Candy, The Backbones of Fund Raising

Fund raising candy has been one of the backbones of fundraising for years and years. In fact, an estimated one out of every five dollars spent on fundraising products is spent on fund raising candy bars.

Fundraising Candy Sales vs. The Vending Machines

The profitable and easy-to-sell fundraising candy bar made good sense to many fund raising groups. And it was a great marketing tool for the candy bar manufacturers as well. Did you know that once upon a time, fundraising candy bars was larger than the candy which was sold in vending machines and in candy stores? People buying those larger candy bars from fundraising groups were thrilled with the deal they were getting and everyone was happy. That is the way it was until the price of chocolate began to rise. Then it became apparent that fund raising candy could no longer be priced at one dollar per bar and remain bigger than the vending machine candy bars. The manufacturers considered raising the price of the fund raising candy to $1.25 instead of a dollar but research showed that people would not support a higher price point. The only other alternative was to shrink the size of the candy.

Candy Wrappers Benefit Fund Raisers and Customers

In order to maintain the competitiveness necessary, the candy manufacturers started offering incentives to fundraisers and their customers. The fundraising groups selling their candy and the customers who were buying the candy bars both benefited. Hershey's began offering one dollar off Subway sandwich coupons on the wrappers of each of their fundraising candy. The thought was that the customer could get the full cost of their purchase back by using the coupon at their local Subway Restaurant. Hershey's also included extra coupons for Foot Locker in each fundraising candy carrier as an incentive to be uses as needed by the fundraisers. Those incentives did in fact make the fundraising candy more marketable over the candy available in vending machines or a discount store which was sold at the same or at lower prices. These coupons also revived the market for fundraising candy.

A New Brand of Easy-to-Sell Fund Raising Candy

During the chocolate price turmoil, companies like Van Wyk Confections capitalized by creating new brands of candy that were larger in size and could still be sold for one dollar. Van Wyk developed the Original One Dollar Bar that now claims to be the largest one dollar chocolate fundraising candy bar available.

Recently the sale of fundraising candy has made a strong comeback and is beginning to show real strength and growth. That is great news to all the groups that have come to depend on fund raising candy for their main fund raiser.