Garden of Roses!
Join us in Nashville for Rally 2009!
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Garden of Roses!
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Join us in Nashville for Rally 2009!
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If you are new to Celebrating Home fundraising we wish you a heartfelt welcome! As you begin your new fundraising business you will see that it is very easy and profitable! Simply read through this training packet, the information on the Celebrating Home web for added support, and then ask your sponsor to answer any questions you may have. It’s that simple! As a representative with Celebrating Home you are able to offer 4 different services! We provide customers the opportunity to not only purchase our products, to be a hostess, and to be a designer but our 4th service is offering fundraising to assist groups and organizations earn needed funds! If you are interested in offering fundraising as part of your Celebrating Home business the support and training you’ll need is available to you. This training packet will help coach you throughout each simple step to having a successful fundraiser. In addition, with the help of your sponsor and the support offered on the CH website you’ll discover that not only is fundraising easy but is a great way to increase your sales. Fundraising with Celebrating Home is an excellent income opportunity for you and provides a great service to many groups and organizations everywhere! Enclosed are sample forms and step by step information you’ll need for our current fundraising programs.
Products ~ -Our candles and food items are produced by Casey Pottery, also owned by Steve and Penny Carlile. Casey is located just a short distance from Celebrating Home in Marshall TX. Our 10 oz traditional wax candles are made with the highest food grade paraffin wax, they are colored and scented throughout; and have lead free 100% cotton wicks. An even burn allows more scent to be “thrown.” Our Jar Candles are 10 oz, burn approximately 50 hours. We also offer a 12 oz soy blend candle with a burn time of 65 hours. The new container and candle formula comes from Home Interiors. This is a fabulous opportunity for you because HI had a huge fundraising market. Many organizations will recognize and love this candle. With so many reps having left HI you are in a terrific position to pick up much of that business. When we went to print with the brochure in March the company had not yet analyzed the formula for the 12 oz candles and simply printed the brochure as a 12 oz candle. You will need to tell your groups that those candles are a soy blend. At the time they did not realize that the candle was actually a soy candle. Additionally, the HI formula is almost identical to the soy candles we have previously produces. Why HI never marketed their candle as Soy is truly a mystery! For marketing purposes you can say that Celebrating Home has "gone green" with our earth friendly soy blended candles. - “What is a soy blend?” No candle is really 100% soy…if it were it would be a container filled of mush. All soy candles have something added to hold the candle together…some derivative of wax…thus, a soy blend. We’re just honest in our marketing. You need to know this information so you’ll understand what you are selling. Brochure choices offered ~ - Celebrating Home offers two fundraising brochures. The new brochures have the new Celebrating Home logo on the top, CH and HI logos on the bottom of the cover. - We now have a new 2-Page Candle Brochure that includes 15 traditional wax and 10 soy candles. In total, there are 24 scents. Only one scent, Baked apple pie, is available in both sizes. More scent choices will increase customer sales and will also be more appealing to your organizations which will increase your bookings. The brochure is available as you’re familiar in the past with the blank price box allowing the group to choose their own selling prices and you can also order the brochures pre-priced…more on that later. - The second brochure available is our 3-Page Perfect Mix Gourmet Food Brochure. Other than a new cover, name change etc the brochure is essentially the same. The products and imaging is unchanged from our previous spring food brochure. This brochure is only available with the blank price box. - Encourage your groups to offer both the candle and food brochures together for higher sales. They can choose either one or both. - Couple of important changes on the brochures from previous brochures. There is now a Visa, and Master Card logo is on the brochure. This is not there for you to credit card payments. Rather, it is only for those organizations who are set up to accept and want to take cc. I'm hoping those logos will be removed but until then, when you set up a fundraiser be sure the organization understands this. - A new tax column has been added. That is an option is for those organizations who want to charge tax separately, rather than adding it into their selling prices. If the tax is being added in then they just ignore that section. - A Prize Program brochure is still offered for youth groups. The brochure is a bifold flyer offering 8 levels of prizes and is promoted to increase sales. Expenses for the brochures and prizes are still paid by the designer. For March 2009, Brochures – are still available to order and as far as I’ve heard will be honored throughout the rest of this season. I believe the home office will sell the remainder of the CH logo brochures before reprinting with the new Celebrating Home logo. Program overview ~ - With almost 13 years experience in manufacturing our candles, our candles and are produced by Casey Pottery, also owned by Steve and Penny Carlile. Casey Pottery is located just a short distance from Celebrating Home in Marshall TX. Our 10 oz traditional wax candles are made with the finest food grade paraffin wax that burns evenly; are colored and scented throughout; and have lead free 100% cotton wicks. An even burn allows more scent to be “thrown.” Celebrating Home has "gone green" with our earth friendly soy blended candles. They are long lasting, have rich color, and also have 100% cotton wicks. - With Celebrating Home an organization has the opportunity to customize their own program. They can offer our Candle Brochure, our Gourmet Food Brochure, or both at the same time in order in offer a wider variety of items. - The Jar Candles are 10 oz, burn approximately 50 hours and are offered in a variety of scents perfect for the seasons. - Our 12 oz Soy Candles burn 65 hours and are poured in a beautiful, decorative containers. - Our food products are exceptional in quality and are produced exclusively for Celebrating Home, and also produced at Casey. - Our products are perfect for individual purchase and with attractive packaging they are wonderful for gift giving as well. - There are no Hostess credits when an order is entered as a Fundraiser Order type or as a Designer Order type. Prepare several fundraising packets ~ Include a Cover Letter, an Agreement Form (Contact Deb for documents) and a sample of each fundraising brochure including our Galaxy of Prizes brochure (available as supply items). Commission ~ - Fundraising prices have been structured to offer you a program that is super easy to understand, market, and earn 25% profit. You are provided with one price per item. That price is the price you can charge your customers and it is the price on which you earn 25% commission. You are provided with one price per item. That price is the price you can charge your customers and it is also the price on which you earn your 25% commission. For example, a 10 oz candle has a fundraising retail price of $5, and your commission is 25% of the $5 price. You can then sell the $5.00 candle to the organization for $5.00. The organization can then sell the candle for $10 and make a 50% profit. They keep $5 and pay you $5.00. With the blank price boxes they can adjust the prices to more or less if they wish. When you submit a fundraising order 25% of the Celebrating Home retail price is deducted off of the order you submit. 25% commission is paid to any designer, even if you are a new representative. There are no additional rebates, meaning the 5-15%, as with the party orders but your fundraising sales do count for your monthly volume. For example…if you submit 1500 in fundraising sales and 500 in party sales you receive 25% on your fundraising sales and that added to the 500 in party sales brings your total sales up to 2000. You will then receive your 30% upfront commission on the party sales and then a 15% additional rebate on your party sales for a total of 45%! A great goal in building your business is to become an Executive and you can earn an additional 4% bonus on your fundraising sales for a total of 29%. - As a representative you have the flexibility to "roll up" the price you are charging if you wish to cover your operating costs and to increase your percentage of profit. You can "roll up" the prices you are charging your groups by 25 or 50 cents to compensate for your cost of brochures, marketing, samples etc. On a 10 oz candle you can charge $5.50 instead of $5.00 if you want to, especially to cover the cost of the prize program, maybe presorting if you want. Here is a breakdown of your earnings on a jar candle when you roll up the price: The 10 oz Jar Candle has a fundraising retail price of $5.00. You can "roll up" the price and charge your organization $5.50. Your commission is 25% of the $5.00 price regardless of the price you set and is all received upfront when you place your order with Celebrating Home. 25% of $5.00 is $1.25 per candle. When you roll up the price you earn another 50 cents. $1.25 + .50 = $1.75. It's that simple! Fundraiser order types ~ - As of March 2009 fundraising orders may be submitted either as a Fundraising order type or as a Designer order type. Most of your orders will be placed as a Fundraiser Order Type. Orders for samples, displays, or a small late order is placed you will need to do so as a Designer Order Type. - Fundraising orders can be placed for either Bulk, Presorted, or Home Delivery orders. Fundraising orders for Bulk Orders can be submitted online. Presort/Home Delivery orders are faxed or mailed to the home office. I'm waiting on information to determine when we will be able to enter Presort and Home Delivery orders online with the new system. With Presorting each seller’s items are boxed individually and labeled with their name and teacher if applicable. No minimum. Price charged by CH is 25 cents per item. Home Delivery, is 50 cents per item, shipped to the sellers home. There is no minimum to ship direct but there is a $5.00 minimum home delivery fee per address. If a seller only has a few items the order can still be shipped direct but the organization will pay a minimum of $5. I’m offering groups with home delivery the option to ship the small orders presorted with a $35 shipping fee or at the prices available with the Designer Order Type. - The following price chart includes the retail prices provided by Celebrating Home. You can use the price chart below if you wish or you may adjust the pricing you charge to your organization. Celebrating Home is very flexible and will allow you to either increase or decrease the selling prices if you wish to.
