Discover a Delicious Way to Raise Funds with Our Cookbook Fundraiser!

[abrahamlaur]

is there any way for someone to share a flier they are going to make up to send to these people? after we have talked with HO ... i'm going to do it, according to what they say when I call, but I'm so uncreative when it comes to making letters and stuff

 

[krzymomof4]

Has anyone gotten response from HO yet?
Why can't you just do a fundraiser and put cookbooks (guest special price) and add a few items on there for $10 each. Then cut the price this way (different states would be different. I am going by IN which is 6%).
Order 1 item $15, 2 items $26, 3 items $37. I rounded the figures up. You could either donate the change to the organization or round up for the second harvest.

So my figures in my previous post would be correct if based on 6% sales tax right? or wrong?

 

[heat123]

My mind is twirling from all of this. I don't understand the "donated" amount and why this is going to be different from a regular fundraiser with the guest special cookbooks as the main or only item being purchased. Can someone explain it to me like a 3 year old, please :
I have a terrible migrane today and stuff is not making sense like I know it should and I definately want to be on the list.
TIA

Me too, I'm confused.

So We charge them $15 and that covers tax and shipping and the difference goes to the donation for the school or organization and each guest will receive their own official reciepts: breaking down cost of book, tax, shipping and donation given? Is that the gist of it?

 

[krzymomof4]

So, I called HO and was told I can do a fundraiser with only or primarily the guest special cookbooks, however, I was not allowed to charge a set price, i.e. $15 to make it easy on the students and mark the rest as a donation to that particular organization, unless it went to RUFTH.
I kind of wish they would get their facts straight. Now I don't know what to do.

 

[abrahamlaur]

krzymomof4 ... i am very confused as well .. i dont think all the representatives know what exactly they are talking about .. i talked with two different people just now and they each gave me a different answer.

Librarian - could you email me, i have a few questions for you to see if I cna sort thru this in my head ... its ... [email protected] ... thank you!

 

[tlennhoff]

So I can't upload a .xls file here. :-( I copied what I created in Excel and pasted it into Word. Of course your figures will be differe based on tax %, but it gives you a general idea.

If you have a zip program then you could zip the file & upload it. Or email it to me & i'll zip it and upload it. Thanks [email protected]

 

[PCwithStay-C]

so can anyone her tell me how to work the tax thing on the calculator!!! Im trying to redo the numbers for 6% and Im just having a brain fart.

Also, Leigh, the word donation is spelled wrong on your sheet. it has 2 n's instead of must one

 

[dwyerkim]

I would love it if you could post that file in a zip format or otherwise... I would love to plug my tax rate in and then bring it with me tomorrow, I am meeting a friend who is interested in this for her MOPS group. I need to call HO before I do that as well. fingers crossed I get a decent answer!

 

[abrahamlaur]

Kimberly, you have to be specific about what you say! try to explain it exactly so there is no confusion with the Rep that you speak with. Otherwise I would ask to speak with someone in Career Solutions, thats where I got transfered to and she was able to help me .. her name is Donika.

 

[krzymomof4]

Did she tell you something different that they told me?

 

[Leigh0725]

so can anyone her tell me how to work the tax thing on the calculator!!! Im trying to redo the numbers for 6% and Im just having a brain fart.

Also, Leigh, the word donation is spelled wrong on your sheet. it has 2 n's instead of must one

Yeah, I'm WAY too dependent on spell check. ;-) Okay, I attached the .xls document as a zipped file. I made it so that all you have to do is fill out the yellow boxes. The top one is the number of cookbooks and the bottow one is the tax.

To figure tax (someone mentioned how to figure out the tax). You can take your subtotal multiplied by .06 and then add your subtotal to that result. Or you can just take your subtotal multiplied by 1.06 which is the same as the first. Does this make sense?

Ex 1: $14 (product) + $4 (shipping) = $18
$18 * .06 = 1.08
Total: 18 + 1.08 = $19.08

Ex 2: $14 (product) + $4(shipping) = $18
Total: $18 * 1.06 = $19.08

 

[abrahamlaur]

leslie i think the thing is they dont wnat you to set that price, they jsut wnat you to say they are $10 and if that person wants to make a donation to the group then fine, it just as to be seperate. i think you can still "charge" $15, but the $5 goes straight to the organization, not to you then the org .. get it??

