Hexbug Fundraiser Update

[Jason Morrella]

We've had some teams ask us if we've gotten feedback from schools using the Hexbug Fundraising program so far, what the demand/success has been, and so on. Here's an update for those interested:

In the first 6 weeks since we announced the program, we've already had over 100 different schools place Hexbug fundraiser orders. School feedback has been very positive, with the Hexbug being a very popular, quick and easy sell. Sounds like the 5 most common groups students are having success selling Hexbug to are: family, other students at their school, neighbors, at school functions (games, fairs, etc...) and businesses (typically of parents).

The average profit reported by teams so far is in the $1,000-$1,200 range. Some schools have sold a few cases to make a few hundred dollars, while some have reported so much demand/success that they've already sold 40-50 cases (raising between $5-8k for their teams).

We're thrilled the program has been a big help to many schools in reaching their fundraising goals, and hope the program has helped many schools fund their FLL, FTC and/or FRC teams. One school informed us that the $ they earned with the Hexbug fundraiser allowed them to start an FRC team they previously thought they could not afford, in addition to the FTC team they had originally hoped to fund with the sales.

We hope everyone participating in FLL and FTC are having (or has had) a great season. We wish all the best to all FLL, FTC and FRC teams in the upcoming events and season.

Happy Holidays to all,

Jason (and all of us at IFI)

[Jason Morrella]

Attention anyone in St. Louis:

On a side note, I got an email yesterday from someone in St. Louis asking if there was a school in their area selling Hexbug. Sounded like they want to buy some for Christmas gifts and wanted to see if they could help a local school before just buying them online.

So - if any school in St. Louis reads this and is doing the Hexbug fundraiser, please let me know (and how to contact you) and I'll direct that person to your team.

JM

[Richard Wallace]

Thanks, Jason. Our team is taking orders. I PM'd you with contact details for two teachers who are coordinating this.

[vivek16]

Our team and I are very excited to be doing this. We will order monday morning hopefully. Thank you so much for doing this!!!

-vivek/team2264

[synth3tk]

We aren't in St. Louis, but I sent our mentor an email about this program. Hopefully we will start selling them at games soon.

[dlavery]

Our 10 cases arrived today. We didn't even have time to get them unpacked and ready to give to the students on the team to start selling before one case was completely sold out. The teachers in the room were buying them 2 and 3 at a time.

-dave

[Ryan Dognaux]

Our team purchased 10 cases and sold over half of them in our first attempt. These are a very easy sell especially now before the holidays. One thing I have to note though - no one wants the yellow Hexbug. It just doesn't sell; people want blue ones the most. I don't suppose there's some way we can exchange some yellows for some blues and greens? Just wondering.

[Steve W]

I tried to interest our teacher but it was a cold reception. The Canadian Director bought some and brought them to the FLL Tournament for us to sell. We only brought 3 cases and sold out very quickly. Now the teacher is getting an I told you so from me. We will be selling them at the Ontario FTC Championship next week.


GREAT idea and thank you for this great fund raising tool.

[vivek16]

Our school colors are blue and yellow. I don't know if that will make a difference in what colors are sold though. In a school of 3200 kids before the holidays. I think that ten cases will sell in one or two days. I hope we have to order more!

Our sponsor is matching all of our fundraising and our mentor who works or PTC is trying to get them to match our funds too! I think that will work out good

-vivek

[aksimhal]

The HexBug Fund raiser is the one of the best I have ever seen. These bugs sell like crazy. It helped us raise over $1000! Thanks IFI!

[vivek16]

oh we are going to get money out of this all right.

I might just kill myself in the wait for them to arrive by friday...

-vivek

[Lagaco]

I have a question about the logistics of selling. Other than Hex Bugs that are sold at events, how are schools handling the record-keeping and finances? Do students have to sign a paper for any Hex Bugs they receive, and then are responsible for the money? Are parents signing for them?

I appreciate any feedback as we should be receiving our first Hex Bugs this week.

Thanks,
Lana Cohen
Team #1900

[TKM.368]

We bought 10 cases back in October and sold them to a number of teachers in our school, dozens to employees of our sponsor company Hawaiian Electric, and a bunch at the Oahu Bridge Battle Vex Tournament we organized on Veterans Day. We had a lot of orange and yellow leftovers (green and blue went the quickest). The rest sold out in a flash at the Hawaii FIRST Lego League Tournament we hosted last weekend. All in all, we were quite pleased with the sales (we made more money with them than we did in food sales at the FLL tournament) and would highly recommend other teams consider selling them as well.

[vivek16]

We just got our ten cases today and decided to sell them because of parent teacher conferences. We sold well over 70 in about three hours. I think that between the basketball games and lunch, we will run out tomorrow...

It was funny when people asked if we made them ourselves

-vivek

p.s. definitely do this fundraiser.

EDIT: nobody seems to want the pink ones...

[synth3tk]

Told our teacher about them, let him know all about these teams having success with the program and such. We'll be ordering our cases pretty soon.