michelle b...as far as tupperware our pta did that(i told you they were fundraising machines) the profit was low but they also had no work into it , so i guess it is how a group feels about it.They always said they did good, since it was a "tradition" we ran the tupperware sale our first year, we made about 1400.00, we thought it was good but then we started learning about fundraisers and that we could do better. t it is like you said it is a home based business, we do home interior candles through a mom that does all the work and although the profit was low it was all worth it. like i said depends on what your group wants...tupperware did our pta good and they had very little work into it. of course it is all about getting those bog bucks now...even though i personally hate fundrasing we need those funds!
I suppose if you HAVE to sell something (again, I don't like any of it. We're fundraising, we should get ALL the funds) giftwrap could be the way but I know that even those who do buy it, only do so out of obligation to help the school. The majority would just rather write a check and give it straight away. (do you have any idea how many rolls of that dang giftwrap I have? I will never wrap enough presents to use it all. I've put it in my will!!) I think that the best thing you can sell (if you must) is cookie dough. Everyone loves the cookie dough and if you can't just write a check then at least you get something you will eventually use.
Seriously, I sell Tupperware now and my manager keeps telling me I should push into the fundraising arena but I don't feel right with the margins. Just me. Seems like it would be the same. Avon, Tupperware- they're all home based businesses. The margins would have to be low because they pay a commission to the rep, unless the rep is willing to give up all of their commission (and even then, the percentage is still low)
Now, as for the experience argument, they can still get that by collecting sponsorships for a thon. They still sell, they just don't break their backs delivering product. It's just cash.
CBrooks, now that I have heard the rest of the story I have to say that our old PTA did a fundraiser with avon and had the same problems. The rep brought the product and just "dumped" it leaving the members to try to sort it all by orders. When I asked former members of the pta they told me that it was the most amount of work that they had ever done for the least amount of profit...and they did ALOT of fundraising.
I guess by the looks of the amount of hassles and work that your group had to do it doesnt seem worth it.
Well there is a big story to this. Long story short, it was an Avon fundraiser and it really didn't go well as far as organization was concerned. I was not there, but from what I can tell the rep was less than cooperative. I think that it was everyone's first time of doing this sort of thing, so things should go more smoothly the next time. The principal has talked to this person's boss in the last few weeks and she said if we did it again it would be different. The volunteers had do get all the orders together after they tracked down the merchindise. The boss says no one but company people should have handled the merchindise. There is alot more to the story, I just know it was a pain.
I do not want to sell and have always been against BUT my VP feels that this is good experience for this age group (5/6 graders). I can't really argue with that. I am thinking of adding an opt out choice for whatever we do. I have a whole list of things we can do to raise money without the kids selling. I have come to the conclusion that this in not an issue ( I was afraid it would be). If enough people are on board then it should not be a problem. I just want to get the best bang for the buck. I am looking into other fundraisers. Since I have been on here I've seen alot of people pleased with the gift wrap sales. The principal does not want to sell candy or food from what I hear. He liked the Avon, but I am just stuck on that profit margin. Thanks for the help.
I agree with mom2m&a. There's way too many factors that go into the analysis to make an assessment based on just the info provided.
Even if this was just your traditional sales fundraiser, it's much more about the total profit and how much work you had to put into it, than it is about the % you received.
As an example, let's say we're selling gift wrap. Two scenarios:
1. Good product. Excellent service. Effective prize program. Catalog with aggressively low price points (encouraging parents to buy more volume). 30% profit for your group. $20,000 in total sales. Sale goes really smoothly (thanks to service). You keep $6,000.
2. Decent product. Decent service. OK prize program. Catalog itmes priced pretty high (reducing total volume and potentially hacking off your supporters). 50% profit for your group. $12,000 in total sales. Several hiccoughs in the process (mainly service issues). You keep $6,000.
Which one of those is better? I'd take (1) every time, even though the profit percentage is lower. In (1) you'll have happier supporters (lower per-piece prices for them) and happier volunteers (the service issues usually make the organizing much more difficult) and the same net profit.
If everything else was completely equal, I'd use profit percentage as my tie-breaker. But everything else rarely is.
We do all types of fundraising, including both a jogathon and a carnival, plus gift wrap (catalog), cookie dough, and a book fair.
It all depends on what type of fundraiser it is before you can determine what a good profit margin is.
We will not do catalog fundraisers (gift wrap, cookie dough, etc.) unless we get between 40 and 50% profit. Our gift wrap fundraiser is our biggest of the year. We get 50% and use that as our "base" fundraiser to pay for our obligation to the school for things we have promised to pay for. After that our fundraisers pay for "extras" for the kids.
We get 40% on cookie dough from a company that does all the work for us. To me that's a good deal because it requires few volunteers at a time when volunteers are not very available.
Book fair we make 25% because we take cash instead of books.
Our carnival makes good money - we probably make 75% profit. Our jogathon is even better - mostly donations from local businesses and parents.
From what you have told us it's impossible to say whether or not that's a "good profit". On the "homemade" events (carnivals, fun fairs, jogathons, field days, etc.) you need to really watch the costs carefully. You can get carried away with expenditures for decorations, games, food, etc. and then not get the profit you expected. You need someone from the board who sees the big picture to approve those costs before they get out of hand. Hope this helps -
