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View Full Version : Online bake sale fundraiser?




Mandrik
09-24-2009, 08:07 PM
I mentioned this in the yard sale thread, but I just started selling baklava (http://www.mandrik.com/baklava/baklava-containeropen.jpg) online yesterday. I'm not even going to post the link here unless I have some type of approval, but I got to thinking today how this could be a great fundraiser within the RP forums. Shipping food is expensive, especially depending on what it is. It also isn't ideal for certain perishable foods. With baklava, which can sit out for weeks without getting moldy or going bad, I can bake it, freeze it, and the mail it out USPS priority mail so the customer gets it within 2-3 days.

I'm doing this right now for extra money on the side, and have already gotten a bunch of preorders on other forums I post on. I'd love to also do this here and donate the profits from RPF'ers to Kokesh, Rand, and/or Schiff. Maybe leave it up to the buyer to decide where it goes. Or we could just do this for Kokesh since Rand & Peter seem to be doing really well right now. Would anyone else be willing to do something like this? Can YOU bake something that ships well, do you have a PayPal account, and would you be willing to do this? I have web hosting now could even write a page with "Buy Now" Paypal butons linked to your account so customers could order whatever it is your selling (we could include pictures of the food). You would be responisble for baking & shipping your product.

What do you all think? I already have something in place for my baklava, but again, I'm not going to link anything here without some type of approval or go ahead. I'd also like to know if there is any way we can validate the profits are properly donated that involves more than my, or other sellers, good word.

I want to do more to help. That's the bottom line. I'm a great cook/baker and have been for most of my life. I would be doing something I love & helping a great cause on top of that. Ideas are welcome!

KCIndy
09-25-2009, 05:08 PM
-shrugs-



Sounds like a great idea to me... but then, I'm biased because I like Baklava *and* Liberty candidates!

:)

Captain Bryan
09-25-2009, 05:09 PM
I had a similar thought earlier today of having a BBQ or something and charging $10 a plate or something.

dannno
09-25-2009, 05:15 PM
I'll take one. How much for that container?

kaleidoscope eyes
09-25-2009, 05:36 PM
I'm intrigued to see if your baklava is indeed better than my grammas.
I'd buy some. :)

ronpaulhawaii
09-25-2009, 05:58 PM
:D

ronpaulhawaii
09-25-2009, 06:14 PM
Not sure how it would work, but imagine the campaign would help with confirmations...

Mandrik
09-25-2009, 09:03 PM
Here's where I run into problems with things. I have no problem donating my time to make food that gets sold to raise money for a candidate. At the same time, I can only afford to pay so much out of pocket towards this. If for some reason we had 200 orders, I'd be spending hundreds of dollars I may not be able to afford out of pocket. I doubt we'd see that many orders, but I'm just trying to make a point. I'd be more interested in donating all of the profits, but keep just enough for additional supplies. That is where we run into the problem of verifying the proper amount is donated.

Maybe I should just stick to a local bake sale and then donate the money I make through that. The more I think about this, the more it seems like a big headache if handled online. Feedback & ideas are definitely appreciated, though. I'm all about finding a way to make something work. :D

KCIndy
09-26-2009, 10:19 AM
Here's where I run into problems with things. I have no problem donating my time to make food that gets sold to raise money for a candidate. At the same time, I can only afford to pay so much out of pocket towards this. If for some reason we had 200 orders, I'd be spending hundreds of dollars I may not be able to afford out of pocket. I doubt we'd see that many orders, but I'm just trying to make a point. I'd be more interested in donating all of the profits, but keep just enough for additional supplies. That is where we run into the problem of verifying the proper amount is donated.

Maybe I should just stick to a local bake sale and then donate the money I make through that. The more I think about this, the more it seems like a big headache if handled online. Feedback & ideas are definitely appreciated, though. I'm all about finding a way to make something work. :D


As an ongoing fundraiser, I can see where getting enough dough (pun :p intended!) to keep a bake sale project going would be a problem.

As far as verification of the donation goes, I outlined a possible solution in a different thread on this board:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=211653

in which I suggested that perhaps a staffer at the campaign could verify donations. I suggested that a minimum might be set (say, $100 - $200) so they wouldn't have to chase down lots of dinky little $10 tickets. The donations would have to be big enough to be considered "worthwhile" in relation to having campaign staff take up valuable time doing donation verifications. (It's a rather long-winded post, so check it out and I'll promise not to repeat it here!)


I believe RonPaulHawaii has some connections to the campaign. RPHawaii, you here? :)

Mandrik, if you're interested in doing a "one-shot" fund raiser on this, where you might take advanced orders and gauge interest, I would be happy to front you the cost of supplies and postage as my own "contribution" toward the Kokesh campaign.

If you're interested, PM me. (might be about a day or two before I'm able to respond, I'm going to be on the move for the rest of today) Also, no pressure on this - if you would rather keep it local, I more than understand. I won't be offended at all if you go that route. Thanks!