Our funds were down too, but I talked our pres into doing another large fundraiser prior to Christmas. I have researched and I have found a company I am very happy with. I guess I will see how it goes. The rep I am dealing with is in my area and she and i have talked a lot so I am happy with working with her.

As for burn out... tell me about it. There are a couple different products out there I turn and hide when I see the kids coming to the door with the brochures. LOL

Later days.

It has to be the economy because our Fall sale was down about 15%. But like some of you, we've stuck with the same vendor for years. Why is it so hard to change? Maybe that's a topic itself. I've received feedback from some parents that it's hard for them to spend $10 on something that you see at the local discount stores for $2, even if 50% of it is going to the school. Hopefully, we can make it up.

Our sales were down 36% this year. Some thought it could have been the lack of hoopla created by the new chairperson, but I suspect it's a combination of things. The lack of hoopla certainly could have been a small part of it still. The economy and the fact that this same company has been used for as long as anyone can remember are what killed it for us this year, I think. I'm almost wishing we had switched companies like I wanted to, but everyone else on the board insisted that we stick with what we know. Who knows how sales would have gone with something different - it could have turned out the same after all.

This is only the second year that we've used this company, and we did quite well the first time. According to the rep, all of his schools are coming in under projections. Our school is also generally supportive, so hopefully this is an anomaly.

One thing that I've seen make a good bit of money (not thousands, but a respectable amount for the work involved) is family dinners in conjuction with meetings or other events. Nothing fancy, just pizza and drinks or something like that, and then charge by the slice.

A lot can depend on the company you might be using, and whether or not the product is marketable to your potential customers. Also, have you used the same company to many years in a row? There are some companies that will guarantee a specific amount that you will make. If you don't make it, the company will make it up. We used such a company last year. We hit our mark, but it was nice to know that if we hadn't, the fundraising company would have matched it.

Hi, we too had a disappointing fundraiser this fall...we made about 2/3 of our usual amount, so we are evaluating whether it was the particular catalog, or the year (we actually had a hurricane come through in the middle of the fundraiser which took us out of school for a week, among other things). Anyway, our school has always had a policy that what is earned in a particular year is spent that year, so I guess it works both ways: what is not earned is not available to put toward programs that year, and will need to be cut, with that explanation. The entire membership votes to approve the budget, so it is incumbent on all of the members to support it. If they do not, then things will need to be dropped. We believe that we can make probably make up the difference, but we had hoped that we did not have to run more than 1 or 2 fundraisers this year. Live and learn.