9x12 EDDM (Email only) or a Don Alm Strategy (Email only?)

You're definitely on the right track to a good system for creating a passive income. This WILL work provided your scripts are working (leads are coming in) and your follow-up is systemized and working. The follow up is actually going to be your biggest problem to solve, but you won't realize it until you have the lead generation solved, so work on that foremost because with enough leads you can compensate for follow-up to a degree.

Once it all clicks together, you have a money machine, I can guarantee you that.

1. Organize your calling lists to be as efficent as possible. You want the callers only calling high probability prospects. If they're spending 70% of their time calling corporate chains and businesses that won't take to advertising on 9x12 you're just burning money.
   
2. Use scripts that simply get the prospects interested enough to want more info and a follow-up. Don't waste time trying to sell them all over the phone and scaring 90% of them off. This also makes sure you can always use low-cost callers and won't require finding talented expensive phone salespeople.
   
3. Train the good callers (if possible) on how to get through gatekeepers and reach high-budget prospects
   
4. Create pdf's that give various amounts of information from very basic to very detailed, and use the appropriate collateral for your follow ups. Follow up AGGRESSIVELY, this is where your money will be made. You'll need a good solution for tracking follow up.
   

And don't forget you'll need to get all your bookkeeping and recordkeeping in place too, this is a real business not a hobby.

Jeremy,

Part of your post says:

What I'd like to do is to get a school (or school district) to give us permission to use their name/logo/permission to raise funds on their behalf, and then after we get 10-20 businesses to give us permission to put their information on this card, contact the larger companies/HR departments in that area and get them to buy a card for each of their employees, of which I'd give 30% back to the school.

Have you ever worked with school districts? I have and still do. Getting them to give you permission to use their school logo will be an effort in itself. In fact, they may refuse outright or more likely they will drag their feet for years.

Not to hurt your feelings but you aren't the first guy to walk through the door with a "fund raising" idea. I see them all the time. In fact, in my local district, each school gets visited by up to 50 "fund raisers" a week.

What sets you apart from the candy people? The calendar people? The XXXXXXX people?

You also mention you'd give them 30%. How did you come up with that number? Do you know how much other fund raisers are giving to the district? Do you know if every school in the district is using that particular fund raiser? Do you know if the schools have their own autonomy to decide what, if any, fund raiser they will use?

I have a fund raiser that will give them up to $5000 with no strings attached. Do you know how many schools said, sure, we'll do your program? 1.

Now that could be I am a bad sales guy. Or, it could be the schools are desensitized to hearing about how much money they will get. Remember, they have a ton of people making big promises and delivering little or no results.

Another point: Schools don't rely on fund raisers for their budgets. Fund raisers are the icing on the cake so they will have extra dollars. One administrator told me they are actually a pain in the ass. Imagine that, nobody looks at it from the other side or bothers to learn what the school people think. That my friend is worth its weight in gold should you use it.

I am in no way defending or speaking for schools or saying your idea isn't worth a hoot. I'm sharing my experiences and hopefully have given you some food for thought.

Good luck in your endeavor.