Bake Sales are figuratively and literally the "Mom and Pop stores" of the educational fund raising tree. They are great school community builders that bring parents together in a shared project. Too often the organizers have had little or no experience at setting up a sale. Their volunteers may have had little or no experience as well. In order to keep that fund raising eye focused, it is necessary to carefully plan ahead in two important financial areas.
Come to understand that you are having a bake sale to make money. You must price your items to sell. If your goal is not to make money then there's no need to have a sale unless you just want to have some fun. And since your goal is to make money, remember, there's no money in left-over baked goods. You're asking people to contribute their time, money, and talents in preparing donated goods. When you are ready to price items you must consider the cost of all the ingredients as well as the time it took to prepare a particular baked item. Selling baked goods for less than it costs to make them doesn't make financial sense, because if that were the case, you could simply ask for the bakers to donate the money.
For example, chocolate chip cookies will be more costly to prepare than a loaf of homemade bread because the ingredient, chocolate, is generally more expensive than any item used in bread. However, it probably takes more time to prepare a loaf of homemade bread. So ingredients' costs, preparation time, and an intangible...the popularity of the baker must be considered in your price setting schemata.
The "popularity of the baker" factor should not be underestimated. Baking is a personal matter. People take pride in their creations and sometimes even build their own identify around their ability to bake. Beware of offending someone by thoughtlessly placing a low-ball price on their donated item. You may needlessly inflict damage on someone's ego without ever realizing it.
There are a couple of ways to avoid these problems. First, ask contributors to price their own items. Of course you will need to give them some standardized guidelines. Suggest individually wrapped items they bake have one price. Give them price ranges. For example, a all bags of three cookies might be priced at one dollar. An entire cake or pie might be priced at eight to ten dollars each regardless of what type of cake or pie.
Remember too that people are often shy and modest. Sometimes they will arrive, baked goods in hand, and unable to put a price on them. They fear if they place a high price on their cookies they may not sell. One way to get around this situation is to have a few other bakers give their ideas about pricing. Feel free to discuss the time and ingredient factors. Get their permission to increase the price. When it seems reasonable to increase the price the baker will view it as an appreciation her labor of love. Gathering ideas on pricing from other volunteer bakers really is a way to share the responsibility to accurately pricing.
Running a smooth bake sale requires the organizer to consider the needs and feelings of the volunteers as well as the need to raise money. It means working with people who are connected through their children and who may have personal relationships unknown to the bake sale organizer. Sharing the decision making about pricing items can relieve a lot of pressure and provide confidence that you are getting the pricing right.
Elaine S. Rexdale earned a BA in Elementary Education from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL and an MA in Early Childhood Education from Teachers College at Columbia University in NY. She has been an early childhood educator and administrator for the past 30 years and has served in public and private schools in IL, LA, and NY. Her website is http://www.ElaineRexdale.com.
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