We just finished our Kindergarten fundraiser using Original Works. It went really well. I was the coordinater and had no problems whatsoever. Our Art teacher is also doing the OW fundraiser in the spring for the rest of the school. We are doing the plan where we send the art work home with the catalog & order form. That way, if the parents choose not to purchase anything, they still have their child's original artwork.
From my experience when I was teaching a few years ago at another elem. school... the Art teacher there did the OW fundraiser for over 10 years with great success. She is now retired and our local rep. for OW. I, personally, don't think the quality is as good with Square1 as it is with OW. Square1 was started from a former employee of OW who left suddenly and "took" a lot of paperwork and ideas from OW to start up their own company. I do know that typically, this art fundraiser tends to produce better results in the fall versus in the spring.
Our school is doing this now with another company. The program is handled by our art teacher. I'm sure of the $ amount. However, I do know many parents & grandparents who have ordered.
Our school is using square 1 art (square1art.com)
We get to keep the free magnet. Good thing cause it's pretty small. But one less headache for the organzier.
Our school did this the past 2 years and it worked out well. Although it was a fundraiser the Art department did instead of the PTO, I did head the program for the Art Departmet.
We did get specific instructions frm original works as to what to avoid and what works best. We also found out that borders around the picture come out well as do contrasting colors.
The Art dept made about $2500 on this funraiser. Some magnets were not returned but you do not return them to Original Works anyway, so this wasn't a big issue for us.
This year we are doing it alittle different - We are sending the artwork home to the parents with the order form instead of sending a magnet. This saves time since we will not be sending all the art work in...recieving magnets to send home, and then reordering additional items. This some time also will ensure all orders are recieved well before Christmas.
OriginalWorks worked great for us. Our art dept made about $1300 (300 kids). We didn't use the same plan however. We sent order forms home that offered the artwork on magnets, tshirts, cups, etc., but nothing had to be returned except
the form. Our art teacher loved it and said it was relatively easy!
We used them last year. Our only complaint was over the whole deal with the magnet. Nevermind the people who do not return them or the money, I was most disturbed thinking about the kids who had to bring their magnets back. I felt bad for them because I imagine the message they got was that mom and dad did not want the art work they made.
This year we are the new PTO board and if we do use them again I can assure you that no magnets will be going home with the kids. I believe the company does allow you to opt out of that if you want. If they do not we will use someone else.
