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The Fundraising 15
The Association of Fundraising Distributors & Suppliers — the trade group of the fundraising industry — boasts more than 650 member companies. Candy suppliers. Gift-wrap purveyors. Candle distributors. Mom-and-pop, single-state sales reps. Multinational corporations. Dotcom wonders. Baby faces and grizzled old veterans. Together, they help schools raise nearly $2 billion each year.

Like any large group, the fundraising industry has its leaders and its followers. Some players are just a bit more “equal” than others. The actions of those few affect the actions of many, and they disproportionately affect the fundraising landscape for parent group leaders across the country. Keep an eye on the latest happenings with these companies and you’ll have a good feel for where the industry is heading in the short and the long term.

Who are they? And what are they up to? Here’s our completely unscientific look at those who make up our “Fundraising 15” — the 15 most influential companies in the fundraising world.
The Old Guard

Big, old companies with tested and true fundraising models, these are the ones that have been helping schools raise big bucks for decades. Candy, gift-wrap, gift catalogs, and magazines are the big four products of these Big 6 companies.

Hershey’s Fundraising, Hershey, Pennsylvania
When the town is named after the company, that’s a telltale sign that you’re dealing with a big shot. And Hershey’s is definitely a big shot. If you’re selling Hershey Bars or Krackels or Kit Kats, you’re working with a Hershey’s distributor.

Their candy is so popular that they can set prices for the entire industry. Hershey’s has “dollar” programs (good-sized, popular candy bars sold for exactly $1), so you can bet the other guys will, too.

Innisbrook Wraps Inc., Greensboro, North Carolina
Pre-holiday fundraisers are a staple for most school groups, and Innisbrook focuses on the holidays like no other fundraising company. Actually owned by a paper company (makes sense, right?), 20-year-old Innisbrook has spread its wings across the country and is — along with Sally Foster — the recognized leader in school gift-wrap.

The company seems to be dabbling with expansion (it purchased school supply fundraiser Schoolpack in recent past) but is treading carefully with anything outside of its holiday base. Like Hershey’s, Innisbrook’s pricing decisions affect its competitors and tens of thousands of schools.

QSP Inc., Pleasantville, New York
How could they not make the list, when they call themselves “The World Leader in Fundraising?” Always a giant in magazine sales fundraising, QSP seems poised to make even more noise in 2001 and beyond. A division of publishing behemoth Reader’s Digest, QSP recently purchased World’s Finest Chocolate (WFC likely would have made this list on its own merits just a year ago) and made a strategic investment in Schoolpop (see below).

The end result looks to be a big guy getting bigger and more influential. QSP sales reps now can offer school groups magazines, catalogs, and candy — and they can do it with the backing of a well-recognized name and marketing effort. The combined QSP-WFC reports to have helped schools raise more than $4 billion.

Cherrydale Farms, Allentown, Pennsylvania
The not-so-little family company that could, these folks have been at it for nearly a century, and they remain big players in the fundraising world. Cherrydale’s recent history has been spotted — the founding Cherry family sold to investors in the early 1990s and the company promptly hit bankruptcy — but, since the Cherrys reacquired Cherrydale Farms in 1999, the ship has been righted.

With hundreds of employees and sales reps across the country, Cherrydale helps tens of thousands of schools each year with its unique branded chocolate and a host of catalog and other products. In a chocolate field dominated by the large, multinational companies on this list, Cherrydale Farms keeps plugging along.

Kathryn Beich/Nestlé, Bloomington, Illinois
Kathryn McNulta Beich’s 1950 vision of selling her grandfather-in-law’s chocolate through schools and churches is today one of the largest fundraising operations in the country owned by the largest food company in the world.

Like Hershey’s with its name recognition, Nestlé products like Baby Ruth bars and Crunch and Butterfingers give Kathryn Beich instant recognition. And like Hershey’s and M&M/Mars, Kathryn Beich has the size and the products to affect pricing across the fundraising world.

M&M/Mars Fundraising, Hackettstown, New Jersey
M&Ms, Snickers, Skittles. In a nutshell (sorry, couldn’t resist), that’s why M&M/Mars makes any list of fundraising’s leaders. Its big name brands can tend to make your candy sale more successful, and -- with the M&M/Mars products carried by so many fundraising distributors across the country -- pricing and marketing decisions made by this candy giant reverberate throughout the fundraising world.
Book Fairs R Us

The classic book fair has been at staple at schools for decades. For most groups, it’s not a question of “if” we should have a book fair but more of “when?” or maybe “how many?” Because book fairs are so prevalent, the prices and policies of the few remaining companies play a large role in the success of parent group efforts.

