Have a story to tell?? We would love to hear from you!

Here at Fund Raisers, Ltd., we hear stories from our customers all the time as to why they are purchasing a personalized engraved brick. They tell us how much the brick means to them and/or who they are purchasing it for. If you would like to share your story, we would love to read it!

Bricks, Past and Present.

At Fund Raisers, Ltd., our chief guarantee for the quality of our bricks for your brick paver fundraiser is that we guarantee the legibility of our inscriptions for the life of the brick. The first question we hear from a large majority of clients in response to this guarantee is "Well, what is the life of a brick?"

We asked the same question of our brick providers, and they referred us to the many brick structures all over the modern world that have been in place since the 1800s. I thought the nineteenth century is great and all, but why not go back a little further?

St. Mary's Church in Lübeck, Germany was constructed between 1250 and 1350. It is Germany's third largest church and remains the tallest building of old Lübeck. It was constructed from many baked red bricks, a common building material in 13th century Northern Europe.

In the ancient world, and the world's oldest standing brick structure, the The ceremonial enclosure of Khasekhemwy in Hierakonpolis, Egypt was built sometime around 2686 B.C. and stood 29.5 feet tall with walls 16.4 feet thick. Almost 5000 years after it's construction it remains standing.

Monticello itself, Thomas Jefferson's palatial estate began construction in 1769 of bricks produced on the grounds of the property. It appears on the back of the nickel.

These marvelous structures are a testament to the tenacious nature of our most common earthenware building material. Today's bricks are more sophisticated than the sun-baked bricks of Khasekhemwy's time and while your experience may differ, you can rest assured of the longevity of your brick paver fundraiser.

The Fans' Wall of Fame

In the brick fundraising business, we find that the word "fame" is often attached to our clients' fundraising programs. NASCAR has the Hall of Fame®, in which they will be installing our commemorative bricks prior to the spring of 2010. Within Heritage Park at Progressive Field, the Cleveland Indians have used our engraved brick pavers to enhance the Indians' Hall of Fame. Both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Indianapolis Colts have had great responses to their Walk of Fame engraved brick program sales. And the Pepsi Center (home to the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche, the Colorado Mammoth, etc.) is about to begin a brick fundraiser for their Plaza of Fame at the Grand Atrium.

At Fund Raisers Ltd., we have a place in the Customer Service Center that we have labeled the Fans' Wall of Fame. It is a wall, upon which we maintain copies of letters, emails and photos that have been sent to us by customers who were so happy with our products and service that they took the time and made the effort to communicate with us and say "Thanks!" I would like to share three of these stories with you.

Mildred Titus has been a Minnesota Twins fan for a very, very long time. She is ninety-six years old! When she learned of the Tradition Wall that the Twins will be unveiling next year, she told her daughter-in-law, Margi, that she did not believe herself to be "worthy" of having her name etched onto the huge glass walls, among the names of such great players. Nevertheless, Margi ordered an inscription for her mother-in-law. It says: "In Honor of Mildred Elaine Titus." Margi also chose to purchase the optional glass replica, so that Mildred could have that at home. When we learned of the special circumstances of this order, we produced the glass replica as fast as we could, and were able to send it to her earlier than the scheduled delivery date. Once Mildred received it, she wanted to have a photo taken, to show her great joy at getting the replica. But we did have to wait a little while to get the picture. She insisted upon getting her hair permed before having her photograph taken!

Jaime Florencia was only twenty-three when he died in 2007, from complications due to Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. In his short life, however, this young Texan made it clear to everyone that he was an absolute and total Dallas Cowboys fan. His brick was ordered as a memorial paver by his mother, Rosa. The inscription says:

IN LOVING MEMORY

JAIME ROLANDO

FLORENCIA, JR.

