School Yard Sale Fundraiser
Yesterday was the day! I helped a local school organize and run a yard sale fundraiser. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!
Here are some photos and some quick tips on how we did it; but first take a look at one of my earlier articles on the basics of running a yard sale....
DONATIONS
We asked school families, friends, and the community to donate gently-used items to our yard sale. The plan was to sell these donations for 100% profit.
Be sure to publish a list of items you CANNOT accept, such as:
Clothing (except costumes and new clothing with original sales tags)
Appliances (large & small)
Computers, computer accessories, TV's, and other equipment that requires special disposal
X-large furniture that cannot be lifted by two people
Upholstered furniture
Expired car seats and recalled items
DROP-OFF TIMES
Since storage space was limited at our school, we opted to accept donations for just the 3 days prior to the sale. We had specific drop off times (Wed 3-4pm; Thurs & Fri 8:30-9:30am and 5-7pm) so we could be sure to have volunteers onsite to bring the items into the storage room.
Do yourself a favor and have volunteers look quickly at items as they arrive. I, unfortunately, had to reject many items because they were just too old and not something I thought we could sell.
STORAGE SPACE
We used a 1st floor space just inside the entry door to store the items. We filled a space approximately 40 square feet. Let me repeat that because it's important... a FIRST FLOOR space JUST INSIDE THE ENTRY DOOR. You're volunteers will appreciate this as you're carting hundreds of items outside the morning of the sale.
SORT & TAG
As items arrived, they were sorted and every item (big & small) was given a price tag. As bags were dropped off they were placed in one corner of the room. We worked from a single table in the center of the room and one bag at a time, we put a price tag on every item then moved it to a perimeter table near alike items. We boxed up similar items and placed them aside.
PRICING
Price low... Price low... Price low. Did I say to price items low? Don't be afraid to price items at 25 and 50 cents or $1.00. Believe me, they will add up. We actually had a very limited number of items priced above $5.
A double stroller sold for $50, a single stroller $20, a soap box derby car $20, a set of outdoor chairs and small table $35, a braided rug $25, and a portable plastic table with a 5-foot umbrella that I think sold for $30. Other than that, almost all other items were priced under $10.
SET-UP
Set up began at 6:45am in preparation for our 9am sale. Fifteen volunteers helped setup twenty 8-foot tables in a fenced-in area just outside the school's entry door - making for a short trip from the storage room. Boxes of donations were carried out one at time (a hand-truck and cart made transporting items a little easier).
Note: All of my photos were taken while we were setting up at 8am; well before the steady crowd poured in beginning at 9.
We spread items out evenly across the grass and on tables around the perimeter.
DISPLAYS
We labelled each table with a sign so volunteers could place similar items together as they brought them outside...
Each table had a theme... Holiday, Books, Children's Toys, Housewares, Arts & Crafts...
Volunteers placed a white tablecloth on this picnic table and laid the jewelry out individually on the table to make for easy viewing...
We hung clothes on the fence.
Rather than price them individually, we just hung up a single sign that said "All Clothes $3.50 each".
NAME TAGS
We gave each volunteer a name tag and apron so that buyers could easily identify them when they had a question...
CHECK-OUT, BAGS, & RECEIPTS
At the Entrance / Exit, we set up a single table for buyers to cash-out. Sorry, no photo. But be sure to put a large sign on this table that says "CHECK-OUT" and have 2 volunteers work this table.
Remember to have a large supply of bags at Check-Out for buyers' purchases.
As Buyers checked-out, we handed them a receipt and brought their attention to the note at the bottom encouraging them to return an hour before the end of the sale for drastically reduced & free items!
SNACK & DRINKS
We did set up a food & drinks table. Soda and water $1.00; Snacks, donuts, muffins were 50 cents. Honestly, even though it was a sunny 75 degree day, I was hoping to sell many more drinks.
VENDOR SPACES
We also sold Yard Sale Spaces for $25 and $35 each to anyone who wanted to set up a space and sell their own items. These people were able to keep any additional cash they made beyond the flat fee they paid to us.
RAISE THE AVERAGE SALE... FILL A BAG FOR $10
Our Yard Sale ran from 9am to 2pm. By 12:30pm we still had a ton of inventory left. I asked my volunteers at the Check-Out table what the average sale totaled. They said each person was buying about $4 worth of products.
In an effort to up the average sale AND move inventory, we stood at the entrance with a handful of bags and offered each buyer the opportunity to fill a bag for $10.
This worked amazingly well! We happened to have about 12 small to medium-sized recycle bags of the same color so we used these first. We also used large paper grocery bags. Buyers ate these up and we sold a ton of product for the next 45 minutes. By 1:15pm we offered the same deal but for $5.
THE LEFT-OVERS
We boxed up anything we thought was of value. The books were placed in the schools "Got Books" fundraising bin for them to earn cash based on weight. The clothes and few boxes of select items were brought across the street to a church thrift store. The remaining items were boxed up and 4 volunteers loaded their SUV's and brought them to a local donation drop off center. We did fill the school dumpster with trash and empty boxes too.
ADVERTISING
Advertising was free. Here's what we did...
- Large 'Yard Sale' sign placed in front of the school during the week before the sale.
- Local newspaper
- Online Patch news in the local & surrounding towns
- SIGNS! - Basic poster paper signs nailed to telephone poles around town (Note: most towns allow posting of yard sale signs as long as you take them down after your sale).
SO HOW DID WE DO?...
At 99.9% profit, I think we did really well. Expenses only totaled $13 (poster board & markers from the dollar store). In the past, school yard sale fundraisers I've been involved in have raised $1,800-$2,400. My goal was $2,000 and yes, we made it! Not bad considering 95% of the items were priced at $5 or less.
All in all, it was a great day!!!
