Christmas Tree fundraiser?

[Anonymous]

LAMB has had a tree fundraiser hte last few years. The trees are really expensive -- about $80-90 each, and they also sell wreaths and roping.

It is combined with a winter fair and there have been years when trees were still being sold a week to ten days after the sale weekend. There was a significant push to get alumni families to return to buy trees, and many did.

At a lower price point, the popcorn fundraisers net the sellers 50% of what is sold, and you don't commit to an amount of product up front. You need to figure out what your school families can afford and will buy.

https://www.doublegood.com/fundraising1?source=google&kw=popcorn%20sale%20fundraiser&gclid=Cj0KCQjwidPcBRCGARIsALM--ePCP3yqStSo2P2YH-0cIzwzTTpbMq6m3la80z0xpwwIoMsME9izEBMaAuAQEALw_wcB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm not saying the trees is a bad idea, but here are some other ideas:

Amazon Smile-- everyone in the community can do that for you.

Harris Teeter if you live near one-- same.

Auction-- lots of EOTP schools do them and it's a great way to monetize all kinds of things-- unused gift cards that people may have, used bikes/scooters/strollers, tickets to stuff, law firm schwag, AirBnBs, etc.

A tradition that when things are sold on the neighborhood email list, proceeds go to your PTO. You may find that parents of babies are eager to support you.

Yup. Thanks. Got all those on our list and we're doing 3 of 4 of them.

Think twice about doing this at the same time as the auction. There is only so much interest people have in buying stuff, you have to kind of space it out across the year.

[Anonymous]

We tried the tree sale and found it to be a huge amount of work for little money. It also makes a difference whether your location has visibility/foot traffic.

#neveragain

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a good community-builder but not a great fund-raiser. If your PTA needs the cash I'd look elsewhere.

Gah, and it's not a good source for a good tree. I got one from an EOTP fundraiser that lost half its needs on my front porch before it even made it into the house. Never again.

[Anonymous]

We get our trees a WOTP schhol. The trees are decent.

I believe the school makes $15-20k, but they’ve been doing it for a number of years.

It takes a bunch of volunteers to come out on busy and possibly frigid weekends in December.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a good community-builder but not a great fund-raiser. If your PTA needs the cash I'd look elsewhere.

Interesting. This is the type of information I'm struggling to find online. Margins. So, in your experience you don't get out what you put in?

Honestly, most fundraisers that an EOTP school can do are a giant pain in the ass for not much money. The high-return fundraisers are premised on a wealthy student body that's willing to pay for stuff, where parents just give you money as "dues" without needing anything in return.

What I like about this fundraiser is the community aspect of it. Our EOTP school hasn't tapped into its surrounding community as well as we could, and I'd like to try and do more of that this year.

(But I'd also like to know effort/margins before I jump in).

It's been a few years, but I helped organize the sale at my old school. We sold about 400 trees, they were expensive, in the $80-90 range. When all the costs were added up the margin was less than 10%. It took 70+ volunteers to unload the trees on Friday, sell sell sell on Saturday, and sell the rest and clean the parking lot on Sunday. Plus put up posters and signs and take them down, man the cash registers, provide snacks for the other volunteers, etc.

A tree sale is not a tax-exempt event and the city is going to expect you to collect and pay sales tax. It's not a nice present for future PTA officers to neglect this bit and leave it for the organization to get busted in a few years and have to dig up back taxes and penalties. Trust me.

If you do it at the school DCPS may require a building use agreement. If they do, you have to pay overtime for custodians and security, it's in the union contract.

It didn't happen my year, but there is a real risk that you order too many trees. With the low margins just a few unsold trees eats up all of your profits. The guy who sold us the trees told me that once he had a school that had to rent a chipper to get rid of the unsold trees. That would be heart-breaking after all that work. Even if you can unload them at clearance prices you're still losing money. And it's not like you can return them or save them for later.

With the prices so high everyone assumes that it's hugely profitable, but it's not. If you're shoppers are price sensitive you'll have a hard time explaining why they should buy from you instead of picking up a tree at Home Depot for $19.99.

There are some good things about it:
1. It's a good community builder. It's fun to be outside on a brisk December day, you get a fire going, play some music and serve some hot drinks. It's particularly fun if your parents normally work office jobs and they can play at manual labor. If their normal job is working outside the novelty has probably worn off. It's an opportunity to invite the neighboring community into the school as well.

2. It's one of the few fundraisers you can do where you're not just hitting up the current parents. People who aren't at the school will buy a tree. The businessman in me though says that we were leaving money on the table, because people basically thought they were paying $90 for a $19.99 tree and thought they were contributing 70 bucks or so to the school when really it was more like seven. But I guess you take it where you can get it.

But basically you're getting into the retail business, and everyone will tell you it's just a terrible business right now.

