Copyright (c) 2008 AIM Fundraising

The suggestions that follow may seem trivial but they work. It addresses the core reason why some schools do better than others even with all other factors being equal. It is easy when planning a new fundraiser to focus on the wrong things. Here are five of the right things to focus on.

Below you will find five things that a school or group can do that will greatly affect how much money is raised with their new fundraiser:

Step #1 – Profit Percentage Does Not Equal Profits.

A company offering 90% profit vs a company offering 20% profit is not necessarily a better deal for a school. One thing to keep in mind is that banks do not accept deposits of percentage. Every bank I know of accepts only money. Most schools look at profit percentage as the number one priority when choosing what they will pick for their next new fundraiser. What I am saying here does not mean profit percentage is not important, but it should not be the school’s first and only priority when choosing their next new and unique fundraiser. It should be the school’s number one goal to raise the maximum profit possible with the least amount of hassles!

Step #2 – The Product You Sell Does Make a Difference (But Not As Much As You Might Think) Coming up with the right product for your new fundraiser does make a difference, however, it is not the most important factor in having a successful fundraiser. You have probably seen this in your own neighborhood, how two schools decide to sell cookie dough and they both sell them at the same time and the same price. But the difference in their results (Profits) were HUGE! Because of this, you could come to the conclusion that it is not the product which made the difference. So what is it that makes the huge difference? Hint, see Step #5!

Step #3 – Time Your Fundraiser as Early In the School year as Possible

When you kickoff your fundraiser is a very important aspect of it’s success. It is an undiputed fact that the first school who’s sales brochure goes into an office or neighborhood has higher sales than the one that comes last. However, timing is not the #1 reason why schools have successful fundraisers. Hint, see Step #5!

Step #4- Pick a dynamic person to head up your new fundraiser!

The excitement for a fundraiser starts with the person at the top. The person organizing the new fundraiser sets the tone and the level of the excitement and affects participation in the sale. Yes, the fundraising sponsor’s attitude and enthusiasm have a very important role in the outcome of any new fundraiser.

Step #5- Program Management (How the fundraiser is run) is the Number One factor in it’s success.

Program Management is the most important element on having a Successful fundraiser. You may know that “How” the school fundraiser is run is critical to it’s success, but the main problem is not many fundraising companies train the fundraising sponsors on proper “Program Management.”

Following are several key elements on Program Management:

A) Setting Goals for the School

B) A Memorable Kick Off

C) Maintaining Excitement for the Duration of the Sale

D) Finding Helpful Volunteers

E) Motivating the Students/Sellers

F) Motivating the Teachers and Staff members to Promote the Sale.

To get the HIGHEST sales on a new fundraiser the students/sellers must be properly motivated. You can even go so far as to provide motivation for teacher/staff members too.

The main reason why one elementary will make $8,000 while another similar school will make $15,500, is the way they did their prizes/incentives for students and for their teachers!

We at AIM have a saying “Students could sell $5 bills for $10.00 and do real well if you motivate them good enough.” The most important part of your fundraiser will be to provide incentives that truly motivate your students and teachers to participate in your sale like they have never done before! A measly 15% increase in participation can very easily double the typical school fundraiser. Increasing participation by 15% is not a hard thing to do.

Renovating your house could be very satisfying. If you are creative and determined to have different plumbing fixtures you must take your time in the implementation of hardware that you select. To have the look you want in your house may be a challenge that can be overcome by picking the right items to display. A beautiful piece of hardware can change the look of any room. Finding that piece of hardware can be a daunting job.

It is significant to know what overall feel you really want to come out of your home. Hardware and other items should go well together. Understand that an antique piece will not match a contemporary house. Finding antique fixtures that will complement your home can be a little difficult but exciting at the same time. It is a great idea to make the grounds to different flea markets. You may be astonished to find several awesome pieces that can be used as plumbing hardware in your home. Most of the prices of these antiques plumbing fixtures are a bit high but as they may vary, you will be getting the best deal when you bargain with the sellers.

With regards to antique plumbing fixtures, such as bath tub, kitchen sinks, faucets among many other things, their installations must be done by the expert plumbers. These antique fixtures may come from different parts of the world and it probably taken so much effort to locate these antique plumbing fixtures. These antiques are all expensive and proper care in handling and installation must be required. For sure, you would not want them to be damaged while being installed. Thus, a skilled plumber should be the one to install such a treasured possession or you may end up feeling sorry for not hiring the services of a competent plumber to install such treasures. These antiques may be found in various home improvements stores. There are numerous variations and brands to select from. You must be aware if everything in your home complements all other pieces so that your house looks the best it can.

