Fundraising ideas. There are dozens and dozens of different ways to generate money for your charity, organization, or for any good cause. Whether it is for a school band, your Scout troop, a church event, a civic occasion, or simply to help fill the coffers of your club or organization, you have a myriad of options from which to choose.
My recommendation is to pick one that requires the least amount of work. I'm talking actual labor. I'm not a particularly slothful person, but I do see the advantages of working "smart," not "hard." Business owners will tell you that if you can bring in more money by doing less, that's great! Fundraising, in your case, isn't an actual business…but the principles are similar.
What Fundraising Idea Fits The Bill?
I belong to a family/fraternal organization. Over the decades in which I have been a member, we have conducted many fundraisers for charities and worthwhile causes. Some of them took a lot of work. We have had chili feeds, pancake breakfasts, quilt auctions, car washes in the parking lot, and door-to-door sales of candy and popcorn. They were labor intensive, and some weren't particularly successful.
The one that seemed to work the best for us was the family style cookbook. It consisted of the best recipes from the finest cooks we had in our group and community. We designed it to reflect our group's ideals. It was a great seller, too. Of course, everyone in our organization bought one, as did about all of the contributors outside of our group. Then we sold the rest at school activities, through local churches, at a street fair held in town, and through a number of local businesses that donated some counter space for us. In fact, we have had it reprinted several times and continue to sell copies years after its original publication.
Less Work?
Exactly. We formed a committee to handle logistics and organize the effort. They were responsible for selecting the best on-line cookbook publisher and coordinating with them in order to create the perfect cookbook.
Gathering recipes was the aspect of creating a personalized cookbook that took the most "work." We had all our members contribute recipes, and then we spoke to our neighbors, friends and relatives to encourage them to offer a few as well. Years ago it would have been more difficult, but with today's e-mail capability we were able to contact lots of folks with just a few strokes of a keyboard. The recipes came flooding in. One of our members contacted the local fire department and city hall. Both entities provided recipes that were included in the cookbook. There are many other ways to collect good recipes. Your imagination is the limit.
Designing It Is Important.
If the publisher with whom you are working requires that you pick from a list of templates, then I'd move on to a different company. This cookbook is a representation of you and
your organization. It shouldn't be a mirror image of some other club's cookbook with a different name on the front. You should have the option to select and design the cover, what kind of paper stock to use, the style of pictures and graphics, what dividers to use, how to organize it, and whether or not you wish to include dedication pages or advertising. It sounds complex, but a good on-line publisher will have the tools to make it easy for your committee to decide. Trust me on that. I've been there, done that.
Why Do Family Style Cookbooks Work So Well As Fundraisers?
Personally, I think it is because they are absolutely unique, and because they capture a bit of history. (Plus, everyone I know enjoys eating, and who doesn't want some new recipes now and then?) First, there isn't another cookbook like it on the planet. Some people simply enjoy collecting cookbooks, which is evident by the shelves full of cookbooks in my wife's home office.
They also become keepsakes. The contributor's name is noted by each recipe. Years from now, as people thumb through it to find the right recipe for dinner, they will run across the apple crisp recipe from "Old Mrs. Fredrickson" who used to live down the street. They will reminisce about how she used to let you and the other kids in the neighborhood have a taste of it. She is long gone now, but her memory lives on, in part, due to the cookbook.
The Bottom Line.
Family style personalized cookbooks really do work well as fundraisers. The key is to find the best cookbook publisher and work with them. Find one that has been in business for a while. The industry has been around for decades…for generations…literally. If you can find a
publisher that has been doing it for that long, you can be assured that you're dealing with a stable and competent company.
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Andy Barber is a retired police/fire/EMS dispatcher. After a quarter of a century of "stomping the pedal," as he likes to call it, he took an early retirement and became a freelance writer. Currently he is working for Cookbook Publishers, a company that has been helping people and organizations raise money since 1947. When Andy isn't writing, he spends time on his eastern Kansas farm with his wife and the 2 younger of their 3 sons. Andy also has a love for Harley Davidson motorcycles. He regularly criss-crosses the USA on his bike to meet with friends and see this beautiful country. Cookbook Publishers has been helping people with fundraisers for years, so check them out and see what they can do for you.
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