Floreo for Women
Blossoming, Flourishing, Prospering
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information regarding
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information regarding
stocking our products
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Here
Click here for more
information regarding
hosting a party or
fundraising event.
information regarding
hosting a party or
fundraising event.
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Fundraisers
We’d love to come and support your event.
You have worked really hard to get to this stage, your committee has finally agreed on a date, venue, time
and theme – and you’ve even got some volunteers for the day! A minor miracle in itself.
One of the questions Exhibitors will always ask is “Who is coming?”. It’s really important for exhibitors to
know their audience. Like us, many stock a number of ranges and want to make sure they bring the right
products with them.
Other questions exhibitors may have is;-
How many people are you expecting?
How are you promoting your event (we have some great tips on this one!)
What time can we set up? (allow at least 1 – 1 ½ hours before hand)
What type of access do we have? If it’s upstairs, is there a lift? Some of our stuff gets pretty heavy?
Are you charging an entry fee for customers? (Exhibitors don’t like this as it tends to put potential
customers off – we’d rather pay a little more for our pitch.)
Have you got any competing products?– 10 Jewellery stands and 7 handmade card stands and a raffle
does not a gift fair make!
Is there access to light and electricity? – most stall holders like to bring their own lamps as village halls
don’t always have the best lighting.
Are you providing the tables ? – if you don’t have enough – hire them and ask stall holders to pay or ask
them to bring their own – Each table should be at least 6ft by 3ft and we would expect to have at least 2
tables.
Have you a design plan, don’t leave a gaping hole in the middle, arrange your tables so that customers
walk up and down between tables. Think IKEA! Charge more for wall tables or end tables if you want to.
Have you checked what else is going on in your area at the same time?
For example, don’t put all your effort into a playgroup fundraiser on the same morning as the Macmillan
Coffee morning – no-one will come! Likewise, a lot of the best stall holders will be booked in October for
Breast Cancer fundraisers and the really good fairs are booked up in march/april for every weekend in the
run up to Christmas. Our Christmas stock started moving in August!!!!!
What are you charging and do you require a raffle prize? Make sure everyone gets the same deal as
exhibitors will talk to each other, especially if there aren’t many people around.
Promoting your event
If it is for charity, then get the charity involved. Ask for representatives to come along with information for
your customers. Ask the charity to circulate the information in your locality. For example, there is usually a
local office for national charities, such as the NSPCC or perhaps there are care homes for your charity
nearby where patients, staff, family and friends would welcome the opportunity to show their support.
E-mail your friends and ask them to do the same. We are not advocating spam but no-one minds a quick
catch up from a friend.
Contact your local radio station at least 3 weeks in advance. Schedules are organised way in advance. If
you’ve missed the deadline – ask for a “shout-out” on the day and if they have time in their scheduling you
may get a mention.
Contact your local newspaper – if you want to advertise, make sure you have your charity number to hand –
most will give a discount but not unless you ask!
Find a local printer (we’ve got one in Colchester, mail me if you want to know who!), who will run off loads
of leaflets for a really good rate.
Ask local shopkeepers and businesses to advertise your event, enlist your volunteers and share out a
leaflet drop in the local area – you can always meet in the local for a glass of something warming after!
Ask local high profile businesses in the area for help with the costs, maybe they will sponsor the hire of the
hall, printing of leaflets, raffle prizes, advertising – I’m sure they’d love a mention for all their help. Many
businesses budget well in advance, so if you know you are going to have a Christmas bazaar, ask in
January or if you’ve left it too late – you can always push your luck by asking about their “contingency”
budget for good local causes – and speak to them, don’t write – it’s so much harder to say no than to write
a standard rejection letter! And if it’s still too late, ask them when they formalise their budgets and put a
reminder in your diary for next year.