Scholastic Book Fairs, Lake Mary, Florida
Talk about a giant — Scholastic Book Fairs seems to have gotten its appetite from its famous Big Red Dog, Clifford. Several acquisitions in recent years (including the outright purchase of competitor Pages Book Fairs) have left Scholastic as the unquestioned leader in book fairs with unmatched pricing power and influence in this very important segment of the fundraising world.

Dozens of regional offices, hundreds of employees, tens of thousands (80 percent-plus of the market) of book fairs held every year … Scholastic is positioned to dominate the book fair market for years to come.

Troll Book Fairs, Mahwah, New Jersey
Significantly smaller in size and reputation than archrival Scholastic, Troll’s influence comes from its role as Scholastic’s competition. Without Troll, Scholastic would have a near monopoly on book fairs — not a pleasant thought for school groups concerned about pricing and customer service. Because Troll is a viable option for groups across much of the country, Scholastic must compete.

And Troll still puts out a good product. According to Vice President Steve Underwood, Troll differentiates itself by offering books from a wide variety of publishing houses and by enhancing book fairs with a selection of nonbook products. Here’s hoping that Troll keeps up the good fight — in the end school groups will be the winners in a competitive marketplace.
Outside the Box

In the never-ending quest to do something, anything, different, these fundraising companies are leading the way.

Entertainment Fundraising, Troy, Michigan
Yes, they have Sally Foster Gift Wrap, and they’re a leader in the gift-wrap category, but EPI makes this list because of its coupon books, Entertainment, Values, and Gold C. No one else comes close to EPI in the coupon book category. And that category is surprisingly large.

According to Entertainment Vice President Karl Hawes, schools earned more than $60 million last year through Entertainment Fundraising. The company has more than 600 field sales reps across the country and prints more than 5 million coupon books each year.

Look for Entertainment (and Sally Foster) to lead in the development of online fundraising solutions in 2001.

Market Day, Itasca, Illinois
Trudi Temple’s 1973 trips from suburban Illinois to Chicago’s farmers markets and back have morphed quite well into a large and growing fundraising concern. In the early years, Temple’s neighbors would give her their shopping lists and she’d deliver the goodies. She transformed that into a fundraiser for her missionary work.

Today, the concept lives on, as Market Day delivers tractor-trailers full of unique frozen foods to more than 6,000 schools each month from 17 field offices in the eastern half of the country. Billed as “the nation’s first school fundraising food cooperative,” it’s a concept that allows school supporters to turn everyday shopping habits into school fundraising rewards.

National Scrip Center, Santa Rosa, California
This is quite possibly the quietest $100 million fundraiser ever developed. Where Market Day has been setting roots in the East, the National Scrip Center started in California and remains heavily weighted toward the West. One of the few fundraisers that can show $50,000-plus per school success stories on a regular basis, the scrip concept — with the NSC as the leader for the foreseeable future — is poised for major growth.

See our feature story for a more detailed look.

General Mills, Minneapolis, Minnesota
When General Mills jumped into the school fundraising game in the mid-’90s, a whole new level of sophistication arrived — national TV ads, glossy commercials in national consumer magazines, school fundraising messages on the backs of millions of cereal boxes. General Mills opened the floodgates for businesses connecting with schools. Earning a few trinkets in exchange for a year’s collecting became a thing of the past.

Efforts by Target and Tyson and Keebler owe much to the path blazed by Box Tops for Education. Schools are now raising thousands per year by collecting, where once the collecting earnings didn’t even merit a line item in the annual PTO budget.
The Web Frontier

Love it or hate it, every company — and every parent group — will be affected by Web fundraising in the coming years. These companies are leading the way on the Net.

Schoolpop Inc., Menlo Park, California
Only 3 years old, Schoolpop has received the most attention and grown the quickest in a very loud and fast-growing market. Schoolpop has managed to traverse the twin minefields of brutal competition (dozens of other “affiliate fundraisers” started at nearly the same time) and the current economic climate for Internet companies in general.

Schoolpop leads with aggressive program rollouts (off-line partnerships, the Schoolpop Shopping Buddy) and well-timed partnerships (QSP is a major investor). Want a good feel for the dotcom fundraising market? Keep an eye on Schoolpop.

eFundraising.com, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Unlike Schoolpop, these folks from up north are not creating a new type of fundraising but are instead taking traditional fundraising to the masses in a new way. You’ll find products from several of the “old guard” on their site, but you’ll likely never meet a sales representative. The promise is that with the Internet, eFundraising.com can provide excellent products and service at a better price, thus increasing your group’s fundraising earnings.

