Raise Money With a Coffee Fundraiser: The Perfect Solution For Busy Organizations

Setting up a fundraiser is no easy task, and while caramel corn or candy fundraisers were common in the past, coffee fundraisers have supplanted "expirables" among the best fundraising ideas you've probably never thought about.

For one, Most Americans drink coffee every day, making this an excellent way to raise money while giving your neighbors something they'll enjoy.

From schools to non-profits, let's talk about how to set up a successful coffee fundraiser, why it's worth considering, and some extra tips to help you along the way.

Why Choose Coffee Fundraising?

Almost 75% of Americans drink coffee regularly, making it essential for a majority of households in the U.S. Unsurprisingly, the widespread love for coffee makes it easy to sell, easy to use, and easy to love, as everyone has a favorite variant.

Here's an overview of the reasons to choose a coffee fundraiser:

It's Popular and Can Be Ethically Sourced

This is an easy point to make because, well, everyone loves coffee! It's a non-alcoholic beverage that people under 21 can enjoy, and there are near-infinite ways of preparing it to suit everyone's tastes.

It has a long shelf life and can be stored before or after grinding it. Plus, if you buy from the best online coffee vendors, you can get ethically sourced coffee from varied parts of the world and compare their flavor!

Potential for High Profit Margins

You're going to be buying wholesale coffee, which means your profit margins could be upwards of 50% per bag. Some of the best coffee roasters even offer special pricing if you plan on doing a coffee fundraiser! For example, here at Philly Fair Trade's, we make room for a generous profit margin at YOUR discretion, giving you a super discount to help you raise money for your good cause.

It Has Year-Round Appeal

As we mentioned before, coffee can stay fresh for months if stored properly — more on that here — but it's also true that people drink coffee year-round. It's not really a seasonal product, so making a coffee fundraising program is feasible any time!

The point of all this is to show you that a coffee fundraiser is a unique fundraising idea that allows you to offer great coffee with low upfront costs and considerable flexibility.

If you have a team of coffee lovers around you, you should definitely consider how a successful coffee fundraiser could help you in raising money while delighting your constituents.

The Best Fundraising Ideas With Coffee

So you've decided to start a coffee fundraiser. There are many ways of going about coffee fundraising. From traditional to online fundraising ideas, we'll be helping you choose the right approach.

Traditional "Get What You Need" Coffee Fundraiser

In a traditional fundraiser — unlike, for example, in an online fundraiser — you'll receive all of your orders first and then receive just the coffee. It's a good win for everyone involved.

1. Partnering with a coffee company. The first step is to find a good coffee vendor to partner with! That's us! We'll help you with your coffee selections and provide organic fair trade coffee at near-wholesale prices so you can select the markup as much as you like!

2. Creating brochures. With Philly Fair Trade, we design flyers for you and you kick your fundraiser off by distributing them and spreading the word about your fresh-roasted coffee.

3. Selling coffee. Sell, sell, and keep selling coffee. Because there's no risk of "over ordering" your team members can do what makes sense for them!

4. Collecting orders. Gather all of your order forms and place your order with us.

5. Delivering. We ship or deliver the coffee to you, and your members deliver to their buyers.

Direct Sale Coffee Fundraising

Here you'll do the opposite: first buy the coffee and then deliver it to your supporters. The great thing about this is that you can set distribution points up anywhere, from elementary schools, churches, sports teams or other organizations.

1. Bulk ordering. As we said, you'll order the coffee first and portion it out into manageable boxes or bags.

2. Setting prices. An essential part of any high-profit fundraiser is to set accessible prices that nonetheless get you the highest margins that make sense for your group. Keep in mind that repeat campaigns and profitable fundraising are all about making people feel they're contributing to a worthwhile cause.

3. Distributing coffee to sellers. Don't forget to get creative with the people you include in the project, as you never know how many potential customers might be waiting for you.

4. Selling directly. Start selling your coffee! Remember to market your own personal touch when selling. For example, if you sourced from Philly Fair Trade, you can market ethical sourcing from organic farming communities and the enjoyment of supporting a small-batch coffee roaster.

5. Gathering profits. Count the bills! You've basically finished the opposite process of traditional fundraising, and now you get to keep the total profit.

Online Coffee Fundraiser

Online sales are a new and innovative simplified fundraising method. It's great if you're running out of fundraising ideas or are simply catering to a younger audience. This is a great fundraising idea if you don't want to sell door-to-door.

The gist of it is that you can combine it with whatever fundraising ideas you have. In practice, you can customize this method to suit your preference. Order the coffee first, then deliver it, or market it and order it after your supporters have already paid.

For the sake of simplicity, we'll imagine you want to order the coffee first:

1. Partner with a vendor and plan for coffee. Contact the retailer online, and set up the logistics beforehand.

2. Using a coupon code. Set up a coupon that your customers will use at checkout to make sure some portion of profit goes toward your fundraiser, back to your organization.

3. Spreading the word online. Here's where you can get creative. Have members of your organization email their friends, set up social media posts, get your favorite sports teams to give you a shout-out, and spread the word among local youth groups. It's all about trying to go viral, and the great thing about online shopping is that your supporters can get the coffee shipped directly to their doorstep no matter where they are!

4. Selling. Remember that when you sell online, you can offer more options at no extra cost, so you can sell whole-bean coffee, ground coffee, or other more exotic coffees.

Philly Fair Trade Makes Coffee Fundraisers Easy

We wouldn't be talking about this if we didn't want to support your coffee fundraiser. With years of experience selling high-quality coffee, we're a great fit for many Pennsylvania organizations, and beyond. With our coffee fundraiser program, you can make your efforts easier and more profitable. Here's the gist of what we offer:

• Wholesale 12oz organic coffee bags sourced from the best fair trade certified farms around the world.

• Custom order forms that streamline the process for you, saving you time and effort.

• Nationwide shipping!

We want to make your coffee fundraiser as easy as possible for you. The best proof of that is our perfect pricing set-up: basically, we sell the coffee to you close to our cost, and you can mark it up as you see fit! This hugely increases your profit margins and reduces your startup fees.

And don't forget, you can sample our coffee before using it as a fundraising product! We're happy to send sample packs that contain a curated selection of our best coffees for your organizers to try. If you're one of those people that needs to see (or taste) to believe, look no further.

Setting up Your Coffee Fundraiser, Step by Step

Here's what the process looks like working with us:

1. Contact us. You can shoot an email our way or go through our contact form to ask any questions concerning fundraising ideas, what we offer, or our products!

2. Get a huge discount. You'll get a custom quote on our wholesale beans. We offer a sizable discount that lets your organization buy the coffee at or close to our cost. We'll guide you through the pricing process so you can decide what markup would suit your objectives.

3. Custom order forms. We offer assistance in planning the event and creating a custom order for your coffee fundraiser. We can also talk about the logistics and shipping options here!

4. Profit! You're now on your way to a successful fundraiser!

FAQs

Why Should I Choose Philly Fair Trade for My Coffee Fundraiser?

We offer huge discounts and help your organization in the fundraiser planning process. We ship nationwide, and you can trust that we only sell organic, fair-trade-certified products.

What Are the Upfront Costs of Starting a Coffee Fundraiser?

There are no real startup fees if you do it with us! We'll only ask you to order a minimum of 50 coffee bags to ensure we can maintain the cost-efficiency of our logistics.