Rouse, don't feel like this is an unusual thing. We are trying lots of new things this year because the old ones were getting old and we are having problems with national businesses telling us they don't want to deliver said food product because we should have sold much more than what we did. This business is a 70 minute drive from here but a student's parent is a manager at the store and said he could deliver the items because it was his day off and now he's not sure. There is no way we would have ever signed up for this, I know I wouldn't have, if I would have known that someone (me) was going to have to waste half the day in the car to get this done. We also worked with a company for our Fall catalog sale and they didn't have items in stock and didn't get them to us in a timely manner and were not good at communicating dates and times with the principal-who isn't real easy to work with in the beginning-and when parents are complaining to me, I am telling them that we promise not to use these guys again. I definately feel your pain.
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
In the past we have always used Home Interior Candles for our "small" fundraiser, however, this mother & her family moved to a different school, same district but a different school. A mother who sells Party Lite Candles came to me saying that she could sell us the same candles as Home Interior for the same price and that we should consider her because her children attend our school. So I took a chance and used her...it did take forever for her to get the sale brochures and forms to the children. I had to beg and beg. Then to my dismay, I arrived at the school two weeks ago and the brochures had been distributed. These did not have the products she had promised that we would sell. It was promised that we would sale (as in the past) the nice jar candles. However, on the brouchures it was votive candles (6-pack) or tea light candles (12 pack). I was dumbfounded and angry and the teachers & staff complained wanting to know where the jar candles were - how nice they were to give as gifts! At this point the children had already gone home - we have 1,100 children in K-2 at our school!! It was too late for me to pull it because the kids were now out for Thanksgiving Break. So all of this just to say in the past the candle sale has made approximately $5,000 - this sale only $1,200. Of course the effects our budget and how much we can spend on our playground equipment. Certain prizes were promised to the top sellers and now I am being told that since the sale was not as profitable as she predicted, that the prizes would not be as nice. This has been such a headache.
Originally posted by backhoed: Did someone edit a post or something? Who said it is a fundraising nightmare? The statement appears out of the blue.....???
We have a policy not to officially use things like Party Lite since so many parents in a district can sell it, then you get into the issue of who does it etcetera, which is what I suspect your problem is. Once you let Party Lite in, then the Home Interiors mom wants to do someting, then Pampered Chef, then before you know it, it's never ending.
By officially, I mean in the school. One of my member's sisters is rep for a type of home sale company, and is having a party soon, and said on her invite that she's donating her profit to our group. I OKed this since it's in a private home and no different than having a party on your own.
