I don't know about the other stuff but we were not happy with our West Coast representative nor the profit received. I do not recall exactly how far below 50% the percentage was, but i remember our treasurer saying it was hundreds of dollars.
Thank you so much for your post. I sometimes just stay away from the "fundraising" area, due to the same people posting over and over again. I must say however, that this is also the same place I go for imput and information. I again say thank you for allowing us a way to get a hold of you and find the truth about your company.
I would like to offer a word of caution to those reading these posts. As the owner of West Coast Fund Raising, I can tell which posts are being offered by those in the industry.
I'm embarrassed and ashamed of those companies who would use this forum to undermine their competitors. There has been so much false information posted about us, Sally Foster, Innisbruk, etc. that all I can say is "shame on you" to those who are trying to hurt other people's businesses.
I'm happy to clarify or answer any questions you may have about our company and certainly willing to give you referrals of actual schools who have worked with us.
I assure you That none of our reps have posted or will ever post anything negative about any other company.
We used West Coast this year. We are a booster club, and we loved them!! We sold more than we have in the past. I am not sure where you are finding all of these 50% companies, most of them are now 40%. We love the catalog they have and we just saw the new one.
I am not familiar with AIM, but West Coast is gaining a bad reputation with deliveries scheduled 4-6 weeks after the orders are picked up. West Coast apparently works with some other fundraising companies because you can also see the Kids First brochure on other company's websites (ABC and Tom Evans). The problem with that during these tough economic times is that if one company goes down the rest in that group will probably too. Be wary of the smaller regional guys that are in that position. West Coast also binds their brochures with that cheap stuff you get at Staples... very unprofessional. We have been using Sally Foster, but not anymore with the crazy program they have now that only will give us 40% profit... which reminds me... West Coasts program will give you 45-55% profit. Back when we used them... it ended up being only 46% before the tax was taken out. They try and hook you with the 55% wording, and then you only get 46%. SAD! Our Treasurer realized this and that (among other grave concerns) is why we left them. Unfortunately Sally wasn't much better.
A couple of comments about AIM fund raising and West Coast fund raising. I am pretty sure that they are both very good companies. It is true what AIM says on their website about schools increasing their profits. It may be hard to believe, but their prize program does work. Kids are not stupid, if they see a really cool prize program and they know it will not be impossible to reach many of these prizes, they will go for it. As far as helping them pay, if your school makes $7,000 more in profits and you end up paying them $1,000, you are still $6,000 ahead! I know of a small little league of 125 players who decided to upgrade their own prize program. They increased their profits from $2,000 to over $6,500. It cost them about an extra $700 in prizes. Not too bad!
My other comment is that both AIM and West Coast are moving out of their home states into other states. That is fine, but are either one of these companies that much different from the local companies that are already established in their state. I am sure there are many companies in the Northwest. Why do you need to look at a company out of the LA area?
Support your local company--you will be helping your state and you will be happier with their service
