Sunday, February 10, 2008

Flea Market Fundraising

By Shauna Hanus


Fundraising is a necessary evil for most non-profit organizations such as churches and small ministries. With just a little bit of imagination the ways to fundraise are endless. Ideally you would receive gifts of sponsorship from your supporters and you would never have to fundraise again. But in the real world fundraising is part of life.

One great way to fundraise is to use the garage sale and flea market model and sell or re-sell items for your fundraiser. Your first step to a fundraiser is to gather together items to be sold at the fundraiser.

These items can be baked goods such a cookies and pies or any type of homemade treat. Other items can be found at local flea markets and garage sales. Often times you can pick up items for a great price and re-sell them for a small profit. Online auction or clearing house websites such as eBay and Overstock are also great ways to buy quality merchandise to sell at your fundraiser. When you are shopping online for bulk items watch for specials on shipping, often you can find no cost shipping or reduced shipping.

If your initial planning budget for your flea market fundraiser has ample funds you can order items like t-shirts, mugs and books with your church or non-profit organizations name and information printed on the it. Then you can sell these items as part of your fundraiser. You will find that these are great sellers for those people who actively support your cause and are wonderfully useful to those who are just learning about your mission.

One thing to keep in mind when holding a fundraiser is you will need to advertise. This can often be done with a very low or no cost expenditure. Local newspapers, radio stations and TV stations will often times advertise for your fundraiser as part of there press release program.
You can also go with the tried and true word of mouth. Tell everyone who is in any way involved in or interested in your non-profit organization that you will be having a fundraiser. Then have them tell one more person. Your fundraiser will surely be full of prospective buyers before you know it.

If you buy low, sell high and have fun your flea market fundraiser is sure to be a success.
Shauna Hanus of http://www.laetans.com builds and maintains fundraising websites for churches and small ministries. Shauna has years of experience building websites and internet marketing. For more information on how to get a free fundraising website for your church visit http://www.laetans.com

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