Sample Event: Book sales for Latin Club
- We had a Barnes & Noble event to raise money for the Latin program during the holiday season
- We sent explanatory notes to parents of all Latin students encouraging them to buy books
- We publicized the event in Latin classes and on Facebook
- Latin students who purchased books got extra credit
- We went to the bookstore dressed in togas
- We had a table set up where people could ask about our event and we could encourage them to use a Latin Club coupon on our behalf
- We were not allowed to approach people, but if people commented on the togas, we encouraged them to buy books for the Latin club
- We also had a gift-wrapping stand at the bookstore (which made money)
- We read stories in the kids’ section during story time (to encourage parents to ask about the event)
Who helped at our event:
- Latin club kids who worked the event
- Latin club parents
- Barnes & Noble patrons
Blueprint
- Approach Barnes & Noble or some other bookstore that allows groups to do book sales for charity (usually, if people specifically request at the cash register, a percentage of the cost of their purchase will go to the cause)
- Set dates for your event, use dates which are usually high sales volume times
- Publicize the event on Facebook; in local magazines, newspapers, and websites; and around the school and community. Tell family and family friends about the event
- Hand out coupons to people you know if coupons are required for money to go to your cause
- Show up at the bookstore during the scheduled days and have other group members show up as well
- Encourage customers to request that a percentage of their purchase cost go to your cause
- Describe your cause and raise awareness
- Have group members provide services like helping select books and gift-wrapping
Good Luck with your event!
What worked at our event:
- Lots of people bought books
- We raised a lot of money
- Everyone who worked at the event had fun
- Lots of kids worked the event
- It was an easy "sell"; people were already at the book store & it didn't cost them any more money to help our cause
- Lots of people were happy to come to the store specifically for the event because they wanted to support our cause
- Lots of people were happy to come to our event because people in our neighborhood enjoy going to the book store
- The holidays were a perfect time to hold the event since there were a lot of people out shopping for gifts
- The holidays were also a great time because people were buying more than they normally would
- Since it was holiday time and we charged for gift-wrapping, this increased the funds we raised
What didn’t work at our event:
- Most of the money generated by our advertising didn’t go to the cause (we only received a % of the proceeds)
- We weren’t allowed to approach people in the store about the event; they needed to approach us. While most people were curious about the togas, a few did avoid us
- The story reading didn’t really work to generate interest, but it probably created goodwill
Tips:
- The holiday season is the best time for book sales
- Use decorations or “entertainment” to make the event more fun and to draw attention (costumes do help if you aren’t allowed to approach people)
- When discussing the event with people, raise awareness about your cause and be articulate
- Don’t badger people; be polite and thank everyone who participates
- Have group members provide services like helping select books and gift-wrapping
- Create bookmarks with information about your cause to distribute with book sales
- Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and probably others have online sales events that could also be very profitable for your group