Fundraising is a fact of life for school aged children and their families.  Both of our children go to parochial schools and are involved in church youth groups, so that means lots of cookie dough, magazines and trash bags here at our house.  As a responsible parent, I know that it's necessary to have numerous fundraisers throughout the year.

But to be honest, when the flyer about the next fundraiser comes home with the girls, I break into a cold sweat.   One reason I dread the fundraisers is due to the fact I have the biggest sweet tooth in the family and I have no will power over the following foods:

• Mint Chocolate Girl Scout Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• Chocolate Bars with Almonds

I don't mean I LIKE these foods.  I mean I have no willpower AT ALL when these foods are in my home.  When these sweets are in the frig, they aren't there for long because I will eat them.  It's not the holidays that put on the pounds for me, it's the school fundraisers.  Another reason I dread the bright yellow flyers about the next fundraiser is because our family subscribes to every magazine known to mankind, due to the annual magazine subscription drive at my younger daughter's school.  I think I spent $250 dollars last year buying magazines from my daughter, which is about $50 more dollars than the school made from the whole magazine drive.  I'm kidding about the magazine drive and the school profit but I know it's not the most profitable way to raise money.  I would simply cut the school a check and not buy any magazines but then my daughter would not get all the "valuable" prizes that go along with the magazine subscriptions, like the "mini-electric disco ball". 

As a mother, I know fundraising is necessary to support the school.  As an individual, I dread the fundraisers but there are some new and creative ways for schools and churches to raise money. Here are some alternatives to cookie dough, magazines and candy bars.

LuLu.com   
Lulu.com is an online publisher that makes it very easy AND profitable to self-publish books.  I know that there is a lot of work that goes into creating CONTENT for a book to sell for school but Lulu.com makes is very easy to raise money selling a book online.  Some people I know and respect in the field of marketing raised money for a children's charity in 2007 by publishing the book, The Age of Conversation.  This book was a collaboration of many authors and The Age of Conversation has been extremely sucessful raising money for children.  Go to LuLu.com for more information.

Positvely Fundraising.com
Positively Fundraising is another alternative to cookie dough.  Positively Fundraising offers a "non-food" way to raise money for churches and schools....and it's a quick and easy method of raising money for small groups.  Postively Fundraising sells gift blankets with positive affirmations and messages.  Most church and school groups raise an average of $1,000 and the fundraiser can get up and running quickly, in a few days or a week.   Besides my lack of willpower over sweets, I like this fundraising option because I like the positive messages of the products and I like the fact that Positively Fundraising.com gives a larger than average portion of profits to the churches and schools.  Go to Positively Fundraising.com for more information.

Be Creative
This is not the name of one particular organization or company.  I am simply stating that being creative for school or church fundraisers can often be the great for school or church group bank accounts AND for the community.  I'll use one example from our church that has been successful, it's an annual fundraising event called "Holy Smokes".  Our church has a parish BBQ contest every May with various teams in competition for the title of "Holy Smokes Champion".  The fun part about this contest is that this contest does good things for the parish in terms of raising money but it also brings the community together for fun and laughs.   The end result of this annual event grows every year and so the number of people in the parish who want to participate.  We live in BBQ country here in the midwest so having a contest like this is very natural but having a fun event to bring people together AND raise money is a great idea.  If you'd like to know more about our church fundraiser, please let me know.

The bottom line is that I like to support our schools and churches and it's my responsibility as a parent.  But I would like to have at least one  alternative to the usual cookie, candy and magazine drives.  If you have some new and effective ways your church or school has raised money, let me know.  I'd love to hear about it.