- With the current program you will see below that I have "rolled up" some of the pricing to add in additional profits to compensate for the expenses of brochures, prize program, etc. In doing so, you are actually earning more than the 25% commission as shown in the chart above. - In the following price chart you will see the "rolled up" prices that I am charging Mar-Jul 2009. The same prices are listed within the Cover Letter and the Agreement Form you'll use for marketing your business. Your profit will be greater than 25%! You are welcome to change the pricing in the documents if you prefer.
Pricing suggestion provided by CH ~ - In the company website training pages you will see a suggestion to charge 50 cents more per item and include the prize program, presorting, and home delivery. The organization would then sell their items for $1 more to maintain their 50% profit. They are suggesting that instead of selling a jar candle to the organization for $5 you would offer the organization any combo of items they wanted for $5.50…prize program, presorting, or home delivery. - With the prize program your expenses are about 15-20 cents per item…for the brochure and prize, If a group takes the prize program, your cost is about 20 cents per item sold. Add 25 cent for presorting and your total cost is about 45 cents. If you are charging that 50 cents you are about breaking even. If they opted for home delivery your cost would be the full 50 cents you are charging your group. But if the group selects both home delivery and the prize program you would actually be contributing the cost of the prize program. - If a group opts for just presorting…and no prize program, for example you would only pay 25 cent for the presorting, and you’d profit an extra 25 cents because you are charging the group 50 cents. - If a group only opted for the prize program, you’d be charging the 50 cents and making about 30 cents extra. - You may see the suggestions by Celebrating Home to increase the price of each item by 50 cents and then allow the organization to have any to have any of the following options they want: Presorting or Home Delivery, and the Prize Program. One concern I have for this suggestion is that if you marketed your program this way then pretty much every organization would request presorting, even if they had only a few participants. This could become very time consuming on your part in providing individual tally sheets for every seller, reconciling the tally sheets to make sure they match the total number of items being ordered, and the time to enter all those individual orders. My suggestion is to offer the presorted orders as an option with a minimum charge of just 25 cents per item. Then, only the organizations truly benefiting by that service will opt for it. Presorting is much more intended for large groups…ie school wide fundraisers. I choose to raise the prices of the items by 50 cents to cover the expenses of the prize program and also my business expenses for the cost of the candle/food brochures, shipping, marketing etc. Offering both Presorting/Home Delivery and also the prize program for just the 50 cents is not allowing enough additional monies to cover the expenses I want to charge for. Pricing options for the organization ~ - In addition to selecting which items an organization chooses to sell, Celebrating Home also allows them to choose their own selling prices, and therefore, providing them with the opportunity to choose their percentage of profit. They can easily earn 50% profit or more. To earn a 50% profit they would simply double the prices they pay to purchase the products. Suggested prices are provided by you in a "Guidelines" letter but they can choose the pricing they feel is right for their organization and their geographic area. A 10 oz candle, for example, can easily sell for $9-$12. Upon request you can offer to price the brochures with their selected prices. - With Celebrating Home you have a huge advantage to be able to say "With Celebrating Home you are able to select your own selling prices and therefore the percentage of profit that is best for your organization. Based upon your customer base you are able to choose the selling prices that are best for you. We'll provide you with suggested pricing to assist you but you are welcome to either increase or decrease your selling prices." - With the blank price boxes an organization can choose their own selling prices, and therefore, providing them with the opportunity to choose their percentage of profit they want. They can easily earn 50% profit or more. To earn a 50% profit they would simply double the prices they pay to purchase the products. A 10 oz candle, for example, can easily sell for $9-$12. If you sell it for $5.50 they will resell it for $11 if they want 50%. In today’s trend in fundraising you do want to market 50%. If however, you have repeat groups you've been working with, don’t fix what’s not broken if they are firm on the prices they want to sell their products for. - Our program is also advantageous to an organization that is not exempt from paying tax. With Celebrating Home they can still earn a 50% profit if they wish by simply doubling their purchase price and then increasing their selling prices to compensate for the amount of tax they will have to pay on an item. Pre-printed Candle Brochure ~ - For spring/summer 2009 the company offers a preprinted candle brochure. Jar candles are priced at $10, Designer candles are priced at $20. Originally, the designer candle was going to have a $10 fundraising retail price. Therefore, the suggested selling price was $20 for an organization to profit 50%, $10 on each candle. After the brochure went to print the home office reduced the fundraising price to just $7.50. Had the preprinted price been listed as $15 I would have promoted the pre-priced brochure and said that it offered approx 45% profit. With the $20 price I am personally not going to promote this priced brochure due the high price. If you wish, you have the option of offering an organization the opportunity to profit those additional monies, or you could raise your selling price to $10 per candle. For marketing purposes I am selling the candles at $8.00 and suggesting a resale of $16 for a 50% profit. I prefer to keep the prices lower to be able to book more business. Plus, we don’t yet offer the food brochure priced. Brochures for Fall/Winter 2009 ~ - In March 2009 Fall/Winter brochures will be available to order to begin marketing with. Brochures will include a 3 page candle brochure, and a 3 page food brochure. I'm waiting to hear confirmation on a single sheet candle brochure.The expanded 3 page candle brochure with reed diffusers and accessories will be back in the fall. I do not yet know about the single jar brochure for fall. We should soon know more about this. You’ll want to order them as soon as they are available and begin marketing them now. April and May are the two months that schools especially will finalize decisions on what program to use for their fall fundraiser. Plant the seeds now for a bountiful fall harvest. Options for shipping ~ - An organization can choose from 3 different shipping options; Bulk/Standard, Presorted/Select Sorting, or Home Delivery/Premium Home Delivery. Within the documents I will be sharing with you the terms Bulk, Presorted, and Home Delivery will be used. When you reference the Celebrating Home website the terms will be referred to as Standard Sorting, Select Sorting, Premium Home Delivery. You choose the phrases you wish to market! - Orders can be directly shipped to one location of your choice and will arrive approximately two weeks after submitting the order. The best practice is to tell your organizations expected delivery is in 2-3 weeks. - With the new ordering structure there are no minimums required for submitting a fundraising order for any order type. In your fundraising business you can choose if you wish to require a minimum number of sales or items sold to motivate a group to sell at least a minimum level of sales. -For late orders, display orders, order for just a few candles, etc it is a great option to be able to submit an order online under the new Designer Order type. For Designer Order types you will follow a higher pricing chart and 10% shipping will be added. With this order type you will be following the party plan commission structure. 30% of the retail price will be deducted off of your order and you will be eligible for the 5-15% rebates. As a general practice you should charge a higher price for orders needed for this type. Charge one flat fee and have that include the added 10% shipping. For Spring/Summer 2009 the following prices are suggested: 10 oz jar candles: $7.00 12 and 13.5 oz soy candles: $10.00 reed diffusers: $14.00 bracelets: $6.50 butterfly baskets: $12.00 butterfly holders: $9.00 dips, fondue: $7.50 desserts, cookies, soup, drink and preserves: $7.00 - Presorted orders until now could only be placed by mailing or faxing in an order. I'm waiting to hear updates for this for March. My understanding is that by April we will be able to enter presorted orders online. There is no minimum to be able to submit the order. There is no minimum per seller. Each seller's order will be boxed individually and labeled with each seller's name and also teacher, when applicable. A Tally Sheet for each seller is provided by the Celebrating Home rep and is provided along with the fundraising brochures. In the Celebrating Home website you will find the tally sheets that can be printed off your computer. - You may see suggestions by Celebrating Home to increase the price of each item by 50 cents and then allow the organization to have any to have any of the following options they want: Presorting or Home Delivery, and the Prize Program. One concern I have for this suggestion is that if you marketed your program this way then pretty much every organization would request presorting, even if they had only a few participants. This could become very time consuming on your part in providing individual tally sheets for every seller, reconciling the tally sheets to make sure they match the total number of items being ordered, and the time to enter all those individual orders. My suggestion is to offer the presorted orders as an option with a minimum charge of just 25 cents per item. Then, only the organizations truly benefiting by that service will opt for it. I choose to raise the prices of the items by 50 cents to cover the expenses of the prize program and also my business expenses for the cost of the candle/food brochures, shipping, marketing etc. Offering both Presorting/Home Delivery and also the prize program for just the 50 cents is not allowing enough additional monies to cover the expenses I want to charge for. - Home Delivery orders until now could only be placed by mailing or faxing in an order. I'm waiting to hear updates for this for March. My understanding is that by April we will be able to enter Home Delivery orders online. There are no minimums per seller. There is a charge of 50 cents per item for shipping and handling. I charge the 50 cent fee to the fundraising organization. A minimum of $5.00 will be charged by the company per shipping address. 