It seems odd that many folks and organizations would rather the kids "sell" something (gets them trained in cappitalism early on) than solicit donations. What's wrong with just asking someone to support a charity you believe in and benefit from? I'll tell you one thing, (because I have worked for non-profits all my life) just writing out a donation check is the best way to go. 100% of your money goes to support the organization. You can even designate what specific program you want to support. Companies make all kinds of money offering items for sale by non-profits. In fact, with the economy doing as poorly as it is, that is just another way some folks are attempting to make a living. So someone has a job at the company that provides the stuff too, because you are buying from the kid. But some of these fundraisers the school gets maybe 10%. When I saw how low it was for some of them, I decided to just stop, money is too tight. I pick the charities I believe in and write as large a check as I can muster, one time per year! I feel for these kids, they are learning early on the ways of the market. Nothing wrong with that per se, but realize that they are really working for a for-profit company, and in turn that company shares the profit with them, in payment for their work time. Would almost be better if the kids baked their own cookies and just sold them, or did a car wash or went door to door offering to do yard work for money. In fact, I have a friend who is starting up a business that is partnering non-profits with local farmers and other food producers, so the money can stay in the community and also so that the kids can maybe learn something about their local economy and foodshed. Also, I was involved with a local bank helping a 3rd grade class run their own fundraiser, with the kids coming up with the plan of how to raise the money, (they sold popcorn during the lunch hour) being helped with the budgeting and record keeping by people with expertise to share who worked at the bank, and then in the end the bank matched what they raised. It was a local bank. Then the kids decided what to do with the money, so they worked with us to come up with a scheme where they came out and planted a bunch of trees in an area we were trying to reforest, and they were helped by parents and bank employees. So it was just a win win situation all the way around, valuable lessons, the kids learned as well as earned.

What about responding that you'd LOVE her help her raise money, and that you're happy to offer a money-earning opportunity washing your windows to earn money for her trip! My Mom's friends hosted a neighborhood Grandma shower for the first in the neighborhood to become a Grandma. the deal was that the 'goods' would be shared by all, since none of the grandbabies were local and the stuff would only be used for periodic visits. They all thought it was a fabulous idea, and all the Grandmas got fully stocked with great stuff for very little money. I thought is was very cleverly done --

I think you're prices are too low. You'd be lucky to make a profit on somethings. I just bought 2 peaches for $3 the other day. If you're making fruit pies and cobblers, I would definitely charge more for those. And,if your cookies have chips and/or nuts and butter, you'll be lucky to break even. Plus, you may have to plan on some stuff not selling. I would take preorders for the pies and cobblers (even cakes) and sell them whole for twice of what you paid to make them. People like being able to take bigger stuff home to other family members. If it's a fundraiser and a good cause, I would pay a lot more for homemade goods. I would price any individual item at at least a dollar or more. And, if you put enough fluffy icing on a cupcake you can charge big bucks for it! Just make sure to price stuff so that you're actually making a big enough profit to make it worth the effort. I'd hate to see you slaving and baking for 3 days to come out $7 ahead. How about doing some big iced cinnamon rolls one morning (or some other breakfast - bakery good)? I would bet you could charge a lot for those. People love eating with their morning coffee and will probably pay a little more for a treat then since it seems more like a meal instead of just a snack. Good luck; let us know how it goes.

