HappyPurim’s blog

Important:  The dates below are simply suggestions. There is plenty of wiggle room in this timeline.  It’s often best to work BACKWARDS when creating your own timeline, based upon when you need to order supplies for your mishloach manot.

Important:  The dates below are simply suggestions. There is plenty of wiggle room in this timeline.  It’s often best to work BACKWARDS when creating your own timeline, based upon when you need to order supplies for your mishloach manot.

Important:  The dates below are simply suggestions. There is plenty of wiggle room in this timeline.

1. In June
   1. Make sure you get your contract in to qualify for the Happy Purim early bird discount (June 14)
   2. Identify the people who will run the fundraiser. Often it’s one or two people to handle the website and marketing of the fundraiser, and a separate group that’s in charge of the baskets.
2. In July
   1. Figure out where you’re getting your Honey jars or cards from.
   2. Compile (or get from organization office) a list of all the members in your organization. Make sure to double check for accuracy! 
   3. Send the list to HappyRoshHashanah.com support to update your online database or update it on your own. You can email the list to support@happyroshhashanah.com, but please make sure it’s in the proper format!
   4. Finalize all details of your Rosh Hashanah fundraiser and setup your account via the administrative website.
3.  July 14 – July 21
   1. Prepare an email and/or letter to your members informing them of the details of your Rosh Hashanah project. (HappyRoshHashanah has templates available)
   2. If you have a large contingent of non-internet users, prepare a physical order form or download Happy Purim’s order form.
   3. Have your order forms, envelopes and/or mailing labels printed. (not necessary if you’re only emailing your members)
   4. Make sure you have volunteers to help with the folding and stuffing on August 4th.
4. On July 27, Monday – Prepare mailing: Fold and Stuff!
5. On July 28, Tuesday – Mail or email order forms.   Typically 3-6 weeks is a good ordering window. Read this post for a discussion about the length of ordering windows.
6. September 1, 11:59pm (Sunday) – Deadline for placing orders
7. September 1 through September 8 – Print and Mail your cards or honey jars.

Make sure you include the names of the people sending to each recipient.  Using HappyRoshHashanah.com, this only takes a few clicks of your mouse!

Note that you’ve got a bit of wiggle room here to extend your deadline if necessary. Make sure you leave enough time to print and mail, and if you’re selling honey jars, enough time to place an order with your supplier.

8. September 14 – Rosh Hashanah! 
9. Sometime after Rosh Hashanah – Bill for reciprocity charges.  Not necessary if using HappyRoshHashanah.com, it’s automated!

You should modify the above timeline to fit your needs. If we missed anything, or you’ve got a suggestion to add please let us know!

We get lots of questions about this post from 2007. It’s likely because it was an overly simplistic answer to one of the most important decisions that you’ll need to make when running a Mishloach Manot fundraiser: How much to charge?

There really is no simple answer. Every community is different and every organization has different dynamics. Demographics play a large part in this decision, but the type of organization you are plays an even larger role. We see some synagogues with 1,000+ members in affluent areas that raise less than synagogues with 300 members in non-affluent areas.

What’s the key factor?  How well your members know each other. Are you a close-knit community? Do most of your congregants show up to your events?  If all of your members know each other, you’ll likely have very large orders, IF you price it right. If your members receive from 50 people on average, you can charge $2 per name, and you’ll gross $100 per recipient!

If your members don’t know each other, charging $1-2 per name won’t necessarily mean larger order sizes. And besides, you’ll need to charge more just to cover the cost of the baskets. If your members’ receive from only 1-3 people, you may need to charge $5-$7 just to cover your costs.

There are lots of ways to “play” with your pricing using HappyPurim.com, such as buy 5 get 1 free, or special group or bulk discounts, that have shown tremendous success.

There’s a lot more at play here that can be covered in a couple of blog posts. Please feel free to call us at 201-47-PURIM, or email sales@happypurim(dot)com to learn more about what we’ve learned from helping run hundreds of Purim project fundraisers over the years.

We’ve been getting lots of questions recently about pricing—specifically in light of rising food and packaging costs. The most important thing to keep in mind when thinking about raising the pricing on your shalach monos, is that it’s a tough time for many of your congregants (members, parents, etc.). Even if they haven’t been personally affected by the economic slowdown, many are afraid they will be affected and are thus cutting back on their spending. You should also keep in mind that there’s a certain threshold that people are willing to spend on Purim baskets—if you exceed that price point, many will make their own shlach manot or simply choose not to participate. That specific price varies by community demographic, but typically synagogues and schools that price their baskets as low as possible, have the highest participation rates, the most orders and the highest AVERAGE order size. People seem to become “click happy” if the price is low enough, and will send to many, many people.

So what to do about your Purim project this year? If you can, leave your pricing the same and market your fundraiser as being economically sensitive. Or raise your prices a small amount, say 25 or 50 cents. Or, our Happy Purim software offers the ability to charge a higher price for reciprocity orders, so you can leave your initial pricing the same, but raise your reciprocity prices. As always, please feel free to call, email or leave comments below.