Organize Your Friends: Call your friends and choose a student team leader to coordinate and oversee the activities. There is no cost for students or a school group to participate in a Build-A-Book fundraising party. Minimum recommended quantity of students needed to make some noise at a fundraising party is 10 students. There is no maximum!
Contact your school group advisor: An adult advisor must be present at the fundraising event. The student team leader would manage the event with the guidance of the school advisor and the OfficeMax store. To get in touch with your school advisor during the summer months, check a phone list from a previous year, click on your school's website to obtain contact info, or call the school admin office. Once your school advisor and your friends are ready to register for a party, contact your local OfficeMax store.
Plan the fun: Develop plans to make your event memorable for those participating. Think about making snacks or working with a local merchant to provide snacks. Music? Talk with the store about piping some fun music into the store PA system during your event. Make this event special to your group. Bring some samples of your talent to show to customers. If you are the cheer squad, announce and have a demonstration. If you are the science club, bring samples of your projects from a previous year. If you are raising funds for a trip with the Spanish Club, bring pictures of your destination or create a themed event.
How to Register: School Advisor should call the store to reserve a time for your party at the Creation Station. Your fundraising party will last for three to six hours. The store will have you complete a registration form and your school group will need to submit a copy of a signed W-9 form. Each school group will need to provide a signed copy of your school group's W-9, which can be located at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf. If your school group doesn't have a W-9, then you may use the school W-9 or school district W-9. OfficeMax needs a copy of your school group's signed W-9 to process your donation check. The address on the W-9 will be the address that the donation check is sent to.
Be sure to get the registration and tax forms:
Download a registration form / Download a W-9 form at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf
Use our online store locator to find a store near you.
Promote the event: You and all of your friends would help to promote the event leading up to your fundraising party! Once your event is confirmed, students will get flyers from your local OfficeMax store to distribute to friends, family, neighbors, businesses and anyone else that might need a customized notebook.
Work the event: To make your party a success, you need to let everyone know when you will be working at the Creation Station. When we say "working" we mean having fun by promoting the party to friends and family members and encouraging participants to come up with creative notebook ideas during the event. Remember, the more notebooks you sell, the more you earn. You can even turn up the music and serve snacks. After all, it is a party!
Create notebooks: On the day of your party, you'll help your friends create their customized notebooks. Get creative! If you want to do something unique in the creation of your notebooks, talk with the store manager to see if they can accommodate your idea request. The Creation Station will be stocked with all sorts of papers and supplies to make one-of-a-kind notebooks. Each notebook's retail price is $5.99.
Raise funds: $3.00 from each notebook sold will be donated to your school group.
The Creation Station is available at all times during the Back-To-School season, but fundraising dollars will only be allocated from the notebooks raised during the designated party timeframe. So sign up today to raise some funds for your school activity!