first fundraiser for school

[JI]

Help! I scored a fundraiser for our school track cross country team. Making & selling 8 oz soy jar candles. I limited the scent options to six. The track team is very serious about making lots of $ because they routinely win states nationals etc. I'm panicking now. There are 50 kids starting to sell June 1st. School is buying candle from me for 7 and the kids are selling it for 12. Team has done cookies popcorn gift wrap fundraisers before and sells loads. Have I bitten off more than I can chew?

Please give me tips & general advise.

do my numbers look okay?

Coach does one summer fundraiser and one fall/winter fundraiser. This could be big for me if I can execute it smoothly. I welcome advise from you seasoned fundraiser candle people.

I wanted to add that I got the $7 from my wholesale pricing (which is 6.85. For exact number). Fundraiser stuff is always more expensive and I think $12 is a reasonable price for fundraising. Though I personally sell these candles for $10 (9.99) retail and customers buy them readily. Does this sound ok?

Edited May 20, 2012 by JI

[franu61]

Your pricing sounds right. My only suggesttion for you is to limit the number of scents you will offer them..that way you can get started making them before the orders come in.. When I did a fundraiser w/ school I offered 4 scents and made up a bunch of candles in those scents while the kids were out selling..then when orders came in I only had to make a few more. I know it may be difficult if u end up making too many..but that did not happen to me and it really helped with the overwhelming..GOTTA RUSH feeling. HTH good luck with your sale

Edited May 20, 2012 by franu61

[franu61]

oops i see that you DID limit the scent options..good job

[JI]

Thanks franu. I hope 6 isn't too many. I wanted to have one or two of each type. Good idea about starting ahead. I'll order a bunch of jars, etc. and start a small amount.

I welcome any more advice from seasoned fundraisers. Thanks.

[redraider]

Be careful making too many ahead of time especially since this is the first fundraiser with this group. i just had a group of 15 cheerleaders sell and they sold 500 candles. Last month I had a group of 50 sell and they only sold 75 candles. I usually start with making about a dozen of each ahead of time if it is the first time a group sales. Of course if these are fragrances that you know will move in the next couple months regardless of how many they sell go ahead and make more ahead of time. U can probably guess which ones they are going to sell the most of just based on your market. Make up to 3-4 cases each of the most popular scents and then finish the order when they turn it in. Rule of thumb for fundraisers, if the person doing the selling actually benefits personally from the proceeds they usually sell more. In other words if the track kid selling is doing that to reduce their parents out of pocket cost for travel, uniforms etc they will sell alot. Parents even take the order forms around to friends and coworkers. If the fundraiser proceeds are just going into a general pool of funds that everyone shares equally the # of candles sold will reduce dramatically. We usually do anywhere from 5-7 scents on our fundraisers. There are a core 3 scents that I tell everyone to do because I know they sell really well. I always keep about 6 cases made up of those and that way i can just make the remaining candles at the end. Of course I didn't expect to sell 12 cases of Cinnamon Vanilla this time a year on a fundraiser so I got to spend all day yesterday making that.

Best of luck to you!!!

[JI]

I never thought of incentives for kids selling. Apparently the $$ goes directly to the kid's track meets around the state/country. That is apparently why they are so motivated. I'd be thrilled if they sold 400 candles (50 kids). Maybe I'll luck out and get a big order like you're cheerleaders.

Was it overwhelming to pour 500 candles or did you just get into assembly mode?

The scents I chose are my strong sellers at the farmers market. I tried to hit a little of everything; floral, fruit, spice, etc.

Beach Linens

English Lavender

Mediterranean Fig

Spring Showers

Vanilla

Caribbean Teakwood.

I don't want to get stuck with a a dozen extra carib. teakwood. So maybe I'll just make 1 case each to be conservative. I'm going to get the final #s back third week of June.

I was going to offer an incentive for the kids. 1st prize (kid that sells most), $25 gift card; 2nd place; $15. 3rd place $10 gc. I know it is coming out of my own pocket but if it helps motivate it, it's worth it.

Thanks for those great tips!

[redraider]

The incentives are a great idea!!! Just started making the 500 Saturday. Should have them finished Wednesday. Generally try to shoot for 100/day. And your right, basically go right into assembly mode. It is much easier to make 500 of just a few scents than it is to more 200 of a large assortment. It's so much more efficient to poor 100 of 1 fragrance plus i use far less paper towels because I don't have to clean up after each pour. Will usually make about 36, take a break, 36, eat lunch, 36 take a break. Then I come out and trim wicks, put the labels and lids on and box them up and put on the shelf. Hardest part is having enough room to store the ones that are made until time to load them and deliver. Before I head in for the night I fill up the melter with wax so when I come out the next morning I get started again. Sounds like a good mix of scents.

Make sure you tell the coach when you deliver the candles that fall is the best time for candle fundraisers because everyone wants candles that time a year. I got lucky last spring. Every next customer I picked in the spring decided to do a fall fundraiser as well. Most of those were at least double what they were in the spring.

