Flower Wedding Hair Clips

School fundraisers are a regular part of the academic season almost everywhere, whether it's for sports teams, musical programs or extracurricular clubs. Often, promotional products such as candy or coupon books, Mother's Day flowers or Christmas trees form the backbone of annual school fundraisers. But custom stickers are a cheap, versatile promotional item often overlooked in school fundraising campaigns.

Anyone with basic design skills can put together a custom sticker, which can then be ordered online. Whether you choose to go with a basic design, such as your team or club's logo, or a phrase with a specific purpose, such as "I support the arts at Freemont High", a full-color sticker utilizing a die-cut or contour shape is a good way to make sure your design stand out and grabs attention.

Stickers are a great recession-proof fundraising tool because they have the highest mark-up value of any promotional product around-offering margins of as much as 300%, depending on the size and quantity ordered. Custom stickers can be sold directly, used to reward donations at events, and/or in conjunction with low-overhead fundraisers.

Selling custom stickers is a low-stress way for schools and clubs to generate funds through direct sales, due to the fact that a sticker is an item almost anyone can afford (typically retailing at $3 to $5 a piece.) That means students can sell them not just to relatives and friends of the family, but friends their own age as well. While the asking price is low, funds generated through stickers sales can add up quickly, while doing double-duty by helping to spread the word about your team, club or cause. A good way to drive sticker sales is to build in a prize or reward for those students or classes with the most sales during the fundraising season. Another way to generate added buzz for this type of fundraising campaign is to sponsor a contest through the art department for the best student sticker design.

Custom stickers are also a great way to encourage donations at games or other events. By setting up a table with information about the cause you're raising money for, along with custom stickers in return for a donation in any amount, you'll attract more attention and raise more funds than if you were simply trolling for cash. Often, you'll raise more funds this way than from simple sticker sales at events, as well-since donations can range from spare change to $10 or even $20 for folks who are truly passionate about your cause.

Custom stickers tend to work well with low-overhead fundraisers, as well. Say you host a student spelling bee, in which students gain sponsorship from friends and relatives for every word spelled correctly-custom stickers are a great way to thank everyone involved. Or maybe you want to do some version of the ever-popular "goat insurance" fundraiser, in which everyone in the school is asked to make a donation in a certain amount to insure that they are not given a goat-or any other "gift" people in general do not want. Custom stickers are great way to take an intangible fundraiser and make it feel more real, while thanking those who participate and giving them a way to show the world that they support your cause.

How ever you choose to use custom stickers, the low costs involved with this versatile promotional product makes it a clear winner for raising money, and one of the best school fundraising ideas out there.

Want more information on how to use custom stickers in fundraising? Check out Nonprofit Fundraising Ideas That Stick, an article available for free download at

Gillian James writes for , the Web's best source for low-cost, high-quality custom stickers, bumperstickers, labels and decals. Offering full-color stickers for band promo, non-profit fundraising, school benefits, business marketing, service compliance and more, Custom Sticker Makers also offers a popular online sticker-making tool. Interested in more marketing ideas that stick? Visit CustomStickerMakers.