Nonprofits are always looking for new ways to gain support for their causes! Even if you feel like you’ve tried all the fundraising tricks, there are many more ideas that can boost your revenue. A product fundraiser campaign provides supporters with tangible items in exchange for their support. There are many ideas to choose from! As long as you have a willing group of sellers and products that people want to buy, product fundraising can be the perfect money-maker for your nonprofit organization.
Remember, you are selling what people want to buy! When preparing to launch a product-based fundraising campaign, it’s important to pick the right product. We have provided you with 10 product fundraising ideas:
- Coupon Book Product Fundraising
- Custom Merchandise Product Fundraising
- Cookie Dough Product Fundraising
- Gourmet Popcorn Product Fundraising
- Coffee Product Fundraising
- Wrapping Paper Product Fundraising
- Scratch Card Product Fundraising
- Flower Bulb Product Fundraising
- Calendar Product Fundraising
- Homemade Jewelry Product Fundraising
Learn the benefits of each fundraiser and how to effectively implement them in your nonprofit campaign!
10 Product Fundraising Ideas
1. Coupon Book Fundraiser
Who doesn’t love a good discount? Coupon books usually highlight local businesses or restaurants in your community. Organizations often purchase coupon books from manufacturers. However, you may get better results if you create the coupon book yourself!
Partner with local businesses and decide on types of discounts. Once you have enough participants, compile them all in an organized book and sell them to the community. Be sure to include an expiration date to motivate people to use the coupons quickly! You can use the same coupon book annually and supporters will look forward to it every year.
2. Custom Merchandise Fundraiser
Custom merchandise is a popular fundraising product for nonprofits of all causes and sizes! There is a variety of custom merchandise you can sell: t-shirts, hoodies, hats, water bottles, and more!
Selling customized merch is a unique product fundraising idea for organizations and an effective marketing strategy. When supporters use or wear your products in public, they’ll passively promote your nonprofit. Organizations can create compelling designs that represent their band or commemorate an event. You can even take it a step further and post the merchandise on social media or your website to spread the word!
3. Cookie Dough Fundraiser
Cookie dough fundraisers are a tasty way for schools, churches, or nonprofits to make money. One of the most noteworthy examples is The Girl Scouts of America, who make about $800 million from cookie sales each year! Although your nonprofit organization might not make quite that much in revenue, cookie fundraisers are still one of the most popular product fundraising ideas!
So how does a cookie dough fundraiser work?
- Step 1: Organizations take cookie dough or cookie orders from participants and collect money upfront. Often, organizations have a specific product catalog to help customers pick out what they want.
- Step 2: After all the orders are in, the organization will purchase and distribute the cookie dough to all their customers.
- Step 3: Organizations keep the profit from the sales. For example, Girl Scout cookies cost about $2 per box and sell for about $6. Therefore, they earn around $4 profit per box.
4. Gourmet Popcorn Fundraiser
People love gourmet popcorn, especially when the gourmet popcorn is supporting a good cause! Similar to the cookie dough fundraiser, participants sell different types of popcorn to friends, families, and colleagues, and receive a portion of the sale. Below are three ways to make your gourmet popcorn fundraiser a success:
- Offer popcorn samples: It’s hard to say no to something delicious. Samples are a fun and persuasive way to boost sales.
- Use a local company: Over 60% of people prefer supporting small businesses.
- Sell during events: Events provide the perfect crowd to gain popcorn sales. Plus, what kind of event doesn’t need popcorn?
5. Coffee Fundraiser
Did you know, over 70% of Americans drink coffee daily? The widespread love for coffee makes it easy to sell, easy to use, and an easy way to boost donations! A coffee fundraiser is an effective idea because:
- Coffee is widely loved
- Coffee can be ethically sourced
- Coffee has potential for high profit margins
- Coffee has year-round appeal
Implementing a coffee fundraiser is easy! First, find a coffee company to partner with and make your coffee selections. Create brochures and spread the word on social media about your fresh-roasted coffee. Sell, sell, and keep selling! There’s no risk of “over ordering” since you gather the orders beforehand. When finished, you will collect all your orders and place the orders with the coffee company. Finally, you can ship and hand deliver the coffee!
