To charge £3 for coffee & cupcake at Macmillan cake sale ?

[princessconsuelobananahammock]

Having a Macmillan coffee morning on Sunday. It's in a community centre & been advertised so there will be people I don't know. Not sure what the done thing is with donations vs charging for coffee & cake. Personally, I hate the vagueness of 'donation' I agonise about the right amount so I was thinking of setting a price. £3 coffee & cupcake. £4 coffee & big wedge of cake. Does that sound ok?

MiuChoos, it was in rural Berkshire. A friend arranged it. Her invite just said "Please come for coffee and cake - suggested contribution to Macmillan is £5". We didn't have to go. Given that I sometimes meet her in Costa and spend £3+ for similar coffee and cake, I was not going to resent an additional £2. As it happens she was taking no money to cover her costs.

We had a fundraiser for the choir I belong to - we held a coffee morning, and people paid £2.50 per head to get in, which got them a drink and two cakes (not very big ones). People were perfectly happy with this, and spent more at the home baking and used book stalls and draw that we had too.

Considering that the commercial cupcake stalls in our local shopping malls charge best part of £3 just for a cupcake, £3 for a drink and a cake isn't too extortionate.

Ive been invited to several and all of them have been a flat fee of £4, im in the SE

You would spend more than that at a costa. It sounds fine to me.

It's an interesting point MrsHathaway, I'm not an experienced enough bake-saler to know what raises the most money. My friend who does a lot just has a donation jar on the table and people do seem to be very generous when left to donate. I once did some baking for Children In Need and left the cakes in the work kitchen with a jar for donations and felt quite disappointed at how little I raised, either people put in about 40p a cake or some people took cakes and didn't contribute. I hope it wasn't a reflection on my baking.

I would say donations. Went to one today and several people were putting in £5+ for a little cupcake and little cup of unfancy coffee, just because they wanted to. But then those who can't spare as much or just haven't got much cash on them can put in a bit less without having to be embarrassed.

I paid £10 for my cake today as it was just whatever you felt you should donate, but I saw a colleague give 50p then cut out a whole quarter of a really nice looking big cake and put it in a box to take home - I think your £3 sounds perfectly fine, and will stop anyone from being selfish.

I went to one today (London). Loaf cakes (eg banana) and fruit cakes/cupcakes sold for £1.50 a slice. Large brownies £2. Fairy cakes (small) 50p. Coffee and tea was extra £1 or £2 depending if was cappuccino etc so I think £2.50-£3 seems fair. I'd usually get a tea n cake out at a cafe anyway so would expect to be paying a premium to support this charity.

I agree with those who said charging a set fee makes people less likely to be generous - I went to one this morning and there was just a box on the table for donations; I gladly gave a fiver for a cup of tea and a slice of choc orange cake, but I think if you put a price on things people start to quibble. As it was, the organiser collected a ton of money. "Suggested donation" might be better wording.

Wow Vanitas. It would be hard to look at someone so mean in the same way after that.

"Suggested Donation £3" is fine. People can then feel free to put in more if they are feeling generous or greedy, and less if they are skint.

50p wouldn't cover the cost of that quarter cake so I think Vanitas' colleague should be ashamed of themselves.

I went to one, suggested donation was £5. I made plans based on FB messages and schoolyard invite. Day before, received a note on macmillan logo'ed paper with exact address, time, suggested donation and, in the margin, "Bring Cake!"

I am new to the UK. I understand bake sales, they are universal. i know this is, essentially, a bake sale. But I thought I was on the customer side, not the baking side. Maybe I am more in with that crowd than I thought.

moma you bring cake...give it to those serving and then you buy it back or someone elses if it looks nicer than the ones you brought...and sit down and eat it! You donate cake AND money.

moma for a school coffee morning, most parents will bake cakes for the volunteers to sell. Just drop them off in the morning and then return later to buy and eat.

My dd's school are only charging 10p a cake , but the customers are children.

Just leave it at 'donations' - you'll probably get a lot more money that way, but equally, you will also include people who'd like to come and support but can't afford that sort of amount.
I'd baulk at being charged £3, or £2.50 for a coffee and a cake, but I went to 2 coffee mornings today, and put a fiver in both and also gift aided them.

You really will get far more money if you leave it open.
We just put plates of cakes out and people helped themselves. No-one was counting if they wanted a 2nd cuppa either - costs pennies, but gets a LOT of goodwill

BackforGood, I think you're probably right but the event I went to (suggested donation of £5) was designed not to put off those with lower disposable income!

Tricky.

It's difficult isn't it? We did one this morning at school, was really well supported. Requested a donation rather than fixed price, which I was doubtful about, but actually was great and raised loads. I guess for every person who puts in a small amount, someone else will sling in a fiver. For us it was a "community" event too, organised by someone who needed Macmillan recently.

Perhaps it depends on who you expect to attend. I wouldn't blanche at £5 for coffee and cake for me at a charity event, but at weekends I would be +4 so works out rather expensive.

Good luck with it .

Id happily pay pay £3. Costs more than that for a drink from starbucks and i support this every year. X

I live in london and that expensive. Also what about those who dont drink tea. Pret amazing carrot cake £1.60, their elderflower drink 99p

I think £3.00 is a fair sum for coffee and cupcake and would happily pay that.

Elderflower drink sounds gross and I would not pay 99p for that.

I would put £2. I know that you wouldn't get a drink and cake at a coffee shop but I don't go into those because I can't afford those kinds of treats (tbh not sure how anyone can spend £5 on something that isn't a meal on a regular basis!). I went to a Macmillan coffee morning today and it was donations. I had decided to give £5 so I gave £3 to the tea and cake and put £2 for a "guess how many sprinkles". Others gave £10 and hot drink and cake and did one or two games.

Elderflower and grape its very refreshing...or you could have to yogo bunny...has ginger in to peak you up and tastes lovely...

We did free tea and coffee at a charity day we hosted recently and then suggested donations of £1 for homemade cakes...made by a woman who runs a cake
business. We had three dozen rcupcakes and five different large cakes that slices could be had of. We finished the day with around ten cakes left and made around £200 from the cakes. Some people did choose to put more money in for their cakes which was nice.