Good Luck!!

[JI]

That's a good idea. I just don't have a lot of space in my garage. My cooling rack is 3 by 2! I think I'll get an extra.

Question: When you cool, trim, label and cover and box, it sounds like you do this immediately. Does this mess up the candle at all? (As far as wet spots/glass adhesion)?

Normally, in non-assembly mode, I make a batch, cool it in the garage for a few hrs, trim/label. I then bring it into the house (75 degrees, ac makes temp constant) where it sits on another rack for overnight or 12 hrs. Then I box. I guess I could leave them in the garage. It's ridiculously hot here in FL, like in Texas. No ac. Am I being paranoid about not boxing early? What type of wax do you use? I use gb 444 soy wax. No additives, no dye. Just fragrance. Also when I'm cooling I leave at least 2 inches between jars. If I crowded them more and made them closer (to fit more jars) would it mess up? (Wet spots, etc.)?

Edited May 21, 2012 by JI

[redraider]

I let them cool for several hours before I box them up. I am lucky that the room I make the candles in is air conditioned. Not as cool as my house but it is much cooler than the garage. The part of Texas I live in does not have the humidity that Florida or the rest of Texas has. you probably aren't being paranoid. You know what works for you in your climate so I wouldn't change up your process. For about the 1st hour I leave a little space between them, then I move them all together a push them down to the end of the pouring counter so I have space to make the next group of 36. The boxing up is the last thing I do and it is usually in the evening. Most of the candles were made that morning and the rest early afternoon so they have been sitting for a while. I use IGI 4630 paraffin wax so to be honest I don't know much about soy. The only time I have problems with the candles and the heat is when last summer from mid June - August it was 110 everyday and no one wanted to buy candles. When I went out there in August to pull an order for some one a couple of candles in the bottom box I could tell had overheated and turned to liquid on the top at one time. I test burned it and it was fine just not as pretty as normal. I either gave those to friends, burned them myself or sold as a discount. Of the 300 candles I had stored in there probably about 10 of them were that way. I realize now that it was because I didn't leave the air conditioner on, however it would have cost alot more to run the ac than what the 10 candles cost. This summer I plan keeping the inventory to a minimum and pray it doesn't get as hot as last year.

[debscent]

It sounds like you are on the right track. I always worked in my mind a case at a time, so it seemed less daunting of a task. The other suggestion is to have a pour pot for each scent. The incentive is very generous of you, but probably not necessary, I would think that would be the manager's/school's (of this organization) responsibility.

The only other suggestion I would make is to let the organization know that you do have a minimum quality that needs to be met. You are offering $50 in gift cards, but if they only sell 75 candles, you are still putting out $50 in gift cards.

In my area, June is a slow time to sell candles, whereas September is an outstanding time.

Good luck and I hope to hear about your experience.

[JI]

It sounds like you are on the right track. I always worked in my mind a case at a time, so it seemed less daunting of a task. The other suggestion is to have a pour pot for each scent. The incentive is very generous of you, but probably not necessary, I would think that would be the manager's/school's (of this organization) responsibility.

The only other suggestion I would make is to let the organization know that you do have a minimum quality that needs to be met. You are offering $50 in gift cards, but if they only sell 75 candles, you are still putting out $50 in gift cards.

In my area, June is a slow time to sell candles, whereas September is an outstanding time.

Good luck and I hope to hear about your experience.

Good point on the gifts. I didn't want to shell out that $ for nothing. So I stipulated a minimum of 200 candles. (There are 50 kids selling; 4/kid). I hope June will be okay. I sell at farmers market at this time of year (it is already hot). Sales are pretty good. ($100 worth of product in a 5 hour market.) At least for me it's good for this time of year. They said if it goes smoothly they'll want to do a winter fundraiser. (November). Here in Fl it's like the endless summer compared to up north.

I hope the fundraiser is successful. I'll be sad if 50 kids only sell 100 candles. I"ll let you know how it all goes. I appreciate the tips.

For the one scent per pour pot, is that to save time washing/cleaning? I'm a very small operation. 2 pour pots (each pot holding between 3-4 lbs of wax.)

[debscent]

Yes, the additional pour pots will come in handy and reduce cleaning time, etc. When you get your production mode down, you don't want to stop...just keep pouring, etc. I wish you great success! Let us know how you do. And, I did get the dye chips. Thanks!

[HorseScentS]

Yes, the additional pour pots will come in handy and reduce cleaning time, etc. When you get your production mode down, you don't want to stop...just keep pouring, etc. I wish you great success! Let us know how you do. And, I did get the dye chips. Thanks!

Do you cover your pour pots with Saran Wrap and just leave the residual wax in there?

[JI]

thanks descent. hope you get good use out of chips. I am meeting with coach to give him fundraiser paperwork this coming week. can't wait to get things going. I will post updates on this thread. thanks for all advice.