10 items sold per seller at 50 cents each will equal the $5.00 shipping minimum. Orders can be placed for less than 10 items but there will be the minimum of $5.00 for shipping. You may want to offer to ship seller's order that are less than 10 items as a separate presorted or bulk order. You will then either charge the $35.00 shipping for a fundraising order or 10% shipping if you place the order as a Designer Order type. Shipping Charges ~ - For all fundraising orders totaling $750 or more shipping is free. $750 is based upon Celebrating Home's fundraising prices. Fundraising Order types less than the $750 Celebrating Home retail prices will be charged a $35.00 shipping charge. This shipping charge is paid by your fundraising organization. If you choose as a rep to roll up your price on your products (for example, charge $5.50 for a 10 oz Jar Candle instead of $5.00) you will need to increase the minimum amount required to receive free shipping from $750 to $850. If you were selling just the 10 oz candles an organization would need to sell 150 candles to qualify for free shipping. (150 x $5.00 = $750.50) If you are rolling up your prices you would be charging $5.50 times 150 which would translate to $825. I chose to select $850 as my minimum sales volume to receive free shipping. For the dips I have actually rolled up the prices by 50 cents per item. The Celebrating Home retail price is $7.00 but I am charging $7.50 each. Therefore, if a group sold just dips they would need to sell 116 items to reach the CH retail amount to qualify for free shipping (108 x $7.00 = $756.00). Because I am charging $7.50 for each dip I have to multiply $7.50 times 108 and that equals $810 to reach what is the actual Celebrating Home $750 amount. To make sure that I am getting enough sales from my organizations to qualify for free shipping I rounded the minimum amount of sales required to $850.00 and that covers my "rolled up" prices. - For any organization that submits an Agreement Form to you I suggest that you charge and collect the $35.00 shipping charge for orders not meeting the minimum required for free shipping. For small orders for samples, display, customer late orders etc you can choose to submit them as a Designer Order type. Instead of being charged $35.00 for shipping you will have a higher base price plus 10%. - For Home Delivery Orders there is no $35.00 shipping charge. The organization is already paying 50 cents per item to cover the cost of shipping. There are no minimums required per seller but there is a $5.00 minimum required per shipping address. Sellers should set a goal to sell at least 10 items although no minimum is required. 10 items at 50 cents each will equal the minimum $5.00 shipping. A seller can sell just 8 items for example and have their shipment sent directly to their home but they will still pay $5.00 in shipping. When you book an organization interested in holding a Home Delivery fundraiser you could offer to submit those orders with 10 items or more Home Delivery, and orders for seller's with less than 10 items as a Presorted Order or Bulk Order. The $35.00 shipping charge will still apply, though, and be sure your organization is aware of this. If you have just a few items to order you could also order those items as a Designer Order and charge the applicable prices...you choose! Prize Program ~ - Especially designed for children age preschool through middle school. Brochures are ordered as supply items. - Prize program can DOUBLE YOUR SALES! - The Fundraiser Prize Program is available on Fundraising and Designer Order types. The prizes in this program are non-commissionable. The prizes are not cumulative. Sellers select one Prize, not one from each category. The seller may choose one prize based on the total number of items he/she has sold. - How it works: As a rep you do have flexibility in choosing how you wish to promote the prize program. In the documents I have shared with you I have promoted the prize program as "included" and have "rolled up" the prices to cover the added cost of the brochures and the prizes. You do have the option, though, of charging charging only $5.00 per jar candle, $7.50 per designer candle etc and then charging extra for the prize program, say 25 cents for each item sold. As a rep you do want the organization to use the program to increase sales. To keep the program simple I suggest you just build the prize program into your price and provide the prize program as included for any organization that would like to promote it. Be aware, that if you decide to "charge extra" many groups will opt out of the program and you and they will generate less in profits. - With the prize program you would provide the organization with a brochure for each seller as well as a Prize Master Order Form for the organization. Each seller will then set a goal for 1 of 8 different prize levels. The first level is earned by selling just two items. Please review your costs for the prizes: Level #A (2 items): .25 Level #B (6 items): .90 Level #C (12 items): $1.75 Level #D (20 items): $2.80 Level #E (30 items): $3.80 Level #F (40 items): $5.90 Level #G (65 items): $9.00 Level #H (90 items): $14.00
- When a child sells 1 item you do not order a prize and the added monies you have collected whether it be already "built in" or you are charging 25 cents per item sold, will remain with you. When a student sells 2 items you will pay 25 cents to Celebrating Home. The next prize level is 6 items. When a child sells 6 items you will pay 90 cents to Celebrating Home. Keep in mind that if you have "rolled up" the pricing in most cases you have already collected these monies! For example, a food dip in the program is priced at $7.00 but we have "rolled up" the price to $7.50 so we are already collecting an extra 50 cents per item. If a child sells just 3, 4, or 5 items you are collecting those extra monies per item but you are only paying to the company 25 cents because Level #B was not reached. -Please note that a seller earns just one prize. For example, when a child sells 12 items they are able to earn one prize from level #C. The program is not accumulative, meaning, they do not earn a prize from Level #A, #B, and #C. They earn just one prize. If they do not want one of the prizes within the level they reached they can select one prize from a lower level, not multiple. They cannot, for example take 2 items from Level #B instead of 1 item from Level #C. - When the fundraiser is completed the organization will tally the number of prizes earned and submit to you the completed Prize Master Order Form document. For Presorted and Home Delivery fundraisers you will be requiring the group will be submitting the individual seller tally sheet from which you can reconcile the amount of prizes that need to be ordered. For a Bulk Order fundraiser you will request that the group complete and submit a Prize Order Form and a Group Tally Sheet (contact Deb for these documents) from which you can make sure the number of prizes requested are accurate. - More updates to follow on how to place an order. Assuming the new ordering system is similar to what we had before the simplest way to order is to select "Start a new Fundraiser order," select your shipping address, and then on the "retail entry" page click on the link that says "price list." All of the prizes will be listed and you'll only need to enter the quantities of each item sold. Add the quantities and then click on the button "add items to order." For the prizes simply add in the quantities of items needed and submit with your candle/food order. - Prizes for Bulk orders will be included in the Bulk order to be distributed by the organization. For Presorted and Home Delivery Orders the prizes will be included in the individual seller's boxes. Ordering Brochures as supply items ~ - In your starter kit you will receive a package of 50 candle brochures, a package of 50 food brochures and also 50 Prize Fliers. - To order additional brochures log in to your Celebrating Home account, click on the link on the home page "Place an Order" and then select the Designer Order type. On the retail entry section of the order you can either type in the 5 digit number of the supply item and click "add item to order" or you can simply click on the box titled "Price List" and then enter the quantities of the items you wish to order. - Please refer to the Celebrating Home website for the current fundraising supplies available to order:
- The Designer Order type can combine both
products and supplies. 10% shipping is added for orders less than $600
in sales. - Plan ahead! Allow 2 weeks for delivery!
