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    How to Design a Fundraising Cookbook

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    Cookbooks are tried and true fundraisers for organizations of all types. Here are a few tips for designing and putting together a great one.

    The Cover:

    There are many ways to go about choosing and designing a cover for your fundraising cookbook. If you are working with a small or online publishing company, they may have a stable of cover templates that you can use. However, you will probably want to use something that conveys the feel of your organization a little better, such as a logo or an original photo or artwork. If you are lucky enough to be working with a designer within your organization, you can discuss with him or her what your options might be. If you are still stuck, you can always revert to a little bit of imitation. Take a look around at some of the cookbook covers that seem to really work for you, and do what you can to implement some of the aspects of the cover (without outright stealing ideas, of course). The professionals call this “design study” and it is very much a legitimate part of the design world, so dig in and see what you find.

    The Dividers:

    A lot of cookbooks (depending on how they are bound) rely on a system of dividers to enhance usability my making the sections easy to find without having to refer to a table of contents or the like. Types of binding styles that can easily accommodate dividers are: plastic comb, spiral coil, and double loop binding. You don’t often see divider systems being used in hardcover (also known as thermal) style binding, as the index tabs would likely stick out beyond the cover of the book.

    The divider pages are also a great place to put some artwork, such as a nice photograph of one of the finished dishes and the title of the section. Again, there may be templates for these at your publishers, but if you are publishing the book yourself, or want to do something a little more original, consult with your designer or do some research yourself.

    Page Layout:

    For the typical recipe page, you will want to keep graphics to a minimum in favor of readability and functionality. Leave the fancy graphics to the chapter headers and cover. Again, if you need a little bit of help when it comes to layout, take a look around at other cookbooks that you feel are easy to use as well as attractive on the page.

    You will also want to have some introductory pages and perhaps short bios of the main officers of your organization. A table of contents would be a nice addition as well, along with a title page and perhaps a short history about your organization and the work that it does.

    Binding Style:

    As stated above, three great binding styles commonly seen in cookbooks are” plastic comb, spiral coil, and double loop wire binding. All of these styles allow the book to open flat for easy functionality in the kitchen, and are fairly rugged systems that keep the pages together well. If your organization has one of these binding machines on hand, you can even bind the books yourself. If not, you can go to your local printer, or buy an inexpensive binding machine.

    Selling Advertising For Your Fundraising Cookbook

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    Fundraising cookbooks can be a fun and challenging way for your organization to get the support of local businesses. Here are a few tips on how to get advertising for your cookbook.

    Preparation:

    The first thing you will have to decide is what type of advertising you want in your fundraising cookbook. For instance, do you want a local business to go so far as to co-sponsor the book? Or do you want to make some calls to businesses in the area or that you have worked with before and sell them on the idea of advertising in your cookbook? Before you make those calls, you will need to know what it is that you are selling them (in terms of space and placement) so that you can avoid trouble down the road. If you have put together this kind of cookbook before, and you have example pages to show or email them, then do so. If not, find an example of what you are aiming for elsewhere.

    Most books of this type simply place a few pages at the end of the book that are filled with small ads that most businesses already have ready to send you. This is an easy enough way to go, but if you want to get creative you can sell space on the section dividers or have businesses sponsor sections of the cookbook. This gives your sponsors higher-profile placement and helps their ad stick out, and gives you a better item to sell.

    What Businesses To Contact:

    If your organization has businesses that you have worked with before, or that have generally been friendly, they should be contacted. Also, at your next meeting, stand up and announce that you are looking for advertisers for the cookbook. There may be a fair number of business owners among your ranks that would like to advertise in the book, or that are acquainted with business that would. This should always be your first line of attack.

    If you deem the number of advertisers you get in these manners to be adequate, then you can turn right to the design aspect. If you still need advertisers, You need to get a team together to start beating the street. In-person sales will be much more effective than trying to work over the phone, so have a meeting with your committee members, decide on some target businesses and divide and conquer. Your selling points should be your organization and the good work that it does, as well as the number of cookbooks you are publishing, and the number of people that the cookbook will reach.

    Design:

    As stated above, many businesses have camera-ready ads that they can simply email you, such as you might find in the yellow pages or in the back of the program for a high school football game. Some businesses might need a little help in that regard, however, so you might want to be ready to offer to design the ad yourself for a slightly higher price.

