What if, instead of caramel corn or candles, a fundraiser sold something people actually want? Coffee is a unique fundraising idea that’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser. When selling coffee as a fundraiser, say goodbye to guilting neighbors and friends into purchasing something they don’t really want to buy, and say hello to a popular, practical, and profitable fundraiser.
In this guide, we’ll discuss how your organization can get started selling coffee as a fundraiser, the benefits a coffee fundraiser will bring, and some extra tips to help your fundraiser event go as smooth as your custom coffee.
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How to Sell Coffee as a Fundraiser
There are a few different ways you can sell coffee as a fundraiser, depending on your organization’s needs and available resources. There’s the traditional fundraiser, which features the familiar sales brochure and ordering process, or the direct sale model that’s similar to selling candy bars in that participants have the product on hand while taking orders. But if neither of these fundraising formats is appealing to your organization, there is an online fundraising option.
Here are the main types of coffee fundraisers to consider and the steps for getting them started:
Traditional Fundraiser
These are the five steps to putting on a traditional fundraiser:
- Select coffee and create brochures. Find a coffee company to partner with, like Joe’s Garage Coffee, make your coffee selections, and create a sales brochure.
- Kick it off. Launch your coffee fundraiser by dispersing your brochures and advertising your product.
- Sell, sell, sell. Keep raising money for as long as you’d like.
- Collect cash. Gather all order forms and money from those participating in the fundraiser.
- Order and deliver. Count up your supporters’ orders and place your coffee order, then deliver the product to your buyers.
Direct Sale Fundraiser
If you’d rather put your product directly into participants’ hands, here are the five steps for your coffee fundraiser to follow:
- Order coffee. Place a bulk order of coffee with Joe’s Garage Coffee and portion the coffee out into boxes or backpacks for convenient selling.
- Distribute packs. Divide the boxes or backpacks of coffee among your fundraiser sellers.
- Set price. Determine how to price your coffee to turn a profit based on the cost of the initial bulk order.
- Sell, sell, sell. Start selling your coffee by giving it directly to buyers after they pay for it — this type of fundraiser typically runs for a few weeks.
- Gather profits. Collect the money from your fundraiser’s participants to put toward improving your organization.
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Online Fundraiser
If you need to reach a wider audience or don’t want to sell door to door, consider an online coffee fundraiser. This method can also be combined with a traditional or direct sale fundraiser approach.
To take your coffee fundraiser online, follow these five steps:
- Pick a partner. Find a coffee company that will work with you to create your own coffee with low minimum order quantities.
- Coupon code. Establish a coupon code that customers will need to use at checkout to put their purchase toward your fundraiser.
- Spread the word. Have members of your organization email their friends and family about the coffee fundraiser to increase sales.
- Sell, sell, sell. Keep encouraging friends to buy coffee online for the duration of your fundraiser.
Enhancing Your Coffee Fundraiser
No matter which coffee fundraising idea you choose, you’re going to need two key components: custom coffee pods and custom coffee bags. Customizing both of these coffee essentials will promote your organization and make your coffee fundraiser memorable. Before you begin selling, make sure you’ve coordinated with a coffee company to work out the details of the kind of coffee you’ll be selling and the design of the packaging it’ll come in.
Here’s how to take your coffee fundraiser to the next level:
Create Custom Coffee Pods
With coffee pods becoming more and more popular among coffee lovers, you will most likely sell more product and raise more money during your fundraiser if you include a coffee pod option. By choosing the right coffee company to work with, you will be able to customize the coffee pods you sell to represent your organization. When personalizing your coffee pods, you will be able to create a unique taste of flavors and pod design that will generate greater interest in your coffee fundraiser.
Create Custom Coffee Bags
The packaging of your coffee is the first thing your potential fundraiser supporters will notice, so make sure it’s visually appealing and specific to your organization. You can personalize your coffee bag to reflect your organization’s message and remind purchasers of your cause as well as select the shape of your coffee bag — traditional or pre-measured portion packs. Custom printed packaging and bag style will make your fundraiser stand out and grab buyers’ attention.
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How to Have a Successful Fundraising Event
Even with your custom coffee pods and coffee bags, there are a few extra fundraising tips you’ll need to ensure your coffee fundraiser is a success. If you want to raise money selling coffee, you’ll have to think beyond the basic steps of throwing a fundraiser. To promote sales, you could throw a coffee-themed event, such as a coffee tasting or coffee house open mic night, in conjunction with the launch of your fundraiser.
Before you dive headfirst into planning a fundraising program, here are some fundraising factors to take into account:
1. Find Your Fundraising Purpose
It is important that you establish the purpose of your fundraiser before blindly beginning to plan it. Decide whether the primary goal of the fundraiser is to raise money or promote your organization’s brand and gain publicity or gain a new network. It is possible for your fundraiser to have multiple goals, but make sure it’s clear what your first and foremost goal is.
If your main objective is to raise as much money as possible during your fundraiser, it’s often helpful to make your fundraising goal known, so people are more motivated to meet it. By having a concrete number to work toward, your group will be more energized to sell, and others will be more likely to buy in order to advance your goal. Whatever your goal is, make everyone feel like a valuable part of the journey to achieving it.
2. Advertise Your Coffee Fundraiser
Once you’ve decided on the purpose and goal for your fundraising event, you’ll need to start publicizing information about it, so people know it’s happening and how to participate. The worst thing for your fundraiser would be to miss out on potential supporters because they didn’t know how, when, or where to contribute. To prevent this from happening, your organization will have to effectively market the fundraiser to whoever would be willing to participate.
