How to Get Started with Chocolate Fundraisers

Raising Money Right  with Fair Trade chocolate makes fundraising a fun learning experience.  Before you begin, think through some key steps to ensure success:

Check out the great Divine products.  They come in several tasty flavors and the more options you choose the more likely you are to attract customers.  There are a range of great seasonal products such as Advent calendars for Christmas. Visit our website to check them out!

Set a goal for how much money you need to raise and then for how much Divine Chocolate you want to sell.  The CRS Fair Trade price is less than retail so you'll have a chance to do a fair mark-up for your product.  After you know your overall goal, consider a per person target such as 50 bars for each elementary school student or 100 for each high school student or adult.

Recruit plenty of volunteers. This is a great way to reach out to youth who might not know about your programs or educational opportunities.  Also it helps build your fundraising team!

Order the number of bars you'll need from our partner, A Greater Gift, or call 888-294-9665, to order over the phone.  Divine chocolate bars come in cases that you can break down and sell individually.   

Publicize your sale as you wait for the order to arrive.  CRS has plenty of flyers, posters and other promotional material.  If you haven't already, order the Chocolate Starter Kit .

Remember to post the fundraiser on your school or parish website, get notices in parish bulletins, and make announcements at the end of mass.  Check with your Diocesan Director and CRS regional staff for help in spreading the word.

Once your order has arrived, gear up for the big sales.  Equip each participant with:

• An inventory sheet that helps tally how many bars s/he received and keeps track of how many sold.
• A supply of quarters to make change easily.  But also tell customers they can avoid change by buying combos such as two for $3.00 or two for $5.00 (depending on size)
• A deadline for turning in money to a project coordinator like yourself.

Create a prominent display such as a thermometer tracking daily or weekly sales.  Decorate this with images of the cocoa farmers who harvest the cocoa and who own a part of the company that makes Divine chocolate.

After your sale is over, publicize the results reporting what the money raised will buy for your school or parish and how Fair Trade helps the cocoa farmers in Ghana.

To help you through these steps, CRS has created a Chocolate Starter Kit to order. 

The kit includes:

• An introduction to "Raise Money Right"
• A "Bean-to-Bar" poster portraying the cocoa cultivating process
• A Divine Petition asking stores to carry Divine Fair Trade Chocolate
• CRS Fair Trade Chocolate brochure
• A Fair Trade Chocolate Order Form if you want to fax or mail orders.

Good Luck and thanks for committing to Raise Money Right!