We do much the same. I found we made more money from donations than actually taking the time to price everything. I do a Facebook post, post on our webpage and then on our school newsletter to remind them of the upcoming sale.
Original Message:
Sent: 01-31-2024 12:29:51 PM
From: Deena Class
Subject: Plant sale fundraiser
Hi, Hope! I organized a fall native plant sale for our school in NC last September and it was a HUGE hit! We'll be expanding for our spring plant sale and including herbs, veggies, some non-native (but not invasive) ornamentals, etc.
We made over $1,500 from one afternoon's sale! My one piece of advice for the first time would be to find a local wholesale nursery or two (keep it as simple as possible) and PURCHASE your plants the first time around! It's already a ton of work, but having those beautiful baby plants with photo tags makes life much easier. I did also create winter sowing seed kits and those were a hit, but also a lot of work.
Where possible, do deals (like we did 4 quart-sized plants for $20 or 1 plant for $6). Think through your organization of the plants (e.g., We are in a very wooded area, so this next time, I know to organize our plants by environment - e.g., "under tall trees that loose their leaves in winter," "sunny and dry/septic-field-safe").
For that first plant sale, my daughter (who is quite the little artist and loves nature) made beautiful decorations (different flowers, birds, bees, butterflies, etc. that we laminated and hung up) and our main sign. Now that folks have seen our booth setup, there are lots more families/kiddos interested in getting involved in the next one and helping out more!
That also goes a bit to my advice to start out re-selling plants if that's feasible and having the kids participate in other ways (e.g., creating nature crafts, manning the booth if of an appropriate age- our kids are elementary, so while they were there to "help," that was limited to helping folks box up their plants, pressuring passersby with their puppy dog eyes to stop and shop and whatnot!).
Now, for our 2024 spring plant sale, we'll have a selection of natives from that wholesale nursery (and from a couple of other places so we can also sell woodies and saplings), and we'll also have some plants the kids and I will start from seed. But I would not have been able to branch out without first getting folks excited and invested so they'll be helping shoulder the work! Good luck!
------------------------------
Deena Class
Original Message:
Sent: 02-10-2023 11:10:51 AM
From: Hope Sickmeier
Subject: Plant sale fundraiser
We did a plant sale last spring from our school garden. The students actually ran the sale after school and we only took donations, didn't price anything. We raised $700 from that plant sale! We had tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, calendula, nasturtium, marigolds and several herbs like mint, rosemary, basil and thyme.
As for the planting schedule, we started many seeds indoors by mid-March so we had a few weeks for them to really have some growth. I use this calendar to help me. https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-library/seed-planting-schedule-calculator.html
Hope
------------------------------
Hope Sickmeier
Hope Sickmeier
Ashland MO
Original Message:
Sent: 02-09-2023 04:00:53 PM
From: Kristina Boswell
Subject: Plant sale fundraiser
Hi,
I am wondering if others have resources to help me learn and set up a spring plant sale fundraiser for our gardens. I understand the basics but was wondering if I don't need to recreate the wheel if there are resources and guides to setting up and timelines for a spring plant sale fundraiser.
------------------------------
Kristina Boswell
Birch Lane Elementary
Davis CA
------------------------------