Fundraising

How baking can boost your fundraising

Daniel Etherington reveals how to incorporate baking into your fundraising

Baked goods are at the heart of PTA fundraising. From cake sales on the playground after school to stalls and bake-offs at Christmas and summer fairs, they are a straightforward and popular way to raise funds. One of the best things about baking is its versatility. You can easily theme items to match the seasons – think spooky, decorated biscuits for Halloween or fairy cakes with pink icing and heart-shaped sprinkles for Valentine’s Day. To maximise your success, keep some key considerations in mind.

Planning a bake sale

Pick a date: If you have a lot of keen bakers in your community, you could hold a regular sale, perhaps once a month. Coordinate with the school and communicate the date to your bakers. You may already have a WhatsApp group dedicated to baking volunteers, but don’t forget to reach out to potential new contributors through class reps, the school newsletter or on your Facebook page. As well as bakers, you will need volunteers to run your stall.

Agree timings: Decide when you need contributions delivered and when your stall will be open. A good option for many schools is to host the sale immediately after school on a Friday, keeping it running until everyone has eaten their fill and left. If you are holding the sale at a fair, you will need plenty of stock. Let parents know they can contribute shop-bought bakes, ask your local supermarket for a donation or hold a junior bake-off, making it clear that you will sell the cakes on your stall afterwards to raise money for the school.

Set up your stall: It’s important to think about the arrangement and presentation of your bakes. Colourful tablecloths and bunting will help them look more attractive. Use readable and inviting signage to showcase your prices and make it easy for customers to see what you have. Consider whether you need a gazebo to protect you from the sun or rain. Keep kitchen roll and paper bags to hand.

Payment options: It’s best to offer both cash and contactless payment options. Children may enjoy spending small change, particularly for individual items such as cookies and small cakes. You don’t necessarily need a card reader. Options such as Square or Zettle allow you to accept contactless payments through a mobile app, and parents can make payments directly into your bank account, too, saving you the platform commission.

Hold a competition

Baked goods can be even more exciting with a competitive twist!

Incorporate a bake-off into your summer fair – there’s nothing quite like enjoying cake on a sunny afternoon. Alternatively, ask the school to get involved and hold it for the children, maybe as part of World Book Day. Create categories by age or best cake type (brownie, Victoria sponge, Swiss roll).

Start by judging the cakes on their appearance before the real fun begins – taste testing! If you have any baking professionals in your community, invite them to be judges, perhaps alongside your headteacher or PTA chair. After the judging, announce the winners, award prizes (cookbooks, kitchen kit) and sell the cakes. You could get aprons or tea towels printed with the school logo to award as prizes and sell at future events. Or raffle off the entries as whole cakes, rather than selling them by the slice.

The rules on bakes

PTAs and school communities often face confusion about the rules for selling food at events. Many schools have a no-nuts policy, which applies to all cake stalls and competitions held on school grounds. However, there are allergens beyond nuts to consider, such as gluten. To clarify these regulations, resources such as those from the Natasha’s Law Foundation can be helpful. Since a PTA cake stall does not have to be registered as a food business, allergen labelling is not legally required. However, it is good practice for PTAs to ask contributors to list the ingredients of their baked goods, highlighting any of the 14 common allergens in bold. Find a list of these allergens at gov.uk/food-labelling-and-packaging/ingredients-list. If you are selling gluten-free or vegan items, keep them in a separate area and serve them with different knives and tongs.

Bake it better

Cakes and bakes are undoubtedly a treat – a few small adjustments can make them healthier while still being delicious!

  1. Aim for homemade: By making your treats at home, you can avoid the industrial additives and preservatives commonly found in supermarket and shop-bought bakes.
  2. Boost your bake: Swap white flour for wholemeal to add fibre and essential nutrients to your recipes.
  3. Less is more: When using recipes from books, you can usually reduce the sugar by 10-20% without sacrificing taste.
  4. Go easy with the icing: Avoid US-style cupcakes with an inch of cake and two inches of frosting.
  5. Use chocolate sparingly: Do they really need a chocolate cake with chocolate filling and chocolate icing?
  6. Use healthier ingredients: Flapjacks may be sweet, but oats are an unheralded superfood. Try cookies with dried fruit instead of chocolate chips, or make a carrot or courgette cake.

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