NJmom--I don't know! I was told to go to the Gaming Commission to get a "license" that covered "Games of Chance." When I spoke to the guy at the Commission, he didn't say anything about different types of licenses, just that I needed "one" and to get that we needed a year's worth of finances. Then someone from our PTA said that there were diiferent levels, and she didn't think you needed a year's worth of finances for some. I guess another call is in order to the Gaming Commission, because if there are different levels and we could get one for Bingo or Raffles, it would be a HUGE help!
We have done garage sales for several years now. It is a pain in the butt to sort, but pricing is easy. One price for each item. Even sorting the clothes wasn't hard. Just throw them on a table, they are going to get messed up anyways. The only thing we don't accept is under garments. (ewww) I have several different flyers that we used if you would like a copy. We always do our sale in winter because we don't have to compete with anyone else. It's worked out great. We store everything on the stage since it rarely gets used. Then the night before we put it all on tables in the gym. We have wonderful people that volunteer to work it. Then the following week, we donate everything left to Salvation Army. This year we did it during Parent Teacher Conferences. It seemed to go over well.
Our school has an annual sale on the playground - we rent booth spaces for $15 each. The parents who volunteer at the sale get a free space. We had crafters, tupperware, MaryK, scrapbookers, the high school spiritwear. It has turned into a fun community event. (I did a post on this somewhere)
You COULD take donations of items and have pure profit for the school - BUT - who is gonna store this stuff until the sale?
A few schools in our area do this - but it requires lots of volunteer hours - sorting - pricing - evaluating items that are sell-able.
It also takes "word of mouth" time. The first year might do okay - but believe me the 2nd year will do even better.
I'm sorry. In my previous post I should have said Good Will trucks. The other thrift stores may do it as well. (Leave the cargo beds in parking lots.) But I don't know for sure.
Sorry didn't mean to mislead.
It's been awhile, but so my memory is hazy. We used the actual parking spaces in the parking lots and sold them for something like 1/$15, 2/$20, 3/$25 (maybe $30)
We always try to specify "no clothes" in our donation requests (for our own booth), but we still get some. And they are a pain to organize and price.
JHB - How much did the 'rented' spaces go for? We were planning a similar event for May and thought $10 per table would be reasonable.
kmamom - By 'gaming license' do you mean a Bingo license? We are a new (NJ) PTO, and received our license for Bingo and Raffles within a few weeks of being approved for nonprofit status by the IRS.