[Anonymous]

We did it for Ballou...when the band went to the Rose Bowl. A great fundraiser but a lot of work, you will need a dedicated amount of people to get the profits. We invested $1,500 and made 43% profit.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it's just because I am only slowly digesting matzoh ball soup, kugel and apple honey cake here on Erev Rosh Hashanah, but I am having a hard time understanding WHY any DCPS/DCPCS would choose a religious-tinged fundraiser exclude families who would otherwise support the effort but subscribe to another religion, or none at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe it's just because I am only slowly digesting matzoh ball soup, kugel and apple honey cake here on Erev Rosh Hashanah, but I am having a hard time understanding WHY any DCPS/DCPCS would choose a religious-tinged fundraiser exclude families who would otherwise support the effort but subscribe to another religion, or none at all?

Because inapproprate emphasis on Christianity is pervasive throughout DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Don't do it. If it rains on your sale day, you are f*cked.

[Anonymous]

I'm not Christian. Don't start a new school tradition that alienanes Muslims, Jehovah's witnesses, Atheists and Jews (among others) all in one go. Start with inclusivity.

[Anonymous]

I think it would be hard to get all the volunteers you need on weekends in December.

It is too risky and the amount of work for the amount of risk and small profit would make it a nonstarter.

What about restaurant nights at local restaurants, where the restaurant agrees to give you a percentage of sales say on a Monday from 12-8? Then you can get all the childfree hipsters in your area to feel like they are helping the school by eating out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a good community-builder but not a great fund-raiser. If your PTA needs the cash I'd look elsewhere.

Interesting. This is the type of information I'm struggling to find online. Margins. So, in your experience you don't get out what you put in?

Honestly, most fundraisers that an EOTP school can do are a giant pain in the ass for not much money. The high-return fundraisers are premised on a wealthy student body that's willing to pay for stuff, where parents just give you money as "dues" without needing anything in return.

What I like about this fundraiser is the community aspect of it. Our EOTP school hasn't tapped into its surrounding community as well as we could, and I'd like to try and do more of that this year.

(But I'd also like to know effort/margins before I jump in).

It's been a few years, but I helped organize the sale at my old school. We sold about 400 trees, they were expensive, in the $80-90 range. When all the costs were added up the margin was less than 10%. It took 70+ volunteers to unload the trees on Friday, sell sell sell on Saturday, and sell the rest and clean the parking lot on Sunday. Plus put up posters and signs and take them down, man the cash registers, provide snacks for the other volunteers, etc.

A tree sale is not a tax-exempt event and the city is going to expect you to collect and pay sales tax. It's not a nice present for future PTA officers to neglect this bit and leave it for the organization to get busted in a few years and have to dig up back taxes and penalties. Trust me.

If you do it at the school DCPS may require a building use agreement. If they do, you have to pay overtime for custodians and security, it's in the union contract.

It didn't happen my year, but there is a real risk that you order too many trees. With the low margins just a few unsold trees eats up all of your profits. The guy who sold us the trees told me that once he had a school that had to rent a chipper to get rid of the unsold trees. That would be heart-breaking after all that work. Even if you can unload them at clearance prices you're still losing money. And it's not like you can return them or save them for later.

With the prices so high everyone assumes that it's hugely profitable, but it's not. If you're shoppers are price sensitive you'll have a hard time explaining why they should buy from you instead of picking up a tree at Home Depot for $19.99.

There are some good things about it:
1. It's a good community builder. It's fun to be outside on a brisk December day, you get a fire going, play some music and serve some hot drinks. It's particularly fun if your parents normally work office jobs and they can play at manual labor. If their normal job is working outside the novelty has probably worn off. It's an opportunity to invite the neighboring community into the school as well.

2. It's one of the few fundraisers you can do where you're not just hitting up the current parents. People who aren't at the school will buy a tree. The businessman in me though says that we were leaving money on the table, because people basically thought they were paying $90 for a $19.99 tree and thought they were contributing 70 bucks or so to the school when really it was more like seven. But I guess you take it where you can get it.

But basically you're getting into the retail business, and everyone will tell you it's just a terrible business right now.

Thanks for this - it's super useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not Christian. Don't start a new school tradition that alienanes Muslims, Jehovah's witnesses, Atheists and Jews (among others) all in one go. Start with inclusivity.

Huh. A non-practicing Muslim and non-practicing Jew started it up at our school. I think the returns are pretty good for EOTP if the neighbors are wealthy enough to support a slightly overpriced tree for the sake of helping the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not Christian. Don't start a new school tradition that alienanes Muslims, Jehovah's witnesses, Atheists and Jews (among others) all in one go. Start with inclusivity.

Huh. A non-practicing Muslim and non-practicing Jew started it up at our school. I think the returns are pretty good for EOTP if the neighbors are wealthy enough to support a slightly overpriced tree for the sake of helping the school.

+1