Caramel Apple Fundraiser?
 

Hey everyone!
I have an idea for a candy apple fundraiser for my chapter! We would have to make the apples ourselves and sell them but I was wondering if any other chapters did this and can offer advice/budget advice. We virtually have no budget. Half our chapter last year did not pay dues and then left, so we are in debt.

My son's choir did this to raise money for an international trip they were taking. They used a commercial company:

http://www.apples4you.com/

Came off well - - but, they were selling to hungary HS students. The apples retail for about $10-$15 each - but they are VERY elaborate and beautiful. They had a knife handy to cut them into halves and quarters so folks could share.

If they'd had to actually MAKE these, well I would not have been as supportive. I've made apples dipped in caramel - messy and expensive.

These arrived fresh, individually wrapped and ready to sell in the courtyard.

(BTW, this was a religious school that did not have to consider "Federal Guidelines" in their cafeteria. I'm guessing that a lot of public High Schools could not sell these. But, I don't think that's an issue in college.)

Sidebar, but double and triple check that the people who left are officially terminated thru your national headquarters so you aren't being billed for them.

Apple on :)

I'm assuming she's not in a National group because NPC groups don't fundraise for their own chapter finances, only for charity. I've never heard of other National groups fundraising for their own expenses either.

The proceeds from the fundraiser would go to our philanthropy...I was just mentioning that we don't have a big enough budget to put on elaborate and expensive fundraisers, so we need cheap things we can sell on campus.

Our Finance chair really messed things up for us. We are behind on our national dues because she never sent them the checks.

Caramel apples are fun to make but they are a bit messy and time consuming. They're really good if you roll them in white chocolate/chocolate chips and chocolate/peanut butter chips!

Food tends to be a big hit, but watch out for having a lot of leftovers that don't sell, which would really cut into your earnings.

If you have a DQ or Buffalo Wild Wings, they do philanthropy nights where a percentage of sales go to your group...those are great because there is no mess, no investment, and absolutely no waste. You just have to table to pass out the flyers, because patrons need to show a slip at the restaurant to indicate a percentage of their check should go to the group.

I'm not sure of any other restaurants that do this, but DQ does a night for every sorority on our campus, and BWW does a lot of nights for groups at my son's high school.

I was just about to suggest the exact same thing. A fundraiser without any capital or overhead requirements is what you need and this fits the bill.

I never thought of that! I know Wendy's is currently doing it for another sorority on campus. Great idea!

If you have an active or an alumna who sells jewelry (Lia Sophia, Chloe & Isabel, Stella and Dot) ask if they will have an online show with no hostess gifts or premiums and donate a percentage of her take to the chapter or send it to your NHQ to pay off your dues. I know smaller chapters that have done that and done fairly well.

Alpha Xi at Kansas State is amazing at fundraising. They recently did a nacho night and raised an insane amount of money, like in the thousands. While you would have to front the cost of the food, if you are careful about opening packages you could take a lot back if you don't sell as much as expected. That would also be true of selling fancy home made caramel apples, which I think is a nice seasonal idea.

I've done a lot of fundraising!
 

Cardinal Rule of Fundraising: Never Cannibalize Your Membership!

Second Rule of Fundraising: If you can do it without any initial outlay of money, it's a better fundraiser.



Seriously, apples go bad. The vast majority of people to whom you would sell the apples (fellow college students) aren't going to buy a $5 caramel apple, no matter how fancy it is.

For your initial fundraiser, go to DQ, Buffalo Wild Wings, Potbelly's or any other place who will donate a percentage. It's much less work for you, and it can't go wrong - you won't have candy or make up or whatever sitting around for months afterwards. Try coupon cards, which people can use to get a discount on eating at certain places, and you get the profits.

Be sure to let everyone and their dog know WHAT you're doing, WHEN you're doing it, and WHERE it will be. Nothing is more frustrating than hearing, "If I had only known."

Best of luck!

Agreed on the profit share. My advice is try not to do yours at Wendy's just because the other sorority is. At my school, a lot of groups (not just Greek life) did profit shares at Chick-Fil-A because they were easy and thought they would be popular. After awhile, people stopped coming because they got sick of Chick-Fil-A.

Something that might be worth looking into is asking Kendra Scott (a jewelry designer who is really ridiculously popular with sororities here in Texas) to see if they can do a fundraiser trunk show. I think something like 20% of the proceeds go to the philanthropy or charity.

We had a trunk show fundraiser in high school and we were able to pay for the salary of an after-school care worker and new library books for a disadvantaged elementary school. I'm not exaggerating when I'm saying that literally every single sorority girl I know has at least one pair of Kendra Scott earrings. Also depending on your campus - like others have said - it may not be legal with your school to sell food on campus.