I've been reading this discussion with interest. The thigk I like the best about the bookfair idea is that my daughter won't have to go door-to-door selling stuff to strangers. And our whole family can enjoy an evening together while we support our school.

WE've done the B&N bookfairs a few times with good luck! You do have to contact the store directly and talk to the store manager and the event takes place AT the store. Kinda nice and really relaxing. Also most have a Starbucks so it smells wonderful, too! Now out here we are able to recive a percentage of the sales for the prearranged time slot given (6-9pm is popular) and earn tips at a gift wrap area that they help us set-up, if you can do that- ask! Now during the holidays I volunteer with another service group working the gift wrap table which is great fun! On a great day, we have earned near $100 in tips! We have been doing this enough years that we are offered a few Sat. which helps.

When booking your bookfair, please be aware of uncoming holidays and certain stipulations. Like graduation, going back to school but they don't tend to schedual during the holidays unless you just do the gift wrap. OR For example, coupons can not be handed to the entering customers, it have to be their choice but the PTO can send home these coupons in advance and encourage family and friends to come. Our store manager even helped us arrange a local author to be at the event to promote his book and autographs! He was great with the kids and the Principal, teachers, Asst. Principal and Dean read to the kids. The biggest risk with this concept is the chance it will be a good night for business in general and the support you recieve from parents and teachers. But isn't that with any fundraiser? A wish list from them (teachers) goes over great, even better if Appreciation Week is coming up!

Barnes and Noble can be pricy but they also offer a great sale priced area were I have been able to find some great books reasonably priced (an issue when 5 kids EACH want a new book!

Too bad about Borders, I've been there a couple times....that's all I want to say about that.

But call the store, I hope it is the best fundraiser yet!

Kmamom, I contacted the Barnes & Noble closest to my son's school and asked to speak to the Community Relations Manager. According to the information sheet she gave me "Barnes & Noble bookfairs are an opportunity for schools K-12 to raise fund through instore book sales by encouraging their supporters to shop at Barnes & Noble during a designated time." They will contribute a percentage of sales during the bookfair based on the amount of money your school generates.
up to $2,000 the school receives 15%
$2,000-$10,000 the school receives 20%
over $10,000 the school receives 25%

To request a bookfair, send in a written request on letterhead that describes your group, its size, nonprofit status, how you will market the event, what events will take place during the bookfair and how the donated funds will be used.
Hope that helps!

Stephannie--I tried to find info on the website concerning the B&N bookfairs, but it was really hard to find anything at all. They just mentioned that they do them as a community service. Do the bookfairs happen at the store or in the school? Do you have to contact the store directly? I emailed them days ago, but haven't heard since.

When I was a kid I remember the Scholastic bookfairs with great fondness. Now it seems they're pushing the books they can't get rid of at a normal price on the kids in our school (ie Harry Potter hardcover at FULL PRICE). I'd be espcially interested if B&N had less expensive books available so that EVERY kid could go home with at least ONE book.

I really am pleased to hear that you are all feeling so positive about Barnes and Noble. I'll have to tell my boss tomorrow! Honestly, folks, I am not blowing smoke when I say that B & N truly tries to get involved in the community. I know that my store is heavily involved in local affairs, from providing books at low cost to school districts and libraries to getting people involved in OneBookAZ, to different charities. Our CRM even goes on a local morning tv talk show once a month to chat up his newest favorite! I can promise that you will be treated with the highest degree of professionalism and knowledge from everyone in the management staff on down to the booksellers that will help set up your tables and ring your vouchers.
Tomorrow I am going to try to find the time to get the exact skinny on how the BN bookfairs work. After I post what I find out, I would be interested in hearing from everyone how it stacks up on paper against Scholastic. Since I am currently starting the PTO at our school, (we have our first general meeting on Monday night--people have pretty much told me that I will be nominated for pres), bookfairs are pretty much the number one large fundraiser that I will be discussing with the new board. I have told everyone already that BN does fairs, and got their permission to pursue it in the event that it is a better program than Scholastic for the school. (Did not want to be accused of a conflict of interest, you know.) I have looked through the loops here on Scholastic, and things seem to be mixed. Has anyone had a really positive experience with them?

I'm just psyched to hear that there's an alternative to Scholastic! I plan on looking at this more closely to see if I can talk our Board into doing something different. Maybe if our Scholastic Rep hears we might actually go someplace else we'd get a better choice of books that the kids could actually afford!