List Price: $14.95
Discounted Price: $11.57
Gift Certificates are available when you check out
Charity Cheesecake Calendar
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Potential Revenues: |
$$$$ |
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Revenue Source: |
Sale of Calendars |
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Advertising: |
Social media, press releases, flyers, posters, advertising cards or door hangers; all communications, websites, and similar outlets |
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Equipment/Supplies: |
Photographic equipment and access to the internet; photo release forms |
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Partners: |
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Volunteers Needed: |
Volunteers to organize the event and to sell the calendars |
How it Works:
As you can tell from the video clip, these calendars can be quite unusual, such as getting 99 naked women to spell out “autism” while an aerial photograph from a helicopter was taken. Calendars can run the gambit from photographs of homeless children and abandoned pets, to the creativity of the mom in the video whose child suffers from Autism.
The calendar can be even “less worldly” in its scope, such as a college sports team or the participants in a bachelor auction. All of this has become fairly simple to do with today’s technology. Telephones now come with built-in 3 megapixel or higher cameras, and you can take the photos to your local CVS or Walgreens drugstore to have the calendars made up in rather quick order. There are also several services like www.Snapfish.com, www.Lulu.com, www.Shutterfly.com, as well as professional print houses that can help you with large quantities.
Doing a quick check with the author’s print supplier, a run of 20,000 calendars where quoted at under $16,000 for a 4-color, 24-page version. That’s around $.80 each. So selling them at $10 each would produce $184,000 before advertising expenses. Put the calendars on www.Amazon.com or on www.eBay.com during the height of the retail season – October through December – and with a subject of broad enough appeal, and you may just have a hit on your hands.
Ideas to Consider:
As you go through this publication you will discover that you have many opportunities to create low-cost marketing channels through MissionFish and eBay Giving Works. These are excellent places sell items like a calendar.
Don’t underestimate the value of a sponsorship to get you started. For around $2500, you can get 1000 calendars at most large printing suppliers, which means that your unit cost is still around $2.50 each. If you can get a sponsor to provide you with the $2500 in exchange for their name appearing on each calendar, then you still have a $10,000 fundraiser for your group at the $10 sales price. It would also be less of an intensive marketing effort to sell that many calendars. Secure a location in front of a well-trafficked mall or grocery store entrance, and your sales time may only take a few weekends. In fact, if it was a bank that sponsored you, perhaps you can arrange to set up inside the local branches to help you get the calendars sold. For the bank, it’s an example of their commitment to the local community. And don’t underestimate selling the calendars door-to-door.
Be creative with your base idea for the calendar, like you saw in the video. Perhaps you can use photos of celebrities who support your cause to entice sales, or maybe it photos from one of your events like the Pet Parade shown later in this book. Google “Top-Selling Calendars” to get some ideas.
Questions? Info@FundraisingAlmanac.com