CAFECOSA Coffee Fundraiser

Fundraising can be a difficult proposition for any organization. Having good products or interesting events that can attract customers is a good start, but motivating people to join a team to do the fundraising is more important.

One important aspect of motivating a team is communicating what it is they are working for - what is the team trying to achieve. Impressing upon the team that they are working toward a goal that is worth their efforts is critical to success.
With that said, it is interesting when we have spoken with clients of ours who use fundraisers to do general fundraising and have had only marginal success vs when they are fundraising for a particular project.

While a school might require fundraising for general operations, and the benefits of having the school are clear, this doesn’t necessarily come across to members of the organization. General operations aren’t very sexy. They are, in many cases, incredibly necessary. While all volunteer efforts to generate funds for general operations should be viewed as noble community-building efforts by the members of your group the goal can be unwieldy. Members might feel that dues should pay for general operations, that volunteer work for this goal is unsustainable, and also feel frustrated by the never-ending need to raise funds.

Projects, on the other hand, are finite.  With goals that are easily explained and which people can get excited about, it provides people with a motivator for an effort in which they can anticipate and end and an obvious benefit - like a ski trip, or a new piece of equipment, repairs to a specific asset, or the creation of a specific program.
It might help organizations that are raising funds for general operations to turn the effort into a quantifiable goal.  “We need to keep Martha on Staff - Raise funds to save Martha!”  Perhaps this is a little dire, but you get the idea.

If your organization has experience with fundraising for general operations with success, please let us know in the comments.

Good Luck with your Efforts!

You probably know that CAFECOSA offers gourmet Tarrazu coffee, one of the finest coffees in the world, as the cornerstone of our fundraiser offering. What you may not know is that we also offer other products. One of which is Coffee Flower Honey.

What is that?

Well, Coffee Flower Honey is the honey that comes from bees that create their honey from the pollen of flowering coffee plants. The coffee doesn’t taste like coffee, but it does have a distinctive taste that is absolutely delicious. And it is a great complement to gourmet Tarrazu coffee as a fundraiser item. People can spread it on toast or even use it to sweeten their coffee. Whichever your customers choose it is definitely something new and different that they will appreciate.

We know that a lot of organizations would really like to be able offer flavored coffees. We’ve been relying on the wonderful natural flavor of Tarrazu coffee but WE HEAR YOU and we’ve done some research.

Of a long list of flavors that we’ve been offered we are currently sampling the following:
1. Bavarian Chocolate
2. French Vanilla
3. English Caramel
4. Hazelnut Creme
5. Mayan Cacao

I am personally excited about the Mayan Cacao because of the Central America connection and the reference to the Mayans, who I think should get much more praise on the world stage (Have you seen Apocalypto? Think what you will about Mel Gibson, but it definitely a thrill a minute!)

Let us know what you think of the flavors we’re sampling or if there is something that we’ve left out!

The company blog has been a little bit quiet for the past few days because we’re all in Costa Rica! It’s a big company get-together planning strategy, visiting the coffee coops and honey producers, and making plans for expansion with the roaster and employees. One thing we’re working on is the addition of flavors for our coffee. That is coming up in the next post.

Recently a woman approached us to do a fundraiser for a pre-school that had suffered a tragic flood. The carpeting, paint, and countless toys and books had to be replaced or redone. It was a truly desperate situation for the pre-school and the families affected.

The woman asked us to look over the flyer that she’d written up to notify people about the fundraiser and the kick-off meeting to start off the sales and we noticed something. She’d given a lot of information about the coffee. She wrote about the great taste, that is was Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance certified, and that it and our other products like the Coffee Flower Honey were great gift ideas. But, she missed something huge. The flood.

Our client missed the most important part of her fundraiser and the element that bonded the entire pre-school community - the reason for having the fundraiser in the first place: the pre-school needed help. The parents were all affected by the flood and they felt a sense of community spirit in being part of the effort to restore it. This is the message that should be communicated to the people you are counting on to help do the work in a fundraiser. The point of connection and the feeling of shared responsibility was the school - the coffee was merely a tool to help the school back on its feet.

So, when attempting to generate support for your fundraiser, don’t forget the reason why people will become participants - it’s not the coffee, it’s the thing that affects their lives; the common cause that you share with your community be it church, team, troop, or, of course, pre-school.

