Holiday Fundraisers for PTO's, Sports Boosters, & the Arts

 The School Year is Here!

     School bells are starting to ring, the PTO budgets are being discussed, and sports boosters are kicking off fundraisers over the next few weeks at the start of another school year.  Fundraising programs happen to be the central theme of any school group supporting the arts, athletics, or enhanced academics.  Getting a new fundraising idea to sell to any one of these groups, however, takes a bit of novelty combined with a lot of planning and teamwork to reach an agreement.  Especially in light of school budgets being squeezed along with students' and parents' schedules being squeezed tightly as well, it's make-it or break-it with trying new fundraising programs.  One shining fundraising program stands out from the pack though for its beauty, nostalgia, and class.  

How Treasured Scenes Collectibles Become Effective School Fundraisers

Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

      No one can deny the apparent attraction they feel towards the Treasured Scenes fundraising ornaments at first glance.  Free display packaging keeps each ornament on view of your buyers while protecting the collectible from bumps or breakage.

     Surpassing the packaging, the hand-drawn details in each collectible's artwork make each Treasured Scenes fundraiser magical, as collectors who purchase them from your school organization see the feature subject image on the collectible in a whole new perspective.  Perhaps a historic building in your city is revealed in its original form shortly after it was built, or a person famous is featured for his or her contributions to your region, or a piece of art created by a student is used.  There are hundreds of ways the subject image you choose can make an ornament fundraiser, collectors plate fundraiser, afghan fundraiser, pillow fundraiser, collectors mug fundraiser, tote bag fundraiser, trivet fundraiser, or collectors coin fundraiser popular beyond your imagination. 

Marketing Support

     Keystone Specialties, the company behind Treasured Scenes, provides marketing support materials for each Treasured Scenes fundraiser.  After the artwork is designed and approved for your collectible fundraiser, a template email will be sent to your school group's contact person with several fundraiser marketing materials.  These materials include:

Media Release Template (For online/print newspapers and broadcast)

Promotional Flier Template (For printing and posting in permitted locations)

Inventory Control Sheet (For tracking inventory of collectibles sent to locations for retail) 

Pre-Order Sheet (To take orders before collectibles are delivered (Upon request))

Digital Image of Your Collectible (For inserting into your own email templates and print material)

Social Media Guide (For promoting your fundraiser on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.)

Free Fundraiser Support Examples

Retail Product Sourcing - Limited Edition Collectibles

     Coming from a retail management background, I've learned what customer's expect before making a purchase in a retail store.  Even if they're buying an inexpensive item, their purchase comes with a level of expectation.  Knowing these expectations for a product before purchasing a new product for a gift shop or other specialty store are quite important. 
     Consider how functional a collectible product is first.  Even if it is a collectible for display only, the function and design of the product create a single force that impulses the customer to purchase.  For example, although a collectible plate would not be used for fear of damaging its finish, its function as a plate is entirely replaced by its form and function as wall art or a tabletop display.  This is where form and function merge, as the design of the plate featuring colors, textures, and shape, become the force of its function as a display piece.  A collectible that doesn't provide high contrast, texture, or some other artistic value, will no longer hold its form and be considered a waste to the potential buyer.  Then the collectible will simply waste inventory dollars and retail display space until it is liquidated at a heavily discounted price.  The loss extends beyond the retailer's cost of the item, and affects the profitability per square foot, the most important point of success for a traditional retailer (versus online retail).
     So how does a retail store plan and design new products to fill the consumer demand while avoiding potential dud products?  This is where design and sourcing strategy are most important.  Having a strong working relationship with a product marketing company can provide insight on consumer demand for products based on the sourcing company's overall sales history.  Having a graphic designer who can make an imprinted product stand out among the other products on the shelves is also key.  This combination will make each new product that hits your store display cases another hit among many strong sellers.  When a product immediately sells as soon as it is available to customers in a store, that's a home run product, and sales numbers will benefit from its presence in the product mix.

Top Selling Collectibles for Retailers:

     What are some of the top selling collectibles that every gift retailer should consider?  To start with, glass ball ornaments are one of the most attractive items available for gift shops to carry.  With their full-color imprint on a select glass color, each ornament stands out like a work of art.  Better yet, each glass ball ornament automatically comes inside a break-resistant display box to catch the eye of the customer.  Another top-selling retail collectible is custom woven afghans.  These natural woven cotton blankets have many thread colors as a tapestry, or two colors as a 2-1/2 layer afghan for simplified design.  To boost the sales of afghans, complimentary pillows can be sold along with the woven blankets.  Another top seller for the collectibles market is custom designer mugs and glasses.  These can be etched with an image into the surface of the ceramic or glass, molded medallions can be attached to your selection of mug, screen printed images can be printed onto the drink ware, or even a photographic image can be permanently printed into a ceramic mug.  The design options are quite open for collectible mugs and glasses, so it's probably best to ask a promotional marketing firm which designs are most in demand.  Choosing one of these product categories as an addition to your gift shop should be a start towards positive sales growth. 
      
How to Start Sourcing New Products for Your Gift Shop:    

      First of all, browse custom collectibles on a reliable supplier's website for design ideas.  Look at your store's sales numbers for what are your strongest selling products, and which are the weakest.  Focus on moving the weakest products out of your inventory, but understand what makes those products weak sellers.  Is it quality issue?  Does the product appear dated?  Are there too many similar products in your store that the entire store's sales suffer?  Does your product selection appeal to not enough of your customers?
     After considering the new products you wish to add to your store's selection, choose a design feature that would be consistent with your gift shop's purpose.  For example, if your gift shop is specifically for military themed gifts, choose a design that will mean something important to the likely shoppers.  If your gift shop deals with history of a place or person, select images that convey that history well.  Whatever images you choose, it's important to then provide your product supplier with the images for the products selected.  A professional supplier will then provide conceptual design ideas for the images to be featured in style on the products you wish to add to your gift shop.  This takes the guesswork out of product sourcing, and provides your retail store with improved product selection and sales growth.   

