For a PTA or a parent fundraiser

How do we raise money week after week without running another gala?

Parents already buy fruit and veg. They order a bag. The hall packs for about an hour. Most parents collect at the gate on the day, and delivery is there for the ones who cannot. The school can keep the host money. A weekly rhythm, not another big day on the calendar.

Start a conversation
Parents packing fruit and vegetables at a school hall table

Weekly. One hour, not a gala.

Three steps, none of which is an event to staff.

  1. 1

    Parents order

    A weekly bag of fruit and veg they were going to buy anyway.

  2. 2

    The hall packs

    About five people, about an hour, on a quiet weekday.

  3. 3

    Collected, or delivered

    Thursday or Friday. Most parents are at the gate anyway, so they take it then. Delivery is there for the ones who are not.

The school can keep the host money.

Unwanted produce can go to the local foodbank.

Does this sound like you?

Two shapes of fundraising. This one is the second.

A big once-a-year day

The colour run, the gala, the sausage sizzle. They work, and they eat a term of somebody's life. Keep them.

A weekly bag, one hour in the hall

Money every week, from what parents already buy, with no extra event on the calendar.

What one parent says to another

I am doing this. Do you want to as well? It supports the school, and leftover can go to the local foodbank. I can show you how to sign up. You can help pack if you want, it is quite fun, but there is no pressure.

Ordering two and giving one away is optional, once a parent has had a bag themselves or where they are close enough to know the other household will want it. It is not the default.

The parts the office will ask about

Open the one that is your question.

Against a colour run It sits alongside the big day, not instead of it.

A colour run is a big once-a-year day that raises a lump sum and takes a term of somebody's life to run. This is weekly, from what parents already buy, and it sits alongside rather than instead.

  • No extra event to staff, no permission slips, no wet-weather plan.
  • The work is about five people for about an hour a week, in the hall you already have.
  • Keep the big day. This is the weekly one.
Who has to approve it The PTA champion is usually not the signer.

A PTA can start the conversation, but a principal or a Board of Trustees will want to see cost, risk and liability before a school's name goes on anything.

  • There is no host licence and no fee to run a round, so there is no host cost to approve.
  • The one page below is written for that meeting, and the champion will not be in the room.
  • Whether the school's name goes on the neighbour leaflet is entirely your call.
Where the surplus goes What a family does not eat, leftover produce, and one thing we cannot promise.

Fruit and veg a family does not eat can go to the local foodbank, or the foodbank can receive the cash instead. The leftover surplus after the cut-off goes the same way.

  • Fruit and veg a family does not eat, and the leftover surplus, can go to the local foodbank as produce, or the foodbank can receive the cash.
  • Leftover produce going into school lunches has not been cleared, so it does not go there.
  • A week where nobody takes anything out and every bag is filled sends nothing, but that is highly unlikely.

The packing hour

The unit of work, and the only thing the PTA is actually committing to.

5 people at the table
1 hour in the hall you already have
Weekly not another day on the calendar

What a household pays

$20 a week GST inclusive, collected at school. $30 a week if a parent wants it delivered.

Parents pay for their own bags. A school round is the one place collection is the obvious option: most parents are at the gate on a Thursday or Friday anyway, so they take the bag then and there is no delivery to pay for. Delivery stays available for the parents who cannot make the pickup. Comparable with the supermarket either way: growers are not squeezed, the costs are transparent, some of it can stay with the school, and parents skip Saturday in the fruit and veg aisle.

The school is not buying the round. There is no host licence and no fee to host.

Is this something the PTA could take on?

This is a scoping conversation, not a sign-up. Tell us roughly what your school looks like and we will come back to you, and you can forward the one page below to the office.

Start a conversation

Nobody is signed up to anything by sending this.

See the whole platform

One page for the principal or the Board of Trustees Weekly money. No extra event.

What it is

Parents order a weekly fruit and veg bag. The school hall packs for about an hour on a quiet weekday. Parents collect at the gate on the day, or pay for delivery if they cannot make it. The school can keep the host money. Unwanted produce can go to the local foodbank.

What it is not

Not another big day to staff. Not a cut-price shop. Not a promise that leftover produce may go into school lunches, which we have not cleared. Not a guarantee of a round every week.

Cost

Parents pay $20 a week, GST inclusive, for their own bags, collected at school. Delivery is $30 for the parents who need it. There is no host licence and no host fee.

Risk

A short week is postponed before the fruit and veg order is placed and before any parent is charged. Produce is packed at the hall and goes out the same day, collected or delivered, so nothing is stored overnight. Whether the school's name appears on the neighbour leaflet is your decision, and the round works either way.

Who is liable

Insurance and food safety are backed by the distributor and aggregator of fruit and veg at the wholesale level.

Decide

Whether the PTA may approach this as a trial round, or not. No software contract is required to have that conversation.

The same providers supply the supermarket chains, who deal in pallet loads of fruit and veg every week.

Questions

The ones the PTA gets asked.

Is this just another event?

No. Parents order, the hall packs for about an hour on a quiet weekday, and parents collect at the gate on the Thursday or Friday. Delivery is there for the ones who cannot.

How is this different from a colour run?

A colour run is a big once-a-year day. This is weekly, from what parents already buy, and it sits alongside. Keep the colour run.

What if we do not make the minimum orders?

If the week is short of orders, it is postponed before the fruit and veg order is placed and before any parent is charged.

What if I do not want to order every week?

You can skip a week, pause, or stop altogether.

What if the school wants to keep the money?

The host that supplies the volunteers receives the host money. A school can keep it.

What if we cannot field volunteers one week?

Five people, one hour, is the unit. If the week is short of volunteers, it is postponed before the fruit and veg order is placed and before any parent is charged.

Can leftover produce go into school lunches?

We have not cleared that, so the answer today is no. Fruit and veg a family does not eat, and the leftover surplus, can go to the local foodbank instead.

Do parents have to pay for delivery?

No. Most are at the gate on the day anyway, so they collect, and that is the $20 bag with nothing added. Delivery is $30 and it is there for the parents who cannot make the pickup.

How does this compare to the supermarket?

Comparable. Parents skip Saturday in the fruit and veg aisle, growers are not squeezed, and some of it can stay with the school.

Do we put the school's name on the neighbour leaflet?

You can. A foodbank as the leftover story works on its own too. What it should not become is a sales pitch for the gala.

Start a conversation

Tell us roughly what your school looks like. We will come back to you.

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