Why This Campaign Works

As the financial fortunes of African-American households continued to improve over the past five years, the daily habits of the black middle-class changed. In fact, it may be more accurate to say their habits intensified. In 2000, more than 4 million African-Americans went online for the first time, bringing the black online population in the U.S. to 8.1 million. In fact, African-Americans led online growth, jumping 44% in the past year*.

Additionally, African-Americans are reading more magazines. Between 2001 and '02, black consumers increased the dollars they spent for magazine subscriptions by 40%, while the general market dropped 6%**. During the same period, the average amount spent annually by African-Americans for newspapers and magazines edged past the amount spent by the general market for the first time in history.

These two unique trends give this campaign a great competitive edge for success in the African-American community. Help families in your area put their subscription money to a good cause-their local community group or school-AND help them save money with a 25% discount off the regular cover prices.

*Nielsen/NetRatings as quoted by Rueters, 2/23/2001
**Publishers Information Bureau

How it works

By pre-selling the OurPC Magazine, you can raise money without having to incur any financial risk for your school or group. The fundraiser allows you to have the magazines pre-sold before you order them. Once the money is turned in the student or participant will receive one initial copy of OurPC for each of their subscribers. The remaining issues will come by mail for the length of the paid subscription.

Benefit of selling this OurPC vs. Cookies or Pizza Kits

• Promotes Computer Literacy in the Community
• Helps Families further students computer learning at home
• A non-perishable product that won't need refrigeration
• Actual magazines samples available for promotion

How much will you make?

$5 for each 1 year subscription sold at $15 (25% off cover price)
$8 for each 2 year subscription sold at $25 (35% off cover price)
$10 for each 3 year subscription sold at $36 (40% off cover price)
$2 for selling a copy of An Introduction to Business for African-American Youth for $5 (50%off)

For anyone who subscribes to OurPC, gets a copy of
“An Introduction to Business for African-American Youth” for $5.

Tips on how to Organize A Successful Campaign

Planning your campaign:

Set Your Objective: The objective you set for your group should include a financial figure, as well as a tangible element. For example, a group must raise $2,000 to pay for Choir Robes as well as traveling costs to the Annual Choir Competition.

Set Your Deadline: Your campaign should run a maximum length of 1-2 weeks. Keeping the campaign short will keep your participants motivated and on track.

Who is Your Group: Knowing how many of your group members will be participating in the fundraiser is important, since it will help you organize a selling strategy. This will help determine how much geographic area will be covered by the participants, and the best time to solicit donations.

Get Your Group Motivated: It is important to maintain close and constant contact with your group’s members, and to motivate and encourage them consistently. Being a positive role model for the group is also important, not only in terms of how much money you raise, but also in terms of how much time and effort you put into your fundraiser to make it a success. Tallying and packing orders: It is a good idea to solicit volunteers in advance to help with these tasks. Appoint a chairperson to oversee and coordinate these activities. The chairperson and each participant should ALWAYS check and double-check orders for errors. Groups with 100 or more members and little volunteer help should consider taking advantage of our computerized tallying and pre-packing services. (Groups must have 100+ members to be eligible.)

Manage The Campaign:

Delivery: Once you have placed your order, allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.

Money collection: Members should collect money when they take the order. Also, it's easier for the campaign organizer to collect ONE check from each participant for the entire sum of money that participant collected rather than several checks.

Tallying and packing orders: It is a good idea to solicit volunteers in advance to help with these tasks. Appoint a chairperson to oversee and coordinate these activities. The chairperson and each participant should ALWAYS check and double-check orders for errors. Groups with 100 or more members and little volunteer help should consider taking advantage of our computerized tallying and pre-packing services. (Groups must have 100+ members to be eligible.)

Prizes:

Not all fundraising campaigns need additional incentives to motivate the participants. If a debate team needs to raise $85 per person to be able to participate in a tournament, the incentive is already there. With many campaigns, however, this is not the case. The following are some additional ideas intended to help get your participants motivated.

Individual completion prizes: Everyone who sells a pre-determined minimum amount receives a cash prize, movie tickets, or a Movie Gift Card for example.

Best seller prizes: Offer a prize to the individual who raises the most money, or sells the most units.

Draw prizes: Every participant who sells a pre-determined minimum amount is entered into a drawing for cash prizes or other merchandise.

Intangible prizes: These are often the most effective for the participants, and as a result, create the most incentive:

* For example, have your coaches agree to coach a game in a dress! Or a science teacher may have to take a pie in the face! Being creative in this aspect is important, and can help make your fundraiser a true success.

Before You Start

List as many potential donors as you can before you begin approaching people for support. Start with family and friends, then proceed to your neighbors, and other people whom you feel would be interested in your cause.

• Know why your group is holding the fundraiser, and communicate this to potential donors. For example, "Our group is raising money in order to finance our trip to the annual tournament."
• Smile, be polite and most importantly, be enthusiastic about your cause.
• If possible, always carry your fundraising products with you.

The Approach

The manner in which a potential donor is approached may determine whether or not a donation will be made. Try this simple but effective approach:

• Hello, my name is ____________, and I'm raising money for ___________.
• Would you like to support our group by purchasing ___________?
• Thank you for your generosity, and have a nice day.

How do we get Started?