Making the grade: how fund-raising companies are improving and fostering relations with schools, booster clubs, and parents.

Developing and maintaining a rapport with current and prospective clientele is essential and crucial to fund-raising companies, whom are all fighting for a piece of the multi-billion dollar business pie.

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"You have to develop the grassroots relationships with the schools and with the teams or whatever group you are looking to fund-raise with," said Pete Bryden, associate director for the ESPN Magazine Fundraising Program. "That's why so many mom and pop fund-raisers can survive--they know the local relationship. The more they can develop that relationship and cultivate it and talk with the local clubs, groups, and teams, the better it is for them."

With so many fund-raising choices available, companies are not only focusing on making the fund-raising experience profitable and enjoyable, they are going the extra mile to ensure that the total experience results in repeat business.

Success means different things to different fund-raising groups. But in the end, there are five essential elements for a group to return to a fund-raising company:

1. They met or exceeded their financial goal.

2. The fund-raiser was easy to administer.

3. They sold a high-quality product.

4. They dealt with a reputable company.

5. Customer satisfaction.

"Obviously every group would love to make the maximum amount of money as possible," Bryden said. "But I think they are pretty realistic about how much money they can make based on the goods that they have. On the fund-raising side, our job is to out-reach to them and help them implement their program. The more successful companies that do fund-raising need to reach out to their customers and ask them what do they need and how can they help them circle the wagons, if you will, and implement and run a successful venture."

"Results are always important, but how the word results is defined is different for each of our clients," said Carl Lombardi, Jr., president of Fieldhouse, Inc., an online, turnkey merchandising solution for schools and youth organizations. "Some clients define results as making money, while others appreciate the time saved and excellent customer service they receive. Regardless of the goals of a group, quality customer service is what will separate a company from its competition."

Today's companies, knowing full well that today's customer could be tomorrow's competition, are taking a more personal approach, with an emphasis on providing a hassle-free fund-raiser.

Dutch Mill Bulbs has been in the fund-raising business since 1960. Jeff Ellenberger, the company's president, came on board eight years ago. During that time, he has overseen a plan to ensure that Dutch Mill retains its niche as the specialists in the flower bulb market.

To that end, the company has fine-tuned and streamlined a number of things to gain efficiency. From introducing its Web site (www.dutchmillbulbs.com) eight years ago to implementing internal systems that allow the company to turn out orders quicker and meet customers delivery needs more efficiently to finding new suppliers in an effort to maintain its quality standards.

"There are many fund-raising companies out there," said Ellenberger. "We just try to position ourselves as a quality but yet, lower-priced product that's guaranteed. There's no risk. We're trying to offer groups a solution to the higher-priced products available. Everything we sell costs $5. We try and keep things simple.

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"A lot of people experience frustration when running a fund-raiser. We try and alleviate that by offering a simple program at minimal cost. If the flowers don't grow or bloom, no questions asked, we would replace them. We want to be the fall back, easy company for groups that tired of trying to sell the higher-priced items that often end up with disappointing results."

Green Bee Fundraising, formerly Marketing Concepts Company, is yet another company that is bent on providing a reasonably priced fund-raiser with sure-fire results. Best of all, it's easy to implement and run.

The company has introduced its Sports Sweepstakes ticket selling programs as a way to help booster clubs raise substantial money. Tickets are sold for $10 and the ticket holder gets a Football, March Mania, or Racing ticket good for prizes for up to 10 weeks. Results are posted on-line (www.greenbee.us) for all ticket holders to view and see if they are a winner each week. Green Bee claims profits are 60% to 65%.

The "Football Sweepstakes" is one of its most popular fund-raisers. Clubs sell tickets with three NFL teams each week for the last five, eight, or 10 weeks of the season and then award prizes based on high and low scores each week based on scores of these "three-team" combinations. The "March Mania Basketball Sweepstakes" is a fund-raiser based on the college basketball team entries in the tournament in March and April each year. The "Racing Sweepstakes" is a fund-raiser based on the scores each week of the NASCAR drivers.

"Our fund-raisers are not only exciting and repeatable from year to year, we've taken measures to help the booster clubs maximize their profits," said Jim Thomas, president of Green Bee Fundraising. "Traditional fund-raising programs are limited by their geographic location and manpower. Booster clubs often must rely on physical contact in order to raise the money they need. As a solution to this common fund-raising limitation, we've implemented an online ticket ordering system."

Green Bee provides each booster club with materials to advertise their fund-raisers (and the ability purchase a ticket online) throughout their communities. While ticket sellers can still sell tickets face-to-face, the company has added the possibility to purchase a ticket without ever coming in contact with a ticket seller.

Said Thomas: "Since the Internet has no borders, organizations are no longer limited by their geographic location. With online ticket buying, a ticket seller can call their friends and relatives on the other side of the country and quickly raise money for their cause."

Founded in 2003, Fieldhouse Store, the primary product of Fieldhouse, Inc. provides schools, teams, and leagues an online store where merchandise is sold that is branded to their organization.

According to the Bellevue, WA-based Company, this not only builds enthusiasm among fans, a portion of every item sold is returned to the organization. Now schools and other organizations do not have to stock thousands of dollars in inventory for their students and fans to wear their gear and support their school. Fans simply go online and choose from over 60 products (everything from hats and blankets to t-shirts, sweatshirts and jacket, including ladies' and youth sizes), customize the product by selecting from among different color and design options, and have their purchase shipped directly to their home.

"One of the biggest obstacles for Fieldhouse is differentiating our service from all of the other fund-raising options that are out there today," said Lombardi, Jr. "Most fund-raisers are very time-consuming and have a distinct beginning and end. Our online stores offer a perpetual fund-raiser that works 24/7/365. And, the time involved is much less than normal fund-raisers, as there is not any inventory to stock or minimum order requirement. Many people are still used to the traditional bulk order model where an order for 100 sweatshirts is placed and then the teacher / parents / students try to sell the sweatshirts and are often left with excess inventory after spending lots of time collecting checks, filling the orders and dealing with overall bookkeeping."

With Fieldhouse, you simply go online and purchase the item you would like, and the school receives up to 25% off the sale (their fund-raising percentage is their choice). The company offers an online bulk ordering system that is risk-free--the school does not directly pay Fieldhouse any money. Instead, when an item is sold online for a limited amount of time, the orders are grouped together, filled, and sent to the school to be distributed. Fieldhouse then sends the school a check for their profits, which are determined before the item is sold online.

"We are constantly upgrading our technology in order to better serve our clientele," Lombardi, Jr. said. "There are two relatively recent initiatives that have made an impact on our clients. The first is giving our clients online reporting which allows them to monitor sales on their Fieldhouse Store. This gives them a tool to gauge how well their promotional efforts are working. The second initiative gives clients the option of selling their own items on their Fieldhouse Store. This has been very popular as it is a huge time saver. The types of products that have been sold range from prom tickets, sports season passes, registration and PTA dinner tickets, to commuter mugs that were excess inventory from a previous bulk order."

Said Ellenberger: "We do everything we can to keep customers informed as to when their product is going to be shipped," said Ellenberger. "We double and triple check the orders when they come in and when they go out. If we do make a mistake--and we do, we're human--we correct it and try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

The old axiom that the customer is always right and must always come first certainly prevails in the highly competitive world of fund-raising.

"We all really need to go to back to the grassroots of customer service," said Bryden.