6. Wrapping Paper Fundraiser
Selling wrapping paper is another common fundraising idea! A wrapping paper fundraiser is one of the most common fundraisers today. While gifts are wonderful by themselves, a stunning wrap will make the gifting and unwrapping moment even more exciting! No matter the occasion, there will always be a demand for wrapping paper, and that’s what makes this fundraiser so effective.
A wrapping paper fundraiser can be run for days or weeks to raise the targeted funds. Whether you want to sell the wrapping paper at an event, online, or to friends and family, it’s completely up to your organization!
7. Scratch Card Fundraiser
A product fundraising idea that is perfect for smaller organizations with large volunteer bases is a scratch off fundraiser. As the name suggests, a scratch off card is a piece of cardstock that reveals a donation amount when scratched off. Each dollar amount corresponds to the donation size that the lucky “winner” should give. It’s like playing the lotto for a great cause! Once the donations are collected, organizations can reward participants with a small gift, like coupons to local restaurants or other retailers.
8. Flower Bulb Fundraiser
A flower bulb fundraiser is an attractive and earth friendly fundraiser. This is a limited risk fundraiser and the perfect way to beautify your yard! Like many product fundraisers, when your fundraiser is complete, total up the individual orders and place your final order with the payment. The company sends your organization the flower bulbs and either delivers them to your customers or have them ready for pick-up!
9. Calendar Fundraiser
Everyone needs a calendar! That’s what makes a calendar fundraiser so effective. Perfect for organizations of all kinds, this fundraiser is especially effective in schools, offices, or churches. Simply take one picture for each month and make sure each photo is related to the cause. Compile the pictures into a calendar, print them in bulk, and begin selling! Tell everyone to “mark their calendars” and get involved in your product fundraising idea!
10. Homemade Jewelry Fundraiser
Homemade Jewelry is a distinctive and exquisite item to sell. Although it will require creativity and effort, it can be sold for a good price. From necklaces to earrings to rings, there’s no shortage of wearable art you can create. People will love supporting your nonprofit and your hard work! If members of your organization enjoy making handmade jewelry, they can create unique jewelry pieces and begin selling! This is the ideal do-it-yourself product fundraiser for your nonprofit.
A product fundraiser campaign provides your supporters with special items in exchange for their support. You can’t go wrong with all the products to choose from! Product fundraising can be the perfect money-maker for your nonprofit organization. Use our list of 10 ideas and begin selling products today!
Increase Product Sales with Rhino Nonprofit Software
Rhino Nonprofit management software is an online giving platform used by nonprofits (501c3) for managing donors, fundraising campaigns, and donations. Our software can help support your charitable organization and maximize your fundraising efforts.
Product Management
Our software gives you all the tools you need to sell products online! No need to worry about spending thousands of dollars on website development or inventory. Simply create an online store and sell your fundraiser products in-person or on your website.
We give you no limit to the products you can sell, it’s completely up to you! Sell different sizes, colors, and quantities of each product and add categories to make it easier for your donors. You also have the ability to enhance your online product store by adding images and barcodes for each item. Finally, you have full power to customize the product store color scheme to match your nonprofit website! Change the colors of the text, buttons, backgrounds, and borders. Bring your product fundraising ideas to life with Rhino Nonprofit’s dynamic product store!
POS Terminal for Product Fundraising
After creating a product store, you need an easy way to accept in-person payments! Fortunately, we have the perfect solution for you! Rhino Nonprofit’s POS terminal allows for real-time seamless transactions. Since the POS system is compatible with the Ingenico Desk3500 terminal, donors can pay using e-signature, magnetic stripe, contactless tap, or with chip and pin payment technology.
Below are some of the powerful features of our POS terminal:
- Easy to Pair – Connect your point-of-sale terminal with Rhino Nonprofit in seconds.
- Secure POS Payments -Our encrypted credit card terminals comply with the highest security standards.
- Powerful Payment Technology – Accept any type of payment method including magstripe, chip & pin, or contactless.
- Real-time POS Reporting – Track your daily batches and settlement reports in Rhino Nonprofit.
- Flexible Add-ons – Easily add a cash register, bar code scanner, or printer with your POS terminal.
- Receipt Sending
- Email or print out receipts during the checkout process.
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