1. Gather your supplies.

To make each candygram, you’ll need three basic materials: candy, cardstock print-outs, and ribbon. Buy your candy in bulk, either by purchasing it online or partnering with a provider, to make sure you get plenty of it at a low cost.

You could have participants write their messages on regular paper, but cardstock will hold up better as you attach it to the candy and deliver the candy grams. Find a form online or create your own for each slip where participants can include these pieces of information:

• Sender’s name
• Recipient’s name (and contact information if you’ll need to deliver it somewhere besides your organization’s facility)
• Message

Finally, you’ll need some colorful but strong ribbon (curling ribbon holds up well and looks great!) to attach the cardstock to the candy.

2. Set your price per candy gram.

When deciding how much to sell your candy grams for, you’ll want to cover the cost of supplies and make a decent profit that will go toward your cause. But you also need to keep the price reasonable for participants so you’ll sell as many as possible.

This strategy is a good place to start for price calculation: 

• Figure out the cost of a single piece of candy, a single cardstock print-out, and a single piece of ribbon.
• Add each individual cost together. 
• Subtract the combined cost from your proposed price to figure out your profit per sale.

For example, if you figure out that the combined cost is $0.35, you could sell each candygram for $1, meaning you’ll make a profit of $0.65 on every sale. If you sell them for $0.75 each, your profit will only be $0.40, which may not be worth your time. But if you sold for $2 apiece, you’d make a whopping $1.65 in profit—and possibly drive away participants who don’t think one note and piece of candy is worth that much.

3. Open your sales point(s).

The two areas where you need to be strategic in your selling are time and location. You’ll probably want to open your sales about 2 weeks before the delivery date to give people enough time to buy candy grams at their convenience, but not so much that they forget about the fundraiser. Also, close your sales 4-5 days before delivery so you have time to sort and label the candy.

In terms of sales locations, setting up a table in a high-traffic spot, like a school hallway or office common area, is often the best way to sell candy grams to a large number of people. If you have the time and capabilities, you could also create a page on your organization’s website to sell the candy online.

4. Deliver the candy grams.

When the delivery date for your candy grams arrives, make sure you’ve planned an efficient way to get them all to the right people.

Deliveries within your school, office, or other organizational facility are fairly easy as long as the candy grams are sorted in advance based on the person’s likely location in the building. Check meeting or class schedules in your organization’s systems in advance to determine where recipients will be at what time.

If you’re delivering off-site, you’ll need several people who are willing and able to drive around town and keep track of addresses throughout the day. This might be more challenging, but with the right amount of preparation and motivation, you’ll be able to pull it off.