Shoe fundraisers are perfect for groups of any size, and a great way to get involved with your community. You’ll be forward-facing when collecting your bins and your logo or group mission statement will be all over your area. But, like any fundraiser, a shoe fundraiser depends on the amount of organization put in before the fundraiser begins. There are many steps that need to go into the planning before you can start collecting shoes. But, don’t worry. Shoe drives can earn your group up to $3,000 in a 90-day span off of shoes, according to angelbins.com. Follow the steps outlined below for a successful shoe drive.
Select a Shoe Drive Facilitator
A shoe drive facilitator is a company, or benefactor, at the end of the drive who will determine the value of the shoes and write your organization a check for the value. There are many organizations such as angelbins.com who will happily take your collected shoes.
If you are part of a group raising money for a certain cause, Iook into shoe drive facilitator company’s missions. While all are for a worthy cause, most often donating to less fortunate individuals, some may align more with your group’s mission than others. If you have a shoe drive facilitator that aligns with your group’s mission better, it could help with getting more team members open to volunteering or opting for a shoe drive over other fundraising ideas.
Find Shoe Drive Volunteers
Find volunteers for your shoe fundraiser who are willing to help. The best place to start looking for volunteers is to look inward at your group. Remember that these volunteers will help with dropping off bins at local businesses, collecting bins on a weekly/daily basis. Selecting good volunteers is a key part of the shoe fundraiser. These volunteers will often know of great places to drop off bins for shoe collection, spreading the event via word of mouth, and will be in your corner to help if the process gets tough. They will also be the biggest advocates of the shoe drive as they get deeper into the collection process and will be able to sell the idea of donating shoes to people outside their circle.
Create a Shoe Fundraiser Schedule
Create a schedule to stay on top of the shoe fundraiser. This schedule will have your start date, bin collection dates, end date, and your meeting with the shoe drive facilitator. A schedule will help keep you on track for the shoe drive as well as help your team stay on top of weekly/daily collection, and when to collect the whole bin on the last pick up and takedown marketing materials. The schedule will also have a dropoff point of where you plan to store the shoes until your shoe drive fundraiser is over.
Like any schedule, understand that all dates are subject to change. If for the first few weeks you notice the bins are not full, leave them there for the next week until they begin to fill up and add more marketing to your schedule. Likewise, open communication to the places where your bins are located so they can call you if the bins are overflowing before pickup day. Having a bin with no shoes and having a bin overflowing can both cause negative repercussions to your shoe drive. When the bin has no shoes and has not for a long time, people may begin to wonder about the validity of the drive while if your bins are overflowing, people may be discouraged to leave their shoes as it will make the area look dirty.
Gather Materials
The materials for a shoe drive may seem simple: shoes. But, it is important to think of all the items that go along with a fundraiser. As mentioned in a previous step, you will need bins to collect shoes in. These can be simple Rubbermaid totes or cardboard boxes, as long as they can hold a large number of shoes before collapsing. Shoes don’t seem to hold much space until you put them together in one place, remember that when selecting the bin sizes for busy areas.
You will also need marketing materials to spread the word. Decorate your shoe drive bin with your organization, collection times, and what the donations will go to. It is important to not have one template for all your shoe drives but rather a theme. If you place a shoe bin in a school, you will want to appeal to kids but also the adults who pick their kids up from school. But, that message will have less of an impact if the bin is dropped off at a young professional apartment building or a library. Also, create flyers to be handed out or hung up in local areas as well as digital files to share on socials.
Angelbins.com has many great marketing samples to look at if you feel overwhelmed, or you can use Canva to quickly design materials.
Get Marketing
You have put in all the back end of gathering people together, now it’s time to get marketing. Partner with local businesses to put bins out in their lobbies and ask them to post about your drive on their socials. Offer them images to use on their socials so your marketing is consistent. Talk about the fundraiser on your own socials and in any groups you are in, when acceptable. For example, if you’re in a local mom’s Facebook group, mention the bins you’re putting up and where people can find the bins. Encourage a spring cleaning of shoes in their closets or old shoes their kid has outgrown.
Put up flyers in post offices, grocery stores, and schools. Ask your volunteers to post about it on their socials and groups and to mention it via word of mouth to people. If you feel stuck with how to market, check out angelbins.com for ideas of where to put out shoe drive bins.
Put the Bins Out and Watch the Shoes Come In
You’ve done it! All the organization you’ve put in behind the fundraiser will start to show as you watch shoe drive bins overflow. After completing the steps you now look like a fundraiser genius in your group and they will come back to you next time they need to fundraise!
Let us know how your shoe fundraiser went below and check out other helpful information on setting up a shoe drive and executing a shoe drive on our blog!
