Everyone loves cookies, cakes and pies right? So many school groups see the school bake sale as an easy fundraiser. Actually, while it may sound like a good idea to have a bake sale, I believe it’s actually one of the worst. Find out why…

5 Reasons NOT to Have a School Bake Sale

1. Potential Funds Raised - Bake sale items are typically priced quite low. After all, you can only charge so much for a little zippy bag of cookies. Prices generally range from 50 cents to $10 for a cake. So let’s do the math, how many baked goods does your school group have to make in order to raise the money it needs?

Unless you only need to raise $100 or less your group is never going to reach it’s goal with a bake sale. Why would you spend so much effort on something that produces so little results?

2. Too Much Work - Anyone who’s ever baked items for a sale (and I have) knows how much work it is. Even if you like to cook you spend all afternoon in the kitchen making cookies and cupcakes. At best your hard work will fetch the organization $10-20. Was it really worth it?

3. Perishable Foods – Baked goods need to be sold the day of the sale. If bad weather, a low crowd or something else gets in the way of the school bake sale, you can’t save them for later. What usually ends up happening is that bake sale workers buy each other’s desserts.

4. Too Many Fundraisers – One of the complaints that many parents have is that schools do too many fundraisers. Because bake sales generate such a low amount of income for the group, it becomes just one more fundraiser people are asked to participate in. After awhile even people who support your group will get tired of being asked. Don’t nickel and dime people to death.

5. Divides Your Efforts – Because your school group is spending time on the bake sale, it is taking time away from fundraisers that could be more profitable. Why not focus all of your efforts on fewer fundraisers that will produce much more results?

Instead of wasting time with a school bake sale, find a fundraiser that is the best match for your group. An effective fundraiser is appealing to a wide majority of your supporters, brings in the most amount of money compared to the effort and doesn’t cost more than is appropriate.

There are a variety of great school fundraising ideas…bake sales are just not one of them!