1. Product

For the past 33 years I have been closely working with growers in California and Texas to source the most delicious citrus of the season. You won’t find better tasting fruit anywhere.

Navel Oranges from California

20lb Christmas Gift Box
Either size 88 or 113 (size dependent on price and availability)
Quantity per Box: 44 or 48 oranges respectively

Rio Star Grapefruit from Texas

20lb Christmas Gift Box
Size: Either 40, 48, or 56 (size dependent on price and availability)
Quantity per Box: 20, 24, or 28 respectively

2. Sales & Marketing Material

Prospective Customer Sheet

Get your kids thinking about who they are going to sell to by asking them to fill out sheet and review with you before they start selling.

Extra Credit: Have kids turn in Prospective Customer Sheet along with Order Form and cross check to see if they sold to everyone on their list.

Sales Flyer

Once you register your group I will mail Sales Flyers to you.
Be sure to complete the Number of Kids section correctly when you register your group.

Sign-Up Sheet

Edit form with your groups information, print, and distribute to your kids.

Editable PDF form work with Adobe Reader 9.0 and newer versions.

Download the most recent version of Adobe Reader here: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html

How to Edit PDF:
1. Save the PDF file to your computer
2. Open the PDF file in Adobe Reader
3. Click in the text area
4. Type text
5. Click outside the text box
6. Save PDF to computer

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Prospective Customer Sheet
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Sales Flyer
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Order Form

4. Fundraising Tips

If you don’t put time and energy into your fundraiser you will not see the results you want.

Successful fundraising takes preparation and persistence.

These ideas come from some of my most successful groups over the past 32 years.

Advertise:

Before you start your fundraiser get the local media involved: newspaper, radio, and TV.

Post on school news-boards, announce at church or town events.

You want to get as much exposure as possible.

Goals & Incentives:

If you don’t set targets and make participation mandatory you are setting your fundraiser up for failure.

Set individual goals for kids based on group goal. This goal should be reachable yet challenging.

Make a bet with your kids. It doesn’t have to be anything wild or expensive. If collectively the group reaches its goal leader shaves head or hosts pizza party.

Many groups set aside a few hundred dollars to give back to the kids in the form of prizes. This keeps the spirit and morale high for the students and lets them get something out of the fundraiser.

Master the Elevator Pitch

My name is [name] and I am with [organization]. We are selling 20lb gift box of California Navel Oranges or Texas Rio Star Grapefruit for [price] each to raise money for [trip, equipment, etc.]. This comes out to $x.xx a pound which is in the ball park with what you pay at the grocery store. You can’t find this size or quality in the stores right now. Should I put you down for 1 box of each?

Know Your Product(s):

# of oranges in gift box?
# of grapefruit in gift box?
Price per pound?
What does your competition (grocery store) sell theirs for?
Delivery dates?
Make checks payable to (your group)?

Schedule Group Outings or Blitz Sales:

Early evening or weekends work best.
Set individual quotas and a group goal before sending kids out. Make these targets reachable yet challenging.
Ask kids to wear hats, t-shirts, uniforms, or anything that identifies them with their group.
Map out community and divide into sections (pitchers, outfielders, sopranos, tenors, etc.)
Send kids out in groups of 4 to cover 5 streets for no more than 2 hours at a time. NEVER SEND KIDS OUT ALONE.
Meet up afterwords for pizza and review sales orders collected that day.

Don’t Wait to Collect $$$:

Collect monies and sign-up sheets at least once a week, and preferably twice a week from kids. You will have better control of the money, and things don’t get lost. You will also know where you stand on reaching your goals.

Hit Businesses Hard:

Businesses will most likely buy more than one carton.

Organization leaders can call on the big money businesses; ones that always support your programs.

On a large purchase (10 or more) drop the price a dollar or two, but only if you must.

My dad always told me, Never turn down a profit.

Click here to place your order

Be sure to complete information accurately.

You will receive an email/text from me shortly after placing your order confirming my receipt.

Order 1% to 3% over your total number of boxes sold. Use these to replace any bad fruit, and to sell to people that were not contacted to order.

Bad fruit averages from 0% to 1/2%. If you have more than this let me know. I always make good on your losses.

Your Drop:

There are usually multiple drops on each truckload. I will keep you informed as to the whereabouts and approximate delivery time at your school.

Sometimes trucks run off schedule or get behind. Please be patient. I will handle things and communicate with you every step of the way.

Plan Ahead:

Plan to have 10 or more kids on hand day of delivery to unload truck.

Depending on how far boxes have to be packed 10 to 15 kids can unload 400 to 500 boxes of fruit in 30 minutes.

A chain gang works well moving fruit from truck to your storage area. Just line kids up from truck to storage area and pass boxes down the line.

If a parent works at a business that has a loading dock and a fork lift see if you can load there and bring the kids over to pick up their fruit at the business after school.

Citrus Care Instructions:

Make copies of Citrus Care Instructions, cut out (3 per page), and have on hand to stick in each box.

Box Count:

When fruit arrives truck driver will show you what is to be taken off the truck.

Group leader and truck driver need to be on site to count each box as it is taken off the truck.

It doesn’t hurt to count order again once you have your entire order off the truck.

MAKE SURE YOU AND TRUCK DRIVER AGREE ON COUNT BEFORE HE LEAVES.

DO NOT LET KIDS OR PARENTS TAKE FRUIT AND PUT IT IN CARS UNTIL ALL FRUIT IS COUNTED AFTER OFF LOADING.

Store Fruit:

Some groups will use a U-Haul truck or even a refrigerated truck to store their fruit in prior to distribution. Just make sure that the weather is NOT below 32 degrees for this.

The big thing in December is don’t let them freeze. If you are west of the Cascades there is a good chance that you will NOT have to worry about freezing temperatures. East of the Cascades could be a problem with freezing. Garages, school cafeterias work well also.

The next worse thing to freezing is storing the fruit at to warm of a temperature. Room temperature, meaning around 70 degrees is not good on the fruit either. it will decrease the shelf life. Forty (40) degrees is the best. Just keep the fruit as close to this temperature as possible.

Inspect Fruit:

Before the kids and their parents take their order have them take the top of each box off, pull out a few pieces of fruit on the top layer, and inspect the fruit to make for certain there aren’t any bad ones. Replace any bad fruit with the same amount from a box you have on the side. (My experience is that 1% is bad fruit.)

Deliver Fruit:

Have each kid deliver what they sold.

Be sure to make copies of kids order forms before giving back to them. Put your copy in a folder and save for next year. With kids coming and going you have a start on your customer base for next year.

Please get the invoice into your business office or whoever handles the payment. My working agreement with my shippers is 10 days, so I need to be paid as soon as possible.

Call me if there are problems.