raptordad;132373 wrote: The hard part with the 10K or 20K profit is that you have to realize that an equal amount has gone bye-bye from your school community into the pocket of a big business.

Just to be fair, this "half our $$ has gone into the pockets of a big business" is a significant (though frequent and understandable) mis-understanding of the fundraising math.

What do I mean?

Let's take a typical catalog sale where your group gets 50% of the gross sales. You get that 50% without spending any other dollars. It's free and clear.

The fundraising company, on the other hand, has to -- first and foremost -- pay for the product itself. They also pay for shipping it to your place... plus all the catalogs used to sell the stuff.... plus often the prize programs.

So let's take a $10 catalog item.

You get $5.

The fundraising company pays $2.50 for the item plus $0.30 for shipping and $0.30 for the prorated cost of all the marketing materials plus $0.20 for the prize program. And I'm sure i'm missing some costs.

End result: You profit $5. FR company profits $1.50.

It may be a 50% split of gross revenue. But it's more like an 80-20 split of gross profit. And the gross profit number is far more relevant for a "fairness" discussion.

To take the example one step further, what if the local car dealer offered to give you $500 for every Mercedes your parents purchased? Your parents pay $50,000 for the Mercedes. Would you complain that you're only getting 1% and dealer is getting 99%? That would be the same math as the 50-50 math so often used for the fundraising biz.

Tim

The hard part with the 10K or 20K profit is that you have to realize that an equal amount has gone bye-bye from your school community into the pocket of a big business. And make no mistake - it is a huge business. In Wisconsin I know that there are groups trying to pass legislation making it illegal for schools to use our children/schools and profit making machines for these big companies that rake in 50% or more profit.

The prizes are nice, if your family can afford to do it. The reps are great because they are getting a huge cut of the percentage coming in. But if you aren't the first one out of the gate. . .you are stuck. Add to that hockey, boy scouts, day cares, choir groups, baseball and parents are fundraised out.

new2game;132165 wrote: Just wondering how the Fun Run worked exactly....that sounds exciting and it is always a little bit of a tough sell with the catalogs! I'm brand new at this, so any advice is welcomed!!

Fun Run thread here: www.ptotoday.com/boards/showthread.php?t=19530

(Thanks to Holly for starting that as a new thread. Great way to use the boards and keep things categorized/titled/searchable well.)

Tim

Just wondering how the Fun Run worked exactly....that sounds exciting and it is always a little bit of a tough sell with the catalogs! I'm brand new at this, so any advice is welcomed!!

I am very anti-catalog sale.

However,

Our group raises about $20K a year with ours. This happens early in the year and without a lot of volunteer effort on our part. Sure, there is work involved, but not as much as any of the other things we do.

The large group incentives have become part of our school culture. Students look forward to certain things we do in conjunction with the sale. It helps that our rep is great and the kids love him, too.

We would have to be assured of replacing that income, relatively early in the year, with something that would work whether or not we were able to recruit volunteers in September. Not easy.

I also think that the companies we looked at this year (we always shop even though we stick with QSP) are making a concerted effort to improve the quality of things in the catalog or at least have enough selection where you can avoid the cheapo stuff.

Just beware fine print. Dimensions are required to be in there. Have a ruler handy.

Ohmom, we're trying a walkathon next year, too. We're not dropping catalogs yet though. Too many people stuck in their ways. If we rock the house with the walkathon and our other ideas, we'll eliminate them for 2008-2009.