- Time permitting, if you have a large organization you can order supplies and have them shipped direct to your organization. There are multiple avenues for finding fundraisers ~ ● At your home parties: Always include a talk on fundraising, pass around a few of our fundraising products, and always be prepared with fundraising information packets to share. During your presentation you could say “Ladies, Are you or anyone you know looking to raise money for your group or organization? We offer an excellent fundraising program with our Candles, Accessories, and Gourmet Foods that offer high profit, are easy to sell, and customers love. A youth prize program is also provided. If you would like to share a referral with me or take home a packet for yourself or to share I’ll thank you with lots of auction dollars!” Be sure you receive a name and phone number to follow up. If someone takes a packet to share with a friend you could say “Thank you for sharing a packet with your friend. Be sure to share her name and phone number with me so that I can follow up with her. I have some additional information that I would like to share and I’m sure she will have some questions about our program.” ● While out and about in your community: Always have fundraising packets with you while you are out and about in your daily travels. You never know who you’ll meet or what location you may drive by. You may see a youth group holding a carwash, a bake sale, or simply accepting cash donations. Stop and give them a packet. You may drive by a dance studio, a preschool etc. Stop for a moment and share an information packet with them as well. The opportunities are endless! As often as possible make it a goal to meet the person(s) in charge of their fundraisers. Obtaining the opportunity to meet those in charge and building rapport will dramatically increase your chances of obtaining a booking. ● Determine who to contact within your community: - Refer to the list of Fundraising Contacts listed in the Garden of Roses web pages by clicking here: Contact List. There are hundreds and hundreds or organizations to contact within your community. The possibilities are endless! - Fundraisers can be found by networking with others in your community and by doing a little research. - By reading your local newspapers you’ll find multiple groups who are fundraising. -Schools alone can be a large resource: PTAs, Sports, Cheerleaders, Clubs such as yearbook, Prom committees, Bands, etc. -Organizations for children: Preschools, Daycares, Playgroups, Private Schools, YMCAs, Church Youth Groups, Scouts, Dance Schools, Gymnastics, Rainbow Girls, Upward Bound, Pop Warner, etc. - Organizations for a cause: Churches, Relay for Life, MS Walks, Student Ambassadors, Adoptions, Medical Care etc, Lions Clubs, Reunions, etc. - Colleges: Student Organizations, Sororities, Sports Programs, etc….And so much more! - Complete a list of groups along with phone numbers of who you would like to contact by using your local phonebook, newspaper, web searches for local organizations, and through referrals. - Use our Fundraising Survey. (Request the survey from Deb) I suggest that you identify a number of schools that you would like to visit. Prepare several information packets and put them in a gift bag or nicely decorated box along with several samples of our fundraising products. Go to the main office of a school and ask them if you could leave your materials for a few days. Ask them if they could ask the PTA/PTO president, band director, athletic director etc preview the products, take an info packet and review, and then complete the survey. For any of the individuals you've identified completes the survey they will be able to have a 10 oz jar candle as a Thank You gift. Follow up is the key! The survey will provide you will a lot of information including the group's upcoming fundraising needs, what they liked about our program, if they would like you to attend an upcoming meeting etc. The great thing about the survey is that you will now have a contact name, email address, and phone number! - Develop a system that will work for you for following up. You’ll want to include the contact name, email address if available, address, and phone number. Make notes with dates of contact and note any important information shared including date of last or next fundraiser they are planning, size of group, what they fundraise for, previous fundraisers held, etc. Include dates for follow up. - Just get out there and make it happen! It's all a numbers game. Some will, some wont. The key is to not take the "NOs" personally. Your job is to search out and find the organizations who need what you have to offer. Some groups may not be fundraising, may have long term commitments to another company, may have already planned out their fundraisers 2 years in advance, may just simply not be interested in candles or food. But for all the "NOs" there are many many organizations searching for a new program and will be happy to do business with you! - I suggest that you create a "Trace Box" and to be a collector of email addresses! For each lead you generate take an index card and put on the card the name of the organization, the contact name, address, phone number, email address etc. On each card document anything you know...what they just did for a fundraiser, comments shared by the organizer, when they will be planning their next fundraiser etc as well as dates. On the left of the card include the date of contact...if you visited the group, called them, mailed material etc and note the action you took. Then, on the right side of the card put the date for when you need to follow up. In your Trace Box include divider tabs for Jan-Dec as well as 1-31. If you need to follow up on something within the current month file the card in the 1-31 tabs. If they say for example "We'll be looking for something in the spring" then put the index card under "Feb" or "March." This way, it is like having your own personal assistant to keep you organized and not forgetting to follow up with your leads! - Create an email data base. It would be great if you could call everyone in your lead base. However, if you work your business well you could have 1000's of names of organizations! You would never call that many people. Anytime something is new to share....new brochures, a new prize program, a sale etc you can send out an email to everyone in your list. Simply create a Word Doc and add all your email addresses, separated by a comma and a space and save to your computer. (and keep a back up on a disk) When you have something to announce simply compose an email. In the "To" section add your own email address. In the "BCC" section simply copy and paste all the email addresses in your Word doc.
After you have established a lead you need to identify who in the organization is in charge of their fundraising program, if they are currently searching for fundraisers, if they are planning any in the future and if so, when. Your goal is to get an appointment to show our fundraising product line and extend an invitation for them to use one of our programs. Please do not just send out mass mailings. They will be perceived as junk mail and you will be wasting your time and investment. Our business is about building relationships and booking fundraisers is no exception. ● At a home party you could say “Thank you for your interest in our fundraising program. I’d like for you to look through the information packet and jot down any questions you have. I’ll call you in a few days to learn more about your group so I’ll know how I can best help you. I’ll review the program in more detail and answer any questions you have. Would Wednesday or Thursday be better?” ● For a referral lead you receive at a party you could say “Hi Mary, my name is ________and I’m a fundraising specialist with Celebrating Home Fundraising. Your friend Susan shared your name and phone number with me and encouraged me to contact you regarding our fundraising program. May I ask ‘Are you currently planning any fundraising events now or planning to do so in the future?’ Great, may I send to you one of our information packets?” ● At a drive by you can stop, offer a packet and say “Hi, my name is_______and I’m a fundraising specialist with Celebrating Home. I noticed you’re having a fundraiser today. I’d like to offer to help. If I could show you an easy way to earn hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars for your organization would you be interested in learning more?... Great! Let me share one of my fundraising information packets with you today. You can look at it in your leisure and I’ll follow up with you in a few days. If you can share a contact name and phone number with me I’ll be able to call and share more information and answer any questions.” ● For organizations you wish to stop by, introduce yourself and say “Hello, my name is ________and I’m a fundraising specialist with Celebrating Home. We have a new fundraising program and I especially thought of your organization. I believe our program could really help your group raise money and I’m hoping to share our program with you for your consideration. May I ask who is in charge of your fundraising? …Would she have a few moments to speak with me so that I can discuss the possibility of us working together? If the person you are speaking to is the coordinator say “Great, May I ask if you are currently planning any fundraisers now or upcoming? I’d like to share with you information on our fundraising program in hopes that I can be of service.” If the coordinator is not available ask to leave an information package and request the person’s name so that you can follow up in a few days. ● If you are calling an organization say “Hi, my name is _______and I’m a fundraising specialist with Celebrating Home. We offer a wonderful new fundraising program and I especially thought of your organization. Could you share with me the name of the person who is in charge of your fundraising?...Thank you. Might she have a few moments that I could speak with her?” If she is not available ask for her name and confirm a mailing address. Leave a message that you called and that you will be sending a packet. Send a packet promptly and be sure to address the packet to the person in charge. Follow up within a few days with a phone call. "Hi, my name is ________. May I please speak with your Director or assistant Director? Hi,________, this is_______with Celebrating Home Fundraising and I'm calling you today because we recently helped another local preschool achieve a very successful fundraiser. 