Cookie Dough Fundraisers: 3 Myths to Product Fundraising

Anyone who’s been an elementary school or booster club parent – or a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or work colleague of one – braces for the time (times!) of the year when the order form comes home from school to raise money through product sales.  Whether it’s cookie dough, candy, entertainment books, wrapping paper, magazine subscriptions, or some other consumer item, this is big business!  School product fundraising is a $1.7 billion industry.

We can probably agree that public and private school systems don’t have enough money to fund education. Private funding gathered by school PTAs, PTOs, foundations or other parent organizations ensures kids don’t lack paper and pencils, music and visual arts, computers, and other components of a solid education.  However, we all secretly question why the de-facto standard in school fundraising is hawking goods.
This review is not meant to discourage ALL product fundraisers, but to help schools look carefully at the motivations, value, effort, and alternatives before continuing in that tradition.

Myth #1:  Product fundraisers make it easier for parents to ask for money.

Reality:  Let’s be real. Either parents are standing right behind their kids or doing all the fundraising on their own.  While it’s difficult for most people to ask for money, it’s often embarrassing for parents to make a phone call, go door-to-door, or office cube-to-cube selling goods in the “name of charity”.  While some feel a little more at ease offering something tangible in exchange for their friends’ money, we still dreadit.  That’s because in most cases, the people we’re asking don’t really want what we’re selling.  They could go down to the grocery store and buy a tub of Tollhouse cookie dough for $7 instead of spending $15 on ours.  Or they could go to Costco to get the entertainment book at a deep discount, if they even want it in the first place.  While parents typically reserve judgment for off-campus coffee talk and private venting sessions, a recent blog by The Stir asserted, with mommy comments chiming in, that product fundraisers are overdone.

Myth #2:  Selling cookie dough and wrapping paper is easy for volunteers.

Reality:  PTA chairpersons and volunteers work their fingers to the bone to support our kids. There is nothing quick and easy about sending out fliers to hundreds of students, collecting order forms, processing check or cash payments, tracking class or grade-level sales, placing the order with the fundraising corporation, receiving the order, and distributing the products to all those students (add more stress for frozen or refrigerated goods), then cutting the final check to the fundraising product corporation.  It’s plain time-consuming.

Myth #3:  Schools raise a lot of money on product fundraisers.

Reality:  Most parents are unaware or numbed to the real costs of product fundraisers.  Schools typically make between 25% and 50% “profit” on goods sold.  That means when my son sells a roll of wrapping paper for $8, his school gets to keep just $4.  Most parents feel compelled to purchase the products themselves, whether by perceived obligation or to help their kids win a prize.  If 200 families just donated that $8, instead of buying the product, the school would raise $800 more!

I’m not saying to quit product fundraisers cold turkey, but be selective.  Look for opportunities where there is true demand for the product or it fits a school initiative that the kids can stand behind.  At our school a few years ago, we tried with overwhelming success selling reusable bags by Mixed Bag Designs.  They were stylish, practical, and affirmed our schools’ “go green” initiative, and best of all parents came back clamoring for more.  We heard over and over again they were easy to sell, because people actually wanted to buy them.  Before continuing with or selecting a new product, survey parents for their level of interest.  Their frustration will only limit your school’s success.

Are we focusing on the wrong fundraising message?

Part of the problem is focusing so heavily on selling something rather than on the meaning and benefit behind a fundraiser – the support for a quality education for the kids.  A school walk-a-thon or jog-a-thon presents an opportunity to ask genuinely for financial support from family and peers, while assuring nearly all of the donation amount directly benefits the school.  By wrapping a fundraising campaign around a community or school event, we not only raise money, we also raise awareness within and outside of our community for needs in education.

There’s great news for schools already hosting an annual walk-a-thon type of event!

Online fundraising for schools can dramatically increase donations by making it possible for students (and their parents) to reach out to supporters through email and Facebook, quickly and easily getting donations by credit card.  It also alleviates work for the PTA!

A bonus benefit of the school walk-a-thon?  It burns calories as opposed to eating a tub of cookie dough one spoonful at a time!