Verify with your supplier what is needed, for example, wrenches or pipes and fittings that would go along with your hardware. Going online for old hardware is not a great idea since it’s crucial that you ensure that sizes match.

Finding that impeccable fixture can create an entire impression in any room of your home. Just bear in mind that the antique plumbing fixture that you choose must be one that you really adore and that it will complement to the style and look of your home.

There is something special about chocolate. It is one of the things that each and everyone love to put in their mouths. The taste of a piece of chocolate brings us a little bit closer to heaven when the feelings of wellbeing flows throughout our bodies. Not only is it the taste and the smell that gives us this wonderful sensations, there are actually a lot of chemical factors that are adding to the happy vibration chocolate brings about.

A chocolate gift is so much more than the simple taste experience we normally think of it as. Already when you encounter the chocolate piece with your nose, when you smell its aroma, there are things happening in your body. Scientific studies have found that the theta brainwaves tend to increase when we smell chocolate. This brain activity is present when we are relaxing deeply or when we are asleep. That’s why the pure smell of cocoa can bring about such a relaxed and pleasant state of mind.

When you finally are indulging in that amazing piece of chocolate and have its creaminess melting on your tongue, there is even more brain activity that is being released. Chocolate has been found in researches to have the property to increase the levels of both serotonin and dopamine in the brain. Both of these neurotransmitters in the brain brings about feelings of happiness and well-being.

The substance in chocolate that triggers the brain to produce more of these neurotransmitters is called tryptophan. When the serotonin is being released it brings about feelings of joy, excitement, elation and in some cases even ecstasy. Another natural ingredient in chocolate that is also used in the brain as a neurotransmitter is phenylethylalamine. When it is being activated in the brain after eating a delicious chocolate gift you can experience feelings of happiness, attraction and a general positive mood.

Some people compare eating a box of chocolate with having sex, and the comparison is not too far apart since they bring about similar emotions in our being and scientifically the activation in the brain is alike in both cases. Why do you think the number one gift on Valentine’s Day is chocolate gifts? You could compare the feeling of being in love with having an unopened truffle box in front of you. Chocolate definitely brings about a romantic feeling.

So if you want to give a treat to someone that brings about joyous feelings and happiness, give a chocolate gift and you can spread those feelings to the people you hold dear and care about. A chocolate gift is always right.

Make your toddler’s first Halloween experiences memorable. Toddler Halloween costumes are available in a wide variety of styles. Your toddler can dress up as his or her favorite cartoon character or favorite movie star. Toddler costumes are available in traditional styles as well. Some of the toddler Halloween costumes that caught my eye this year are included here.

Bob-the-Builder is popular with toddler boys. The Bob-the-Builder costume includes a checkered shirt, overalls, hard hat, and a few tools to carry in his tool belt. This Halloween costume is adorable and doesn’t cover your child’s face so he will be able to enjoy all of his party games with friends without having to worry about losing his mask or getting his make-up messed up.

Harry Potter/Hermione costumes are another adorable idea for toddlers. The Hogwarts uniform includes a robe and neck tie. You can improve the costume with other accessories. Wands are a great addition to this basic toddler Halloween costume.

Ghosts are cute and fairly easy to create if you want to work on a home made costume with your toddler. A bed sheet or pillow case makes a great starting place but this costume can be made easily with a white sweat outfit and some face paint too. The sheet version can be made to cover the whole head and body making it difficult to tell your toddler apart from other kids or you can cut a whole for your toddler’s head and then have the sheet cover the body area only. This way you can tell your child from other children and still have a great costume.

Your toddler can be cute as a bug in a Lady Bug or Butterfly costume this year. These costumes can be home made or purchased all ready made. Other bugs are available as well. Brightly colored bug costumes usually go over really well with toddlers as they are fun to play with as well as pretty enough to keep your child’s attention and get your child excited about the holiday.

There are many other toddler Halloween costumes available this year. The possibilities are nearly limitless. Choose one your child is going to be able to wear while playing the games and enjoying a Halloween party as well as going trick-or-treating or whatever your family enjoys doing for Halloween.

There are a few things to keep in mind with toddler costumes. First you should make sure your toddler can go to the bathroom or at least be taken out of the costume quickly at potty time to avoid accidents. Another thing you want to remember is your child needs to be able to eat treats, walk, and play without being restricted. Being able to see your child’s face and tell your child from all of the other ghouls on Halloween is important. You don’t want to lose your child in the crowd either. If you can see your child’s face it is easier to keep track of your little monster.

