Profiting from Macmillan coffee morning

[Gardenista]

I’m pretty shocked to note one of our PTA committee members - using our PTA contacts for donations of jam and cream is running a virtual coffee morning - a homemade scone (bakes by her), plus donated jam and cream and a tea bag - for £5, each purchase she is donating £2 to Macmillan. So she’s making £2.50 Personal profit on each sale (as making a scone, a tea bag and a bag to put them in won’t be more than 50p.
I find this really distasteful - and this along with a few other comments has made me want to revaluate any “friendship “ - she’s not at all hard up btw

It does sound as though she’s profiting some way but until we know how much the scones cost to bake we can’t actually comment

Oh, come on, scones cost nothing to bake. Well not quite nothing obviously, but the amount of flour and sugar in each scone will be literally pennies and maybe ten pence each of butter and dried fruit. 50 pence per scone is being generous.

If she's profitting at all from this endeavour, she's being a cheeky fucker. Back when we could have coffee mornings, people would just donate their baking for free and then all the money taken would be given to the charity. So she should still do it this way even though it's virtual.

Awful behaviour. Especially bearing in mind that cancer sufferers have been treated so badly during the Covid situation.

I know a lot about this lady’s business and financial affairs as she likes to tell me! Including her boats that they can afford to send their 3 DC private but don’t need to ask our state school is so good - it is, mainly because it’s a very affluent catchment.

She is very well off through her husband’s job, but has a number of sideline businesses of her own. Selling usbourne books, jewellery, etc. She runs a baking business as a sideline so will have the ingredients purchased in bulk. I know it won’t be organic spelt flour- we buy all the PTA ingredients as cheaply as possible and calculate our profits. She would calculate the cost of running the oven etc. I am not happy that she is using the contacts found through the PTA fundraising to make a profit from the Macmillan coffee morning for herself. I also frustrated that the rest of the PTA are friendly with her (she’s been involved for 7 years, me just one) I can call it to their attention but they are intelligent women who will have received the same info as me.

@FlatShite

Also, do people really calculate fuel costs and such when it's for charity? Unless I was running a business and/or making a very, very large number of cakes I wouldn't take "costs" back out of the donation pot.

She must be fucking stingy to claw back the costs of making a few scones and throwing a teabag in whether she has exaggerated the expense or not.

SOme people clearly do, yes! This is probably why she and her DH are as wealthy as they are - they're fucking stingy!

I agree with you too - it's really wrong. We have a school cake sale most years (not this one, obvs) for a cancer charity in Australia and one of our mums donates around 12 doz cupcakes every year. We've even offered to pay for her ingredients (all buttercream topped) but she won't hear of it. SHE is lovely.
The woman in the OP is profiteering.

"She runs a baking business as a sideline so will have the ingredients purchased in bulk"

Bet you anything you like she's putting it through the business books as well so she can claim tax back or something!

She is raising money for charity and has been transparent about which costs go to her. Fine if you don’t want to buy but otherwise don’t see your issue.

What are you doing to raise money for good causes? Maybe organise one yourself with what you feel is a more favourable balance?

Not really relevant to this but I donate to a number of charities through work place giving, pro bono work, and also materials, time and funds to several organisations- including the PTA.

@PyongyangKipperbang

MACMILLAN steal from their own "local" donations FFS!!

Our local Macmillan support office is on its arse because they were set up by the charity and then left on its own after 2 years. But any donations sent the charity as a whole is kept by them, despite being nominated for our local office. Loads of people fundraise locally, thinking that they are helping the people who helped them, but none of it goes back to that office.

Same with the RSPCA.

Big charities are just big business now. I wont give them a penny.

^This exactly!

Most people do not see how heartless and grasping the financial side of charities are. I have similar experience to you as regards local/national funding with this charity.
It's also worth noting that when the ice bucket challenge was set up by smaller charities for motor neurone disease, also known as ALS, because the effects of the ice link with the effect of the disease on nerves, MacMillan paid to get the top ads on Goggle and used their financial clout to try to make this challenge theirs so effectively taking fundraising from the smaller charities and, if I understand correctly, were reprimanded by the Charity Commission for their behaviour.
I will not fund raise for large charities any more either

@Gardenista

I know a lot about this lady’s business and financial affairs as she likes to tell me! Including her boats that they can afford to send their 3 DC private but don’t need to ask our state school is so good - it is, mainly because it’s a very affluent catchment.

