Most of the student body walk to school, so the parents do not want door-to-door sales. We try to find other ways to fund raise without too much parental sales, or too costly! If you do too many little projects, people complain about nickel and diming you. Here are some of the things we do:
Popcorn sales...you must have a industrial popcorn machine...like in the movie theaters. Find a supplier. We have small bags and charge the students 25 cents per bag. There are just under 400 students in the school and I fill about 150-200 bags per week. It's great if you can get a volunteer parent to do this. As you know, I go in early on Fridays to do this...I try to get there between 7:30 to 7:45. The classes send a student down at 9:00 to buy the bags. I keep a record so I don't over pop. This maybe collected just before recess too, so the person popping doesn't have to come in as early. Profits are about $35.00 per week.
Ice Cream Sandwiches...I called around the ice cream parlors in the area. We have ice cream sandwich day once a month, on the last Wednesday. I do this also. The week prior to ice cream day, money is collected. Each class has an envelope with a attendance list. On Friday I count the money and order the ice cream. On Tuesday(the day before ice cream day) I pick up the check from the school, go to the ice cream parlor, pick up the sandwiches and put them in the school freezer. On Wed. morning I bag all the sandwiches with the class list. The morning kindergarten classes get their's before recess and the rest of the school gets their's in the afternoon. This sounds like a lot of work, but it only takes me about 45 minutes on Friday to count the money, 10 minutes on Tuesday to pick up the ice cream and about and hour's time on Wed. I do the deposit on Wed. too. Profits are about $80.00 per month.
Cook Books...always sell well. Check with local publisher...some have special rates and can help you with lay-out. Ours only required the edited recipes and artwork for each section of recipes. We got about 150 of people's best recipes and sold for $8.00 each. I'm not sure on the profit...but they sold well. This may-be done about every 5 years...so you don't get an overlap of recipes.
Coffee/Tea/Hot chocolate...last year the fundraising committee had a meeting with several reps. from fundraising companies. We decided on a local company so it would be easier to get more stock if required. One of their products was selling 3 packs of flavored coffee in a bag tied with a ribbon. Also Higgins & Burks(a restaurant quality)tea and a very rich hot chocolate, both in various flavors. This did very well for we did it two months before Xmas. We only had the order forms out one week and profited $3,000.00! It was a product that nobody had seen before, many had bought it for stocking stuffers.
Special lunches...this is done by the students of the senior classes. They have pizza days. The same as ice cream sales...money collected the week before. The senior classes raise money for their special campouts.
Snack shop...also run by the senior classes. The teacher goes to Price Club/Costco to get the snacks. It is all done by the students. Again the money goes to their special campouts.
Fun fair...we never did get this on off the ground this year, but hope to next year...with popcorn sales, ice cream sales, cookbook sales included...it should make lots of money!
That's all we've done so far, but here are a couple I found in a magazine:
All-Star Quilt...send a small square of material(and a return envelope) to every celebrity you've heard of. Ask them to sign and return. Make a quilt with the returned squares and auction it off. When a social worker in Canada mailed out about 300 squares, close to 150 recipients, including George Burns and Anne Murray, responded. They made 4 quilts. BENEFIT-Few volunteers, minimal expenses. HINT-It's time-consuming; sewing skills a must. P.S. The Queen and Fidel Castro did not sign squares.
Cow-Patch Poo Drop...Rent Old MacDonald's field and mark off a cow parch, grid- style, with white chalk(Football/baseball). Each family/person buys a square of cow patch. At the day's end, when the picnics are near done, bring in Bessie the cow. The lucky owner of the square what Bessie plop-plops in wins. When Canadian United Way group held their first Donkey Plop Plot, they sold 700 tickets, raising almost $3,500.00, and the donkey did his business in half an hour. BENEFIT-Minimal preparation. HINT- Guarantees laughs, not good taste!
I hope these ideas will help you in fundraising! I'll be posting more as ideas "pop" up! Please share any of your ideas!
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