Share your ideas with other local groups, go along to the W.I. meeting and tell them what you want to
achieve and issue them all free tickets – ask them to invite their friends. Does your son or daughter belong
to a group – ask their group leader to issue leaflets. Is your local playgroup struggling? invite them along,
give them a free table to promote themselves or fundraise in return for promoting your event. Do you or
does someone in your family belong to a book club? How about a local sporting club? Dance, Karate,
Football – give them a table in return for promoting the event and handing out invites and a raffle prize for a
free taster session?
Do you have a local celebrity that may offer their services for a good cause? We’ve got simply loads in this
area, who are always willing to pop in and open the event, sign a book, lend a few kind words and a
photograph supporting the event on your promotional literature
Don’t waste your resources doing your own refreshments – outsource them – offer this to a local catering
company for a small fee. Believe me, this is a fantastic promotional opportunity for them, money in the
bank for both of you and coffee to die for! Instead, spend your time selling those raffle tickets for all the
wonderful prizes you have collected.
Finally, why not offer your customers an incentive to come? You could offer taster sessions. Make sure
they are limited to 15 min sessions to ensure everyone gets a turn and that you haven’t got your entire
audience tied up with one exhibitor for the whole event. Be firm but fair. Use a booking system to ensure
that both exhibitor and customer feel obliged to turn up. If you want to ask for donations for any of your
events, please give the customer a suggested donation (as it is always embarrassing trying to work out
what is or isn’t acceptable)
These could include:
A Fashion Show – this is even better if your supported charity has a local shop and the items are from the
shop – why not enlist the local high school or amateur dramatics company for models?
Cookery Demonstrations -
Make Up Demonstrations-
Photographic company – for portraits
Colour Therapists.
Aromatherapy and Treatment taster sessions-
Wine sampling – (you need a licence to sell alcohol but *donations are always welcome!!)
Craft Demonstrations-
Food Tasting ( a word to the wise – exhibitors must be registered with your local council if they intend to
sell food)
and
GOODY BAGS FOR THE FIRST 50,100 OR SO. Fill them to the brim with special offers, sample size
goodies – ask all the high street retailers and your exhibitors to contribute something – you’ll be amazed at
what you can achieve.
We’d love to come and support your event.
You have worked really hard to get to this stage, your committee has finally agreed on a date, venue, time
and theme – and you’ve even got some volunteers for the day! A minor miracle in itself.
One of the questions Exhibitors will always ask is “Who is coming?”. It’s really important for exhibitors to
know their audience. Like us, many stock a number of ranges and want to make sure they bring the right
products with them.
Other questions exhibitors may have is;-
How many people are you expecting?
How are you promoting your event (we have some great tips on this one!)
What time can we set up? (allow at least 1 – 1 ½ hours before hand)
What type of access do we have? If it’s upstairs, is there a lift? Some of our stuff gets pretty heavy?
Are you charging an entry fee for customers? (Exhibitors don’t like this as it tends to put potential
customers off – we’d rather pay a little more for our pitch.)
Have you got any competing products?– 10 Jewellery stands and 7 handmade card stands and a raffle
does not a gift fair make!
Is there access to light and electricity? – most stall holders like to bring their own lamps as village halls
don’t always have the best lighting.
Are you providing the tables ? – if you don’t have enough – hire them and ask stall holders to pay or ask
them to bring their own – Each table should be at least 6ft by 3ft and we would expect to have at least 2
tables.
Have you a design plan, don’t leave a gaping hole in the middle, arrange your tables so that customers
walk up and down between tables. Think IKEA! Charge more for wall tables or end tables if you want to.
Have you checked what else is going on in your area at the same time?
For example, don’t put all your effort into a playgroup fundraiser on the same morning as the Macmillan
Coffee morning – no-one will come! Likewise, a lot of the best stall holders will be booked in October for
Breast Cancer fundraisers and the really good fairs are booked up in march/april for every weekend in the
run up to Christmas. Our Christmas stock started moving in August!!!!!