She is very well off through her husband’s job, but has a number of sideline businesses of her own. Selling usbourne books, jewellery, etc. She runs a baking business as a sideline so will have the ingredients purchased in bulk. I know it won’t be organic spelt flour- we buy all the PTA ingredients as cheaply as possible and calculate our profits. She would calculate the cost of running the oven etc. I am not happy that she is using the contacts found through the PTA fundraising to make a profit from the Macmillan coffee morning for herself. I also frustrated that the rest of the PTA are friendly with her (she’s been involved for 7 years, me just one) I can call it to their attention but they are intelligent women who will have received the same info as me.

Perhaps the lady doth protest too much......

Sounds to me like she wants you to think that they are minted to the point of being able to afford (for example) three sets of school fees but no one with that kind of money would bother with the faff of Usborne. I wonder if they are not actually as well off as she makes out, and these "businesses" are because her husband wants her to get a job and contribute.

You could offer to get the ingredients for her so the full £5 can be donated.

I prefer to support Marie Curie

@KitNCaboodle MC are 50% funded by the nhs. They fundraise for the other 50% and then pay their top dogs ridiculous salaries, unfortunately.

@Lumene

She is raising money for charity and has been transparent about which costs go to her. Fine if you don’t want to buy but otherwise don’t see your issue.

What are you doing to raise money for good causes? Maybe organise one yourself with what you feel is a more favourable balance?

I agree - it’s not like she’s hiding what she’s doing and if people don’t want to buy them, nobody is forcing them.

I agree with you op. It's not right she's making a profit. I'm in our PTA and last year we held a Macmillan cake sale. I ran the stall and donated several homemade cakes- wouldn't occur to me to claim costs! Same with every PTA bake sale. I worked out at one bake sale my cakes had raised £30, and I was delighted. I like baking so it's an easy way for me to help.

I don't think there's anything you can do this time, but at least the charity is getting some money.

So you dont know the actual costs? You've just pulled the figure of 50p out of the air? Before slandering her across the internet have you thought of asking her

This - how do you know or are you just assuming/guessing/plucking figures out of the air?
Can't vote either way as don't know the details.

Agree that a lot of charities waste money on fat cat salaries and doing bugger all.
Alzheimers society, yes I'm looking at you.
Our local branch employs 8 staff and yet the only "patient" contact or support is a weekly singing class and a monthly carers meet up for a coffee in a garden centre.
How is that value for money?
Its scandalous.

She is very well off through her husband’s job, but has a number of sideline businesses of her own. Selling usbourne books, jewellery, etc. She runs a baking business as a sideline so will have the ingredients purchased in bulk.

I take back my previous comment and think you’re probably right about her profiting from the coffee morning, based on this info. However, I think you may be wrong about her financial situation. While her husband may be making a good salary, either they’re in debt or maybe one of them has a spending problem? Because honestly, why the hell else would you be involved in MLMs? They’re cancerous and stressful. You mention Usborne books, so are the rest MLMs, too (jewelry, etc)? And then she’s got a baking business on the side as well? I understand wanting to stay busy, but no one runs FIVE separate side “businesses” if their husband’s income is sufficient to their needs. She’s having you on.

BUT I bet if you accuse her of profiting from the morning, she’ll have a ready answer for why she’s not profiting and she’ll be “so hurt” that you could possibly think that.

She is very well off through her husband’s job

So she isnt very well off at all then?

He is, due to his job, but she isnt and you dont know that the family as a whole is either.....

@KitNCaboodle

It does sound as though she’s profiting some way but until we know how much the scones cost to bake we can’t actually comment.

What i can comment on is that Macmillan very cleverly markets their charity. You know the nurses are paid by the NHS? They don’t carry out cancer research either. I prefer to support Marie Curie.

I don't have very positive experiences of Macmillan's "fund raising", to be honest, and agree that Marie Curie would be my preference for donations.