18 of their 25 families were able to raise over $1,500 in just a couple of weeks and I was wondering if you, too, would be interested in raising money for your center? (Wait for a reply.) Celebrating Home offers a variety of brochures offering wax and soy candles, gourmet foods, and accessories. We provide our organizations with free brochures, a prize program, and an information letter. The letter would essentially contain everything your sellers would need to know about the fundraiser including who to makes checks payable to, when to have the orders and payments returned to you, what your fundraising dollars would be used for, and a goal you would like the sellers to reach for. When you receive your brochures you'll be ready to go! You simply hand out the brochures to your sellers and let them sell to their family, friends, coworkers for 2-3 weeks and when they return the brochures and payments you tally the orders and make payment for the items that were sold. You keep your profit upfront and you receive your delivery in just 2-3 weeks. The benefit of a fundraiser with Celebrating Home is that you are able to choose your own selling prices. For example, with a 10 oz jar candle your cost is just $5.00 and you can sell anywhere from $8.00-$11.00. You choose which brochures you want to offer, your selling prices and percentage of profit, the period of time you want to sell for, and how you want your items shipped. Possible Responses: A) Could you send me some information? "Absolutely! I'd be glad to mail a packet for you. Please let me verify I have your correct mailing address.... I'll mail it to your attention. I'll be sure to get your packet in the mail to you right away and I'll follow up in a few days to make sure you received it okay and to see if you have any questions. B) We're all set for this season ...or...We probably won't be doing another fundraiser until... "When do you usually make the decisions on your upcoming fundraisers? When would be a good time for me to check back with you?" C) I'd need to talk with... "I understand. Why don't I send you a packet with the information I just shared with you so that you can show it to your group. Let me just verify I have the correct address...And who should I mail that attention to?...Thanks. I'll be sure to get the information in the mail and I'll follow up to make sure you received it okay. In the meantime call me anytime if you have any questions on the program." D) I think I'm interested...I'd like to know more. OR I'd be interested in seeing the products. "That's great! I was planning on being in your area this week. Is there a good time I could stop by to show you some of the products in person and share with you an information packet including samples of the fundraising brochures?" E) Sounds perfect! We were looking for a new fundraiser. What do we need to do to get started? "I'll look forward to working with you and helping you to have a great fundraiser. Let's review a few details and I'll be able to help you to get started. I'll have an Agreement Form for you to return but in the meantime let's go ahead and let me get some information so I can help you to get started." 1. "Let's confirm your mailing address for your brochures.....the best phone number to reach you...an alternate phone number...an email address...." 2. "We offer several brochures including a candle brochure offering a wonderful variety of both traditional wax and soy candles, reed diffusers, and accessories, a single sheet jar candle brochure for simplicity, and also a 3 page gourmet food brochure. Which brochure or brochures would you like to offer.." (For spring/summer 2009 don't refer to the reed diffusers and accessories....they will be back in the fall.) 3. "How many sellers will you have?" "Will that be enough to cover your staff as well?" 4. "Would you be interested in utilizing our free prize program?" 5. "I would suggest that we start your fundraiser on a Monday or Tuesday and go for two weeks. Would that work for you? What date would you like to begin? How long would you like to run your fundraiser?" 6. "To whom would you like the checks payable to...should be your group's name" 7. (When applicable) "For your parent letter please share what you are raising the monies for" and/or "In addition to the prize program I'm offering are there any additional incentives you would like to offer?" 8. "Let's decide on a number of items you'd like each seller to sell. I'd recommend that you have a minimum of at least 10 items. It's important to set a goal for how many items each seller should try to sell so that you'll be able to reach your goal." 9. "Celebrating Home offers 3 different shipping options. You can opt to order your items Bulk and sort by each seller to maximize your profits. A second option is to order the items presorted by seller. Each seller's items would be boxed individually and labeled with their name and teacher if applicable. The fee for presorting is just 25 cents per item. There are no minimums and orders $850 or more offer free shipping. Order less than $850, which is 150 candles, are charged $35 in shipping. The 3rd option is Home Delivery where the items can be shipped directly to each seller's home. The shipping and handling fee is 50 cents per item. There are no minimums per seller but there is a minimum of $5.00 shipping per address. Seller's with less than 10 items sold could be shipped separately as a presorted or bulk order. Which option will be best for you?" 9. "In your packet I'm going to include a Guidelines Packet along with all the forms you'll need for submitting your order. Please call me when you receive everything and after you've looked through the materials I can review the materials and answer any questions you may have. I'll put everything together for you and I'll be mailing it to you _____. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to help you with your upcoming fundraiser and I'm looking forward to working with you. Call me anytime you have questions or need any assistance. You can reach me at _________" Note on mailing packets: When mailing an information packet with an unfolded packet in a large envelope the cost more per envelope. Simply folding the papers in half and mailing in a smaller envelope will cost about half the price. For a professional presentation you may consider mailing your packets in a clear envelope but be aware that the USPS is now sometimes charging an added fee for clear envelopes. Our Celebrating Home vendor, the Print Shop, has envelopes available for purchase. Visit their website at www.theprintshop.us or another great source is www.uniquepacking.com.
● For a lead that you are following up by phone you can say "Hi________, recently I sent you (left for you) some information on our fundraising program and I wanted to make sure that you had received it. I'm planning on being in your area and would like to see if you have a few moments to see our items in person and discuss the possibility of us working together?" Following up is the key to getting the business. Don’t wait for them to call you! Otherwise, you will be wasting your packets and postage! Your goal is to meet in person. If they are not currently fundraising ask if they will be fundraising in the future and still pursue getting an appointment. They may decide to fundraise now after they see our program. At a minimum you are building a relationship on which you can follow up later or to receive referrals! ● For a lead you are following up from a survey you can call and say "Hi_________, this is _________, from Celebrating Home Fundraising and I wanted to call and thank you for completing the fundraising survey I left for you at your school. I noticed that you were interested in _________ and I wanted to call today and see if we could set up a time to show you a wider variety of our items and discuss the possibility of us working together?" ● Sample presentation when you are able to meet in person: - Be personable, dress professionally, understand our program, and sell them on your customer service. You are a local representative and will be there to support them throughout their fundraiser. Display a sampling of our fundraising products. Review the sample script listed below. You need not memorize the verbiage but rather, review it to gain confidence with how you will want to present our programs in your own unique style. If you wish, you can create note cards or an outline. You also have the option of playing the Fundraising Presentation DVD which is included in the fundraising starter kits and is also available as a supply item. “Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you today and share information on our fundraising program. I appreciate your interest and I’m looking forward to hopefully working with you and helping you to have a successful fundraiser. I invite you to ask any questions you have about our program and I’m happy to help you in raising the funds you need for your organization. May I inquire about when you are planning your next fundraiser?...What will you be raising your funds for?....How many members will be participating? What experience have you had with fundraising? ....etc I’d like to provide an overview of what our program offers and an opportunity for you to see and smell some of the great items we have available. You’ll quickly discover why so many people are falling in love with our products! Our fundraising program can offer you absolutely everything you are looking for in a program to easily reach your goal. With a wide variety of exceptional quality and affordably priced candles, accessories, and gourmet food mixes you and your customers will surely appreciate the opportunity to make a purchase. Not only will everyone enjoy the items for themselves but for gift giving as well. You’ll find our program to be simple and easy to sell, because you’ll be selling products your customers will appreciate buying. Celebrating Home uses the finest quality food grade paraffin wax and earth friendly soy, resulting in an extraordinary candle. They burn as clean as a candle can possibly burn, and will burn evenly across the diameter of the candle without creating a hole down the center. Our candles are made with more scent than ordinary candles and even burning allows more of the fragrance to be released. We carefully hand-center each of our all cotton lead free wicks to ensure our candles burn completely. Our programs offer you the choice to choose from 3 brochures or you may combine brochures to offer your customers more variety. Our “Pick your Profit” program which would allow you would have the unique opportunity to set your own selling prices. I'll provide you with a list of suggested selling prices for your consideration. For example, I would sell our 10 oz jar candles to you at a discounted price of just $5.50 each. You