SaveAround's Community Conversation

The final groups of non-traditional targets for summer may include clubs, camps, and animal shelters. When approaching non-school groups like clubs and camps or even animal shelters, you need to understand a few things about how they operate throughout the year. However, some may need supplementary funds and that is where the local I.C. comes in!

Here are some examples of how the clubs and camps may run in various parts of the country:
Clubs
Registration usually starts in January and the cut off will be sometime in the Spring (April/May)
Try to locate a website with more details and timelines
The age range will vary
The majority of clubs will run during the year with some varying times of operation

Camps
Registration usually runs through Spring and will begin the first week after school ends for the Spring (late May / early June).
Camps vary in length of their duration - one week (Mon-Fri) while others may run for 2 weeks or a month or longer. Some camps are a few days a week (Mon-Wed - Fri) and others are half days (9-12 or 1-4). The type of camp, location, age range, and activities determine the days, times, length, and duration of the camp.
Target a summer fundraiser while the audience is limited and captured.
Age range is usually school age with some limitations or some may have an age range listed (9-12, 10-14, etc.)

Pet Shelters
Volunteers are needed all the time at the pet sanctuaries and animal shelters
Funds are generated through fundraising and donations or private individuals
Supplies, food, bedding, veterinary supplies/needs, boarding, etc. is ongoing

So how can you help these groups raise money?

1. Do your homework.
Visit the website, join the Facebook page to learn more about the local clubs or offerings
for camps. Camps have evolved over the years. It’s not just summer camps with all
outdoor activities. There are camps for everything under the sun. Art, STEM, coding,
cooking, nature, sailing, farm, space, and sports just to name a few. Usually the board
Of directors or an executive director who may list contact information on the website (if it
is an info@organizationname.com type of email). Look for sign-up dates for registration
and the start and end dates of the camp. Sometimes camps run for a single week and
others may run for several months or the entire length of the summer break. Some may
have alternating weeks (first and the third week of the month for a specific age group) or
based on available activities or events.

2. Introduce yourself.
Ask what the needs are? Fact find. For clubs, it might be activities, projects, travel, or day trips that need to be covered through a fundraiser. For camps, it might include additional supplies, specialty items, etc. The fundraiser could be built into their registration fee so it’s included and not optional. A cooking camp might need to purchase new commercial equipment for the kitchen. The animal shelter might need extra supplies for the animals they take in.

3. Keep It Simple
Remember that usually these groups need extra funds, but aren’t equipped to manage a fundraiser or have volunteers or staff to help out. Get creative! Maybe a one-hour sprint will work (short and simple). Building a fundraising opportunity into fees or registration
might help the bottom line for the budget while allowing each participant to help out and
benefit directly as a result of their efforts. Campers, club members, and eventual animal shelter adopters are the beneficiaries of these fundraising efforts. Remember who the audience is and how this ties directly into their experience in the camp or the club.

Some ideas might include:
Coupon books
First Aid Kits
Apparel

Perhaps equate a tangible benefit with the fundraiser. For example:
Selling 3 coupon books will purchase 25 cans of cat food.
Selling 3 First Aid Kits will purchase 2 large bags of dog food.
Selling 4 apparel items will provide bedding for 5 dogs.
Selling 5 coupon books will provide weekly cooking supplies for 2 campers.
Purchase 10 coupon books and cover a camper’s fee at Farm Camp.

Make it realistic, tangible, and put the fundraiser in a relationship with the community or the kids or animals (families) that will benefit directly. Another idea might be to work on the fundraiser to fund a scholarship program for underserved or underprivileged children or perhaps rural areas where the animal shelters have no local support or funding.

If you are calling on other non-school groups with Summer 2021 in mind, reach out to the sales team and they will be glad to help or brainstorm ideas with you. Email: sales@savearound.com

Chairperson Portal Pointers
How can you tell if students are registering as sellers and how are they doing in the sale? If you visit the chairperson portal and click the blue button that says “Seller Stats” that will provide you with a list of everyone who has registered and how much they have sold to date. This can be very helpful in knowing if a group needs an “extra push” or some help along the way. This is also a good benchmark to talk to the sponsor to help them encourage and motivate their students to finish strong.