The company grew by more than 300 percent in 2000, according to Marketing Coordinator Steve Bernier. He says eFundraising.com’s commitment to technology makes all the difference. With every representative connected to a real-time customer information system, there’s no more wondering about the status of an order. Time will tell if technology can compete with the old-fashioned human touch.

Fundraising.com, Cedarburg, Wisconsin
Dick Raddatz’s group brings two unique qualities to the world of Internet fundraising: 1. a deep understanding of the needs of school groups (from Dick and Judy Raddatz’s two decades of traditional fundraising experience); and 2. a Web address to die for.

Dick grabbed that name in 1995, well before the Internet craze hit full stride. In just two years since going live with the site in 1999, his once-modest fundraising business has grown to more than 60 employees and his product line has expanded from lollipops to lollipops plus about everything else under the sun. Like its Internet counterparts on this list, Fundraising.com is one to watch if you want a good feel for the latest in Web fundraising.

There it is. From candy to canned goods. If you can’t keep your eye on 650 companies, use this Cliffs Notes version of the industry to keep track of things. The industry is bound to change — mergers, new trends, and new fundraising products will inevitably crop up — and the list is decidedly subjective (another dozen companies could most certainly make a case for inclusion), but for March 2001, it’s a start.

Info:
Entertainment Publications, based in Troy, Michigan, generates high value coupons and offers from 73,000 merchants representing 275,000 locations, including popular restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, travel services, theme parks, sports events, video rental, retailers and service companies. The coupon books created from this database include The Entertainment Book®, Entertainment® Values, and Gold C®. The company produces customized discount programs for Fortune 1000 companies. Entertainment Publications owns the product lines Sally Foster Gift Wrap®, Summer Vacation® and Restaurant Secrets®. In 1998, the company's products, including the sale of seven million coupon books, enabled over 67,000 North American charitable and school organizations to raise nearly $80 million in funds for their community and school activities. The company's products are distributed in over 140 markets in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico and in seven markets in Australia and New Zealand.

Fundraising Idea!
An online version of the Entertainment coupon books, where people will pay a face value or bid in an online auction. The funds will go to a non-profit.

Restaraunt.com -part2
http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,48935|3,00.html
"Lutwak and his team realized that if they delivered the certificates by e-mail and stuck to restaurants, they could run more efficiently than CitySpree -- and even, gasp, make money. After going back to investors, Restaurant.com bought CitySpree at a bankruptcy auction for less than $500,000 and refocused on selling gift certificates. Now, instead of being just another nondescript dining portal, it would have its own identity as the gift certificate power seller. Lutwak then brought his clients this proposal: Let us sell your certificates from our site on eBay (EBAY). Unlike placing certificates in newspaper inserts, this campaign won't take any cash from your pocket -- we will simply keep the proceeds from selling the certificates. (A $50-off certificate at New York City's Manhattan Grille, for example, recently auctioned for $16.) Everyone, in short, sees value: Diners eat cheap; restaurants get traffic with no out-of-pocket for marketing; and Restaurant.com gets paid by customers who know exactly what they're getting -- namely, $25 or $50 off a meal -- rather than by cash-strapped restaurateurs who continually need proof of return on investment.
Lutwak and his team relaunched in July 2001, and the concept took off. Revenues doubled in the first five months. Today the company sells about 75,000 gift certificates a month at an average of about $9 each. Lutwak says the company brought in $5 million in revenues last year, is growing 12 percent each quarter, and has been profitable since the third quarter of 2002. "

http://www.restaurant.com/
Maybe their model of gift certificates to restaraunts can be used as a fundraiser.
Business model may also be used with other products or services??

Fundraising Idea:
A non profit is having a photography session, where people will pay $30 for sitting by a photographer, the photographers are donating their services so all the money goes to the non profit org.

The Gill Foundation
http://www.gillfoundation.org/
Has lots of links and guides on fundraising.
It is an org that focuses mainly on GLBT issues, but lots of good info.

This blog will be an experiment in gaining knowledge on how non-profits are funded.
I hope to create a source where small and medium size non-profits can turn to for information and advice on the entire development process.
This includes grant writing, fund development, annual giving programs, and special events.