then choose the selling price you feel is best for your group. You could choose to sell the candle for $9, $10, or $11 each etc . What price do feel would be best for you?.....Great…selling a jar candle for $11.00 will generate a 50% profit of $5.50 each. If you are able to provide the appropriate tax exempt documentation I’d be happy to submit that with your order and help you with those added savings. Let’s take a moment and discuss how a fundraiser with Celebrating Home can assist you with reaching your goal. We determined that you are tax exempt and your goal is to purchase new sports equipment. The total purchase is approximately $1000 and you have 25 members. If each of your 25 members participates in the fundraiser you will need to raise just $40 per person. ($1000 ÷ 25 members = $40 per person) If your profit per candle is $5.50, each member would only need to sell only 8 candles to reach your fundraising goal! With 25 participants, selling just 10 items each, you would raise $1,375! With Celebrating Home you have several options for shipping. Our program offers Bulk Shipping where your products are shipped in bulk quantity with bags provided. Your organization would sort by seller. If you would like to consider Presorting, each sellers items are boxed separately and labeled with each seller's name as well as teacher's name. A minimum charge of just 25 cents per item is added to your order for presorting. For Presorted and Bulk Orders with sales of $850.00 or more shipping is free. Orders less than $850.00 will add $35.00 for shipping. For a minimal shipping and handling fee of just 50 cents per item you can have each seller's order shipped Home Delivery to each seller's home. Having your seller's orders shipped directly to their home certainly provides easy distribution! Home Delivery requires no minimum of items sold per seller. The minimum shipping and handling charge is just $5.00 per shipping address. For your sellers with less than 10 items sold you can then choose to have those items sent to one location presorted or shipped direct to each seller for $5.00. For youth groups age preschool through middle school Celebrating Home provides a free prize program which will certainly increase your volume of sales. Sellers are awarded for a job well done and will earn a prize for selling just 2 items. In total, there are 8 levels a seller can strive for. The higher the level achieved the greater value the prize choice will be. We offer free brochures and no upfront costs; our programs are risk free. As an option, you can purchase candles and food in advance to either sell or use for a display. I would also share with you a Step by Step Fundraising Guide for a successful fundraiser which will cover every detail from goal setting, setting your prices, how to increase sales, submitting your order, and more. You’ll have my commitment to help you every step of the way. I’d provide you with ample brochures for all of your participants and you’d decide on a selling period which is usually 2-3 weeks. Your participants would collect orders and payments payable to your group and then submit them to you on a date you request. Generally, most successful fundraisers include a selling period of at least two full weekends and close on a Tuesday or Wednesday. In advance, for Bulk Deliveries I’d provide you with a Master Order Form for submitting your tally. Once your order was completed you’d simply call me and I’d review your balance due to assure accuracy. You would keep your profit upfront and only make payment to me for the amount due. Once I’d receive your order, full payment, and your tax exemption document has been approved you’d receive your shipment is approximately 2-3 weeks. For Presorted and Home Delivery orders I would provide you with your choice of either an individual tally sheet per seller or an excel spread sheet for you to submit each seller's order. A master order form will also be provided for determining your balance due. Shipping time is minimal with Fed Ex and I can notify you in advance with the number of boxes you’d be receiving as well as the estimated delivery date. For Standard Shipping orders I’d provide you with a Check In form to assist you with distributing your products. Does our program seem to be something you’d be interested in one that would work for your group?...Great, if you don’t have any additional questions, we could finalize the details and have your fundraiser ready to start on the date you select.” If the group is not ready to make a commitment ask them if they have any further questions they need in order to make a decision. Make sure that you are leaving them with an information package and set a date for a follow up call. Please note that the Agreement Form is not a legal binding agreement but rather, an information sheet to assure both parties have the same information. If a group asks about an incentive program for High School or Adults: - Although our prize program was designed for ages preschool through middle school, high school organizations have used the prize program with success. There are enough prize choices in the program that will appeal to the high school aged student. - As a designer you can personally choose to provide an additional incentive program such as a gift card to Toysrus if you wish. Be careful, though, that you are requiring a minimum number of items sold or a dollar amount to assure your costs are covered. In most cases you can offer suggestions to assist a group with offering their own incentives. There are a number of suggestions you can provide to a group to assist them with offering incentives: -Determine if the sellers need additional motivation to collect orders and if so, who will provide it. What involvement will parents, leaders, teachers etc have in motivating the sellers. - Encourage the group to have reminders with phone calls, posters, school announcements, fundraising thermometers for participants, parents, teachers etc throughout the fundraiser to keep everyone motivated. - Contact local businesses such as Walmart, pizza shops, movie theaters etc that support the community and request donations. It is best to do so with a letter from the organization that includes letterhead and purpose of the donation. - Have a pizza party for the top selling group. Contact pizza shops to find out if they offer a “special rate” for schools, organizations, etc. Many will offer a discounted price. - Schools can offer “no homework!” passes or other incentives to the top selling class. - In addition to providing prizes for the top sellers a group might wish to consider motivating all sellers by offering a drawing of donated items. For example, each participant receives a ticket for every 10 items sold. - If a group is raising money to purchase items such as uniforms you may want to suggest that they consider setting up the program so that the monies raised per individual will go to their own account. The individuals AND parents will be more motivated if they know that their sales will contribute directly to their child/expense. - Please note that one of my next projects is to put together a prize program for the High School level! What you need to know regarding Pricing! It’s so simple! - As an example, a 10 oz Jar Candle has a fundraising retail price of $5.00. (You can "roll up" the price and charge your organization $5.50 per candle.) They are then able to choose their own selling prices, generally somewhere between $9-$12 per candle. Your commission is 25% of the $5.00 price and is all received upfront when you place your order with Celebrating Home. 25% of $5.50 is $1.25 per candle. When you roll up the price you earn another 50 cents. $1.25 + .50 = $1.50. It's that simple! - With Celebrating Home you have a huge advantage to be able to say "With Celebrating Home you are able to select your own selling prices and therefore the percentage of profit that is best for your organization. Based upon the group of people you are selling to and the geographic area you are in you choose the selling prices that are best for you. We'll provide you with suggested pricing to assist you but you are welcome to either increase or decrease your selling prices." - Our program is also advantageous to an organization that is not exempt from paying tax. With Celebrating Home they can still earn a 50% profit if they wish by simply doubling their purchase price and then increasing their selling prices to compensate for the amount of tax they will have to pay on an item. -For a 10 oz candle, for example, with a group not exempt from tax with an 8% tax rate they would have to pay 44 cents tax. ($5.50 x 8% = .44) For a 50% profit they would double the $5.50 and add 50 cents to cover the tax. They would sell each candle for $11.50 and would profit the full 50% plus an extra 6 cents per candle. - With each seasonal brochure change I'll change and update all the fundraising documents for you and they will be sent to you via email. If you have not received them please contact me directly. The documents will contain all the pricing I'm using but you are welcome to make adjustments for your personal business, based upon the economic area you are in. They are only for your personal use. These documents are strictly for your use and are not to be published on personal Web pages. There can be no exceptions. I'm happy to share these documents with you but due to the high volume of personal fundraising sales I achieve through the web I have to ask that you use the documents for your local sales only. Twice a year our brochures change and the documents will be updated and emailed to you. - Refer to the Cover Letter, Agreement Form, and Guidelines letter for the current price chart which includes the prices charged to the organization, their suggested selling prices, their amount of profit, and percentage of profit. What you need to know regarding State Tax Exemption: *Simple, simple simple! Follow these easy steps and tax exemption will be a breeze! Review on tax exemption and some changes on submitting tax exemption certificates. In the new website there will be a section which will list the requirements for each individual state for what is required for an organization to be exempt. The requirements for tax exemption do vary by state and they are clearly outlined for you on the web. In most states each organization will be issued a certificate of exemption from their state. You are not requesting federal tax EIN forms. You simply need the group to provide you with a photocopy of the document and they should give this to you right away. Please note that many states provide blank tax exempt forms which can be downloaded on our website. If an organization only has a tax