Different organizations have different needs - quick profits or less administration, no pre-payment or no pre-sales. You have to consider the strengths of your own organization when thinking about these issues.

The vast majority of our customers sell coffee, honey and plants through pre-sales and then order the products from us at the same time they get their own cut of the profits. It is a great option for organizations that don’t have the cash to purchase products up-front.

However, many customers choose to purchase products up-front and then offer them at large events or outside of a shop for direct purchase by customers. This can be very compelling for some customers who like to see and touch the product they are buying. It also cuts down on the administration necessary for the fundraiser since there is no money collection or distribution of products to participants before ultimate distribution to the customer.

So, pre-sales or pre-payment? One way or the other the option is open. You have to choose the one that is best for your organization.

I love girl scout cookies. I was walking out of the supermarket this weekend and saw a couple girl scouts at a table stacked with delicious cookies.

“Would you like some girl scout cookies?”

I wanted to say “5 boxes of Thin Mints to last me through the week - but no more!” But, I held my ground, smiled, and saved myself some grief on the scale.

The thing that almost had me running back, though, was that the cookies are a real treat. I love to get them and since they are only available sporadically it adds to the appeal (and perhaps to the tendency of people to hoard boxes).

That made me think about the ability to increase the appeal of gourmet coffee, or any product that you might be selling, by positioning it as a treat. It works for cookie dough, kettle corn, and, of course, Girl Scout Cookies. I think it could also work very well for Gourmet Costa Rican coffee!

You can offer customers a real TREAT - the rich taste of one of the world’s finest coffees - Tarrazu. Most Tarrazu beans are used in blends of other coffees to cover the taste of low quality beans. But with our beans you can have the full taste that is so rare.

Another treat? Coffee Flower Honey! See them both at www.CAFECOSA.com!

So, you’re the new fundraising chair. You might not love the fundraisers that you have traditionally done, but before you change them, think twice.

Any fundraiser that has brought in money in the past is a successful one. So, while you might be tired of cookie dough, you probably have people around you who have done it before and can help you along the way with logistics, collecting money, distributing the goods, etc.

Once you’ve got your feet wet, you’ve run a successful campaign and you have the respect of the group you are leading, that’s when you come in with a new and exciting idea.

If you rock the boat too soon, people will push back. But as an experienced veteran of the game, you will be able to rally the other participants to new heights.

We suggest coffee!

A lot of schools do multiple fundraisers each year and they need every penny. It is a good idea to mix it up and vary the fundraising efforts. If your school does an auction, perhaps adding a sales-oriented fundraiser can help. If your school already does a sales fundraiser then try throwing an event.

We believe that the key to successful fundraising is to look at it through the way that in enriches the community at large. Selling cookie-dough and then selling wrapping paper and then selling candy doesn’t do much to enrich the lives of the customer (the person who you are going to for money). It is a constant barrage of products.

The great thing about an auction or an event is not that you can raise money - it is the camaraderie and sense of shared mission that you bring to the group from whom you are trying to raise money.

You can remind people of the shared mission by creating custom labels on our Coffee. Not only does it satisfy a daily need for your customers, but by creating a custom label you can instill a daily reminder of their connection to your organization, be it a school, a cheering squad, a church group, or a sports team.

When people recognize their connection to your group, they are much more likely to help.

Need evidence of the great taste of Costa Rican Tarrazu Coffee? The upscale grocery store Trader Joe’s is singing the praises of the fine Costa Rican coffee in their quarterly newsletter the Fearless Flyer. About Tarrazu Coffee they say:

“The microclimates of Costa Rica are well known for contributing unique flavors to their coffee bean crops… Coffee beans grown at higher elevation, such as these, are known for their flavor complexities. And this coffee is no exception. This medium dark roast coffee yields a bright, well-balanced cup with a smooth finish.”

What they don’t mention are the chocolatey undertones of the coffee and the faint sweetness. These are most prominent in the highest grade bean, Tarrazu #1, that we purchase special directly from the local cooperative of which we are a member. Most Tarrazu in the US is sold as a blend of some #1 and the lower grade, less expensive grades. We stick with the #1 and the fundraisers hear the benefits as people ask “When are you going to sell coffee again?”

High class supermarkets are starting to pick up on the high quality of Tarrazu Coffee. Your organization can reap the benefits of this fine product as well.