If you are just beginning a citrus fundraising program, we would suggest offering our Navel Oranges (in both Spring and Fall) or our Honeybell Tangelos (only available in January and beginning February) along with our Indian River Red Grapefruit (available during both seasons). These are by far our largest selling varieties, accounting for more than 90% of our total sales.
You may also want to consider offering our mixed carton of Navel Oranges and Pink Grapefruit. This carton has become very popular with smaller families and individuals who would like to support your organization but who do not wish to purchase a box of each variety.
If you already have an established program that offers Navels, Hamlin (Juice) Oranges, or any other varieties, you will most likely want to continue with those varieties unless the volume sold does not justify the additional effort associated with distribution. Get to know our citrus varieties.
Yes! Our Ship to Home program is completely hands free! No flyers to hand out! No money to collect! Your sale is run entirely online via your FREE custom website. All ordering and payments are done online. Your group will receive digital marketing materials to use to help make your online sale a success! We will ship their orders directly to your customer’s homes for a LOW flat rate shipping cost. We also ship nationwide (*Minus Alaska and Hawaii) expanding your customer range to friends and family out of your immediate area!
You can also combine our Ship to Home program with our Premium Program sales. Your supporters can choose to have their order included on the group truck delivery or shipped to their address of choice!
If you currently sell citrus as a fundraiser and do not see information on an item you have offered in the past, please call our offices. We may be able to provide you with a particular variety or mixed carton as we do special packing on a limited basis.
Note: Custom packing is only available during the fall season and is not offered in the spring.
Please note, it is a common misconception that by offering more varieties, your organization will increase sales. This is simply not true! You will not sell three times as many boxes by offering three times as many varieties. You will simply create three times as much work!
Some of our clients have attempted to boost sales by expanding the number of varieties they offer. A large majority of these clients have found their total sales remain the same. However, the time required to unload, sort, and distribute the fruit has increased considerably.
By limiting the number of varieties your group offers, you will achieve excellent results while keeping your distribution easy.
Yes, Florida Indian River Groves will provide your organization with full color promotional materials. These materials include: color product flyers, order forms, and money collection envelopes. We also supply a variety of digital participation letters, a digital social media packet, and other online resources. Make sure to download our Fruit Fundraising Mobile App to help not only increase participation, but increase your profits as well!
Also, be sure to check out the tips we've posted for numerous ways to promote your sale, and be sure to ask a member of our team for additional tips on promoting your citrus fundraiser.
If you’re interested in doing a Premium Program in the Fall with the truck delivery, we have two delivery options, Before Thanksgiving and After Thanksgiving. The breakdown for the delivery costs are as follows:
- 500 boxes and more- FREE Shipping!
- Under 500 to 100 boxes -$100 delivery charge
- Under 100 boxes -$349 delivery charge
We do our best to accommodate everyone’s schedule for deliveries, we do however ask you to be flexible in the event a specific time becomes impossible to accommodate. Unless prior arrangements have been made through our office, we cannot guarantee a specific delivery days for partially filled trucks.
For our Ship to Home Program, we ship nationwide (minus Alaska and Hawaii) directly to supporters homes!
Please reach out to us if you have any additional questions regarding delivery options!
Yes, our minimum order is 100 boxes. We do not deliver orders that fall below our minimum order requirement.
There is a flat $100 delivery charge for orders less than 500 boxes.
For our Ship to Home Online Only program, there is no minimum order amount.Your organization.
Our drivers are considerate, helpful, and most importantly, on time. But they are not required to unload the truck.
Therefore, you should have an adequate number of volunteers ready to unload the truck. The number of volunteers required will depend upon the size of your order.
Please keep in mind your truck driver may have additional deliveries to be made. Your assistance in unloading as quickly as possible is greatly appreciated by both the driver and the organizations that are expecting their deliveries after yours.
When the truck arrives, the fruit for your organization will be clearly marked and will be separated from the fruit intended for other organizations.
