Elementary School Carnival Ideas

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Fundraising myth... Schools only get a fraction of money collected.

The myth of fundraising...
"The only people to really benefit from these fundraising activities are the companies supplying the goods that are being sold. The schools receive a fraction of the money collected."
The numbers don't warrant this type of thinking.  After all, fundraising companies produce, warehouse and ship product, provide marketing materials, catalogs, order forms, prize programs and other incentives. 

Schools get 50% of every retail sale to schools right off the top. 

They don't pay for the product, then split the profit, they get it on every single retail sale.  Then they get the extras such as free shipping, complimentary prize programs, catalogs, order forms, how-to-guides, customer support and a slew of extras. 

When you look at this type of thinking, it's clear that there are hard costs for the products involved and so yes, there is some truth to the comment that schools get only a fraction of the money collected because they sell a physical product.  Yet, that isn't an accurate portrayal.  The product cost is a real cost.  Clearly, the fundraising company is the group receiving only a fraction of the money collected after paying for the product, warehousing and distribution, shipping and marketing and 50% off the top.

Here's the irony...

If a school were to offer their own product, a widget of some sort, folks would say they earn 100% of the profit.

Funny huh.

Ok, until next time!

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