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!

School Fundraising Is Easiest Done Online

Successful school fundraising is responsible for a variety of necessities, from outfitting school marching bands to properly equipping high school computer labs. The process of brainstorming, creating, and executing effective school fundraisers is a time consuming effort that depletes resources and the energy of those who invest to make them successful. Making use of the Internet is a new and effective way to raise school funds.

Conventional fundraisers take an incredible amount of effort that involves managing time, volunteers, resources, and finances. Balancing these factors – even with the help of a school fundraising committee – is crucial to an event’s success. Oftentimes, even the most careful planning cannot yield profitable results. This is more than flat out frustrating – it jeopardizes the needs of the school when financial goals cannot be met.

Online fundraising is easier for the same reason shopping online is – convenience. Online social fundraising platforms enable schools to create campaigns and easily manage them online, decreasing the work and increasing gain. With the prevalence of portable electronic devices like laptops, smartphones, and tablets, taking care of school fundraising details can be done from anywhere with Wi-Fi.

This portable option ensures that those in charge of school fundraising stay on top of every development. Using the online platform to employ the donations of Facebook and Twitter users significantly increases potential funds raised. Making use of popular social networks and other methods such as email allows schools to quickly and easily reach mass audiences of potential contributors in just moments.

Online school fundraising is also more convenient for contributors. With just a few simple button punches, donors can easily complete a transaction, donating exactly what they want from the privacy of their own home. Contributors will not have to set aside time in the day to attend an event. Instead online school fundraising gives individuals the option to log on and donate funds when it is the most convenient for their schedule.

Online social fundraising platforms make it simple with user-friendly options that make contributing straightforward and secure. Fundraising platforms such as Fundly.com have helped schools raise hundreds of millions of dollars just by using online methods. Sites such as this one take all the guesswork out of school fundraising. Adding this online option to other fundraisers will also help increase profits with very little effort.

By using the Internet, those in charge of school fundraising can achieve the same (and potentially bigger) effect as traditional fundraising using just a fraction of the effort. Online fundraising platforms help guide fundraising workers through each step of the process in order to set up easy online fundraising. This virtual method requires no extra volunteers, no additional purchases, and a lot less stress while still delivering maximum results.