What are you charging and do you require a raffle prize? Make sure everyone gets the same deal as
exhibitors will talk to each other, especially if there aren’t many people around.
Promoting your event
If it is for charity, then get the charity involved. Ask for representatives to come along with information for
your customers. Ask the charity to circulate the information in your locality. For example, there is usually a
local office for national charities, such as the NSPCC or perhaps there are care homes for your charity
nearby where patients, staff, family and friends would welcome the opportunity to show their support.
E-mail your friends and ask them to do the same. We are not advocating spam but no-one minds a quick
catch up from a friend.
Contact your local radio station at least 3 weeks in advance. Schedules are organised way in advance. If
you’ve missed the deadline – ask for a “shout-out” on the day and if they have time in their scheduling you
may get a mention.
Contact your local newspaper – if you want to advertise, make sure you have your charity number to hand –
most will give a discount but not unless you ask!
Find a local printer (we’ve got one in Colchester, mail me if you want to know who!), who will run off loads
of leaflets for a really good rate.
Ask local shopkeepers and businesses to advertise your event, enlist your volunteers and share out a
leaflet drop in the local area – you can always meet in the local for a glass of something warming after!
Ask local high profile businesses in the area for help with the costs, maybe they will sponsor the hire of the
hall, printing of leaflets, raffle prizes, advertising – I’m sure they’d love a mention for all their help. Many
businesses budget well in advance, so if you know you are going to have a Christmas bazaar, ask in
January or if you’ve left it too late – you can always push your luck by asking about their “contingency”
budget for good local causes – and speak to them, don’t write – it’s so much harder to say no than to write
a standard rejection letter! And if it’s still too late, ask them when they formalise their budgets and put a
reminder in your diary for next year.
Share your ideas with other local groups, go along to the W.I. meeting and tell them what you want to
achieve and issue them all free tickets – ask them to invite their friends. Does your son or daughter belong
to a group – ask their group leader to issue leaflets. Is your local playgroup struggling? invite them along,
give them a free table to promote themselves or fundraise in return for promoting your event. Do you or
does someone in your family belong to a book club? How about a local sporting club? Dance, Karate,
Football – give them a table in return for promoting the event and handing out invites and a raffle prize for a
free taster session?
Do you have a local celebrity that may offer their services for a good cause? We’ve got simply loads in this
area, who are always willing to pop in and open the event, sign a book, lend a few kind words and a
photograph supporting the event on your promotional literature
Don’t waste your resources doing your own refreshments – outsource them – offer this to a local catering
company for a small fee. Believe me, this is a fantastic promotional opportunity for them, money in the
bank for both of you and coffee to die for! Instead, spend your time selling those raffle tickets for all the
wonderful prizes you have collected.
Finally, why not offer your customers an incentive to come? You could offer taster sessions. Make sure
they are limited to 15 min sessions to ensure everyone gets a turn and that you haven’t got your entire
audience tied up with one exhibitor for the whole event. Be firm but fair. Use a booking system to ensure
that both exhibitor and customer feel obliged to turn up. If you want to ask for donations for any of your
events, please give the customer a suggested donation (as it is always embarrassing trying to work out
what is or isn’t acceptable)
These could include:
A Fashion Show – this is even better if your supported charity has a local shop and the items are from the
shop – why not enlist the local high school or amateur dramatics company for models?
Cookery Demonstrations -
Make Up Demonstrations-
Photographic company – for portraits
Colour Therapists.
Aromatherapy and Treatment taster sessions-
Wine sampling – (you need a licence to sell alcohol but *donations are always welcome!!)
Craft Demonstrations-
Food Tasting ( a word to the wise – exhibitors must be registered with your local council if they intend to
sell food)
and
GOODY BAGS FOR THE FIRST 50,100 OR SO. Fill them to the brim with special offers, sample size
goodies – ask all the high street retailers and your exhibitors to contribute something – you’ll be amazed at
what you can achieve.