Planning a Pampered Chef Fundraiser: What Should I Do to Maximize Profits?

[Becky0216]

I am doing a fundraiser next month and this is my first one. I am a bit lost on what to do to not spend so much of my money.
It is going to be at a community center and is going to be PC stuff and then also raffles etc. So I am not the only means or raising money. I am going to have all my stuff set up and make a recipe ahead for people to try. Along side the recipe I am going to list what I used to make it.
I will be speaking for a few moments about the business and about how the fundraiser works also.
My main concerns are
1.) there will be about 100 people attending (I have enough cattys but how do I get them all back?)
2.) same thing with cattys, the host asked me to send her 15 cattys in the mail for work places. I don't get why one catty per place isn't enough. I mailed them and know I wont get them back. - Should I have done something different?
3.) Should I pay for the ingredients to make the recipe?
4.) how should I handle orders? Should I have them all shipped to the host?

Any better suggestions on how to handle this?

 

[chefann]

1) If you have a couple of cattys in page protectors, you can let people look through those and place orders. And then don't hand out a full copy for them to take with them unless they ask. You can also have mini cattys there, too.3) I usually pay for the ingredients for FRs. You can then pick something inexpensive to make. And since it sounds like there'll be a lot of people, you may want to pick up some of those little plastic portion control cups and portion the samples out into those, so you get more samples from your recipe.4) You can either have the order shipped to the chairperson, or strongly encourage direct shipping. Don't forget to mention that people placing orders are still eligible for the guest special for the month, and talk up the bookings, since the group gets $3 for each one.

 

[lkprescott]

Talk with the chairperson. If they don't want to worry about handing out the orders tell folks to put in for direct shipping. I did a fundraiser and had the stuff shipped c/o my address and I'll take care of separating and contacting the folks who bought stuff. I would buy ingredients and like Ann said, make something easy, inexpensive and easily portioned out. I'd hand out mini catalogs and have big catalogs only for folks who request them.