Fundraising, what was I thinking?? Should I go for it?

My head is spinning. Got a lead on private school cleaning out store rooms and they offered me all they are wanting rid of. Old computer monitors, harddrives, printers, & other electronics.

I read somewhere (can't find now on here by searching) some one mentioned fundraisers. So I pitched idea in email. Recycling Fundraiser. Educational for children, $$ for school and less trash at the dump! ...is what I said. I didn't go into much detail. I told her we would provide containers, brochures with list of what we can recycle and they would get %..yada yada. SHE IS INTERESTED, and I am NOT ready. Meeting at 1:30 Friday to pick up scraps and discuss the fundraiser.

Venting, but any input would be greatly appreciated.....

Soooooo...This is a preschool, elem. My roommate does puppet shows and said she would help me out and write/perform one on recycling. I have already found ideas online but will need to design and print brochures. I found recycle coloring pages, word searches, I can print awards for the kids (Environmental Stewardship Certificate of Excellence, found template of this online)and the like and may use those.



But how do I do all this and pull it all together for pitch on Friday???

I was thinking maybe I could tell her we personalize to each school and their need for fundraising and once we discuss I can provide her with samples of lit. for event?

Someone told me I can get containers delivered for free but will take a hit on price paid for scraps?

The list of what we want is easy, I already have flyers made for that. Just will edit and personalize to fit the fundraiser.

What about parents who can't bring stuff to school? Should we offer to pick up in a certain period on regular routes?

Since it is a private school @ a church, could people get tax cut for donations?

Am I nuts peeps? Should I attempt this? Am I in over my head?

Talking to myself! I don't even know how many kids are in this school. Will research tomorrow. MamaMia! I know it's small Christian School @ a church, but that's about it.

There is a lot of questions here. Let me see if I can take them on one on one. Time to put that **** MBA in marketing to good use.

Originally Posted by ixcelr84scraps

But how do I do all this and pull it all together for pitch on Friday???

First you need to know what your ultimate goal is. How is this is a win win for you and them. Then my suggestion would be to put a Powerpoint presentation together outlining the way that you can help them. i.e. You can help clean the environment by taking trash and they can gain some money for their school.


I was thinking maybe I could tell her we personalize to each school and their need for fundraising and once we discuss I can provide her with samples of lit. for event?

Good idea to buy time.

Someone told me I can get containers delivered for free but will take a hit on price paid for scraps?

It would depend on the area, the yard, what you put in them for scrap and how many pounds you have in them. Rule of thumb, the larger the pounds the better chance for a free container. Also, pitch the yard that this is for a school. Many times they will give it to you as a tax write off for them.


The list of what we want is easy, I already have flyers made for that. Just will edit and personalize to fit the fundraiser.

What about parents who can't bring stuff to school? Should we offer to pick up in a certain period on regular routes?

That is a question that only you can answer. If it fits in your business plan then I say go for it. Many times parents are busy and can't make it to the event. By picking the stuff up there you are offering a service that is more likely to gain you customers and those customers can turn into a gold mine with referrals and repeat business.

Since it is a private school @ a church, could people get tax cut for donations?

Yes I do it for mine.

Am I nuts peeps? Should I attempt this? Am I in over my head?

Easy answer, yes you are nuts but not for wanting to do this.

Thanks for taking time to reply High Volt. Much appreciated.

I had thought of the ppt idea, but not to pitch, good idea. I was thinking do one for teaching kids about recycling..or maybe suggesting a field trip to the yard (I bet kids would freak seeing the cars being tossed around and smashed, as much as I did!)

Yea, the personalization idea was to get me more time to pull everything together.

OK, OK, I really think I can pull this off! (Am I trying to convince u or me??)

MBA huh? AWESOME! I quit school in 9th grade sadly. Been blessed, have always owned my own business, starting with consulting @ 17 (teaching families how to prepare/care for sicked loved ones at home), opening ALF (Assisted Living Facility) in FL, and now work as a VA (Virtual Assistant) from home---this is how I learned about how you can make $$ scrapping (doing VA work for bf) and have been having a blast trying my hand at it.

Any other ideas appreciated, from you or ANYONE! Thanks a heap.

Don't let the fancy letters fool you. I might have a MBA but if I was not the owner of High Voltage Processing I would be unemployed. Most of the white collar jobs are in China, India and the rest of Asia.

I am not sure a field trip would work. Schools are cutting back on them because of sue happy parents. I had a tech school close its welding program down out here because one kid thought it was funny to take his torch and heat up another kids steel toe boot while he was welding. Said kid got 3rd degree burns on his toes. Now you would think that kids parents would sue but they didn't. Instead, the kid who PULLED the prank had his parents sue claiming the teacher should have seen it and stopped it before their kid did something so stupid.

You might want to have some video that you can play on a laptop to show them what a yard is like. Perhaps even do a little day in the life of a scrapper type presentation. Show them some before and after pieces of wire, motherboards, etc. You could also show them what new products can be made from recycled materials.

Slow down...take a deep breath an see what happens. But plan for the worse you can get over loaded very fast. I would ask the school to have the teachers there to help keep an eye on things/kids as it can be a unsafe place with all the metal.

I would ask the school if the ground keeper can be there to help

Both ground keeper and the teachers would be free work. The school should be more than happy doing that for you since you are doing this great thing.

I would have the school call a radio station to help "drum" up more items. Schools and radio stations just work together 90% of the time for fundraisers.

P.s the dancing girl thing trips my mind up every time I see it..I just see ink..ink...ink DANCING GIRL...funny tho!

Some little simple thing to give to the kids. Can you come up with a sticker of a recycle logo?

Originally Posted by Mick

Some little simple thing to give to the kids. Can you come up with a sticker of a recycle logo?

That is a great idea there! Kids love that stuff and it would be very low cost out of your profit.

It worked! We are going to be scheduled to hold drive in April...that's when they do their Recycling Curriculum.

Here's What I did:

I made one sheet explaining 2 programs we have, name secret until I trademark (Printed on Green Paper). 1 program was for Recycling Drive. 2nd was for yr round pick ups, if customer has card from school we will donate to school % of proceeds from PU. I am pretty proud of the presentation I came up with in 24 hours!

One thing she was really impressed with was Junk Cars. We put the letter to parents/neighbors/friends that we will take Junk Cars and pay up to $500 (but usually never pay that much) anywho, less 25% to Customer of what we normally pay and ARR would donate that 25% to fundraiser AND if someone DONATES the car ARR would pay school what we would have paid the donor.

OK...then I made a Recycle Coloring Book Page, Recycle Word Find, Recycle Stickers a letter to Students Parents w/donation slip on bottom for tax write-offs and included our basic flyer also. Put all this in a report presentation clear thingy and WALA. They loved it! Now I gotta wait 'til April for that school to see how it turns out. I should know about the card program sooner. I will touch base with them end of next week if I don't hear back.

Ohhh, and she loved the Recycling Puppet Show idea!

I should make 80-100 on the stuff I picked up from them today, which started all this into motion. I <3 FreeCycle!

I will be pitching more schools soon.

Thanks a heap for all the suggestions, guidance, and encouragement. You all ROCK!