Constable: What about selling mattresses for school fundraiser?

When your daughter needed to raise money for her youth soccer team, you brought her boxes of chocolate to your office, where hungry co-workers coughed up the dough. When your son sold popcorn as a fundraiser for his school's band, you persuaded loved ones and friends to buy boxes of the stuff.

You bought light bulbs from your neighbor's Cub Scout, wrapping paper and a holiday wreath from your niece's church group, oranges and tulip bulbs from your nephew's drama club, mums from your boss's son's lacrosse team and Girl Scout Cookies from every girl in the neighborhood. And you washed your minivan twice in July because the high school cheerleaders' carwash was the week after the wrestling team's carwash.

If all those fundraising efforts have left you in need of some rest, the Batavia Music Buffs have a fundraiser for you. The booster group, in partnership with Custom Fundraising Solutions, will host "Snoozefest," its first mattress fundraiser sale, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday in the Batavia High School cafeteria, 1201 Main St., which will be converted into a mattress showroom.

"We've been getting some interesting responses from people," says Cathy Voirin, a Batavia mom, who, with Jackie Berry, co-chairs the unusual fundraiser. "It's totally out of the box. That's for sure."

An Ohio company, Custom Fundraising Solutions, started its mattress sales in 2005, and the company website says it now has more than 50 locations across the nation and has raised more than $10 million for organizations. Other local mattress fundraisers are scheduled Sept. 12 at Glenbard East High School in Lombard, Sept. 19 at Palatine High School, Sept. 26 at Wauconda High School and Nov. 14 at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview.

This fundraiser, like all fundraisers, will have fans and critics. Some will note the school gets money with very little effort. Others will say the school is just a shill for a commercial venture. But the appeal comes from changing the usual approach to asking for money.

"What's important here is that we aren't asking the students to sell anything," Voirin says. Kids, such as her sons Sam, 16, an artist, and Charlie, 15, a viola player, might appreciate a break from the pressure of typical fundraising sales.

"This is a one-day event. There's no upfront costs," Voirin says. "If you need a mattress, you need one. If you don't, you don't. It's pretty straightforward."

To advertise the event, students will be outside the school holding signs and wearing mattress costumes. Unlike many fundraisers with kids as the sales staff and money-takers, the mattress fundraiser has mattress pros handle all the details.

"There is getting to be a pretty good buzz," Voirin says, noting that kids whose referrals result in a sale get $25 put into their personal "charms" account to be used for trips and other related expenses. The booster club, which funds music programs from fifth grade through high school, gets a percentage of all sales.

Instead of hitting up the same customers who've already donated through fundraisers such as the Butter Braids pastry and coffee sale, the hoagie sandwich sale, the cookie dough sale, a pancake breakfast and other tried-and-true methods, Snoozefest appeals to outsiders. Voirin says about a quarter of mattress sales typically are to people who just happen to be passing by.

The venture might allow the booster club to cut the hoagie sale from twice a year to just once, but it won't replace the established fundraising efforts, such as the Corn Boil from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Batavia High School. Do it enough, and even the mattress sale will lead to the fundraising fatigue suffered by even the most avid of supporters.

"Oh, absolutely," Voirin says, running through a long litany of things she's bought and sold during the years in the name of helping kids. "It happens to all of us."

School fundraisers add up

• Schools raise $2 billion nationwide every year through product sales.

• Seven out of 10 parent-teacher organizations say the most profitable fundraisers began in August, September or October.

• Five fundraisers requiring the most volunteers are carnivals, auctions, “thons,” meals and raffles.

• Eight of 10 Americans, and nine of 10 parents, have purchased an item as part of a school fundraiser.

• Popular fundraising items include books, calendars, candles, candy, ceramics, cheese, clothing, coffee, cookies and cookie dough, coupon books, fruits, desserts, gourmet foods, greeting cards, holiday items, jewelry, magazine subscriptions, meat snacks, nuts, picture frames, pies, plants, popcorn, pretzels, posters, first-aid kits, sauces, soaps, spices, stationery, toys, bird food, wrapping paper.

Source: The Association of Fund-Raising Distributors & Suppliers