Fundraising idea for PTA, PTO, scouts, sports or other youth organizations: flowers

 

 

Tired of having your kids sell fattening treats like candy and cookies to raise funds for their extracurricular activities? Then point your mouse to Mrs. Bloom's to check out a fresh new fundraising idea: flowers!

Mrs. Bloom's Direct is an importer/distributor of fresh flowers from around the world. They ship flowers straight from the grower via Fedex to you (like online retailer Proflowers). Mrs. Bloom's offers a variety of bouquets, both mixed flowers and roses, that youth groups could sell in time for Mother's Day or any other holiday.

Mrs. Blooms says that flowers are "half the price" of what a retail florist would sell them for. They also note that "many of these high-quality blooms come from sustainable farms as well, making Mrs. Bloom’s an eco-friendly alternative to standard fundraising programs."

There are pros and cons to doing a fresh flower fundraiser.

The pros:

Mrs. Bloom's price for all their bouquets is $15, which includes FedEx shipping to a central location. They recommend adding $5 to the selling price, which makes the flowers highly profitable. A group that sells only 100 bouquets would still make $500 profit. Think of it this way: if your kid belongs to a scout unit of 20 children, and each child sells 5 bouquets (one to dad to give to mom, two to grandfathers to give to grandmas, and two to neighbors) that equals 100 sales, and $500 profit for the group. Not bad at all!

Bouquets can be mixed flowers or a dozen roses--each only costs your group $15.

Flowers are easy to sell around a holiday, especially one like Mother's Day or Valentine's Day when people are already interested in flowers. A $20 fresh bouquet (suggested price for your customer) without the hassle of going to a florist could be an easy sale to friends and family.

The fresh bouquets come straight from the grower with buds still closed on roses, lilies and orchids--meaning a longer life for the bouquets in the vase.

The cons:

If your group orders mixed flower bouquets, Mrs. Blooms will have control over the actual mix of flowers delivered. 

The flower price includes shipping--to ONE location. Flowers will need to be picked up and distributed by the members of your group.

Flowers are perishable. They will arrive via FedEx in the morning in a DRY cold storage box. Your group will need to sort the orders quickly and get the flowers out before they have time to wilt. Your group may need to secure space in a walk in refrigerator or get a lot of buckets of water if you need to wait until after school to deliver the goods. (Sorting shouldn't be a problem if your group only sells ONE type of bouquet.)

Selling perishable goods is nothing new. Many groups have experience selling frozen pizzas, frozen pastries or other frozen foods. If your group has tackled this kind of sale before they will be well prepared for selling flowers.

For more information on selling fresh bouquets of flowers, and to see photos of bouquet themes, check out their website: Mrs. Bloom's Direct. You can also reach them by email at fundraising@mrsblooms.com or call them at phone 888-579-3668. The main office is located at 175 Clearbrook Rd. in Elmsford, New York.

The St. Louis Motherhood Examiner was given a couple bouquets of mixed flowers to review for this article. The flowers arrived at 8:30am via FedEx in a sturdy box. The stems were dry, and the flowers were wrapped in the same sort of plastic wrap and rubber bands that grocery store florists use. The blooms looked very fresh and the larger flowers (some sort of lily and orchid) were closed. One bouquet was delivered to a friend to review immediately, while the other bouquet was stuck in water (as is) and left until the afternoon to unwrap and display.

Neither bouquet was trimmed, though both were put in a vase of water with the flower food packet that comes with the bouquet.

The mixed bouquets contained a random assortment of California raised flowers. This Examiner has no idea what some of them are, but there are at least a dozen flower stems: lilies, orchids, gladiolas, some sort of mum and a weird dark blue flower that has yet to be identified. The bouquet also includes lots of greenery to make an eye pleasing arrangement--something that bouquets from the grocery store often lack.

So far, results are great! Pink flowers that looked a little crushed perked up in water. The closed buds began to pop open after two days. Check out the slide show below to see what the sample bouquets looked liked on arrival and while on display. Another report will be posted to let readers know how long the bouquet lasted.

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