When it is time to start your cookie dough fundraiser, here are 6 key things to remember when planning and running it.

1. Ensure to give your students ample time to make their sales. It seems today that the standard selling time is 2 weeks, but this has not always been the case. When I started fundraising in 1986, often we would start a sale on Monday and end it on Friday. The theory being that most sales take place when the students are the most excited and that is at the beginning of the sale. Making it longer has really not had as huge effect on sales as one might think. So... 2 weeks is fine but if you find that you don't have but 1 week to "get it all in," then that will work as well.

2. Give your fundraising company at least a week before your sale starts to get your school fundraising supplies, brochures and promotional materials to you. That will allow you enough time to get everything set up without rushing and leaving some small but important details left undone.

3. It is better to end your sale on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Doing this allows students who forget to turn in their orderform and money on time to have the very next day to remember to bring it to school. If you end your sale on Monday, almost everyone seems to "forget" about it so it ends up that most orders are turned in on Tuesday anyway.

4. Plan on your cookie dough arriving in the third week after your order is turned in. Depending on where your school is located, it takes that long for the cookie dough manufacturers to make and pull your order and get it shipped to you with on a refrigerated truck or pallet.

5. When planning your cookie dough fundraiser, you want to allow 5-6 weeks from the time you start your sale till the end of it, which is delivery day.

6. You don't really need to plan for storage of orders that are forgotten if you plan ahead for your cookie dough delivery day. There are several things you can do that will ensure that all of it is picked up on that all important day.

A.) Have stickers (provided by some companies) that the teachers "slap" on the students as they are leaving school the day before delivery day that says: "Cookie Dough Delivery Tomorrow." The day of delivery another sticker goes home "on" the student that says: "Cookie Dough Pickup Today."

B.) Put signs up on the school marque or on sticks in front of the school that say the same thing as the stickers.

C.) Send a note home the day before delivery that says something like this: "Cookie dough delivery is tomorrow. Since we do not have proper storage for left over and forgotten orders, we will donate any cookie dough remaining at 6:00pm to the local women's shelter in your name. If you are not able to pick up your order, please make arrangements for someone else to pick it up for you. Thank you, Signed..."

Point "C" really seems to work well!