MAIN Your MoneyFund-raising

How to Make Your Bake Sale
Fund Raiser A Sweet Success

What a great way great way to make some extra dough for your worthy cause! Bake sales can be simple or extravagant. They may include different themes that you can host for different venues. Plus, there are all kinds of ways for children to help — which makes this as much fun as profitable.

Just follow these expert tips and suggestions for organizing the most successful bake sale ever ...

• Timing: Make it easy and fun for people to attend by scheduling your bake sale around an event hosted by your organization. This gives neighbors and organization members a chance to support the bake sale effort, too.
  
  
• Advertising: The more people who know about the bake sale ahead of time, the better. If the organization has a newsletter, take a small ad out a month ahead of time. If the newsletter is in email format, get permission to send out an invite to the same recipients of the e-newsletter (note: email is free!) Also don't forget fliers that can be posted around the neighborhood a week before the scheduled date.
  
  Make sure to include all pertinent information about the bake sale. Double check dates and times. Plan a rain date if it is scheduled for outdoors. Most importantly, clearly state the good cause the bake sale is supporting.
  
  
• Staffing and Volunteering: A successful bake sale is not a one-person show. Whether they're creating fliers, doing the baking, or staffing the tables, every contributor counts and is vital. Assign each task to compliment the skills of each volunteer and convey to all the importance of the event. When everyone steps up, the organization will benefit.
  
  
• Presentation, Packaging and Pricing: Make tiny samples for some of the goodies. If they try it and like it, customers are bound to buy it. Keep things in categories and make it easier for people to navigate your tables. For example, present cookies with cookies and pies with pies.
  
  A very important part of your bake sale presentation are ingredient cards. This helps alleviate having to repeat the ingredients of various recipes and helps people with allergies know which baked goods they need to avoid.
  

  If there are some store-bought products, think "outside the box" and rearrange them on a decorative platter or repackage them. A box of cookies, for example, can be separated into baggies of three. A coffee cake can be cut into squares, wrapped and sold individually.
  
  Brightly colored cellophane and decorative tins are great eye catchers. Encourage purchases that can be given as gifts. Some people may not have a sweet tooth, but they might have a sweetheart that does!

  Remember that people like to think they are getting a deal. If prices are too high, your profits will be low. Make it a win-win situation for everyone and your bake sale is sure to be a great success.
  
  Good luck!