Set up a communications plan to reach the broadest audience possible and increase selling chances. You can use your organization’s website, social media, word of mouth, posters, phone calls, mail, and email to promote it, even if your fundraiser’s not online.
Cast a wider net and draw in people you may have never reached otherwise by asking some of your most loyal supporters to post about your fundraising event on their own social media accounts or websites. Invite everyone to spread the word to give you the opportunity to sell your coffee to people who’ve never come in contact with your organization before.
Most of all, make sure that your supporters know that your organization and its coffee fundraiser are worth their time and money. Use your promotional content to show people why they should care about your cause, along with what makes your fundraising event and coffee products special.
How to Price Your Coffee Products
A critical part of attaining your fundraising goal is to calculate the costs to sell coffee as a fundraiser, so you actually meet your goal instead of losing half the money once you’ve paid off your fundraising costs. Avoid making less than you realize by creating a clear budget for your fundraiser, leaving a little extra room for any unanticipated costs you might run into. This budget will help you set a goal that covers all of your fundraising expenses with enough profit left over to meet your organization’s financial needs.
To make your fundraising budget and goal as accurate as possible, you will need to know exactly how much your organization makes per coffee bag or coffee pod sold. Then, you will know how to price your coffee products accordingly. The exact price of the coffee you’re ordering is the first and most important cost to include in your budget, but there are a few additional expenses, too.
Costs to Consider When Selling Coffee as a Fundraiser
Here are some details to keep in mind when selling coffee to raise money:
- Turnaround time. Time is money, so choose a coffee company that you can rely on to produce your coffee products quickly and efficiently — paying a little extra for speedy delivery may be worth it.
- Personalization prices. Customization is another expense usually worth paying a little extra — cut down on overpaying for a surplus of product by choosing a coffee provider with a low order minimum requirement.
- Product quality. A truly good fundraiser will become an annual event by popular demand, so prioritize the quality above the price of your coffee products.
- Shipping expenses. Make sure it’s clear who’s covering shipping costs — your organization or customers who order online.
- Ticket sales. If you’re throwing a coinciding fundraising event, how much will you charge attendees, if at all? Decide whether you want ticket prices to go toward your goal or the event to be free and depend on coffee sales.
- Event space. Along with ticket prices, those hosting a fundraising event will need to consider the cost of renting a space to hold the event in and whatever other supplies like tables and chairs or refreshments they might need to purchase.
Once you’ve factored in all these cost variables, fix the price for each of your coffee products, so you make a profit from each bag sold. After your fundraiser ends, review whether you stuck to your budget, how many new customers you reached, and how much money you made to know what you might need to adjust for your next fundraiser.
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Advantages of Selling Coffee as a Fundraiser
Selling coffee is a great way to raise money for your organization because of the many benefits it offers.
Here are the main reasons why selling coffee is one of the best fundraising ideas out there:
- Eye-catching. Selling coffee is one of the more creative fundraising ideas and hasn’t caught on enough to become too overdone yet. Selling custom coffee will grab people’s attention and make them more inclined to check out your fundraiser.
- Year-round appeal. From hot to iced, coffee isn’t limited to a single season or certain time of year. And coffee’s high consumptions rate means that your coffee fundraiser may be in demand multiple times a year.
- Non-perishable. Coffee keeps well and can be stored in the original oxygen barrier packaging to preserve its freshness for many months.
- Complementary. If you want to sell other products simultaneously, such as chocolate, cookie dough, fudge or candy, coffee pairs well with just about anything.
- Profitable and easy. Selling coffee is a high-profit fundraiser that requires very little work on the part of the organizer. By doing a coffee fundraiser, you can raise more money for less stress.
Other Creative Fundraising Ideas
If selling coffee doesn’t sound like the right fit for your organization or you’re looking to pair it with something, there are plenty of other fundraising ideas that are outside the box. You can run other types of fundraisers alongside your coffee selling or try them out when you need a break from being a coffee peddler.
Here are just a few of the other fundraising options available to you:
- Selling custom t-shirts. Make buyers think of your organization every time they put on their newest trendy, comfy T-shirt.
- Bake sale. Everyone has a sweet tooth — attract a wide base of consumers by holding a bake sale.
- Text to give. Make supporting your organization as easy and convenient as possible by giving people the ability to give right from their phones.
- Pay-to-play sports tournament. Host a dodgeball, basketball or flag football tournament for a day of friendly competition and fundraising.
- Food truck partnership. Create a space to socialize and give to a great cause by getting a local food truck to serve your supporters and split the profits.
Use Joe’s Garage Coffee to Supply Your Coffee
To ensure your coffee fundraiser is a hit, let Joe’s Garage Coffee provide you with the custom coffee that’s perfect for your event. With cups for Keurig, pod for Nespresso, and coffee bags with an exceptional turnaround time, we offer high-quality coffee at a fair price.
Our Private Label Experts are committed to working with you to produce the perfect coffee for your fundraiser and will guide you through each step of the custom coffee crafting process. We take taste seriously and will use our state-of-the-art facility and resources to present you with the best product possible, so you can just focus on meeting your fundraising goal.
If you’re ready to start raising money for your organization through coffee fundraisers or other means, contact Joe’s Garage Coffee today