exempt number and a blank form is available simply provide them with the blank form and ask them to complete it for you. In most cases a signature is required by the organization. With the new order system you will be able to pre-register your fundraisers and have an initial order ready to go, with the tax already removed from the order. You are not required to have a tax form approved before starting a fundraiser but you are advised to get the tax form pre-approved if you are not certain the form will be approved. If an organization is not exempt from tax it is best that they know that prior to setting their prices. When you receive a tax form you will log into your account, begin a new fundraising order and you will check either yes or no if the organization is exempt. When you say "yes" a fundraising tax number will be assigned. This is not the fundraising order number. The home office has created a new fax cover letter for submitting your tax form. On the cover letter you will include your name, Id, the organization name, and the tax exemption number. Fax the cover letter and the tax form to the home office. The fax number will be on the form. The tax exemption form will now be processed. Watch your order and you will see the tax exemption number has been approved. Allow 48 hours for the tax exemption certificate to be accepted. If the tax remains please contact the home office. No longer will there be a delay in processing your orders because of waiting for a tax form to be approved or having to discover that a group you thought would be exempt is not, and now having to collect those additional monies. If the document is not approved they will contact you, generally by email. At any point you may call the home office if you have questions! They are there to help you! - When submitting a Presorted/Home Delivery order during March you will still need to either fax or mail the exemption certificate along with the order. On the exempt form you still need to add your name, your ID, the name of the fundraiser contact person, and then just add "Fundraising order________" exactly as I typed. You will not yet have an order number so be sure to note on the exemption certificate that the exemption is for a presorted/home delivery order. When the order is received by the home office and they input the order in the system they will add the order number before passing the tax form onward to the tax department. If a group is not tax exempt: If an organization does not qualify they will need to pay state/local tax to you when the order is placed. Tax is based on the shipping address of the products and will be calculated when you enter the order. In determining the correct tax rate sometimes you have to know which county the shipping address is located and whether or not an address is within city limits. You can go to www.mapquest.com to verify that information. County lines are listed and shaded areas will indicate an address is within city limits. To determine the amount of tax due simply enter the complete fundraising order as a fundraiser order type and the amount of tax due will be listed. In some locations food is exempt from tax. You can simply begin a "pretend order" with the correct shipping address and then look to see if tax has been added to the order. The organization will then pay to you the amount of money due to purchase the products plus the tax amount. The organization’s profit will be the remaining funds they collected. They keep those funds upfront. It is very important to determine the amount of tax to be charged per item and review those amounts with each non tax exempt group before they set their selling prices. Important tax info regarding pricing: When you submit an order that is not tax exempt the tax will be based upon the Celebrating Home fundraising retail prices. A jar candle for example is $5.00 each. Tax is based on $5.00. If you are choosing to roll up the price of your items don't confuse the situation with your organizations...just charge tax on the prices you are charging!
Congratulations! Now it’s time to launch the fundraiser and just like parties you need to coach them to success. Bulk Orders - If your organization decides to sort the items themselves you will need to provide them with the number of required brochures plus a few extra, a Step by Step Guidelines Packet, Master Order Form, and Check-In Form. If they are using the prize program you will need to provide the required number of prize brochures as well as a Prize Master Order Form and Group Tally Sheets. Group tally sheets are used to validate the number of items sold by each seller so you will know the organization is only ordering the correct number of prizes actually earned. For local fundraisers you should include on each brochure a sticker with your name, phone number and email address. You may wish to include an offer to donate an amount of $ ($10-$20) to the organization for each home party booking. Presorted Orders - If your organization decides on a Presorted Fundraiser you will need to provide them with the number of required brochures plus a few extra, a Step by Step Guidelines Packet, Tally Sheets printable from the Celebrating Home website or the Celebrating Home Excel Spreadsheet, and a Master Order Form. If they are using the prize program you will need to provide the required number of brochures as well as a Prize Master Order Form. Group tally sheets will not be required because you will be receiving back a completed tally sheet per seller from which you can validate the prizes earned. Home Delivery Orders - If your organization decides on a Home Delivery Fundraiser you will need to provide them with the number of required brochures plus a few extra, a Step by Step Guidelines Packet, Tally Sheets from the Celebrating Home website or the Excel Spreadsheet, and a Master Order Form. Review the Step by Step Guideline packet with the leader: Agreement Form - Complete an Agreement Form prior to starting the fundraiser. Be absolutely sure that the organization is committed and has received approval before giving them the brochures! Tax Exemption - Request that they determine if they are tax exempt and to submit to you the tax exemption document as soon as possible. Pre-register your new fundraising order for the organization as soon as possible and submit the tax exemption document to the home office for approval. Preorder Option - Offer the group the option to preorder candles. Fundraising pricing is offered with the 10% shipping charge. You will place the order online as a Designer Order type. Goal Setting - Help your group in setting a goal. Encourage your group to set a goal and paint a picture for why they are raising funds. Let them know that the most successful fundraisers are those in which an organization sets a goal. Not only will the participants be more willing and motivated to participate, the customers purchasing will also find value in the fundraiser and be more willing to make a contribution Coach them to understand that their greatest challenge will be to get each person to recognize that their individual participation DOES make a difference! Incentives - Determine if the group is going to offer our prize program and/or their own incentives. Setting Prices -Assist the group with establishing their selling prices if needed. Prepare Brochures- They may wish to create a cover letter about why they are fundraising, sales they are requesting etc. I also have a generic cover letter you can use as well. Please request the document and I will send it to you by email. Make sure that the brochures clearly state that checks are to be made payable to the organization. Stress to the group to make certain that they do not accept checks made payable to Celebrating Home. Once the payments are collected the organization will deposit all funds into their account and make one payment to you. Encourage a minimum - Encourage the group to request a minimum number of items to be sold per person and to reinforce that everyone’s participation does make a difference. Coach the organization to say “To reach our goal we are asking everyone to try to sell at least ___items.” Parent Letter/Cover Letter - Prepare a letter to send home outlining the purpose of the fundraiser, how the monies will be used, a minimum number of items each seller is requested to sell, who to make checks payable to, deadline for submitting the orders, and a contact name and number if anyone has questions. A basic letter is available but you'll need to customize the letter for each organization. Not all organizations will require a letter. Closing Date – Generally, the most successful fundraisers close their orders within 2-3 weeks of the start date. It is important to establish a closing date. Coach the group to plan on a few days for tallying the orders and to expect late orders to be submitted. Try to include 2 full weekends with Tuesday or Wednesday as the closing date, when possible.
Complete the Master Order Form - Use the Master Order Form to summarize, total and confirm that all information is complete. Request that the organization keep a copy of their Master Order Form. Have the organization keep the sellers’ fundraiser order forms to distribute back to the seller when the order arrives. Photocopying the order forms is encouraged by the organization in case a fundraising brochure is lost by a participant. Once the group has tallied the amount of products request the organization to contact you to verify the total amount due. Determine Payment Amount -Verify the balance due including tax if they are not exempt. To help determine the tax due you can enter the order to determine the percentage of tax due and whether tax is charged on food. The order can be saved until you receive the payment. If they pay you by check, deposit that immediately in your bank account so that you allow enough time for the payment to clear. Payment Options – Representatives may accept money order, bank check, business checks, personal checks, or credit cards; the usual credit card fee applies. Be sure to inform your customer that payments by personal or business checks must clear before the order will be submitted. For fundraisers a general practice is to say “Preferred payment by money order or business check is requested. Personal checks are not accepted. Credit cards, if needed, will be accepted with receipt of a signed credit card authorization.” Team members can request a credit card authorization form from me and I will send it to you as an email attachment. I highly encourage you to not accept a credit card without a signed authorization form. Without the signature a card holder could potentially deny a charge and the signature is your protection.