 

[abrahamlaur]

hmm,i cant open that zip file for some reason, could you email it to me?

[email protected]

 

[tlennhoff]

Thanks for posting the zip file.

 

[Leigh0725]

HO callOkay, I called HO and I am also getting conflicting answers. Both reps said that doing a cookbook fundraiser is okay and that if we want to put on the order form $15 ($5 donation + $10 cookbook). I asked about the bulk order and was told that as long as I don't have one order with 50 cookbooks I'm fine. I was even told that it would be okay to combine orders and not do individual ones. I took down both names and am going to proceed with how I see fit. If both reps and my director are telling me the same thing, I'm going for it. So....each order will be under the child's name. One order per child rather than breaking it out. If, however, that child happens to sell more than 10 cookbooks (my personal preference) then I will split up their order. We can then charge $15 rather than $16. I documented both names of the reps I talked with, and feel like I did what needs to be done to CYA.

 

[abrahamlaur]

Leigh, can i ask what you asked them? when I called I was alittle dumbfounded and probably sounded idiotic LOL ... I'd like to call and talk with them and ask them what you asked them so i can get the same answers and have it documented ya know?

 

[Leigh0725]

Cb FrI said that I wanted to hold a CookBook fundraiser in September and focus mainly on the cookbooks for guests. If they want to purchase other items from the catalog, it is a possibility, however, the flyer for the advertisment was strictly focusing on the $10 cookbooks. I also said that the school would like to incorporate a $5 donnation to go along with the $10 cookbook. The rep said that if the guest is willing to do both, then it shouldn't be a problem. I explained that there is a potential of this show having 1000+ cookbooks on there. That if this was doable, the school is trying to get each kid to sell at least 5 cookbooks. They said that as long as one order isn't a huge amount (they said 50, however, I would think red flags would still be thrown if 25 would on one order. This is why I'm limiting each order to ten) I would be okay. I then asked if I needed to seperate out the orders for each individual person who orders or if I can combine. I gave the example of one child selling to mom, grandma and neighbor - could this be one receipt with three cookbooks on it going to the child, or three seperate receipts. The rep said she saw no problem in having the combined orders. Even went into saying that for the records of those placing the order with the child, the child/parents can photo copy the receipt they receive and pass that on with the highlight order for that person. I was a little shocked to hear that, but I said okay, if HO reps are going to say this, then I will go with it. I followed up with my director to tell her what has been going on here on the board and what was discussed with HO. She said that for her church, she will be doing the FR how the thread originally started. $10 for the cookbook; $4 for the organization and $1 toward shipping & tax.

Honestly, my best advice would be to use your own judgement. It seems like the lines of communication are not being thoroughly comunicated at HO. But if two reps are telling me that this is okay, then it makes me feel like it is. After talking with HO and my director, I am hoping that this would be enough to CMA (cover my a$$). I have my DH's school, a gal that is fundraising for Leukemia & Lymphoma sociey, and a church group. If all goes well, then I would imagine that September will be quite a successful month. Too bad we cannot get points for selling cookbooks. ;-)

 

[dwyerkim]

Leigh--thanks so much for posting that zip file. I was able to open it and just change to my tax rate and it will make it so much easier to explain to someone what their earnings will be. Now, don't forget, they will get an additional 10 or 15% donated back from PC above and beyond the amount that you calculated as donated.

Will post after I hear back from HO--my name is in the call back queue right now.

 

[abrahamlaur]

Yeah that would be nice wouldnt it Leigh! thanks for sharing what you asked! You helped me work it out in my head!

 

[abrahamlaur]

LOL good luck Kimberly ... I had to wait an hour or so! I think everyone must be calling tonight for this FR ... Let us know what they say!

 

[dwyerkim]

LOL good luck Kimberly ... I had to wait an hour or so! I think everyone must be calling tonight for this FR ... Let us know what they say!

Ok, just heard back and I also got the go ahead. I spoke with some one super nice, said they've been getting lots of calls about this (go figure...) they said it is fine to do a fundraiser with just cookbooks, and that it is ok to collapse orders (the way I explained it is if each parent in my organization includes all the cookbooks they collect money on in one order, was told this is fine). I was told the only thing that would hold it up is more than 50 of the same item in one order. Asked about the donation thing... explained it that if my group wanted to sell cookbooks and solicit a donation straight to their organization at the same time, was this ok... I was told that would be the groups perogative.

