AnnieBee
Gold Member
- 1,341
In January I had an idea to do a fundraiser for my (very small) Church's kitchen, which was poorly stocked. I've been meaning to post some info here on what I did, and finally yesterday I wrote an email to someone my director knew who wanted info, so I'm going to go ahead and post the email and files here in case they can help someone else. January, was a great month to do this because of the extra free product value for the host special.
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First of all, I put together some info for the Church leadership to look over, and see if they were interested. I will attach the letter I gave them (it was pretty informal because I know them all very well, and I was pretty short on time). They thought it was a great idea! We are not a very wealthy church, so I wanted to make sure no-one felt obliged to make a purchase that they could not afford.
As well as hosting a Saturday morning cooking show at the Church, I encouraged people to collect out-side orders, and had a wish-list for anyone who wished to purchase anything for the Church kitchen. I also gave 20% of my commission, so that they could get more out of it, and have money to spend on either more PC items, (or they could go get other non-PC things that they wanted/needed, like crock-pots, a toaster oven, coffee maker etc).
As a church member, I was able to announce the “Church Kitchen Fundraiser” during a service, and then I set up a table on 2 Sundays after the service, where people could pick up info on how the whole fundraiser would work, invites to the actual “show” that I did that they could give to friends, catalogs, order forms (I used that months OOF from CC because it includes the guest special right on it), and a piece of paper they could give to friends when they collected outside orders that explained what we were doing, and how to place an order on-line if they would like to.
For the Saturday morning show, I brought almost every thing I own(!) and had tables set out on nice table cloths to showcase different “collections”, such as cookware, baking items, bamboo, serving/entertaining items. I had made a double batch of Truffle Brownie Cups ahead of time (LOVE that recipe) but let people use the Easy Accent Decorator to put on their own ganache, and choose a garnish (cherries and sliced almonds). I had the Greek Cheese Torta prepared but not assembled, to show how easy it is to put together and serve (I served it with triscuits, so good, and a great alternative to baking the baguette slices if no oven is available). Then we made the Clubhouse Chicken Squares as an interactive recipe (I had pre-baked the crust), which everyone LOVED! I couldn’t believe how much everyone raved about it! Oh, I also had coffee and OJ in the large quick stir pitcher.
I did a drawing for a trifle bowl (I had a spare one I earned from the in-the-bag promotion), and had a few other small drawing prizes too. I also had copies of all of the recipes that I had made, and recipe cards too for them to choose from to take home.
We ended up with over $1000 in guest sales, and about $1150 in commissionable sales (some people gave money to buy things from the wish list, so I used that money to buy things “as the host” to get the host’s 30% discount) so they got $315 in free product value and $230 cash from me (some was used on buying the host special, and 4 50% items, and a few other items they wanted). For our small church I was thrilled with the results!
I think a big thing that made it successful, is because it is a small church, no-one assumed that anyone else would go out and collect orders, so everyone did a great job with that. Also, people were really excited about the fundraiser, as it was a great way to stock the kitchen without spending a lot of money.
I am going to attach the various flyers/info sheets I made for you to look over.
I hope this info is helpful, let me know if you have any questions,
Annabel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First of all, I put together some info for the Church leadership to look over, and see if they were interested. I will attach the letter I gave them (it was pretty informal because I know them all very well, and I was pretty short on time). They thought it was a great idea! We are not a very wealthy church, so I wanted to make sure no-one felt obliged to make a purchase that they could not afford.
As well as hosting a Saturday morning cooking show at the Church, I encouraged people to collect out-side orders, and had a wish-list for anyone who wished to purchase anything for the Church kitchen. I also gave 20% of my commission, so that they could get more out of it, and have money to spend on either more PC items, (or they could go get other non-PC things that they wanted/needed, like crock-pots, a toaster oven, coffee maker etc).
As a church member, I was able to announce the “Church Kitchen Fundraiser” during a service, and then I set up a table on 2 Sundays after the service, where people could pick up info on how the whole fundraiser would work, invites to the actual “show” that I did that they could give to friends, catalogs, order forms (I used that months OOF from CC because it includes the guest special right on it), and a piece of paper they could give to friends when they collected outside orders that explained what we were doing, and how to place an order on-line if they would like to.
For the Saturday morning show, I brought almost every thing I own(!) and had tables set out on nice table cloths to showcase different “collections”, such as cookware, baking items, bamboo, serving/entertaining items. I had made a double batch of Truffle Brownie Cups ahead of time (LOVE that recipe) but let people use the Easy Accent Decorator to put on their own ganache, and choose a garnish (cherries and sliced almonds). I had the Greek Cheese Torta prepared but not assembled, to show how easy it is to put together and serve (I served it with triscuits, so good, and a great alternative to baking the baguette slices if no oven is available). Then we made the Clubhouse Chicken Squares as an interactive recipe (I had pre-baked the crust), which everyone LOVED! I couldn’t believe how much everyone raved about it! Oh, I also had coffee and OJ in the large quick stir pitcher.
I did a drawing for a trifle bowl (I had a spare one I earned from the in-the-bag promotion), and had a few other small drawing prizes too. I also had copies of all of the recipes that I had made, and recipe cards too for them to choose from to take home.
We ended up with over $1000 in guest sales, and about $1150 in commissionable sales (some people gave money to buy things from the wish list, so I used that money to buy things “as the host” to get the host’s 30% discount) so they got $315 in free product value and $230 cash from me (some was used on buying the host special, and 4 50% items, and a few other items they wanted). For our small church I was thrilled with the results!
I think a big thing that made it successful, is because it is a small church, no-one assumed that anyone else would go out and collect orders, so everyone did a great job with that. Also, people were really excited about the fundraiser, as it was a great way to stock the kitchen without spending a lot of money.
I am going to attach the various flyers/info sheets I made for you to look over.
I hope this info is helpful, let me know if you have any questions,
Annabel