Resigns for 2022

As you are calling on groups to re-sign them for Fall 2021 or Spring 2022, it is important that you mark if it is a RETURNING (re-signed group) or a NEW group. This helps us keep the records clean and eliminates setting up duplicate accounts in the system. Additionally, if you have a returning group that uses Saint vs. St. be sure to list it just as it ran last year so we can search in that manner. (Saint Ella School vs St. Ella School). If you have any questions about re-signs or need assistance, please email the team: grouprelations@savearound.com.

This is the continuation of a two-part interview with the founder and chairman of SaveAround, Raymond Stanton, II. Mr. Stanton was interviewed recently at the office by his third oldest grandchild, Raymond Stanton, IV “Raymie”.

Q: What is your favorite thing about SaveAround and the Fundraising industry?

A: Well I played semi-pro football for 8 years and my favorite thing was my teammates and the fun we had together. This is very similar to that ~ where I love all the relationships that have been built here over the years and every day I still come into the office because I love interacting with everyone here at SaveAround as well as everyone in the fundraising industry.

Q: What is one notable thing you have learned in the past 46 years in the fundraising industry?

A: I think in business we have learned a lot when it comes to handling money and a budget. When I was a school teacher running 2-3 cities I would just grind away, make it work, and do what I could to get by. Now that we have 20-30+ families depending on us I have learned that being able to balance the books and manage money is extremely important to make sure we are keeping our heads above water. It’s been tough with all the challenges the past year or so, but I think the lessons we have learned over the past 40+ years have put us in a great position to keep our heads above water and push through it.

Q: What is one thing you have learned over the past year during the pandemic?

A: The thing I have learned most and I think most people have learned most and they say it almost takes you back to the 1950s with no computers and Facebook, is that without the distractions most families have knitted closer together. It really has felt like the 1950s era where you work and you come home and eat dinner with your family which I feel like has been lost over the years. I think the main thing really is people really started to appreciate their family more than ever because I know I did. There’s a silver lining I think because there has been a lot of fun taking some of the rat race out of life and realizing how important family is.

Q: What advice would you give to the Independents in the field dealing with the pandemic?

A: This whole thing has been about patience, family, hanging in there, and determining your inner strength. This has been a real mental challenge for everybody. People have had to look inward and ask “can I be strong enough to see this thing through?” My advice would be to find that strength to prevail. Be patient. Look inward and know that there is light at the end of this tunnel and we will see this whole thing through. People should feel proud as they find that strength.

Q: What keeps you going after all these years?

A: Well both my father and grandfather have passed before the age of 60. I always felt they died young and I never know when my time is going to come. I always like to say that life is a merry-go-round. You know when you get on, but you don’t know when you are going to get off. So that merry-go-round is going to keep turning, but it is up to you to decide if you're going to have fun, let your hair back, and enjoy it, or if you’re going to hold on tight, live afraid, and never enjoy it. You never know when you're going to be getting off so you are crazy not to enjoy the ride.

Q: Favorite phrase?

A: Well when you get my age you come to realize that we are all going to exit. But when you get to my age and you have friends joining the other side you start thinking about religion, what’s next, your creator, and God. In my heart, I believe there’s a creator and an afterlife. So my phrase that I came up with is that everyone knows that no one knows. With that being said enjoy life and make the best of it because everyone knows that no one knows.

IT’S CONTEST TIME!!!!
Send your contest answers to sales@savearound.com. Responses with all correct answers will go into a drawing for a $25 gift card. The deadline for contest submissions is by the end of business day on Monday, May 3, 2021. (11:59 p.m. EST)

1. $_________________ was spent on camping equipment in the U.S. annually. (What is usually spent in a normal non-Covid year … think lots of dollars spent).
2. The ____________________ is the most popular camping purchase.
3. List three of the top five essential items when camping:
_________________
_________________
_________________

Answers will be published in the May 7th newsletter along with the winner!