Hi there,
Another fantastic fundraiser is to do a Tupperware one. I sell the product so I am a true believer in it but I have also done 4 fundraisers with my childrens schools and two other groups who needed money for a Camp program in Sixth grade. The organization earns 50% plus and additional 10% that I donate. The Spring is so great to do this as everyone gets psyched with the Spring/Summer products for the beach, pool, boating etc. All the fundraisers that I have held personally as well as a super one that my manager just completed(37 participants, over $7000 in sales which earned them $3500)have all earned over $3000. I do all of the work as far as packets go, it is delivered right to the school or customer and the check is made out to the organization from Tupperware. If you are interested, you can email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Thanks,
Jen

We just earned $7000+ from those $1 candy bars. I'm allergic to chocolate so I didn't see which company (I kept well away ), but I'm sure the fundraising section on this site has several.

They said the easiest way to sell was to leave the box with in a breakroom where there are a lot of women in the office. There was a little box left for the money. I know in high school, we sold them to each other like mad.

Another thing I just found but haven't tried is the Schwan's fundraiser. They have two options.
1. Send one of their small catalogs home with the kids. They park a truck outside the school on delivery day and hand everything out and handle the money. They take credit cards so you don't have to. You also don't have to collect $. sort, deliver or worry about spoilage or orders not picked up (or paid for).
2. This one is new and quick: You send home a flyer and a catalog. You get $5 for each order, $2 for each person who says they're interested even if they don't order and $1 if they return the form signed "not interested". 1-888-724-9267

Schwan's might be easier but I think the chocolate would be more profitable. Just keep close track of who has how much and get signed permission slips before sending anything home. Other PTOtoday members have mentioned losing money because chocolate was taken and not paid for.
We're still collecting but they made it clear to us that if we don't sell it, we pay for it ourselves.

Oh, and penny wars. During a spirit week would be great to do this:
Each class gets a "bank". (One they can't open) Each penny is a point for that class to win the contest. Each silver coin is that many cents worth of points against their total.
Put it where everyone can see and keep promoting who's can is heaviest. The opposing groups put in dimes and quarters, ect to bring the points down. The class with the most points wins.
We've done that at conventions and earned about $200 from 100 participants in an hour. I don't know how much that pulls in over a week but it's fun. You could keep a daily talley to make it easier. $200 worth of change weighs a lot .

[ 02-19-2004, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: nonsequitur ]

Our school has always done well with our frozen cookie dough sale. Raising quite a bit. We are a school of 500 students even though less than 1/2 participated we raised over $10,000. It's more than just cookie dough, it's dessert cakes, pretzels, ravioli, pizzas and cinnamon rolls.

The other fundraiser we run on-going is the Little Caesar's Pizza kit fundraiser. Depending on your situation it could make some if you ran it as a one-time deal. Each kit sold (3 medium pizza's plus sauce plus cheese etc. per kit) makes $5.00. Kit prices run from $16 - 18. (but that's 3 pizza's)

Good luck!

We're a small school (150 students). Looking for some quick last minute cash! Can anyone give any ideas of their most profitable fundraiser ... and an easy sell. Since we're getting close to the end of the year, the PSO is getting burned out and the parents are losing interest but we'd like to find something to raise approx $4-5K. Thanks.