I have a little experience with this kind of project. Acutally, a lot of experience, but that is another story. First some marketing suggestions. Having even a rough sketch or schematic of the playground will help in your efforts. It is a great marketing tool, show it sponsors and post it to keep a visual reminder in parents' faces everyday. From that, make a list of the major and semi-major components. Swing bays, slides, monkey bars, you get the idea. Set a price for each component, round up. Then break up your fundraising efforts into one component at a time. Then take that schematic to local businesses and community service organizations (Kiawanis, Rotary Club, etc.) Ask each group to "adopt" a part of the playground. You'll get a lot of "no" but even a couple "yes" are worth the rejections. You will need to set a way in which each group will be recognized for the donation. Remind them that a school is a 501(c)3 and the donation is tax deductable. That is what they want out of it: tax write off and local publicity. If you already have some funds, that will help convince them of your committment. If/when you get some sponsors be sure to have some kids color and write a real cute thank you not to the sponsor, the love to post that sort of thing in a business where customers see it. If you do that approach, have yourself together before going into with a written request and a list of the components available to sponsor, and any other sponsors already on board. Parents of students in your school who have family businesses might like to get involved with this one if they get even a little recogniztion for it. Then make fundraisers that will raise funds for one or two components at a time. That way you can publicize "proceeds will purchase the monkey bars" or whatever. When the fundraiser is over, it will raise morale more when you can say "YEAH! It was a success we raised enough to purchase the monkey bars" instead of "We are getting closer to the playground total." Also post a graphic of the funds raised somewhere very visual in the school. You could do a thermometer thing, or a complete picture of the playground next to one of only the components funded, adding them as they are funded. Final marketing tip, get the students really excited about it. The more they talk about the new playground, the more the parents hear about it, the more they pay attention (and contribute). It has to be put in front of them constantly. Some of the events we held to actually raise money: Penny/Coin drive -raised about $1500, the gimmick was to fill the bed of a pick-up truck Sold parts with kids names on it -bricks in a sidewalk might be the easiest thing at a school. Parents love to put their kids name on something permanent. We sold bricks for $100, but only paid around $15 for them engraved. So that leaves you a lot of room to reduce the price of your bricks if it suits your school better. Remember to budget for a contractor to install them, though. Something called "flocking" involving individuals paying to have a friend, relative or neighbor's front yard filled with pink, plastic flamingos over night. It was a riot, raised about $1500. If that sounds interesting, email me I'll tell you the details of how it worked. McDonalds will not outright give money to this kind of thing. Most, however, will let you have a fundraiser at a restaurant. I suppose it might vary between franchises, but our allowed to have a "Voucher Night." We distributed vouchers to be turned in during specific hours of a given date. A certain percentage of the sales with vouchers came back to our cause. We even got the local paper to print a voucher in the paper for that week. If you play your cards right, you might be able to get your local McD's to schedule Ronald for that night. If not, maybe you can get a magician or clown to donate his/her time for entertainment. At the same time, you might be able to get a local business to donate at item for raffle. We did all those things at our "Voucher Nights" to increase traffic into the event and to increase sales. I mean, given a choice, a lot of people get their food to go. If there is entertainment for the kids, they stick around, order dessert, sales go up. Every little bit helps. Then of course, the traditional raffles and bake sales. I like these things because there is little or no cost involved. Unlike the candy sales or other gift sales fundraising companies get schools to do. They can be good fundraisers, but also require a lot of volunteer time and the biggest profit is made by the company. The hardest part of a raffle is getting the prizes donated. But, if you go to businesses to sponsor a component and they tell you "we can't" then you can pull the prize card, they might be more able to give an item than cash. You could have a dinner and involve the students by having musical groups perform, or having them help with serving and clean up. Whatever you do, don't forget to invite the local paper or even news channel. A lot of times, they have bigger stories, but call them every single time and they might show up once or twice. A little press coverage goes a long way. They prefer events involving kids, it gets better ratings I guess. Ask your core group of parents for help. It's amazing once you starts asking people for things, what resources are out there. Somebody might have done a silent auction before, get them to do one for this cause. Or a golf tournement. List out a bunch of ideas for fundraisers, knowing that you can't do all of them, and see who steps up to chair what. You might find some hidden talent in someone you thought had none :o) Things to get the kids involved without selling, any -a-thon. Walk, bowl, how about a swing a thon at another playground? Pet wash, car wash. The best washes that I've seen sell "advance tickets." OMG, what a genious who came up with this! The kids sold the advance tickets, to neighbors or whatever, to come a couple weeks later and get your car washed. Though on that date, you could still drive up and pay for a wash. But they had to have sold hundreds of those advance tickets, and I bet half of them were never redeemed. I would always forget to redeem mine! At $5 each, that is just plain profit!! I still want to shake the hand of the person who thought that up! I'll stop there for now. The playground I led was a community playground, we raised over $250,000, it took about two years, then we had to get almost 10,000 volunteer hours to build it. It was hard work, but turned out very successful. Probably a different kind of project from what you're talking about right now. But I hope some what I said can be adapted to help you build your school's playground. Email me if I can be of further help.