There you go... gonna work on putting stuff together for this b/c I'm meeting with someone tomorrow morning. Waa-hoo, I am so excited and I am going for it with this idea!

 

[Leigh0725]

Now it's time for a Margarita!!!! I already told my DH that I will be not available on Saturday, as I am dedicating that time to my office hours to get everything ready for my open house, four september shows, two september cookbook fundraisers as well as get my butt organized a little more! I'm going to try and put some informational flyers together, but it may be Saturday before I can work on them. My FT job is starting to get a little demanding. Ugh!

Now, if DH and I can win this $181 milllion powerball, i will quit my FT and only do PC. ;-) Oh, the perfect world sounds great.

 

[abrahamlaur]

I"d love to see a letter to send to organizations ... actually I'd love to see everything ya'll make up .. I"m so uncreative its unbelievable! Please please please share!!!

 

[minersmix]

I could not get the zip file to open. Could you please send it to me by email. What a great idea. [email protected]
Thank you

 

[dwyerkim]

Now it's time for a Margarita!!!! I already told my DH that I will be not available on Saturday, as I am dedicating that time to my office hours to get everything ready for my open house, four september shows, two september cookbook fundraisers as well as get my butt organized a little more! I'm going to try and put some informational flyers together, but it may be Saturday before I can work on them. My FT job is starting to get a little demanding. Ugh!

Now, if DH and I can win this $181 milllion powerball, i will quit my FT and only do PC. ;-) Oh, the perfect world sounds great.

I'll join you for a virtual margarita! I am grinning from ear to ear, in the midst of all this I actually had a customer contact me to book what looks like will be a huge fundraiser show (she said whenever she hosts a regular show it is in the $1500-1700 range, and she's expecting 33 or more guests at this one). Now that I can go back to her and tell her we can definitely do the cookbook thing on top of the kitchen show fundraiser, she will be tickled and we'll make a ton of money for her group. YEAH!

and by the way, if I win powerball, I'm not so sure I'll be doing any work... other than laying on the beach and drinking the aforementioned margarita. I love PC so I will be someone's loyal and loaded customer, but I think that's as far as it would go!

 

[abrahamlaur]

wow thats awesome kim! whats the fundraiser for? I would love to have her as a host!

 

[chef_kimmo]

Bulk OrderI am not a Director as the other person who has posted about ordering 50 or more of one item but I have sent in several orders where someone has purchased 50 or more of one particular item and have never been charged a Bulk shipping rate or any other bulk price.

It could possibly be how I described why the products were being purchased. It could be other reasons, I don't know what but the way I see these cookbooks being sold this is NOT a bulk purchase. Even if the total sales end up with 50 or more of one particular book, if they are not all with one person or being used by one person then it is not bulk. The items I sold were bought by one person but were purchased as gifts to their employees and incentives.

I am happy to hear that there is a Yes to this "fundraiser" with the couple exceptions to how it was originally described.

 

[dwyerkim]

wow thats awesome kim! whats the fundraiser for? I would love to have her as a host!

It's for her son's traveling baseball team. She loves PC, she placed an at a vendor fair I did for like $180 last spring. We were working on doing a show anyway (I think she said the consultant she used to work with stopped selling or something like that), when this fundraiser idea came up.

As for what forms to use, I am going to use the order form that was posted here in the files. I just took out the bit about earning rewards (I am having parents sell the stuff primarily, not kids) and I am adding thislease note: Individual Cookbook price of $16 reflects $10 cost, plus tax, shipping and handling, and a donation directly from the customer to the organization.

I figure that ought to cover you know what. Anyone has any other ideas please share them.

 

[abrahamlaur]

Any letter or anything to go with the order form Kim?

 

[dwyerkim]

Any letter or anything to go with the order form Kim?

I'm working on tweaking the "Brauner" school letter posted here in the files... trying to figure out the wording. I may just present this letter to the two groups I'm working with and once they give me the go ahead I will customize it to their group, goals, etc.

I'm also thinking of making some kind of little slip of paper that participants could hand out to supporters that says something like "interested in more than just cookbooks? Purchase from the entire PC product line as part of this fundraiser and up to 15% will be donated back to our group." The one group I know will be doing a full catalog fundraiser, so that won't be a problem, and it will be parents selling the stuff so I think they can handle the deliveries. The other group may just do the cookbooks but it can't hurt to ask.