Graduation, whether it’s from kindergarten, high school, college, medical or law school, is a significant and memorable accomplishment and one that should receive special recognition.
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The challenge for friends and family members of the “honoree” is finding a graduation gift idea that is unique, creative and personalized for the graduate.� With the wide variety of graduation gift ideas out there, finding a really special graduation gift can be a daunting task.�The following 4 “outside the cap and gown” graduation gift ideas will not only be memorable for the graduate, but are also unique, creative and even personalized!
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Creative Graduation Gift Idea: Scrapbook Keepsake
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Sure, you can take the easy route and buy a watch, jewelry, photo frame, etc. OR you can get really creative with your graduation gift and make it specific to your special graduate.� A scrapbook that has pictures from the highlights of the graduate’s years in school, his/her friends and all the fun events – collected in a scrapbook in chronological order – will be like a trip down memory lane and become a graduation keepsake of memories to enjoy for year to come!
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Homemade Graduation Gift Idea: Homemade Gift Basket
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Homemade doesn’t have to mean cheap or tacky! It can mean unique, practical, thoughtful and personalized. A great homemade graduation gift idea is a homemade gift basket filled with a variety of goodies specific and unique to your graduate. Homemade gift baskets are great because they can have a theme, be unique and you can mix and match the goodies. For example, for the high school graduate on his or her way to college, your homemade gift basket could have a “study night” theme and contain the graduate’s favorite snacks, energy bars, eye drops, coffee, tea or other favorite beverages. Whatever you decide for a homemade gift idea, it will be unique, memorable and personalized because it came from YOU!
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Personalized Graduation Gift Idea: Photo Guest Book
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The beauty of personalizing a graduation gift is that it will be a one-of-a-kind gift created especially for the graduate. With the Adesso Album Photo Guest Book, the graduation party is captured for your graduate in pictures and handwritten sentiments from family and friends in a great album that he can look at for years to come! These personalized keepsake albums are all the rage because they use “retro” Polaroid instant photos and truly become the life of any party as the photos are snapped and the Adesso Album Instant Photo Guest Book is being passed around!
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Unique Graduation Gift Idea: Put Your Graduate on a Magazine Cover
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For a truly fun and unique gift idea, put the graduate’s photo on a magazine cover and “publicly” acknowledge him or her for their accomplishment and achievement. It’s a unique way to add completely personalized information to a gift that will set it apart from everything else. There are website services out there that will actually create a professionally printed, full-color, personalized magazine cover for you. A magazine cover of the honored graduate can be used as a unique graduation gift idea or as a graduation party favor!

Unique gifts, like naming a star after her, magic makeovers, and personalized items make a woman feel special. These types of gifts are perfect for any occasion and will always be remembered.

The most matchless gift is perhaps gifting her a real star of her own! StarWishing.com has more than ten thousand stars to choose from. You may select a sector and direction in the sky and choose a star for her from there, to be named after her. Along with this, she gets a deed proving her ownership of the star, a star map to point out the location of her star, and a booklet containing information on her star. All this for under $50! The star will be catalogued using her name in subsequent astronomical gazettes.

For those less “starry eyed”, but nonetheless caring, there are many options available. Makeovers, for one, are exclusive gifts, since each makeover is done keeping in mind the qualities of a certain woman. Women can buy makeover coupons on several websites and give them to their mother, sister, or friends. But boyfriends and husbands, please remember, she may not appreciate any gift from you that hints she might need to change the way she looks!

A very suitable gift for all occasions, and all women, are real newspapers from the day they were born, or from the day of their wedding, or any other important day in their life. Websites like Surprise.com have many such gifts to choose from, all you need to do is visit the site and select a gift, and they will ship it to you for a nominal charge.

TheCherryMillShop.com, for example, has many inexpensive, whimsical items that will make her smile. Coke-crate shaped radio clocks, candy-dish shaped phones, and revolving musical merry-go-rounds are just a few of the numerous products they offer. This site retails such items at very reasonable prices.

Personalizing gifts also provides that special touch needed to show a woman that you care. Surprise.com has photo albums that can be personalized by engraving her name on it. Similarly, towels and blankets embroidered with her initials are another way of making her feel special.

A one of a kind gift has novelty and it conveys to a woman the message that she is unique. It makes her feel special, and shows that someone has put in a lot of effort to choose a gift that suits her and is meant just for her.

