Running a Bottle Drive Fundraiser

Tips for Successful Fundraising with Refundable Containers

Mar 9, 2009 Sharon Russell

When running a bottle drive to raise funds for your cause, use these steps to stay organized and maximize your profit.

Bottle drives can be a quick and efficient way to raise money for your non-profit organization, school, or team. Basically, a bottle drive requires your group to collect refundable items, sort them into specific categories and sizes, and count them into bags and boxes in prepartion for pick up or dropping off at a recycling centre.

Before Your Bottle Drive Day Arrives

If you spent time planning your bottle drive, running the actual bottle drive will be fairly easy. At a minimum, you should have registered to run a bottle drive in the area (if required), arranged to deliver your collected bottles to a bottle depot, recruited a team of volunteers to help, and gathered the necessary supplies.

When the Day for Your Bottle Drive Arrives

On the day of your bottle drive, use these steps to set up and organize the area for efficiently collecting and sorting refundable items:

1. Arrive early

Arrive at your sorting area a little before you expect your volunteers to arrive so you are ready to direct them and get them started quickly.

2. Set up a sign in and route sign out area

If you are tracking volunteer hours, provide sheets for volunteers to sign in and out. Also have route maps ready for volunteer drivers and route sign out sheets where they can indicate which route they are working on and which volunteers are with them. If possible, have drivers record their cell phone number so you can contact them while they are out, if necessary.

3. Explain the process

Ideally, your volunteers will arrive at the same time and you can give one explanation to everyone. Reviewing the process is particularly important when you and your volunteers are new to bottle drives. It ensures that everyone knows what is expected and what they need to do. If children will be collecting bottles, consider reviewing safety rules, such as:

Always work in pairs
Do not crisscross across streets to get to houses on each side - go completely down one side of the street and then up the other side
If they are invited into a house or yard, do not go in unless the driver knows exactly where they are and okays it
Know which organization they represent and why they are collecting refundable items, so they can explain who they are when they are asking for donations
Always ask for permission to take refundable items from someone's property. If no one is home, do not take anything. The homeowner may be saving refundable items for something else.
Always say thank you, even if they don't get any bottles.

4. Review safety issues with the drivers

Before drivers take volunteers out on routes, go through safety rules, such as:

They must sign out routes and indicate which volunteers are with them
Everyone riding in their vehicle must use a seatbelt at all times
Volunteers are not allowed to ride in the back of a truck or trailer
They must know where their volunteers are at all times, especially children
They should return collected items regularly, even if they haven't finished the route, so volunteers can stay on top of the sorting.

5. Assign volunteers to collect bottles

Get as many people out collecting refundable items as quickly as possible. The more people out collecting, the more money you will make. Just keep enough volunteers at the sorting site to sort and count items as they come in.

6. Set up the sorting area

Set up tables and trays as required for your sorting system. Then, set out areas where drivers can pull in near the sorting area to drop off recyclable items. Also set up an area to store filled bags until they are picked up or taken to the recycling depot. Lay them out in rows so you can easily count the number of bags or boxes.

7. Review the requirements for sorting and counting refundable items

Make sure the volunteers sorting items know which items are refundable and the rules for sorting and packaging them for refund. Also, make sure they can identify items and know how many of each item to put in a bag or box.

8. Call drivers to return

About a half hour before you plan to end the bottle drive, phone any drivers who have not yet returned from their routes and ask them to return so volunteers can sort the final items before cleaning up. If you do not have enough items to fill a bag, use a marker to record the number of items in the bag.

9. Load sorted items for delivery to depot

If you are delivering the times to a recycling depot yourself, load the bags and boxes into a truck or trailer for delivery. If you use a bottle recycling company, go through the bottle count with them and help them load their truck. Be sure to collect the check.

10. Clean the sorting area

Once all the sorted items are loaded into trucks, have volunteers dismantle the sorting tables and clean up any litter left in the area. Be sure you leave the area cleaner than it was when you arrived so you will be allowed to use the area for future bottle drives. Also, dispose of any non-refundable recyclables that might have been collected, as well as the plastic bags, boxes, and other containers the items were in when picked up for sorting. Throw out any garbage.

Running a bottle drive is fast-paced with a lot of activity and little time to waste. If you are well-organized, it will run smoothly allowing you to get many volunteers collecting and sorting the refundable items. With good planning and organization, your volunteers will know what is expected and be able to complete their tasks with minimal supervision or mistakes. At the end of the day, your bottle drive will have raised a significant amount of money for your cause and your volunteers will be happy, even if a little tired.

The copyright of the article Running a Bottle Drive Fundraiser in Non-Profit Management is owned by Sharon Russell. Permission to republish Running a Bottle Drive Fundraiser in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.