Cookbooks as fundraisers

[adrianna!!]

Anyone do one of these for church, school or another organization?

I want to hear any tips and suggestions before I get started. I am thinking about compiling recipes for my DD's elementary school and having them made into a cookbook. Just not sure if there are any issues I may deal with along the way that I should be warned about before diving in. Thank you!

[Lauren]

I did one for work. It was a fundraiser for CARE. Employees from North America logged onto the desiganted website, entered the password and typed in their recipe(s). As an "administrator" I could log on and edit. It was fun and one of the best projects I ever did! Plus, we made $$$.

I'll find the company we used. They were great to work with and had a nice selection of cookbook designs that were included in the price.

Feel free to ask me questions!

This is the company we used. http://www.morriscookbooks.com/

Here's the cover we chose. http://www.morriscookbooks.com/dsn/covers/fcstk/fclarge/699lg.jpg

[Violanan]

I have worked for 2 years on my DGD's dance team cookbook. Because the members are high school students, we opted to have them e-mail or type and hand in the recipes to two of us, and we copied or entered the recipes ourselves. We learned this the hard way, after letting all and sundry enter their own recipes and having to edit all of them. There are rules, like no use of trademarked brand name products without acknowledging that these products are registered trademarks, and consistent abreviations that make it a little more complex than one would think to get everything entered correctly. Of course , those who would be inputting recipes could all be college graduates with the ability to follow all the rules, but that certainly wasn't the case with our group....we're all normal people and subject to lots of errors of interpretation of the rules! That said, it was highly profitable, we've built a following so our cookbooks almost sell themselves and we see this as an ongoing project for years to come, as we develop different recipe themes, etc.

Good luck. We found Morris Cookbooks great to work with.
Nancy

[erin elizabeth]

My church did one. I did not help, but I do know that the organizer had a hard time getting enough recipes and recipes that were different enough from each other to put in the cookbook. Seems everyone has a chicken casserole recipe!

[adrianna!!]

Thanks for the replies!

A few additional questions...how long do you think it would take to get the cookbooks put together and printed up? I mean, should I plan on having them ready by the beginning of next school year, or do you think it is feasible to have it done by May, when school lets out? We are a small christian school, grades K-5, with a few middle school students...I would say about 500 students total.

Also, when sending out an introductory "send me your recipes" letter, would you suggest writing something like, "If similar recipes are received, the first recipe I receive with be the one printed?"

How computer savvy would I have to be to do the online cookbook compiling? I am pretty pitiful when it comes to technology (it is amazing I can find and post on message boards, to tell ya the truth, LOL!)

I enjoy reading about your experiences, keep 'em coming! I will be checking in periodically!

[madpots]

I have done 2 family cookbooks with Morris Press. They were very easy to work with. I did mine "camera ready" because I wanted to put little stories and drawings with my recipes. I did it on the computer. I don't know how to do the complete cookbook online, just printed the pages and put them together. I think now they have software that you can use to type the recipes or they will type them for you. My first one sold very rapidly, but I ordered too many of the second one and am not doing so well.

[Lauren]

It took us a few months to get it together. I was dedicated to the project (during work hours) while my team members pitched in when they could. The editing took us awhile. It also depends how many recipes you want. We were aiming for 600 recipes. I did get a bunch of taco dips, artichoke dips, etc. If they were different, I took them all. If they were too similar, I looked to see if the contributor had submitted any other recipes. Basically, I didn't want to feel that someone had submitted recipes, but none made the cookbook. Definately put in some sort of disclaimer that says you have the editing rights.

May might be a little too aggressive, as far as a timeline. How many people would you have helping? I can't remember how long Morris took to produce the books, but it was during December 2005 and they shut down for the holidays, etc. I think it takes them 6-8 weeks. I ended up paying a slight fee in order to rush the production.

I found the on-line site fun and easy to work with. You can get a lot of help from Morris, if you choose to go with them. During the editing stage I could print out my own proof, etc.

I wrote a forward, which was from the CEO, for the front of the book. In my letter to employees I invited them to submit their "tried and true" and old recipes. So, a lot of people put in their family recipes and then bought copies for family gifts, etc. Of course, all my recipes are from the CLBB. :p

[jmarie]

Make sure that the cookbook is edited very well. A couple of years ago, the youth at our church earned over $2,000, when they did their cookbook. the key is to get as many recipes from as many different people as you can. I can guanratee that everyone who has a recipe in the cookbook will order one or more of the cookbooks!

Good luck!

[Lauren]

Here's a funny thread I dug up from when I was in the thick of the cookbook. :p

http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=82994

ETA: I did include the recipe with a note that the dish was for the more adventurous eater.

Gross! :(

[Movitz]

Hi -

Here are some links that I came across one day that allow you to design/print cookbooks and other kinds of books. They are probably more expensive and not what you are looking for regarding fundraising cookbooks but are awesome if you want to make a cookbook for yourself or as a gift for a friend. They allow you to purchase very small quantities and also give you the option to sell them on their website if you would like.

