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!

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.

For everyone who really wants to do a fundraiser but wants flavored coffees - We’re Sorry! We don’t have them. Not yet at least. Why not? Cost of equipment.

We’re a pretty small company in the mountains of Costa Rica. The company mission is to try and create local jobs in our area so families aren’t forced to split up as they seek work elsewhere. We have a roaster, but we can’t use it for flavored coffee because once you put the flavoring in a roaster it is difficult to clean - all of the coffee comes out tasting like one flavor or another. So, before we can produce flavored coffee we need another roaster. Maybe next year!

In the meantime we have an idea! Instead of offering flavored coffees you could offer them flavored coffeemate to be delivered with the coffee. You can buy it in bulk from Sam’s Club or Costco and sell it for a profit. It’s one more product that you can offer potential customers to round out their order.

If nothing else you’ve still got rich, delicious coffee with chocolate overtones and a clean finish. A wonderful flavor in itself!

Are you struggling to convince parents to devote time and energy to your fundraising activities? It is a problem that many organizations have. So many parents have been burned by getting involved - they agree to help out and they then find an endless stream of meetings that extend of over weeks and weeks. The easiest way out for a parent - do nothing.

PTO Today has a great idea to overcome the hurdle. It is a program called 2-Hour Power. It helps organizers bring in a larger group of parents by encouraging, and even celebrating, small contributions!

To learn more about 2-Hour Power click here.

Often people with small fundraising groups think that they don’t have enough manpower to raise significant funds. Well, we’ve found that small groups have a big advantage - the ability to organize! When the whole group feels invested in the mission and the team works together with a plan they can do BIG things.

Not only is it easier to communicate with a small group but the members of the group often feel a much greater responsibility to the cause. Setting goals and keeping track of progress can spur people to act AND can increase the fun of the program.

Got 5 - 10 people? Get together with a couple pizzas and your cell phones and call down a list of friends (or parents friends). See who can sell the most in 60 minutes. A few sessions like that and you can surpass your fundraising goals. Keep track, make it fun!

Do you have success stories about how your small groups have turned big profits? Leave a comment!