The policy of giving the perishable items away is understandable, but very harsh. If 7 out of 60 orders were not picked up, that is over 10% of your fundraising participants that will have an extremely negative view of participating in any more school fundraisers - and it sounds like they will try and spread the word to others.
Whenever possible, you want to have a backup plan for the cookie dough that is not picked up (possibly a school or grocery store freezer). I would suggest announcing a stringent policy suggesting that these items may be donated if not picked up, then phone the no-shows towards the end of the pickup window, and doing whatever you can to try and keep the cookie dough cold. I realize this is a pain and really should not be needed, but sometimes is easier than dealing with the fallout. And, more importantly, will keep the parents, children, and other supporters of your fundraiser happy.
Hi...I can feel for you. WE did pizza kits for two years and last year ran into a whole mess of issues with orders not being picked up. WE then did a cookie dough fundraiser this last fall with our first ever catalog sale. We had merchandise for over a week, we are lucky enough that we have it in "good" with the kitchen staff so we stored them in their freezer til people came in. We would call the next day after pickup and remind them but that doesnt always work. We decided that we will no longer do perishable products at all. With all the headache we feel we could do something else.We didnt make alot on either so that helped us decide easier=) I like the donating thing, i dont think it would score points at our school. I dont know what to say excpet stand strong and don't give up. We just Had a MAJOR issue with our candy sale and through it all the group stood together and we came out looking good and more united than ever. I guess I would try to find out from local law efforcement, school lawyer what you can legally do,,,we found that we were not as safe as we thought. So now we are talking to a laywer about our rights and when we are required to hand back money. lessons we learn...oh my
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
We held a cookie dough fundraiser at a previous school I worked with. There were only a couple of families who did not pick up in the prescribed time and we put them in our own personal freezers for the 2 days or so that it took them to "remember" although, like you, it had been made clear from DAY 1 that because of the perishable nature of the merchandise the pick-up window was limited. Had we put in our notices (great thought - by the way!) that we would donate everything that day, I would have had no problem sticking to it. Now - had she called you at 2:00 and given a pretty reasonable reason, I would have done my darndest to make other arrangements for her purchases.
Put your best smile on before tonights meeting. All you can say is that you understand her frustration, but that given the circumstances surrounding the perishable fundraiser, and that participation was voluntary, and the rules of engagement explained throughout the process, you found yourself with no alternative. Repeat it after every "slam" she makes, and do it with a smile. You are acknowledging her concern but not accepting the excuse.
The good folks who regularly come to your meetings will see this for what it is - sour grapes. KEEP SMILING!
We held our Spring fundraiser and sent home three notices to our parents to let them know that since these were perishable items that they MUST be picked up on a certain day in a 4-hour period. We stressed that anything not picked up would be donated to the local shelter (pies and cookie dough). We had 7 families (out of 60) that did not pick up their orders, therefore, we donated these items to the shelters as we said we would. Some of the parents were upset but understood our position, that is except for one. The woman that we are having problems with had a $150 order that we said we would give back 40% (which was the PTO's profit) of her order. This woman has been calling our fundraising coordinator, PTO president, Board of Ed members, our school principal and every other number she could get her hands on and has been harrassing all of the formentioned people. Our PTO meeting is this tonight(Thursday) and she has promised to come (her first time) and tell everyone how the PTO embezzles money and are a bunch of thiefs. None of this is true. I can say that we will never be having another perishable fundraiser again.
All of our schools handle the perishable fundraisers this way. Have you had any experience with this situation and if so, what are your comments?