Online Bulk Orders - To place a Bulk Fundraising Order log into the web, click on “Place an Order” and select the “Start a new Fundraiser Order” option. Fundraiser Orders for Presorted/Home Delivery - To place a fundraiser order presorted or home delivery orders those will have to temporarily be faxed or mailed to Celebrating Home. Because the ordering system our IT department will need a few more weeks to get these order types completed in the system. Log in to the Celebrating Home website and you can find the order forms under "Forms." I'm waiting confirmation to find out when Presorted and Home Delivery Orders will be able to be ordered online. - Presorted orders until now could only be placed by mailing or faxing in an order. I'm waiting to hear updates for this for March. My understanding is that by April we will be able to enter presorted orders online. There is no minimum to be able to submit the order. There is no minimum per seller. Each seller's order will be boxed individually and labeled with each seller's name and also teacher, when that’s applicable. A Tally Sheet for each seller is provided by the Celebrating Home rep and is provided along with the fundraising brochures. In the Celebrating Home website you will find the tally sheets that can be printed off your computer. You then provide a tally with each brochure. An excel spreadsheet is also available. - Home Delivery orders until now could only be placed by mailing or faxing in an order. I'm waiting to hear updates for this for April. My understanding is that by April we will be able to enter Home Delivery orders as well online. There are no minimums per seller. There is a charge of 50 cents per item for shipping and handling. I charge the 50 cent fee to the fundraising organization. A minimum of $5.00 will be charged by the company per shipping address. 10 items sold per seller at 50 cents each will equal the $5.00 shipping minimum. Orders can be placed for less than 10 items but there will be the minimum of $5.00 for shipping the organization will have to pay. You may want to offer to ship seller's order that are less than 10 items as a separate presorted or bulk order. When you do that you will have to pay a $35 shipping charge. You will need to charge that fee to your organization. - Call me and I'll assist you in learning to complete the forms. The number for faxing the order is on the form. Simply keep the form on your desk and watch your order history listing until you see the order on your listing. Please note that faxed or mailed orders have to be submitted by the 26th of each month for those sales to be applied to that month. - For late orders, requests for samples, display orders, repeat customers wanting to order just a few candles, etc it is a great option to be able to submit an order online under the new Designer Order type. For Designer Order types a higher price is charged per item. See above for pricing. - There are no Hostess credits when the order is submitted as a Fundraiser Order or Designer Order type. No minimums are required. Shipping is free for Celebrating retail orders of $750 or more when entered as a Bulk or Presorted Order type when entered as a fundraiser order. Orders less than $750 are charged $35.00. Designer Order types have no minimums required and add 10% shipping. Orders will arrive within 2 – 3 weeks of submitting the order. - When ordering the 10 oz jar candles be sure to always order cases of candles whenever possible. Your cost on cases is less and sorting will be easier for the group. - If the group is tax exempt and has been approved the tax will be removed when you place the order. There is no tax in NH, OR, MT and DE. - When you register a fundraising order watch your order history listing for the tax to be removed from the order within 48 hours. Otherwise, refax the document. - If the wrong tax exempt document is submitted you will be notified via email and the reason why. The appropriate document will then be required or the balance paid before the order will ship. If it is determined that they are not tax exempt you must submit the tax amount and collect it from the group. - If the group is paying by credit card you will be making an overpayment on the order. The overage and your commission will be paid to you in you commission check the following month. When possible inform your groups that preferred payment is by business check or money order. You will want to avoid credit card payments on large fundraising orders due to the credit card handling fee. When accepting credit cards be sure to have the cardholder complete a Credit Card Authorization Form. Without a signed signature you are not protected should a group later deny a charge. -When you are entering an order online you will have the option of entering a customer email. If you are rolling up your prices DO NOT include the customer email because otherwise, your customer will receive a confirmation email when the order has been shipped and will contain the CH fundraising retail prices, not your rolled up prices. NOTE: For the best customer service let the organization know that you have received their payment. Watch your order history listing and watch for your order to ship and for the Fed Ex tracking information to be posted. Once posted, you’ll be able to inform your organization of the number of boxes shipped by Fed Ex and the estimated delivery dates. Review the following check in procedure with your group.
– Have the organization verify that they have received all boxes due with their shipment and let them know that they may arrive on different days. - Stress the importance that the group uses the Check-In Sheet and completes an accurate inventory of what they received prior to distributing the products. - If their initial inventory does not match what they ordered ask them to check the quantities again. - Once the inventory is finished they need to document any broken items, missing items or extra items on the Check-In Form and submit to you. - Then sort by seller. Encourage the group to sort each brochure by the tally on the bottom of the order form rather than each individual customer. - You can suggest that when the products are accepted by the participant that they sign off on a photocopy of the brochure authorizing that they received the correct number of items. - As an Independent Representative you have the option to pre sort the items for your organizations. Although this service is not required the added service could make the difference in obtaining bookings or encouraging groups to repeat a future fundraiser with you. - Representatives must report to Celebrating Home any missing or damaged items within 30 days of delivery date. A general rule to follow is to request that the organization report any missing or broken items to you within 7 days of receiving their shipment. - Fax a completed Replacement/Exchange form to CH for any missing or broken items. Watch your order history listing for a new order to be posted. - In completing a Replacement/Exchange form you will need to open up and run your Order History Listing and get the Order Number, the Order Date, the Ship Date, Address, Phone Number etc. Completing the form is relatively easy but call your upline for assistance if you have any questions. - Please note that on the Replacement/Exchange form there are codes for missing, broken, and defective items. If you report an item as "defective" you will have to ship it back to the company. - If the company makes an error and ships incorrect items please report those on the replacement form. If the total is less than $75 the organization will be able to keep them. If they are local to you...pick them up! When the total is over $75 please let the home office know and a Fed Ex call tag will be issued and they will be picked up and returned to CH. Be sure to inform your organization and have the items in a box and ready to go. If a case of candles is sent in error be sure the organization does not take any of the items out of the case. Partial cases can not be returned.
- Home Delivery orders are simply shipped to each seller's home. - For Presorted Orders the organization upon delivery should account for each seller's box or boxes upon delivery. If a seller sold a large quantity of items those items may be shipped as "Box 1 of 2." If a box is missing for an individual seller they should notify you within 24 hours. - If an individual seller's order is missing from the shipment please complete a replacement/exchange form, (located under "Forms/Docs" and then "Important Forms") and submit it by fax or postal mail to the home office. Under the "item number" section of the Replacement/Exchange Form please write in the name of the seller. Under the "Replacement Code" write in the code for missing, and in the "Explanation" section note that the order was a presorted. - It is very unlikely that an individual item will be missing from a presorted Delivery or Home Delivery order. Should you receive any phone calls from your organizations stating that items were missing simply complete a Replacement/Exchange form and submit it to the home office.
-Stay in contact with your group until every order is complete and continue to provide excellent customer service. - Upon completion of the fundraiser, send a hand written thank you note. - Discuss the possibility of returning for another Fundraising event in the future. "Thank you for choosing Celebrating Home for your fundraiser. I look forward to the opportunity to work with you again. Please save one of the brochures with my contact information in your files for future reference. Our next brochure will become available in March 2009 for fall/winter 2009 brochures (or say approximately October 2009 for spring/summer 2010 brochures.) I'll be sure to mail an information packet to you as soon as they become available." - Ask for a letter of recommendation. - Send a new brochure every 6 months and follow-up. - Follow up on leads for home parties and additional fundraisers by donating $15-$20 to the organization for each booking. - GIVE THE VERY BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE! YOU'LL LOVE IT WHEN THEY CALL BACK NEXT YEAR REQUESTING MORE BROCHURES OR RECOMMEND YOU TO SOMEONE THEY KNOW SEARCHING FOR FUNDRAISING IDEAS!!!!
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