Christmas Sales
The Christmas season is a wonderful time of the year to have a Christian fund raiser for mission events. Whether your church is planning a mission trip during the upcoming year, or if you are supporting an overseas missionary as part of your outreach program, holding a fund raiser during this time of the year is a great idea.
There are a variety of items that you can sell as a fund raiser during the Christmas season. Many places produce annual calendars for the next year that you can sell at Christmas time. Other companies make books, Christmas cards, and even personal gift items such as book marks, hats, etc. Because it is the season for giving, people are much more open to supporting a fund raising sales event during this time.
To get started with a yuletide mission fund raiser you will first want to identify what type of product you want to sell. Although there are quite a few more than were listed in the previous paragraph, it is recommended that you limit your selection to no more than two types of items. This will help in the long run, as your sales volunteers won’t have to fret with too big of a selection to show potential donors to your cause.
Once you’ve decided this, you will need to set up an account with the company producing the merchandise. Usually this isn’t too hard, but be aware that these companies will require you to purchase in bulk. That means in order to get the best discount, you will want to buy 1,000 calendars (or whatever you’re selling) vs. 100. Price breaks are usually found in several increments, with better pricing per piece based on the higher quantity of pieces that you purchase.
Usually the company will supply a catalog, with ‘suggested’ retail pricing listed. These prices will usually give you a good profit margin, allowing you to recoup your initial investment you made to purchase the items, and the difference can go towards your mission fund raising project. Ideally, you will need some money to get started in this type of fund raiser, but it definitely has a high impact advantage, especially during the Christmas season, when people are in the mood for giving.
One way to maximize your profits is to package the deal with extra services. You can always ask your fund raising volunteers to help mow someone’s lawn, paint a house, wash a car, etc. These types of services could be bundled with the products for an additional cost. A coupon would then be provided to the customer, to be redeemed within a specified period of time, for the specific service. People are always looking for a good deal, and sometimes a good Samaritan to help carry it out.