I ran the Holiday sale for our K-6 school for 4 years. I had so much fun seeing the kids come in with their own money, straight from their piggy banks to buy gifts for their loved ones. My own kids were so happy to give gifts that were special because they picked them out and used their allowances to pay for them. For this reason, I was adamant that I would not run the event if the PTO chose to make it a fundraiser. I freely gave up my time all year long to shop for bargains on clearance items so the kids could afford their gifts. I did not shop so that the PTO could make money. I give happily to any other fundraisers that the PTO has and I even run some of them but I believe this event should not be a money maker.
Depending on how you are running your holiday shoppe. If you are inviting vendors (ie creative memories, pampered chef, etc) to sell items, charge the vendors a rental free for the table and then everyone can shop at the regular rate. If you don't want to charge the vendors a fee then ask them to donate something so you can raffle it off or use in a silent auction later.
There is nothing wrong with making money on your Holiday Shoppe. If you are short on funds, you can do something else to raise them, though.
But you should run your shop like a smart business.
If you offer everything at cost and items are not returnable, you have to sell everything to break even.
You can set a goal of breaking even by slightly marking some items up. Even then, if you purchase well and sell well, you will end up making a profit.
If you are using a service and choose to do a zero markup, you won't lose anything.
Decide/discuss/vote on what your goals are.
Let those goals guide decisions.
We made around $3 thousand last year running the shop completely on our own using online wholesalers last year. We had about 1000 students.
Our goals were to get better quality merchandise, on average, than the services, to price the items so that buyers get good value, to provide a quality holiday experience for our students, and to break even or better.
Some things at wholesale are so inexpensive that you can't possibly price them that low. Either they will be perceived as poor quality or they will sell far too quickly.
Pricing is complicated. This issue is way beyond a decision whether or not to try and make money. Make the shop the best you can and accept whatever financial results happen.
If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down. <img src=images/smilies/smile.gif>
You need to take a membership vote on this, no one has the power to decide this decision. It is common that schools not make alot on Holiday Shops or nothing at all so maybe that is where she is getting the strong decision from. It actually can be a easy way to make a few hundred bucks...
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
Unless your group by-laws give someone the authority to do so, no single person has complete say over what makes a profit. This needs to be brought to the group as a whole for a vote and the group decides how much of a markup there will be.
Some things can be done at cost - but as a new group you do need to have funds in order to then turn around and offer free or at cost fun activities/events.
An option to give this person is that she pay for the cost herself as a donation. Or that she find someone who is willing to underwrite the entire cost. Otherwise it should be a fundraiser for your group - it might be a good idea to specify what the funds will go towards. Or as a new group, say that you are using 50% of funds raised for your initial backup amount in your account and the rest will go towards .....?
Our middle school wants to do a holiday shop. I think it's a great idea. Here's the problem. Our Pres. wants to do it as no gain to us. I brought up the point that we are a new PTSO and since we have no funds, we need to do this for profit to gain some. She said NO! "I refuse to use this as profit, and I will not budge". Should we not vote on this? Is she in charge of what is and isn't as far as when and how we earn money? Maybe I missed something here but I thought in order to help out the school funds are needed. Otherwise why would we ask what we could help purchase/supply/support for the school? :confused:
