, entering stores, etc. These are all opportunities for a flier to be noticed by people out and about downtown or throughout a school building. Posting paper fliers is just one more way to capture people’s attention. Stoller can provide you with enticing fliers and posters, as well as digital posters, so you can continue promoting your fundraiser online and throughout your community. 

Putting Together Your Promotional Campaign

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to make these four methods work. Come up with a catchy slogan and a flier that you like, then it’s a matter of rinse and repeat for all the different mediums! Subject lines can be slogans, a flier can be emailed, and teasers about the details can be tweeted. If you choose just one or all, your fundraiser reaches a wider audience of supporters and you’ve already done your job promoting your fundraiser. 

Contact your fundraising coach at Stoller Fundraising to get help with your fundraising needs. Stoller can help you raise money with less effort on your next fundraiser.

Fundraising may seem like a simple two-step formula—sell and earn—but there are a few things to consider if you want to boost your profits and make the most of your effort. Sales, customers, incentives, and services factor into your overall profit and earnings, but financial management doesn’t need to be complex. Focus on these key points to be the most successful in your fundraiser: 

Are You Considering Dollars vs. Percentages? 

It’s easy to add the dollars and come up with a total, but that simplifies the process to earning more money. If you want to sell for the most profit, then you want to move beyond the dollar by dollar calculation and work with percentages.

Think about your quantity of sales and the type of earnings you want. If you make a 50% profit from a $2 candy bar, you are getting a dollar back for every item sold, but you have to sell many, many items to get those dollars to add up. On the other hand, if you make a 40% profit from a $20 tub of cookie dough, you’ve just made $8, so you’ve sold less and still earned more. 

What Can Your Customers Afford? 

Know your audience and the amount they can afford to spend on your items. For example, teenagers, adults, and parents will spend their money differently and follow different trends. Parents will likely spend more on their children regardless of the item’s costs, but teenagers may be more willing to purchase smaller, cheaper items like granola and snacks. Adults may be more interested in quality or convenience items in return for their dollars, like candles or easy-to-bake, frozen items. 

So, keep your primary customer in mind and give some thought to what items they are more likely to purchase so you can best meet their needs and how much they’d be willing to spend so you can make the most of your effort. 

What Is Included In Your Fundraising Earnings?  

When considering your earnings, also include any additional benefits, like prizes or incentives for your group or additional services from your fundraising partner. Some fundraising programs offer prizes and incentives to keep your group motivated and increase participation. Stoller Fundraising offers incentives like tiered level rewards, tickets to Kalahari Waterpark, free products, and cash-back rewards. Keep in mind the value these prizes add in motivating your group to fundraise more. 

Fundraising programs also offer different levels of service. Think about each step of the fundraising process and how much time you are willing to dedicate towards keeping your group organized. Some fundraising partners offer multiple services to make your job organizing the fundraiser as easy as possible. Stoller Fundraising, helps you plan and promote your fundraiser, makes collecting money easy with an online ordering option, and makes delivery a breeze by pre-packaging each order alphabetically so you don’t have to sort through boxes of products. 

For the amount of effort you spend on a fundraiser, you want to make sure you get the most services from your fundraising partner. Be sure you have the right amount of support so that you don’t need to spend extra effort, time, or money of your own throughout the fundraising process. 

Stoller Fundraising offers simple, profitable fundraisers to help you raise money for your group. Learn more about the products, incentives, and services we offer so you can make the most from your next fundraiser.

The more time you spend preparing for your fundraiser, the more you will gain from your fundraiser. Successful fundraisers take place when the group effort puts together a wide-reaching and appealing offer.

Here are five ideas for creating the best fundraiser:

1. Start Brainstorming

When you start thinking about hosting a fundraiser, bring everyone together to think about the plan. What are important dates to consider and who is the audience? Identify all the major components that you will need to track throughout the process and put together a timeline to follow.

2. Use Technology

In this era, it’s rare to carry cash, so make sure you have an online option to buy. Perhaps you put together a simple website with links to click and capture orders, or at the very least, offer a way to pay that allows purchasers to send money from their phone. It’s much more effective to spread the word about a fundraiser in an email message than to solicit in-person to a limited audience at a storefront sidewalk table. An online option is also a good way for supporters to contribute at their own convenience.

3. Incentivize All Involved

The success of your fundraiser is most dependent on the product you sell. When there is a high-level of interest in the product, you naturally create an incentive for supporters who want to take it home with them. Food always sells! So think about creating incentive with the timing of your fundraiser, for example, selling a food product that fits the occasion of a holiday.

Sellers will also be more motivated if they receive an incentive, so reward your group. There could be a prize or tiered prizes for reaching a series of goals, but however you choose, make sure to give the seller something that appeals to them for their effort level.

4. Know Your Audience

It’s important to think about the supporters you’re targeting for your fundraiser. Make sure to ask questions and reveal the motivation for those who would give. What makes your fundraiser important to them? Why should they care about your group’s work? How can you best appeal to them for help?

Furthermore, ask questions about your own processes. Do you have a good plan in place to meet the supporters’ needs? Have you talked to your fundraising partner to confirm your plans and seek advice to reach this audience? Learning about your audience will give you the advantage to reach and motivate them to donate.

5. Market Broadly

Rather than just hanging a poster or flier, get the word out about your fundraiser by showing up! Showcase your fundraiser at a parent event where the audience is invested in the same interests as your group. When you speak with passion about the fundraiser’s purpose and your group’s goals, you can better motivate supporters.

Now Go With Gusto!

It’s important to stay motivated and keep the spark of passion for your fundraiser, and these ideas will help create the best outcome.

Find out about available incentives and products that sell well when you partner with us for fundraising success!