Church Fundraising Ideas & Solutions

     There are a million ways to raise funds for a church, but not all of them enhance the reputation of the participating congregation.  Car washes?  Music download cards?  Yes, they are fundraisers with small immediate returns, but they don't necessarily spread the reputation of the congregation, or more importantly, the message, in a way people are not soon to forget after the fundraiser is over.  In a media-saturated world, things are very soon out of sight & out of mind.   

     To raise funds for your church & spread a positive message more permanently, a custom imprinted fundraising collectible - an physical item people can purchase - can help.  This can be accomplished through a collectors item that features a historical Bible scene, a modern scene demonstrating a Christian lifestyle, or simply inspirational messages from scriptures or spiritual leaders throughout history.  Here's an example of a stained glass window scene on a glass ornament featuring Jesus depicted as the Great Shepherd guiding his sheep:

Glass Ornament featuring a Stained Glass Window

    
    Another fundraising item churches use is a custom woven pillow.  This fundraising item also allows a colorful scene to be shown is detail to spread a positive message.

Custom Pillow Fundraiser

     How about a coffee mug?  There are hundreds of mug designs to choose from, and an everyday item like this sells well as a fundraiser.

Custom Mug Fundraiser

     There are hundreds of scenes any church or affiliated organization can use to spread a positive message while raising funds.  Best of all, each fundraiser will come with a digital promotional package to help your church group raise funds successfully.  Each step of the packet will outline what needs to be done before, during, and after closing your fundraising efforts for complete success!

     One way to start your new collectible fundraiser is to select an item that most interests you.  From custom coins to coffee mugs, afghans to collectors plates, anything is possible.  Simply choose an item, send your artwork or photo to us, and we will advise you the best way to meet your fundraising goals.  Even if you're not ready to select which item you want to raise funds with, answer a short fundraising questionnaire and we will send you the best ways for your church group to raise funds.

Ready to start? 

Find a fundraising item now!

Complete the Fundraising Questionnaire

Learn about No Risk Fundraisers

Fundraising for a Main Street Program (the National Trust for Historic Preservation Program)

There are literally millions of ways to fundraise for a Main Street Program, the program sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to preserve historical districts in cities across the United States.  How many of those fundraisers actually promote historical events, buildings, and people alone is an important question to ask when considering the fundraising options available. 

When a fundraiser promotes historical awareness on its own, not only should it raise funds effectively to preserve history, but it should also promote an appreciation of history.  What good is a fundraiser that only raises funds but leaves a historical group's purpose out of the equation? 

"How can a fundraiser promote history even if its not connected to a historical cause?", you may be asking.  It can do so by using historical subjects as its feature image on a collectible product.  Woven tapestries, afghans, collectors plates, mugs, and custom ornaments are just a few of the collectibles that preserve history.  For example, Norman Rockwell's art stayed relevant long after his death simply because collectibles featuring his art are still available today!  We may not own original sketches he created, but thousands of families own collectible plates with his colorful artwork on them.

In creating an unusual fundraising collectible for a main street program or historical group, it's a task to select an image that will sell well when its printed on the collectible.  In this case, having a graphic artist to help choose the image for the collectible can help, as can product consultants at Keystone Specialties, who create new collectibles for many main street programs to use as fundraisers each year.

Here's an link to see how an image your main street program or historical society sends us is transformed into a work of art for your fundraiser collectible:
http://www.keystonespecialties.com/treasuredscenes/art-process.html

As you can see from the progression shown, the end product's image represents the original photo well, but still provides a romantic view of the photo that may even seem more desirable than the original photograph.  That's the magic of product design.  If it's going to sell well, it has to look fantastic at first glance, and there's no better way to accomplish this than through Keystone Specialties' graphic design department. 

Read more about Main Street Fundraising Programs

Become familiar with Historical Society Fundriasing Ideas

Request a Treasured Scenes Catalog

Can Collectibles Preserve Our History?

     In their basic form, collectibles preserve only images of history, not the subject itself.  They may not be able to keep time standing still or prevent permanent the loss of culture, but they do provide a glimpse of earlier days each time we steal a glance at the beautiful scenes imprinted on them. 

     It is this unique benefit of a collectible that can preserve history by preserving our awareness of it.  While time marches on, bringing changes we want and some we may not want, a timeless collectible lets us glimpse back with fondness at a place and time we once loved. 

     Celebrating these historical icons, whether people, places, or events, is easier with something tangible that keeps the memory in front of us. 

     Whether a custom ceramic trivet, a custom printed stein, an custom Christmas ornament, or a framed picture, we look at the beauty of a collectible not for its function (it helps), but the rich story it holds in our hearts.

     Choosing a subject image to feature on a new collectible is the beginning of preserving history.  Many published books contain historical photographs of people, places, and events that left a legacy for a community, a region, or the entire world, and those images can be reproduced in a format that can be featured on any collectible you choose.  Once an image is chosen, a specific type of collectible can be elected to feature that image.  Some collectibles, such as custom glass ornaments, ceramic ornaments, and collectors mugs, allow full color images to be replicated with detail, while etched metal ornaments require some simplification of the design.  An image can also be replicated with detail on custom trivets and photographic imprinted metal ornaments. 

     The options for preserving history in collectibles really are quite broad, and its only our imagination that may need inspired.  With all the product options to help us preserve memories of people, places, and events that made the world we know today, it's easy to keep history close to our hearts. 

Learn how to fundraise for historical preservation!