Here are the links:

This one allows you to print single books for purchase if you only want one for yourself and will include color pictures.

http://www.lulu.com/

Blurb is also great for individual orders that allow color pictures.

http://www.blurb.com/

Cafepress is wonderful and let's you create/sell so many fun and cute items. They let you create single items for yourself or multiple (print on demand) if you would like to start a cafepress shop online. You can also shop other people's designs that are wonderful.
Regarding the cookbook, I'm not sure if they print colored pictures in their books yet, so you might want to check that out if you want your pictures in full color. Here is the link:

http://www.cafepress.com/buy/cookbooks/-/cfpt2_/copt_/cfpt_371:________________H/source_searchBox/x_30/y_8

Hopefully somebody will enjoy these links even though they may not pertain to the fundraising book question. Sorry!

~ Cammy

[cminmd]

We did a cookbook for my daughters school when we lived in Hawaii. We put it out in one school year, but we started in ernest in October. One thing that helped get recipes in on time was that we had teachers make it an assignment- some teachers used it as a math project teaching kids about fractions, some as a writing/following directions assignment.

We also divided up the cookbook segments by grade. K submitted breakfast recipes, 1st- salads and soups, 2nd side dishes and sandwiches, 3rd desserts, 4+5 had entrees/ entertaining. That way you didn't get all desserts! From the recipes submitted we could tell who the "foodies" were so when we found that we didn't have any of a certain type of recipe we went to them and asked if they would submit something in that style. Our first go around we had not one beef recipe! Not one! Pork, chicken and a bunch of fish, but not one recipe with any kind of beef. How strange.

We also had each child make up artwork to submit with their project and used the best from each grade as the chapter break page between sections. Very cute and having 5 color pages didn't destroy our budget too much!

We gave every teacher the month of October to turn in the assignments to us. In November we went through and selected the recipes. December we home tested each recipe before it was finally accepted and that is where we found out how many transcription errors people made when they sent them in. "Oh, did I have 1 oz of spinach, I ment one PACKAGE of spinach." Yoinks that makes a difference!

I wouldn't say "first come, first served" I would just say that recipes will be selected to provide a good variety of flavor and cooking difficulty. Why block out potentially better recipes?

We also had each parent rate from 1-3 the ease of making the recipe based on 4 criteria- time, # if ingredients, ease and expense of purchasing the ingredients and skill needed to execute the recipe. Then we converted the 1-3 rating into a 1-5 Makaki'i (Hawaiian warrior Helmet- school mascot was the warriors) rating. We would have most recipes per section be in the 3 makaki'i range.

The longest part will be editing. Have at least 10 volunteers!! We had only 6and by the end of it we were ready to blow up the school. You not only have to enter all the recipes, standardize the format and measurements, but cross edit each others work. It takes forever and it amazed me how we were still catching mistakes up until printing!

Good luck!

[Beth]

I have done 2 fundraising cookbooks without using a company. Depending on the size and number you need to do and what your expectations are for the finished product, it might be worth scoping out printers and thinking about doing it yourself.

The hardest part is collecting the recipes, getting them in the same format and proofing them. Some companies want you to have everything in the same format when you submit the material and some will take everything pretty raw and do it for you. It all depends on how much volunteers are willing to do and what your group is willing to pay for. I used MasterCook as well as Word and probably some bits of other programs to put them together, but there is software for publishing books and recipe collections.

Having a theme and/or a broad base to collect recipes from helps (I think getting all the students at a school involved is great, but I know folks here would feel like you had to have every recipe in the book then -- or at least one per child).

The first book I did was a collection of recipes -- from appetizers and salads to main dishes and desserts, that all used pecans. It was sold in conjunction with the group's pecan sale. We printed 20-25 copies to see if it would fly and wound up doing another 150 or so. Another one was a general one from a school. It was faculty and staff favorites with student artwork. They printed 100 copies and didn't sell them all. Both books sold in the $8-10 range, and the school one offered a deluxe edition that had a CD with all the recipes in digital form for computer users. I can't remember now, but that might have been $15?

[PamN]

Some of the printing services will provide a form to have the submitters fill out. If yours doesn't, design your own to distribute or you'll have a lot of hassle trying to standardize the format. Example: Do you want baking time and temperature (if any) to be the first item after the list of ingredients?

A form also helps prevent a lot of missing information, like how many servings the dish makes (it's astonishing how many people leave that out) and the previously-mentioned baking time/temp.

Decide at the beginning what chapters you want in your book, and have the submitters categorize their own recipes by chapter. Otherwise, you'll be handling each recipe additional times, and that will slow you down.

[Beth]

I can't edit that reply, but I wanted to let you know that the cost of the books we did was between $1 and $2 per copy. One used the school copier and another a self-serve place for 3 cent copies. Both used cardstock covers with a fancy paper and comb bindings. One also had a clear vinyl protective cover and we paid a copy shop to cut the pages to 5-1/2x8".