deanner;126680 wrote: I cant believe all the bad stuff that has happened to all of you,

I just wanted to say that this is my second year as president and this fundraiser was the only one that went wrong. We do two at a time for the fall, then two for the holidays (ex: candy, wreaths etc). I think thats why I was so frustrated I have had minor issues, things broken, wrong item that kind of thing, but it was always handled profesionally and right away.
This one with Entertainment was anything but. The girl we originally signed with was great, but she went out on early maternity leave and everything went downhill from there. They never called us about anything, giving us samples at the meeting like they said they would, nothing. Then they totally didnt send the order out and didnt have the decency to call me about it.

The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth and I will never use them again or would recomend them to anyone. They did try rectifying after we went to a higher up. But I think the major damage was done and I just can't stand for that nor am I willing to take a chance.

Cindy

I cant believe all the bad stuff that has happened to all of you, This is my 2nd year as fundraising coordinator and I have had nothing but good...so far!!! I used The Goodie Factory out of Michigan, thats where we are, but they were awesome. They brought samples to my house the first time they came, then they brought samples to the fundraising meeting with the whole board, then they furnished over 1000 cookies for our open house for free, so the parents could taste them,my rep even offered to bake them, but I told her I would because I am home all day. They also brought samples to the kick off day and they brought an extra box full of stuff on delivery day "just in case" something was missing!!!! All of the samples were full size everything and tons of it too!!!! I thought this was the way all places worked, I guess I was spoiled!!!!
There were no mistakes that I heard of and it was my phone number on all the fliers. I am sorry you all have had such a bad experience, is there anyoneelse out there that had good service like I did???

Originally posted by FLPTAMOM:
It may not seem alot ,but in our case the Avon fundraiser was held after we did a QSP fundraiser in September.

I hear ya, FL.

It's a really relevant datapoint, though. I don't think you're doing this, but often others will read these boards and see "the Avon fundraiser was great" and assume it means great on all levels. When the fact is that the "final profit figure" is perhaps the most importnat level.

To me, the very best fundraisers bring in a ton of cash in a relatively short burst. And then we get back to our actual important/good work of creating community around our schools.

Running 5 fundraisers (even if they all feel good) is a recipe for getting a (deserved) reputaion as "just a fundraising group", and that's a really tough reputation to overcome when it comes to building involvement.

Tim

I do not have the final figures since this was held right before our holiday break(school resumes 1/3/07). I will be glad to get back with you. It may not seem alot ,but in our case the Avon fundraiser was held after we did a QSP fundraiser in September. Also, as a working parent it was much easier to sell to my co-workers than th usual fundraising products.

Originally posted by FLPTAMOM:
This year we also did an Avon fundraiser. It went great. People liked having something different than what is usually offered.

Would be interested to know what your final profit was from your Avon fundraiser vs your larger/more traditional fundraisers.

Tim

We have used QSP/Reader's digest for two years. I won't lie and say there have been some errors with orders;broken ,erong item, but they correct problem w/ no delay. This year we also did an Avon fundraiser. It went great. People liked having something different than what is usually offered. Sxhool gets 40% and our Avon rep made a basket filled with $200 worth of merchandise for top seller and gave each teacher whose students sold an Avon product of gift certificate to Avon.