Fundraising ideas and proven fundraisers FREE

Make Your Own

Treats To Sell

For this fundraiser, you are going to

make your own GORP. "Gorp", as

all hikers know, is a name for the snack that they eat along any hike to keep their energy up.

Gorp usually has an interesting assortment of non-melting items such as nuts, raisins, dates, banana chips, etc. They are usually packed in resealable storage or sandwich bags for ease of use when hiking.

Make And Sell

Now you can get your group to make packets of Gorp and sell them in the community. It is suggested that you make the entire packaging look as professional as possible.

When designing your packaging, do not use colors or markers. Instead use a color printer and a publishing software program for eye-attracting labels.

This is a great fundraiser for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, 4-H Clubs, and Campfire Girls. It is also a good fundraiser for any environmental group, high-adventure group, College Botany Club, College Biology Club, College Agriculture Club or other similar group.

Make sure to create "test batches" of all the varieties you want to sell, take pictures of each variety and then create a sales form using WordPerfect, Microsoft Word or a desktop publishing program.

This will allow you to show pictures of the items as your group goes out and sells the items. Keep the number of items fewer than six products for your first year.

With your newly created sales form, go out and get orders for your products. That way, you will know exactly the right amount of ingredients for each variety that you need to create. This will keep your group from unnecessarily overbuying the foods to make each Gorp mix.

Be sure to prepare for extra orders that will come in as you deliver the products. Upon delivery, ask the customer if they want to try any of the other varieties that you have on hand. Have extra packets on hand to sell on the spot.

You will get a few more sales using this technique. You may want to make 20% more Gorp items over what you had planned from the original orders taken.

Set Up Your Committee

Certain responsibilities should include:

1.Buyer Someone to buy the various products at the cheapest cost while not diminishing quality.

2.Graphics This person should design the order form, advertisement flyers, and packaging label. They should then get these printed either commercially or on their own computer. Great colorful graphics are the key to increased sales.

3.Selection Committee This group should decide on the types and variety of Gorp to offer for sale (find ideas under "Granola" in natural cookbooks. Keep in mind that you should not get too many bizarre tastes since you want to sell to the largest group of customers possible. Make sure to test the various combinations out, take pictures and then get the pictures to the Graphics person.

Here are some interesting tastes that you might offer:

Tropical (Dried Pineapple, coconut, almonds, honey and banana chips)

Toasted oats (honey and oatmeal chunks cooked, and peanut pieces)

Nuts Galore (raisins, peanuts, walnuts, pecans and sunflower seeds mixed and cooked with honey)

Include other known treats like carob chips, dates, various nuts, white raisins, and anything that is dried or dehydrated.

4.Packager This person will prepare all sealable bags and packaging labels, recruit volunteer packagers, and set the equipment up for all volunteer packagers to get together one day and package all of the products. Remember to recruit cooks and mixers as a part of this team.

Packaging

Buy strong, sturdy, resealable sandwich bags. Stuff these bags with your label (Product Name, ingredients, and information about your group (phone #, website, e-mail and how to order more including times of the year that sales will occur)). Include an address for donations to be sent in.

Then count out the number of bags needed and fill with the ingredients needed. Buy more than you need for people wanting to reorder within your sales period.

Do you want to use vacuum packs instead of baggies?

Here are a few to look at.

Grey Professional II Food Vacuum Sealer Kit by FoodSaver

White Vac 1050 Vacuum Sealer by FoodSaver

White Vac 550 Food Vacuum Sealer Kit by FoodSaver

If any Gorp recipes require cooking, remember to allow them to cool thoroughly. If you don't, you will have moisture build up inside the bags after they are sealed.

Set your prices relatively low. $2.00 to $2.99 are reasonable prices for small sandwich bags or $6.99 for larger sizes if you offer them.

This fundraising project will be fun and delicious. The trick is to actively go out and sell, sell, sell.