I admit I'm the QUEEN of forgetting--I've been known to forget I have to do things within minutes of being told to remember--most people know with me to tell me to write it down on my calendar if it's important.
We've been pretty blessed with pick-ups with Market Day(now that I've said that I've jinxed it of course). We've only ever had one no-show, and average 150-180 orders a month. Probably because the majority of the orders are over $60, and we even had one for--get this--$650 last month--so this isn't money they're willing to throw away. We use the pie/cookie fundraisers with them without much success, but we generally kill on Market Day, so we try not to be to be too pushy with the extra fundraiser.
Usually when we see things laying around and the owners nowhere in sight, we give a call about 20 minutes beifre the end and they make it in. I send a memo with the order form with all the pertinent info about pick-up day, then we split up the order list the night before and call to remind people.
KNOCK WOOD--we haven't had to deal with a cancelled check yet. Our policy is to call the person and explain they need to make good on it (+ our fee), and if they don't/won't, we'll eat the loss, but they'll be blackballed from further fundraisers requiring a check.
I know Bertha is fairly successful with Little Ceasar's Pizza and Cookie Dough, hopefully she'll chime in.
That is exactly why I dread perishable fundraisers. The fact that you only had 5 not come is amazing to me. We usually have about 1/2 not come from a school of 466. We spent 2 weeks giving out stuff and then another 2 weeks giving out the stuff the compnay didn't get to us on time.
As far as the parent with the questionable order, that is why I like fundraisers where we get to keep a copy. 2 years ago a parent came to get their fundraiser and had all 3 copies of the form to show me and upon looking further into their envelop, they had the money too because they had never turned it in!
For bad checks, we are set up so our bank sends these directly to a company to collect on them. They recover the money for the check as well as the fee the bank charges us. This way we aren't begging people to pay, they can just pay the consequences.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
This has to be my least favorite fundraiser because of the pick-up issues. We also send out reminders, make announcements, and post the pick-up times on the school sign. Parents don't seem to be paying attention though. We start making phone calls about 45 minutes before the end of the pick-up time reminding parents that the cookie dough is perishable. We also let them know that orders cannot be held. The school doesn't have enough refridgerator space. I usually end up taking some orders home with me and asking parents to pick up from my home!
We have had parents show up to pick up orders that were never placed but once we start checking our records, they usually remember that they never sent the order into the school.
We always deposit all fundraiser checks at least one week before sending any products home. This allows us to notify the parents to send in cash or a money order or risk not getting the item(s).
We just finished our cookie dough fundraiser and the pickup date was yesterday. We had 5 people that did not come to pick up their orders. We sent home a reminder flyer last week, I put a remimder in the school newsletter that went home on Tuesday, and another reminder was sent hone on Wednesday. So as you can see there were plenty of reminders. The deadline was 6 p.m. to pick up the orders and we even tried to call the parents about 5:45 but never got ahold of them. The Prez said that we would wait until today to see if they showed. I'm not sure what we are going to do with them if they never get picked up, but that's not our problem because the orders were paid in advance.
We did have one issue pop up. A lady brought in the orginial order form (which was supposed to be sent to the school) and tried to pick up her order, but we did not have a copy of it in our files. Our money and our orders all equaled out. So the Prez told her that we could not fill the order as it was never sent in. She was not a happy camper. At the end of the night when we boxed up the orders that were not picked up, we found that we did not have enough extras to fill her order just in case there was a mix up. The Prez called her up and said that if she could bring him a canciled check from the order that he would make good on it. All in all we felt that we were being scammed.
Anyone else have a situation like this? If so how did your group deal with it? What about bounced checks? We ran into that also.