A #1 FAN ALWAYS

Jaime was one of those great fans who supported his team, win or lose, and he wanted everyone to know it. His wheelchair had to have Cowboys colors (of course!) and when his van needed repainting, he insisted that they use the colors that would show his Cowboys pride. He even had a Dallas Cowboys jersey for the family dog!

It seemed only fitting to the family, therefore, that something that spoke of the Cowboys should accompany Jaime to his gravesite. His tombstone color is Cowboys gray, and the background of it has the Cowboys star and a halo etched upon it. Since his burial, his dad, sisters and some close friends have all had that star-and-halo image tattooed upon them, in loving memory of Jaime. When Rosa sent this terrific picture of her with Jaime at one of the last Cowboys games that Jaime was able to attend, she told us that her tattoo is in her heart, and that it helps her to envision her own precious Cowboys fan, watching the games from heaven through the opened roof.

Corinne Buffmire and her boyfriend had both been avid fans of the Chicago Cubs for more than ten years when he decided to proposed to her. He chose to do the proposing at Wrigley Field, the home of the Cubs. He had planned to do it on the actual corner of Clark and Addison (the world-famous entrance to the ballpark), but became so nervous that he dropped to one knee and proposed to Corinne between ticket windows 22 and 23. As a surprise wedding gift, she ordered a memorial paver, to commemorate their engagement. It says:

ENGAGED 12.12.08

JUSTIN & CORINNE

GO CUBS GO!

Corinne sent this photo to us, which beautifully captures their happy moment at Wrigley Field.

With such great fans, you can see why we have our own Fans' Wall of Fame in the Customer Service Center at Fund Raisers, Ltd. Happiness can be contagious, and we are honored to have the opportunity to share in such deeply personal and special moments in the lives of our customers.

Becky

Installation for Memorial Brick Fundraising Projects

Memorial brick fundraising projects are great, because they add the aesthetic appeal and durability of clay pavers while raising money for your cause.

Before potential memorial brick fundraising clients sign-on to do an engraved brick program, they often have a bunch of questions to ask regarding installation and installation costs.

We are not a brick paver installation company, but we have spent more than 20 years working with brick installation projects. Through the years, we have learned about some great resources. I thought it would be nice to share some of these resources at this time.

One of the best sites for brick pavers information is The Brick Industry. This website has a great deal of information about the advantages of using brick pavers as well as how to properly install them.

This link provides some resources that show the value of brick pavers. (The flash version of building with genuine clay pavers is good.)

The technical notes portion of their website has a lot of valuable information pertaining to installing brick pavers. The specific guidelines for installing paving systems using clay pavers, Technical Note 14 , and for installing paving systems using a clay pavers sand-setting bed, Technical Note 14A, are both very useful.

Pricing for installation can vary greatly from state to state, but this is a good reference point: Paver Search.

When you do the math and consider what it costs to install a 4x8 memorial brick verses the funds you raise with each paver, you can see the value. Remember that 1 sqft of pavers consists of approximately 4.5 4x8 pavers.

I hope that this information has proven useful.

Bill

Hospital Fundraising Ideas - Engraved brick pavers or tiles

Fund Raisers, Ltd. has been in business since 1987 and has seen an incredible amount of successful fundraisers. When we analyze the successes of our clients and break down the numbers into categories (Schools, Churches, Memorials, Parks, Playgrounds, Libraries, Zoos, Hospitals, Downtown Revitalization, etc.), I am always amazed at the results.

Though the programs vary within each category, one of the categories that is always towards the top of the list is Hospital Engraved Brick Fundraisers. When we first got into this business, we never could have guessed that hospitals and medical care facilities would make up such a large percentage of our clients. In hindsite, I that guess it does make sense because of the emotional connection that people have with these institutions.

Two of the greatest moments in my life were the births of my children. When I think back to those two experiences, I feel connected to both of the hospitals. As a child growing up in New York, I can vividly remember how excited I would get every time that I passed the hospital in which I was born. I would proudly exclaim, "That's the hospital where I was born." That connection will always be there.

