No gate to see the result. Put in the group, how many people will ask friends, family, and neighbors, a whole-dollar goal, and weeks until the money is needed. Then say what selling price this group is comfortable asking, and how people will order and get the items — packets that go home, show in hand, a checkout link, or a mix. Profit dollars come back first. Percentages are last on purpose.
This is a worksheet, not a promise. What a family pays is not what the group keeps. These dollars are planning estimates — do not take them to a booster meeting as a guarantee.
What the inputs actually mean
Group type is not decoration. A school, a team, and a club keep different calendars — pick the closest match, or Other. Headcount is the number of people who will ask friends, family, and neighbors — not enrollment, not the email list, not last year’s roster. If you cannot name the people who will take a packet or a link and use it, you do not have a headcount yet. Type digits only. The goal is whole dollars — 5000, not 5k or five thousand.
The goal is a dollar figure with a date attached. “As much as we can” is not a goal. Weeks until the money is needed sets the last-safe-order date, not a shipping guess. The selling price the group asks — $1–$3, $12–$15, or $20–$25 — is not profit. How people order and get the items is the work: packets, show in hand, a checkout link, or a mix. Read order-taker, in-hand, or online before you vote a cover.
How to read the result
Three program shapes appear: order-taker catalog, in-hand / ship-to-home, and online with no cash handling. The closest-fit card is the one that matches how you said you want to run it. Each card leads with total profit dollars and profit per person asking. Items each to hit the goal is counted on what the group keeps, not on the price a buyer pays. Share of goal is smaller type because a pretty percentage with an impossible item count is still a miss.
Email me this plan stores the same numbers, scores the group, and shows what happens next on this page. A group with at least 20 sellers, a goal of at least $2,000, and a deadline inside 120 days is flagged for a same-cycle look. Everything else is nurture. Template downloads are tagged separately and are never treated as sales leads.
When this calculator is the wrong first step
If the ask is for one family in hardship, stop. That is personal crowdfunding. If the money is needed before any honest last-safe-order date, shrink the goal or pick an event, do not force a catalog. If you cannot staff a sort night, do not pick a shape that dumps inventory in a gym.
Use the goal planner when you already know the headcount and want the per-seller dollar. Use the participant calculator when the goal is fixed and you need to know how many people must sell. Use the program comparison when the committee is arguing slogans instead of dollars.