Anyone hear of Raise Craze?

[karunamom3]

I stumbled across this 'no sell' fundraiser. I didnt delve to deep into it. Looks interesting, but scouts provide community service just to be good scouts. Any thoughts on it

https://kindness.raisecraze.com/no-selling-gen/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign_C-1819SCHL&utm_content=ADSG-64BYSTFR--AD-8RSA----receTI2O0dY1YY91K&utm_term=%2Bboy %2Bscout %2Bfundraiser&gclid=Cj0KCQiAk7TuBRDQARIsAMRrfUbWELgJoYxAksANe3ZcymIcYPndLZwwNHszsID9riBi1_GNg42uQxwaAnSNEALw_wcB

[mrkstvns]

13 minutes ago, karunamom3 said:

I stumbled across this 'no sell' fundraiser. I didnt delve to deep into it. Looks interesting, but scouts provide community service just to be good scouts. Any thoughts on it

https://kindness.raisecraze.com/no-selling-gen/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign_C-1819SCHL&utm_content=ADSG-64BYSTFR--AD-8RSA----receTI2O0dY1YY91K&utm_term=%2Bboy %2Bscout %2Bfundraiser&gclid=Cj0KCQiAk7TuBRDQARIsAMRrfUbWELgJoYxAksANe3ZcymIcYPndLZwwNHszsID9riBi1_GNg42uQxwaAnSNEALw_wcB

Interesting, but I see 2 potential problems:

* you are asking for "donations" --- generally that is the domain of councils, not units.   This is not dissimilar from the "rent a scout" fundraiser that other units have done in years past, but rent-a-scout doesn't specifically use the word "donation".

* if you're successful with your efforts, you're wasting 10% of your income on an unknown website without the kind of reach and traffic to actually generate real improvement. Cut their website out of the equation and you can pocket that wasted 10%

Edited November 14, 2019 by mrkstvns

[qwazse]

2 hours ago, karunamom3 said:

... 'no sell' fundraiser....

One of the redeeming features of fundraisers is teaching scouts salesmanship. Take the 'sell' out of the equation, and it looses its point.

[mrkstvns]

3 hours ago, mrkstvns said:

* if you're successful with your efforts, you're wasting 10% of your income on an unknown website without the kind of reach and traffic to actually generate real improvement. Cut their website out of the equation and you can pocket that wasted 10%

Let me explain my reasoning here....it all boils down to understanding "targeted marketing".

* Your unit is local, focused only on your community (probably within a few mile radius)

* Raise Craze is NOT a local, community-based info source:  its audience is global, not local.  The site is likely to have a local audience penetration of under 1%.

* Your unit is likely either a pack chartered by an elementary school or a troop chartered by a church

* Most schools and churchs have communication methods that reach their members, and those methods almost certainly have many, MANY times better local audience penetration rates than Raise Craze.  Leverage the school or church to reach the local audience.

* Word-of-mouth and door-to-door campaigns are likely to have many, MANY times better local audience penetration rates than Raise Craze. 

* Traditional print media (flyers) will certainly  have many, MANY times better local audience penetration rates than Raise Craze. 

Raisin Craze does nothing new (Rent A Scout has been done for years), and it is a FAR less effective way to reach your local market than traditional low-tech methods.....so promising Raisin Craze 10% of your take is a TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY.  

[HashTagScouts]

Not sure I like "selling" service.  feel like giving back to the community for raking an elderly person's yard, etc. is just something we should do to fulfill our "do a good turn", not make money off of it.  

[MattR]

Once a year we hand deliver an addressed envelope and a flyer to a few thousand homes. We tell them if they put out their old x-mas tree on the curb we'll recycle it. In return we'd appreciate a donation. It's a good fundraiser, completely based on the honor system, and the scouts have a bunch of work to do.

[mrkstvns]

15 hours ago, MattR said:

Once a year we hand deliver an addressed envelope and a flyer to a few thousand homes. We tell them if they put out their old x-mas tree on the curb we'll recycle it. In return we'd appreciate a donation. It's a good fundraiser, completely based on the honor system, and the scouts have a bunch of work to do.

Sounds like a good project!

This could also double as an individual or unit Hornaday project, if somebody chose to manage it that way.  There are several ways to turn x-mas tree recycling into an environmental project:

• run the trees through a chipper and use the mulch to plant trees. Some cities already set up chippers --- and let citizens take the mulch home for their own planting projects --- like Tucson does:
  https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2018/12/26/from-christmas-trees-to-merry-mulch-recycle-your-tree-this-holiday
• truck the old trees to a seashore and use the trees. This article tells how it's been done on the Gulf Coast, near Houston:
  https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/energy-environment/2018/12/28/316426/how-your-old-christmas-tree-can-help-protect-the-texas-coast/
• take the old trees to a park or public forest and use the trees for an erosion control project.  This article gives you an idea how it was done in the Washington DC suburbs: http://fosc.org/XmasTree.htm

Read more about Hornaday conservation projects here...
https://scoutingmagazine.org/2018/04/hornaday-award-scoutings-rarest-prestigious-honors/