Fundraiser Nights... what % do you give back?

[Integraoligist]

Looking to start doing Fundraising for schools, clubs and so on. We already have a few places interested in doing this, the usual fundraising around here are…
Done on the slowest night(s) and ran for about 2-3 hours. Anyone that comes in and mentions it’s for the Fundraiser we mark and add that to the fundraising collection amount.

But everyone’s % is different, obviously if you ask the people you are doing the Fundraising for they tell you a higher % then the actual businesses do. i.e. I talked to one guy and he said Jimmy Johns did 25% back, where in reality I seen their little flyer and it said 10% sooooooooooooooo yeah, lol

Anyway, what kind of % do you guys do and does your usually last just a couple of hours or an all day event?

BTW, this is for our new Sandwich Shop not our Pizza Shop so our food costs run much higher, around 30-33%

Thanks all!

 

[flippinhonda]

If you are paying for the flyers 10% is fine…

If you are not then 15%

Anything more your better off putting out coupons.

make sure they must mention the fundraiser to get credit…

 

[royster13]

Some of my clients go up to 20%…The % you give will depend on the demographics of the clients you reach…If you get lots of new clients, a higher number may still pay off in the long run if you factor in the lifetime value of the new clients gained…

 

[314]

For years and years I had done $2 per order and also awarded the winning class with a 5 large pizza party. Participation had gotten really low and since we are a Delco I decided to change it to 20% (pretax and delcharge) and that seemed to kick start it once again.

Measuring the $ I am donating it is not that much more than my best ones at the old way.

 

[Deacon_V]

We might be a bit different since we’re a full menu place, not just pizza oriented grub. We’ve had HUGE success in simply doing a Charity Night where your group, aided by a couple of our regular servers, do all the tables. The Charity “works” for tips, which as you may imagine can get quite exaggerated. We had one group that pulled in over $6000 between their “tips” and the different raffles etc. they had organized. Our take was the amazing cash drawer on an otherwise sedate “school night” and the golden opportunity to introduce our place to folks who may have not had the chance to stop in yet. One of the regional chains in town uses 20% of all dine in food sales only, not including deserts, sandwiches, and maybe a few other catagories. Frankly, I’ve never figured out why they limit but hey, that’s them.

 

[Integraoligist]

Being a Fast Food style facility…
I like the idea of 10/15% depending on the flyers idea…
I also like the idea of 20% because probably 99% of them will be New customers (as we only opened the sandwich shop 3 months ago).

How many of the organizations usually do their own flyers? And if I had to make the flyers myself, would I just give them to the people and assume the’ll pass them out or will those people be lazy and just halfa$$ the whole thing?

I read a few years back that the % idea is the way to go and the best option would be to not give them a choice, have them make the flyers and spread the word so that there is no initial cost coming out of our budget if it does not fly. Actually i think I read that in the PMQ mag. lol.

 

[flippinhonda]

If they dont hand out flyers, and no one shows up they do not get much of a return…

Thats why basing the return on people that come and say “im here for so and so charity” works best for us.

We have regulars that dont wanna be bothered and just come to eat, I kinda think the charity’s job is to bring in new customers. in the grand scheme of it all thats the purpose.

All my Charities make their own flyers. and we give them 10%.

 

[Tomatopieguy]

We do a straight 10% on all sales for the day. usually a slower day of the week. It is sort of a win/win. The organization makes money, and we introduce ourselves to new customers. Plus I like giving back.