Stumped this holiday season for what to give that “person with everything?” One category of gift that can be found in almost every price range is a genuine antique map or print. Presented framed or matted, or simply “as is,” an antique map or print is a gift that can be tailored for any individual on your list, and it’s a gift that will stand out for its thoughtfulness and uniqueness.

Sound expensive? Well, it can be of course, but you may be surprised to learn that antique prints of all kinds can be quite affordable, sometimes starting as low as $25. And yes, they are still the “real thing” – antique, printed works of art on paper, usually hand-colored at the time of publication, and generally more than 100 years old.

The collecting of antique maps and prints is an old pursuit, and one that has been practiced for centuries. This is one of the reasons why there is a well-established worldwide market. Most antique maps and prints on the market today began life as a page in a book – perhaps an atlas, or a book of botanical prints, or a natural history book. But don’t be put off by the fact that these prints (plates, as they are known in collecting circles) are derived from books. Antique books are very different from the books of today. The pages were printed by a less automated method, sometimes even on a hand-operated press. Illustrated pages (the prints we collect today) were printed separately from the text pages, and, if color was needed, each page was individually hand-colored. These very small print runs were then collated and bound into books, often with a beautiful leather binding. Over the centuries, books were broken apart, and the prints have been circulated ever since. In terms of origin, there is no substantive difference between a large, genuine Audubon print selling for tens of thousands of dollars and a fifty dollar antique print from a lesser known bird book.

The most compelling reason for considering an antique map or antique print as a gift is that it can truly be personalized for just about anyone on your list. First, it’s obvious that everyone is from somewhere, which means that an antique map of a hometown or country is always a fascinating gift for the recipient. For the United States, it is almost always possible to find a mid-19th century state map, and frequently, town and regional maps as well. If you are looking for an antique map from overseas, choices abound, with country and regional maps from every part of the world (or the known world, depending on the year of publication) and from all time periods.

Antique maps of the home town or “the old country” are just the beginning when it comes to personalizing a gift. Different genres of maps appeal to different people – for example, antique harbor charts or sea charts for the sailors on your list, antique geological maps for rock collectors, antique island maps for travelers, and so on. Turning to antique prints, another world opens up. Antique botanical prints – often with gorgeous hand coloring – are perfect for gardeners and plant lovers; antique exploration prints for outdoor enthusiasts, antique historical prints, antique fashion prints, antique architectural prints, antique racehorse prints, culinary prints, butterfly prints, nautical prints, sporting prints, even shimmering, illuminated manuscript pages, and much more, are all available. The list, in effect, is almost endless. It is difficult to conceive of the person who, when presented with an antique print that reflects their special interest, could fail to be gratified and made to feel a little more special.

Be creative about your gift list. When choosing an antique map, hometowns and states are the most popular, but also consider college towns, honeymoon spots, favorite vacation places, and so forth. If you’re considering a print, then just think about your recipient’s favorite hobby, food, sport, avocation, or other pastime. It is guaranteed that over the centuries, other people have enjoyed the same things, and the perfect, hand-colored print will be out there.

Where to find antique maps and prints and what to look for? Without question, the internet has revolutionized this field, which for centuries was conducted in dusty old bookshops, antique stores, and by dealer catalog. Dealers abound on the internet, and search engines such as Google or Yahoo. will allow you to access hundreds of antique map and print websites. Begin by visiting a variety of dealer sites. A site such as VintageMaps.com, an internet-based antique map and print dealer since 1997, will give you a feel for the type of material available. When visiting sites, you should feel free to contact the dealer and ask questions about maps or prints that interest you. Make sure that the dealer will provide a signed statement of authenticity, and that the condition of the print is at least “very good.” A “money-back” guarantee of satisfaction is also usual practice among reputable dealers. If you are considering buying in an online auction, you need to be very careful. You can’t be sure that the seller is providing accurate information, and there is no question of returning an item if it’s not satisfactory. When it comes to buying from an online auction, it’s “buyer beware.”

If you plan to frame an antique print as a gift, the work is best done by a local framer whom you trust. Ordering your framing job over the internet is usually not a good choice – the appearance of the frame and the quality of materials are hard to judge on a screen. So leave an extra three weeks for the framing work. Finally, remember that the more specific the requirements you demand of an antique map or print, the earlier you will want to begin searching for it. Dealers are at their busiest around holiday times, so start your shopping early. Happy hunting.