Fundraising is not reserved for adults. There are lots of easy ways that kids can get involved in fundraising efforts and help you to maximize your profits.

School-Run Fundraisers

Schools sometimes partner with charities to implement kid-run fundraisers. In these cases, the fundraising materials are usually delivered directly to the school, and the school explains the process to the students and distributes the materials. For example, a school may host a read-a-thon benefiting a Leukemia research organization. Schools may involve students in fundraising to benefit the school itself, or to benefit other causes.

Order-Takers

Order-takers are catalogs of products with attached order sheets. Volunteers ask potential donors to look through the catalog and prepay for items they want to order. The final order is placed after all of the order sheets and payments are turned in to the company. The school (or other organization running the fundraiser) receives a predetermined portion of the income from these orders, once the orders are complete and delivered.

With order-takers, there is a waiting period between placing orders and receiving the products. The products usually arrive by mail, and the volunteers who took the original orders use copies of their order sheets to deliver the products to their “customers.” In addition to order-takers, kids can help with a variety of types of product fundraising.

Order-takers are available for various lines of products, such as:

• Candy
• Candles
• Coffee
• Seasonal Merchandise
• Cookie dough
• Frozen pizza

Candy

Kids have been selling candy for their schools for decades. Candy sales are usually conducted on a door-to-door basis. Kids can engage in fundraising while walking around their neighborhoods. With candy sales, customers pay cash up front, so kids should be accompanied by an adult.

Customized packaging for fundraising candy is available from many distributors. It is still good practice to explain your fundraising cause to any potential donor. Even kids should be instructed to explain what they are raising money for.