This week is the final part of our series giving ideas for an evening fundraiser – a flip-flop fundraiser.
Now, depending on what you’re fundraising for, this idea may not work. The flip-flop fundraiser works best if you’re trying to raise money for a missions trip or are raising money to support an organization working with people in the developing world.
What’s the purpose of a flip-flop fundraiser?
There are usually two dual purposes of this fundraiser, although sometimes only the second option is the purpose:
- To raise money – Either to put towards the cost of a missions trip or to support a charity/organization
- To provide footwear – The flip-flops you sell can be taken on the mission trip or given to the charity/organization you’re supporting
Wait – you’re selling flip-flops but the buyers don’t get them?
Not quite. The way the flip-flop fundraiser works is by getting people to take part in a BOGO promotion. BOGO usually stands for Buy One Get One, but in this case it stands for Buy One Give One.
To support this fundraiser, people pay for two pairs of flip-flops. As the special BOGO explanation above suggests, they receive one pair of flip-flops and the second pair is donated.
How much should we sell the flip-flops for?
This will depend on a number of factors:
1) Whether you’re actually looking to raise money or just gather as many flip-flops as you can – If you’re only looking to get as many flip-flops as you can, sell them as cheaply as possible. If you can buy flip-flops for $2.50 a pair (often possible during the summer at Walmart or Old Navy), you could run the BOGO at $5 total.
If you’re wanting to also raise money at the same time, you could set the offer at $10. This means $5 will go towards the cost of buying the footwear, with the other $5 going towards your fundraising target
2) How much the flip-flops cost in the first place – As mentioned above, you can often buy flip-flops for $2.50 a pair. However, if they cost more or less than this, you’ll need to adjust how much you sell them for accordingly.
3) How much people would be willing to pay – In the first option, we suggested setting the offer at $10. Depending on who you’re selling to (or who’s attending your evening fundraiser), you may be able to set the price at $20 or even higher, raising even more money.
We just want to get as many flip-flops as possible – how can we maximize this?
As we mentioned above, one way is to set the price of the footwear as low as you can – this will hopefully encourage as many people as possible to participate in this flip-flop fundraiser.
An alternative is to provide different options on the number of flip-flops people are able to give. For example, if you do buy the flip-flops for $2.50, you could provide the following options:
- $5 – Buy One Give One
- $10 – Buy One Give Three
- $20 – Buy One Give Seven
Tips
- Keep receipts for any flip-flops you buy so that you can return any unsold flip-flops
- This fundraiser could be a good option if you want to organize a fundraiser where you give money away
- Buy flip-flops in different colors and sizes so that you have options for both sexes and all ages
If you’ve found this idea helpful, you might like our other youth group fundraising ideas.
Question: Have you ever run a flip-flop fundraiser? If so, do you have any additional tips? Let us know in the comments below.
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