 

[abrahamlaur]

sounds good kim, i'm also working on that letter that was posted earlier, but i was thinking more of a letter to show and explain the thing to the organization before the decide to do it ... like a letter to send to the schools to see if they would be interested in participating in this FR ... ya know?

 

[dwyerkim]

sounds good kim, i'm also working on that letter that was posted earlier, but i was thinking more of a letter to show and explain the thing to the organization before the decide to do it ... like a letter to send to the schools to see if they would be interested in participating in this FR ... ya know?

I know someone posted a prospect letter, it is a really good one I thought. It would need to be tweaked a little I think to reflect what HO is telling everyone, but should work for you. Personally I think I will be sitting down explaining it in person, I don't really have leads yet that I can cold call.

 

[abrahamlaur]

i've never done a cold call for a fundraiser, i wouldnt know what to say LOL do you know where that prospec tletter is?

 

[dwyerkim]

i've never done a cold call for a fundraiser, i wouldnt know what to say LOL do you know where that prospec tletter is?

go under files and search for cookbook... there are only a handful of documents that are recently posted. I'm not sure which one of those it is so you'd have to open all of them, but it is a nicely laid out letter with photos of the cookbooks running down the right hand of the page.

 

[chefjenibel]

Fundraiser prospecting letterI had deleted my previous post because of the confusion, I didn't want someone to latch onto it without reading the whole thread. So, here is the letter again. Please note, I HAVE NOT yet rewritten it regarding the new "rules", so you will have to do so if you choose to use the letter. I think I am also planning on taking out the paragraph about online ordering because that would just cause too much confusion! The easier the better. Anyway, if any of you can use it and adjust it accordingly, go for it!

 

[Cindycooks]

I think the letter looks good - the only thing I can think to add would be something about the organization receiving an additional 10 - 15% of the total amount sold in cookbooks from PC once the order it submitted. You might even just say 15% which sounds better and is probably what they will get anyway if you are talking about a large crowd.

 

[PAMPEREDCHEFBELL]

Question - The Guest Special is for September but when is the last date that the show can be submitted?

 

[Jennie4PC]

the last day of Oct

 

[abrahamlaur]

I love that letter Jen! Its perfect, I just took out that one paragraph about the website, as well as adding the 15% the org. makes off the sales. I love the little touch at the end about giving back to the community! THANKS!!!

 

[heat123]

So we need to call in to get "permission" so they can document it that I may have huge amounts of cookbooks on order in sept basically?

 

[abrahamlaur]

if you have 50 of ONE cookbook (for example your fundraiser has sold 55 all the best cookbooks) then you need to call them and get permission .. its basically to just let them know the order is coming, they might ask you questions about why so many, and just say people are buying them for themselves since its on special .. or christmas gifts or something.

 

[heat123]

ok, that's good to know. I want to offer this fundraiser but don't know if I will actually have any takers yet? So I guess I will call in if I get interested parties?

 

[Leigh0725]

the bulk issue is not based on a total amount of books for the show, it based on total amount for one guest. So for example, if I have 5 guest and each order 10 of the same cookbook, the total will be 50 but no red flags would be raised since it's five different orders. Does this make sense?

 

[heat123]

yes- thank you!

 

[abrahamlaur]

Leigh .. thats wierd becuase I was told for the whole FR ... 50 of ONE for the whole show ... I dont know now .. I wonder which way it is

 

[Leigh0725]

Yeah, it seems like we're getting conflicting answers. That was what the HO rep told me. I just wish we could all get a straight answer.

 

[abrahamlaur]

NO kidding ...

 

[jrstephens]

I just sent the following email to HO. I like to have things in writtting to refer too. I will let you all know my response.

"I am thinking of offering a Cookbook Fundraiser during September because of the special pricing. Are there any limits to the amount of a cookbook(s) that can be ordered by one person and/or organization? At which point would this go into "bulk" orders and I would need permission for the order? Please, give me some details as to how I can handle a fundraiser of this type.

Thank you,
Jennifer Stephens"

 

[abrahamlaur]

thanks jennifer!

 

[pamperedlinda]

That sounds great Jennifer. Please let us know what HO says.