    The designs in general should be fairly simple and not distract from the overall look of the cookbook. Work with your designer or theirs to find something that works for everybody.

    Selling Your Fundraising Cookbook

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    Cookbooks can be a great fundraising tool. Here are a few tips for getting your cookbook ready to publish and for selling as many of the books as you can.

    Finishing Touches:

    It should go without saying, but it is going to be said anyway: before you get to selling your cookbook, before you even print the final version, you need to go through the book with a fine tooth comb and find any and all grammatical and spelling errors. If at all possible, get a number of people with some sort of writing or editing experience to work on this project, or hire the services of a professional proofreader. Print the pages as they will appear in the final version so you can make adjustments for photo placement and margins and whatever else as well. If you are working with a printer or small publisher, they should be able to print up a sample copy for you to look at. Just remember that there is no worse feeling than having boxes and boxes of books that contain some egregious error, and your advertisers and sponsors will be very upset if their ads or pages contain any errors too.

    Just remember, the more professional your cookbook looks, the easier it will be to sell, and the more successful it will be as a fundraising tool.

    Your First Line Of Attack:

    Fundraising cookbooks tend to sell well among those who contributed recipes to the book, because hey make great gifts and allow the contributors to show off a little bit. You may find that some contributors expect free copies of the cookbook for their contribution. If that is the case, just gent;y inform them that the cookbook was created to raise funds for your organization, and that you have a certain amount of costs to cover before the book actually starts to make money. This should be enough for most people, but if it doesn’t work, simply tell them that once costs are covered they may have one cookbook for free. Of course, you can help to avoid this situation entirely if you state beforehand that no books will be given out for free.

    Local Businesses:

    Go back to the businesses that advertised in your cookbook, and if at all possible, ask if they will help you to sell the book in some way. In some cases, they may be able to give you a small display area, or at the very least, you might be able to put up a flier with information on how and where to find and purchase the cookbook. Ask if the businesses have a newsletter and whether they would mind including some information about the cookbook in the next issue. Offer to write the article for them. If your organization has a website, make sure that there is a way for people to order the book from there.

    Press Release:

    Send out a press release that gives the details about the project, including information about your organization, who contributed to the book, and where it can be purchased. If there was a specific organizational goal that the book was produced to meet, give some details about that too.

    Gathering Recipes For a Fundraising Cookbook

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    akiles-duomac-series1So you’ve been given the responsibility of gathering the material for your organization’s fundraising cookbook? Don’t despair, here are a few tips that will make your job a little easier.

    Make It Easy:

    When you are putting together a fundraising cookbook, and you are the person in charge of gathering recipes, you are pretty much at the mercy of your contributors. As they go, you go, and their participation can make the difference between a cookbook that succeeds and one that doesn’t quite work. How, then, do you go about getting as many recipes as possible? The first thing you will want to do is to give your potential contributors plenty of time, but not so much that they forget about the project. Stand up at your next meeting and announce what the project is and how your organization members will be able to help, and when you will need to have their recipes in hand in order for them to be included in the book. Place a short announcement in your organization’s next newsletter. If feel that you need to, go ahead and use this time to sell them on the merits of having their masterful gourmet works included in the book.

    To get the best participation, you need to make the process as easy as possible, and to do that you need to give them many options as to how to contribute. At the first meeting, for instance, you may want to hand out a sheet that contains a space for them to write or type in their favorite recipe, along with a mini bio and perhaps even a photo of the finished dish. You can also create a Word document or PDF and email that around for the vast majority of your organization that will likely find this easier.

    Be A Pest:

    Once your deadlines are known and everyone who needs one has a contribution sheet, send out reminders every couple of weeks (depending on the level of participation you are receiving). To make this easier, put an email list together, where you praise those who have contributed and lean a little bit on those who have not yet. Also, stand up in any meetings your organization has during the process and give them a gentle reminder. You may think you are merely annoying people, but you should always keep in mind that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Or perhaps the olive oil in this case.

    Deadlines, Proofreading, and Organization:

    Remember that your deadline will be different from that of the cookbook. You will want to give yourself plenty of time to gather the recipes, as well as to type, edit and proofread them (very important) and to organize them into categories based on the types of dishes they are ( desserts, appetizers, main courses, etc.)

    If at all possible, get as many fingers as you can in on the typing of the recipes, and as many eyes in on the proofreading as you can. Not only will this ease your burden, it will help the job go more quickly and make the book free of grammar and spelling errors.