To think that if you volunteer to bake for a work charity bake sale, you don't claim the cost of the ingredients from your employer?

[Cohenite]

Could hardly believe this one! A friend works in retail, they are having a sale of homemade baking in aid of a local charity. Staff were asked if they could contribute & several were happy to. One person said she would make lots of cake, she loves baking but she would expect her employer to pay for the ingredients.

Is it me?

It isn't just you not very charitable is it to claim back money for some flour and eggs ,

Nope, they are being very unreasonable!

If you don't want to pay then don't volunteer. Simples!

definitely unreasonable, as long as they weren't under pressure to contribute?

Mind you, we once had a cake sale at school for charity... all the kids in the house made or brought in cakes etc, as did the teacher in charge. at the end of the sale the teacher took money out the tin saying she had to cover her costs - never mind the rest of us eh?

Well, at first glance it seems really mean, but when the publicity goes out for this, I assume the store will be making it clear that it is the staff and they haven't actually contributed anything? They won't be claiming X store did this charity fundraiser.

That's the only way it could piss me off. I mean, I'd still do it, but I'd be a bit miffed if my employer tried to claim credit when I was forking out.

But if the employer is making it clear that it is all down to and from the employees, then fair enough.

And at the end of the day, the charity benefits, which is good.

But if it goes anything like school bake sales, the shops do better than the charities, selling cakes for 50p that cost £5 to make. [bitter]

If she feels unable to donate the whole cost of baking then it would not be unreasonable for her costs to be taken from the money raised before given to charity. I presume her baking would still make a profit.

If you are baking loads of stuff for a bake sale the costs can actually add up quite a lot, especially if you are making especially nice things.

It isn't just you not very charitable is it to claim back money for some flour and eggs

Depends on the recipe - I figure with the cheesecake recipe I use, at full price the ingredients run to somewhere between £12-£15.

Still, I don't claim it back or owt.

I know baking can be costly but if everyone contributes a little no one needs be too much out of pocket. The person in question makes a huge fuss about the fact that she is a superb baker (her words). She was first to volunteer.

If everyone asked for their costs there would be no donation to the charity. The staff would get all the credit for their efforts though, no question of the employer getting the glory.

I've baked for numerous events over the years as have many parents, I have never come across this.

WMittens Fifteen quid for a cheesecake? There'd better be some alcohol in there.

You can raise a lot of money selling homemade cakes. Unfortunately, experience tells me that people don't have time to bake, hence the reason why others are prepared to buy at these sales. Depends on how much your colleague is proposing to bake. If it's a lot, I'm sure her time is valuable. I don't think it unreasonable for her to recoup some of her costs if a large percentage of the cake stall is made up with her cakes.

Are you saying that any publicity and information will be Jane, Jo and Maureen from ATown and not is Jane, Jo and Maureen from Joe Bloggs Ltd? It won't be mentioned anywhere that they work for this company?

Why would there be no donation to charity if people asked for the ingredients to be bought by the employer? Would the employer deduct their costs from the donations?

Unless I have misunderstood your OP, she wasn't asking for the costs to come from the donations, she was asking the employer to make a contribution to the charity fundraising by covering the cost of the ingredients. The staff are contributing by using their time and also their cookers. The employer could buy the ingredients, the staff could cook and the proceeeds from the sale could go to the charity.

So the employer would be contributing and so would the staff member. Perhaps she doesn't feel that is an unreasonable request?

I'd just do the baking tbh and not bother about it, but I'm just trying to think why she might be asking. Maybe it's not being mean so much as it is thinking hey, what's the employer putting in here, iyswim.

'Mind you, we once had a cake sale at school for charity... all the kids in the house made or brought in cakes etc, as did the teacher in charge. at the end of the sale the teacher took money out the tin saying she had to cover her costs - never mind the rest of us eh?'

I wonder what she did when she was baking to raise funds for her own children's school, rather than other people's children?

I've done this - done bulk baking. Without the contribution of my time and fuel costs, the cake stall wouldn't have had the amount of cakes it did, and even with covering my costs the stall has made more money than it would otherwise have done.

FourEyesGood

No, but it does have about a kilo of Philadelphia and a bar of chocolate. I only make it when the cheese is on offer.

I think its the "lots of cakes" in your OP which is the deciding factor.

If I was making 1, even 2 then no I wouldn't expect ingredients to be covered. However the costs for making lots of cakes would be a significant amount. As someone pointed out if the cakes still make a profit then its still good. Obv if she felt she could afford to not be reimbursed it would be better but maybe she can't. Is it better this than no cakes and no profit?

RevelsRoulette I see what you mean, but they've done this type of thing before & the employer has made a sizeable donation (as well as contributing baking) and the company is mentioned as in "staff at **store donated home baking".

Viva "lots of cakes" is turning into 24 fairy cakes. I don't suppose it's all that important, however it could lead to everyone asking and they don't actually make a huge amount from the baking.

It's good to get other opinions, I know I can be a little entrenched at times

Slightly off the point here, but years ago a colleague invited two directors of the PR company that our employer used to stay at her home the night before a meeting. She did this entirely off her own bat and without consultation.

She billed our employer for the food, the wine, the laundry and her time in hosting as overtime. She billed her husband's time for collecting these people from the station and claimed mileage for the journey.

It doesn't surprise me in the least that some money grabber body might try to claim for cake baking but IMO YANBU.

WMittens - for a cheesecake, the own brand full fat soft cheese gives just as good results as a very expensive Phillidephia cheese. You can make the cheesecake as often as you like, without waiting for the cheese to be on offer. Just make sure you don't buy the "garlic and herbs" one.

The best value chocolate for cooking (nb, not cooking chocolate) is from Aldi. Their white chocolate is especially nice.

If its just 24 fairy cakes then that's taking the piss. If it had been 24 large cakes that would have been different.

Having managed firm expenses I can't see how she could.

It is a bit odd. However if the lady was totally skint but able to cook lots of cakes, I think it's fine.

Slightly on the baking for charity theme ... when my kids were at primary school (back in 1970s) we had an annual fete to raise money for school extras. One year I baked a whole load of tiny pizzas, with different savoury toppings. Though I say so myself, they were absolutely delicious. Handed them over to the mother running the cake/baked goods stall ... they all disappeared almost immediately. Found out later she'd quickly hidden them under the table to take home herself, WITHOUT paying for a single one. Bitch!

Last year I spent £25 and a lot of time churning out elaborate cupcakes for a school fundraiser.
When I got there they were charging 10p per cake and in total made £5. I have told them in future I will give them the money I would have spent making the bloody cakes and just cut out the middle man.