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?

It's interesting how different people's feelings are about things like this. Thanks very much for feedback. I used the wrong word when I said charge, I was thinking 'suggested donation' so I'll do that. Best get baking!!

Good luck op hope it goes ok. Also do think of those strange people (me) who dont drink hot drinks....wAter or squash....

Without reading others responses

50p for a fairy cake unless its very fancy/posh and you might get away with £1 in a very middle class area. The fairy cakes are meant for the kids and will add up if there are 3 children in a family.

Squash should be 50p

Tea or coffee £1 if the bags are quality and the coffee is real

Otherwise 50p per drink for awful cheap tea bags and instant coffee.

Slab of cake £1 unless its a good sized slice I which case 1.50 is fine

You have to remember that when people pay 3.50 or 4.00 for a drink in a nice cafe, they are paying for the experience of being in a very attractive environment while being served by paid waiters. A community centre won't have the luxurious feel and is run by volunteers. People will be expecting a coffee and bun in a community centre to be an economic treat.

The trick is not to have a box for donations on the table. The trick is to serve people cakes and coffees with a big sign stating the suggested donation next to you. Make yourself the keeper of the cash and just have a little tub behind the counter so people put the donation in to your hand.

I used to go cafés all the time but can't afford that now (large family!) but have attended lots of community fund raisers this decade.

If prices are high I'll let my children choose only one item (squash or fairy cake, not both) and DH and myself will share a cake rather then have one each.

Sorry last point

We have kids and are part of a community. We are always being asked to give money as there's always fund raising going on for lots of different causes. I'm totally fine with this as long as the fund raising demands are reasonable

It should be a suggested donation, I agree with bluecarrot. And £3 seems reasonable.

If you have the pack there should be a gift aid form in there. Ask people to make a Donation and fill out the form, when they have to put their name to it they tend to donate more like wise, put someone's name at the top of the list who you know will donate a large amount. Most people tend to follow suit and use the first donation amount as a guide. At our coffee morning most families donated £10 for unlimited tea and cake. Most were polite and only ate one piece of generous cake. Had we charged £1 a piece we wouldn't have made a fraction of what we did.

Where do all the uneaten cakes go? There is always huge over supply at events I've been to. I always imagine people giving their families rocky road for breakfast and bakewells for dinner :)

I'm a Starbucks regular and you don't see much change from a fiver for coffee and a bun. Sure, they're serving a quality product in a particular environment, but then Starbucks isn't for charity either. So I think know your market.

It is expensive, I think people should be able to make any donation they wish, £1 minimum donation for example. Some people might be really hard up, that might be a loaf of bread and some milk for them fir example.

See if I was asked to fill in the amount I'd donated on a form that others could see, I wouldn't. I also wouldn't be back. I've been to a few MacMillian coffee mornings that have worked out really well. It's just been a lidded tub/box for donations. I think most people did put between 3 and 5 pounds in. No one took the piss with regards to what they took, there was juice for the kids, top hats etc. As well as a guess the number of sweets in the jar thing.

We all donated tea and coffee as well as some people baking so it wasn't all left to the organiser.

I would ask for donations. We went to one last week and I put 95p in as that was all I had in my purse and all I could afford (I only had tea and a digestive, though). Had there been a set price, I wouldn't have given anything.

I guess it depends if it's nice coffee or a cheap instant in a plastic squash cup :)

I think you really have to 'know your market' what works best in one area, wont work as well in another.

Good luck - hope you raise lots of money for your efforts

I'm going to see if I can find a local one this morning!

I think that's too much and people should be able to give anonymously what they can afford.

I think that £3 would be very dear if you are selling instant coffee and a cupcake. I don't think I have ever been charged that amount at a charity event. I would charge £2 (or that should be the suggested donation).

I'm in scotland and no cafe in my area would do coffee and a cake for £3. I think this is incredibly reasonable. You could perhaps charge a bit less for kids but personally I wouldn't think you were overcharging at £3. Good luck with your fundraising.

I baked some cakes for and went to one yesterday and they were charging 50p for tea and coffee (which was rubbish tbh, but wet and warm!) or 50p for a cup of squash and small baked biscuit or pack of 3 shop bought biscuits for children. Then the baked cakes/biscuits ranged in price from 50p to £1.50, most were huge slices. Plenty of people were donating extra and although they haven't totalled what was raised yet (there were stalls and a raffle/tombola etc too) it apparently went really well.

I'm in Kent, I went to one at a hotel yesterday, it was £4 for a slice of very nice cake and a coffee, If I had been alone I would have just shoved a fiver in and thought nothing of it, but there was 4 of us so I did feel it was a bit steep, and they had a cashier and till to ring up the donation !

It is difficult. Yes, a coffee & cake in Costa would leave you much change from £5. However this is a charity event and people just don't view it in the same way. In Costa I get some of my favourite cake and sit and eat in peace (when the kids are at school!) At a charity coffee morning I'd expect a luke-warm cuppa and a homemade cake, probably very nice but not what I'd have chosen if I were out and about. I'd expect everyone to put in a couple of quid. We all give to our own charities and we donate quite a bit each month to various organisations so this is just a one-off extra (if that makes sense)

Nope - all held yesterday :(

Might just have to go and have a & some at a cafe and make a donation online to MacMillan, not quite the same, but just as effective for MacMillan I guess.

I suggest having a sign over a lidded box, 'Donations'. I wouldn't be specific, and wouldn't have a 'suggested donation'. People will give whatever it is they can afford.
Best of luck with the baking and the fundraising.

So that's £7 in all yeah sorry but that is a lot of money for a cake and a coffee. Call me tight scrouge ect but I would not pay it and you do not people's financial situations to be putting a price on things. I know it's for charity and yes I will help as much as the next person but I would not be held to ransome. I would say any donations welcome people are likely to be more generous when they are not being dictated to.
Sorry if I sound harsh. Good luck with your charity and well done for hosting such a worthy cause

The one I went to was £2 minimum donation and most were giving more. That got you tea/coffee and you were able to help yourself to a vast array if cakes. They raised £700 in the end.

You only need to declare what you have donated if you are gift aiding it (so the charity can claim back the tax). So a form plus a box is the way to go

£3 would be fine here (London)

I wouldent turn up to Macmillan coffee morning without any money for a drink, as the whole point is to raise money, but £3 for a drink and a cake is very dear.