Additionally, medical care facilities, and the great people who work there, have a daily impact on the lives of many people in many other ways.

Recently, I was going through the pictures of some of our successful commemorative brick fundraisers and saw this picture of St. Luke's Hospital. It reminded me of a local newspaper article that I had read. I searched the web to see if it was still posted. Surprisingly, the article is still posted for all to see!

St. Luke's Commemorative Brick Fundraiser - Bricks Tie Hospital to Patients

To me, it captures the essence of doing an engraved brick fundraising project for a hospital or medical facility.

Funny that I just finished the Finance 101 group and am immediately able to present such a perfect example of the free marketing / advertising that I was talking about.

Life is good,

Bill

Personalized Bricks - Finance 101, Part 6 - Each Phase of Your Engraved Brick Fundraisers Adds Revenue

A beautiful thing about memorial brick fundraisers is that they never have to end.

We have many clients who continue to install their memorial bricks every year, in order to accommodate new donors.

Many hospitals and medical clinics that have memorial brick (engraved brick) fundraising programs leave signs next to their installations, with instructions as to how potential donors can sign up. Every day, hospitals and medical clinics affect the lives of many people through their good deeds. This means that every day, there is another opportunity to connect potential donors to that group's engraved brick fundraiser. Once donors sign up for a brick, they are given the date of the next brick installation.

This is also true when it comes to doing school engraved brick fundraising programs. Every year, a new group of students enters a school. These institutions leave a lasting mark on those who attend. Many of our schools do an install for their engraved bricks once a year, for all their new donations.

Financially, the biggest opportunity for your brick fundraising program is your first install. Many of our most successful memorial brick fundraising clients have made their installation a community event, with full press coverage. This local publicity inevitably proves to be valuable in helping to immediately kick off sales for their next phase.

To get more information about brick fundraising and marketing for all phases, just see our company website. Specifically, I think that the information from the fundraising ideas and frequently asked questions areas are helpful.

I have also written about marketing opportunities for your memorial brick fundraisers in past blogs.

Here are some of the links:

http://fundraisersltd.blogspot.com/2009/07/finance-101-part-3-no-money-down.html

http://fundraisersltd.blogspot.com/2009/07/getting-you-brick-fundraising-program.html

Bill

Personalized Bricks - Finance 101 Part 5, Marketing for a Successful Engraved Brick Fundraiser

The proper marketing of your engraved brick fundraising project has probably the greatest impact on your finances. As I mentioned in earlier posts, personalized brick fundraising programs generate very good returns (margin) on individual brick sales. Every additional brick sold means that your organization has raised more money. Marketing is the key to making all of this happen.

Part of the marketing process for all brick fundraising programs is setting the optimun selling price for your brick. When it comes to generating the maximum revenue, setting the right price is important. This is trickier than it may seem on the surface.

An example might go like this:

Price Point---- Quantity Sold---- Profit Per Unit---- Total Profit
--$50--------------- 1500-------------- $30--------------- $45,000
--$75--------------- 1000-------------- $55--------------- $55,000
-$100--------------- 500--------------- $80--------------- $40,000

When it comes to pricing, you typically get higher demand (unit sales) at lower price points. In this example, setting the price at $100 would have generated less total revenue than would a $75 price, because of the higher demand. But notice that this did not hold true for the even-lower price of $50. This is because, in this case, the increase in demand (unit sales) did not offset the lower profit-per-unit difference. In this example, the $75 price would maximize profit.

Now this is just one example and each individual project must be evaluated based upon the organization, potential donors and the demographics of your area.

Other topics that fall under the category of marketing, that can also have an impact on the finances of your personalized brick fundraiser, have been discussed in other sections of this blog. I am going to post links to useful information in our website and blog.

Fund Raisers, Ltd. website marketing - Click here

Marketing Your Brick Donor Fundraiser - Click here

Other marketing ideas - Click here