Fundraiser Expense Worksheet Calculator

How to help sellers understand the money

Most elementary school students sell simply because they’re excited about winning prizes. On the other hand, older students are better able to comprehend and appreciate why sales goals are necessary and what it’s going to take to reach them.

An argument can be made that if they have a greater understanding of what has to be done in order to reach a specific fundraising goal; they may be more apt to participate and work harder.

In other words, they'll take more ownership in selling because they understand what it’s going to take to achieve their objective.

The fundraiser expense worksheet calculator gives your students an active role in determining how many brochure items need to be sold in order to cover their expenses.

Add Up Your Expenses

Under expenses, in the expense items column, write down what it is that needs to be paid for. This is the purpose for your fundraiser. For example, if you are a cheerleader group you may be raising money for:

  • Camp
  • Camp Outfits
  • Uniforms
  • Travel
  • Equipment

Below the cost column, put in how much each thing is going to cost. If you’re raising money for more than one thing, make sure to add up the amounts and put the total in the total amount space.

Calculate How Many Items

On the right hand side, divide your total amount by 5. The average profit for each item sold out of a brochure is about $5. So if you need to raise $100, you’ll need to sell 20 items:

Total Items Needed = Dollar Amount Needed ÷ 5

Success Team Members

Effective sellers never go it alone. They’re good at asking other people they know to help them sell. Under success team members, right down your name and 4 other names of people you feel confident can help you sell. For example, you can ask your parents, older brother or sister, aunt and a close family friend. Below the items column to the right, write down the number of items that you’ll commit to selling, and the number of items that you plan to ask the 4 other people to sell. In our example above you could sell 4 items while asking 4 others to sell 4 as well. If successful, your team will have met your 20 item goal.

Additional Tips

  • You can also use this worksheet to calculate each student’s fair share goal.
  • Make copies of the worksheet and have your students fill this out at your kickoff meeting.
  • Offer an additional incentive and tie it into your students reaching the item goal. For example:
    • Everyone who reaches the goal will get their name placed in a grand prize drawing. For every 5 additional items sold, their name will be added again.
    • The first student to reach the goal and turn in their completed worksheet along with their order form and money envelope wins _______________.
    • Make sure to have your students write in what the additional incentive is on the worksheet.
  • Before turning in their worksheet, make sure students write in the item amount they ended up selling in the total items sold box.

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