The Evolution of Bake Sales - Help Schools Raise Money
I realize that the school year is ending soon but here are some inventive ideas on how to raise money for schools! This post is also on the Super Kids Nutrition blog - it’s a great site, check it out! www.superkidsnutrition.com.
Help Schools Raise Money
I have lots of good memories of bake sales and school fundraisers at my elementary school. Every year, they had a cake walk. I played it so many times that I won cakes two years in row. But, times have changed. Recently, there was a heated battle about bake sales. New York City banned schools from selling homemade baked goods in order to prevent foodborne illnesses. School officials said it was also to fight obesity. Yet, Pop Tarts were on the list of approved products.
Schools need to raise money. This is indisputable. Instead of banning things - why don’t we come up with new ideas that are beneficial to the community AND raise money for schools? You don’t need to be a parent in order to make a difference at your local school. Perhaps you have a small business that you could promote at a school fundraisier while also providing goods or services at a discounted rate. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
By initiating fundraisers that do not involve selling sugary baked goods, we are sending an important nutrition message to kids as well as teaching them how to think outside the box and be creative business entrepreneurs.
Here are some inventive fundraising ideas. I included links at the bottom that include even more options.
Create a cookbook with healthy recipes from the community. With Mac computers and online publishers like Lulu.com and Blurb.com, it’s an easy and fun way to collaborate with members of the community and create a useful product to sell.
Sell items with the school logo on it. The site Vistaprint.com allows you to upload logos that can be printed on calendars, coffee mugs, or pens. It’s inexpensive, easy, and quick.
Help families go green. Sell BPA-free water bottles and eco-friendly lunch boxes.
Sell gardening kits or composting kits. Any time you make it easy for people to start a new eco-habit, you are doing a good deed!
Create T-shirts for a fundraising activity that helps the community. Start an annual school walk-a-thon or offer to build a garden at a local community center. By selling the T-shirts with an artsy logo, you’re promoting a good cause while also raising funds.
Hold your own farmer’s market. Enlist local farmer’s or grocery stores to get involved. Create your own farmer’s market at the school by having the kids build little stands with signs. Ask parents who are confident cooks to hold cooking demos. One parent sold scripts from her local Farmers’ Markets. The market sold tokens at a 10% discount, then the parents sold them at full price. According to the Florida Fruit Association, fruit fundraisers can raise $8,000-$10,000 in as few as one to two weeks.
Sell local food products. You’ll be supporting local businesses and raising funds for the school at the same time. In 2009, schools in southern Wisconsin collectively sold more than $50,000 of local and fairly-traded products.
Cater a dinner cooked by kids. One of my colleagues runs a wonderful nutrition and cooking program within Children’s AID Society in New York City. Some of her high school students started cooking for school staff meetings and they loved the food so much that it’s now a side business where teens learn how to cook and run a catering business.
Sell flowers! You make the sales, Flower Power gets 50%, and your school gets the rest. The company will mail plants directly to each person who orders so that the parents and the school don’t have to do anything after the sale.
Hold an Iron Chef event. Find a local celebrity chef to be the judge and have different members of the community participate. Charge each person per head and invite the press for media coverage. It’s fun, inventive and you can hold an auction - or silent auction - at the event in order to raise additional funds.
There are lots of options out there besides selling baked goods! For more ideas and information, check out the following links:
http://www.cspinet.org/schoolfundraising.pdf
Alliance for a Healthier Generation
Seattle Public Schools - scroll to PTA healthy fundraising for links
School Nutrition Association - Scroll to fundraising
