Candle Fundraiser Ideas For Schools

Candle fundraising ideas for schools, church and nonprofit organizations

With the demise of the popular Yankee candle fundraising program many schools and youth groups are left looking for candle fundraising ideas this holiday season.

Why are candles the perfect fundraiser choice?

• First of all they are festive. Many people report candles help them get into the holiday spirit.
• Next, they make great gifts.
• They also are affordable and only $12 each.
• Furthermore, they last a long time. Most have a burning time of 55 hours or more. 
• When you are done with the candle, the grannie jars are perfect to reuse for arts and crafts activities.
• People will buy them every year to support you because they love the product.
• They can either be sold in person, online or virtually through facetime or zoom. 
• Finally, companies like Yankee Candle have made lighting candles a tradition here in the USA.

Just remember there is no Yankee Candle Fundraising catalog anymore. Instead, when you are ready you can see the 2021 Holiday candle fundraiser catalog here.

What are some great fundraising ideas to sell more candles?

Here are a few candle fundraiser tips and suggestions to make your next event even more successful.

Educate your friends and family members

• Why are you raising money for school? Tell them why! explain to them how their donations will help the children.
• Tell them about the product. There are many kinds of candles to choose from. Scented, soy, fragrances, etc.
• Explain to them about the company behind it. 

Get contact information.

• Make sure to get contact information from every customer that makes a donation. This will allow for selling to them again next year.
• This eliminates having to start all over every year.
• Keep in touch by telling them about any new candle scents that come out. Furthermore, its a great way to tell them how their donations helped your organization.

Get testimonials

• Interview your customers and ask them to make a short video talking about what scents they like most. Get their permission to put the video up on the YouTube website and social media too.
• Convert all of the interviews into written form and post them on the organization’s website and social media pages. In this way their friends have a chance to see it too.

Why is this so important?

• About 50% of the population count on the opinions of others before making a decision. A good testimonial or video can help prospective buyers make their mind up quickly.
• Additionally this creates social proof. This is important because many people want to do the popular thing. If their friends are doing it, they’re more willing to try it too.
• Friends have friends that are just like them. This means that candle  lovers may have many friends that love candles too. These people will make perfect prospects for your next fundraiser.
• Some people have a hard time deciding which candle to purchase. So tell them the top 3 sellers. This will make it easier for them to choose if they know the most popular candles people buy.

Hold a sales contest

There’s nothing like a little bit of competition to help drive your candle sales. By recognizing and rewarding your top sellers, you will reach your financial goals each year. Additionally it will create a healthy spirit of competition. So come up with a fun way to reward the people that sell the most candles.

Prize incentive programs.

For instance here at Fundraising Zone, we have a prize incentive program to motivate kids to sell more candles. The way it works is that the more candles they sell, the better the prizes are for them to win.

• This helps kids to learn to set goals.
• Additionally it helps kids learn how great it feels when they reach those goals because they earned it.

Build candle packages

This provides an incentive to your donors to buy more candles.

For instance just suppose you gave an incentive for people to buy 10 candles at a time. Here are some ideas for you to think about…

• Free dinner for two at a local restaurant whenever you buy 10 candles. You can either pay for this yourself or find a restaurant owner that would be interested in donating a dinner for two for free advertising on your Facebook page.
• Offer to mow their lawn for a week or two if they buy 10 candles at a time.
• Finally you can offer a free candle for every 10 they purchase. Since they only cost six dollars each, this is an cheap way to increase sales .

Thank you gifts

Many business owners look for a gift for their customers every holiday season. They are in a position to buy many candles from you because this is a write off expense for their business. The IRS allows gifts to be written off that are under $25 each. Brainstorm ideas for small business owners in your community that you could reach out to.

• Real estate agents
• Insurance agencies
• Mortgage brokers

Business people are always looking for a way to keep their name in front of the customer. So remind them that every time the customer lights the candle they will think of the business that gifted them the candle.

Peer to peer fundraising

If all of your volunteers reached out to all of the peers in their network there would be many potential donors to be found.

• Tell them to buy a candle because it’s for a good cause.
• Remind them that if they don’t like candles, they make great gifts.
• Finally tell them it’s only $10.

Which Candle Fundraiser Idea Will You Try?

These candle fundraising tips work best when they are combined with each other. So feel free to use as many of these tip and suggestions during your next candle fundraising event. Then contact Joe or Chris and they will help you every step of the way.