It is extremely important to verify the count as the fruit comes off the truck. Do not attempt to unload the fruit into a storage area and then count the fruit. It is nearly impossible to get an accurate count this way.
Please note that the numbers on the driver's manifest will be greater than your actual order. This is the result of the 1% overage that Florida Indian River Groves supplies at no charge to you!
Also, to assist you in both verifying the correct count and in distribution, all of our citrus is shipped in clearly labeled, color-coded cartons. You can find our Color Coded Packaging List under our Resources tab for reference.
Your Florida Citrus should be kept refrigerated. It will last longer in temperatures ranging from 35 to 50 degrees.
Also, it's important to let air circulate around citrus. Don't place your fruit in plastic bags or film-wrapped trays. Drops of moisture will form between the film and peel and will promote mold growth.
A special note about grapefruit: The skin of grapefruit can develop dark sunken patches if left refrigerated too long. After all, it's a tropical fruit so it's sensitive to cold temperatures, but only superficially. Blemishes on the peel don't affect the fruit inside at all. It's still delicious.
Read more about Caring for your Citrus FruitDon’t let the color of oranges bother you. Even though some oranges have a greenish tinge, they are fully ripe.
The skin color only indicates whether the outside temperatures have been cold enough to change the skin color from a green to a yellow-orange. Oranges turn orange not because they have become ripe, but because the cold temperatures destroy the green chlorophyll pigments, allowing the yellow carotenoids underneath to show through. When our temperatures are warmer, the trees are busy putting more natural sugar into the oranges rather than coloring the skin. In some countries where the weather does not cool below 60 degrees, the oranges remain green.
Oranges can be encouraged to turn an orange color by subjecting them to ethylene gas, which, like the cold temperatures, breaks down the chlorophyll in the skin. This process is called de-greening and while it may add to the appearance it decreases the shelf life of the citrus. Oranges can also be dyed to change the skin color. Florida Indian River Groves does not use dyes to give oranges their orange appearance. The USDA inspects our citrus and has guidelines concerning the color of the oranges that we adhere to.
So if your orange has a green appearance to it, rest assured it is ripe and ready to be enjoyed. The green tinge is only skin deep and has nothing to do with the quality of fruit.
Florida Indian River Groves ships Pink Grapefruit. However, the actual interior color of the grapefruit will vary from year to year depending on growing conditions. Some years the interior may be pinker in color while other years it may be more of a darker red.
Therefore, we suggest that you tell your members to describe the grapefruit as pink in color. Your customers will more than likely just want to know the grapefruit is not white grapefruit.
Our fundraising prices are generally released in mid-August (for Fall sales) and December (for Spring sales). Prices do not fluctuate much from year to year. You should be able to get an excellent idea of your profit margin by reviewing a copy of last year's pricing. However, if your organization would like to get an early start on your sale, prices can be confirmed at any time. Please call our office and a member of our team will confirm pricing for you.
At Florida Indian River Groves, you will find that our prices are highly competitive. Certainly, cheaper fruit will always be readily available. However, your decision to use Florida Indian River Groves reflects a decision on your part to offer your supporters the best citrus available anywhere.
Do not be fooled. Over 2,000 organizations cannot be wrong. Our citrus is unparalleled in quality and is available exclusively through our office. We do not work through local brokers or middlemen or ship to regional produce markets.
As a benefit of offering the best quality available, you will find that your sales will significantly increase from year to year and that your increase in sales will more than make up for a nickel or dime difference in price.
If your organization sells a full truckload or more, you will receive a $250 discount per full truckload. A full truckload is equivalent to 40,000 pounds.
Your business is as important to us as your fundraising is to you! Our team is always available to assist you at any time. Our success (and yours) is based upon providing you with our Finest Indian River citrus, ensuring that our citrus arrives on schedule, and providing you with our First Class customer service.
Call us today with any additional questions and to finalize arrangements for your sale.