Pie fundraiser
Also called: pie drive, frozen pie fundraiser
Families take orders for frozen pies from a bakery that runs fundraisers, and the bakery delivers them all on one day for you to hand out. You keep the gap between the bakery’s price and what you sell them for. It suits any school, club or group whose families will each sell to their own family, friends and workmates. Our typical figure, about $1,440, comes from one worked example for a school of about 300 ($400–4,000). It takes one or two coordinators 6–12 hours and a few helpers on delivery day. The catch: the pies arrive frozen, so someone must hand them out on the day and keep a freezer for the ones nobody collects.
How big is your group?
Students at a school, or members and players at a club. Remembered in this browser only.
Pick a size to see the money for a group like yours. Until then, every figure here is the researched one.
Typically raises
$1,440
$400–4,000 per campaignest.
About $160 per organiser hour
Based on a 300-student school
Is it right for us?
- Money
- $500–2,000
- Work
- A few evenings
- Helpers
- 3–6 people
- Lead time
- 1–2 months
- Red tape
- None
Common: pie drives are a Kiwi favourite across schools and clubs
- People
- 1-2 coordinators plus 2-4 sorters on delivery day
- Organiser time
- 6-12 hours (estimate)
- Lead time
- Oxford Pies: reserve a delivery date, order 7 days before delivery; 2-3 week order window (Raised)
- Up-front cost
- Nothing up front. Oxford Pies: 'no money changes hands until delivery day'; you pay the wholesale cost from collected orders
- Risk
- Low if orders are pre-paid; uncollected frozen pies are the risk.
How it works
You’re selling something people buy anyway, and the bakery does the baking, packing and food safety. NZ pie bakeries that run fundraisers (Oxford Pies and Maketū Pies are two) give you an order form, a delivery date and your margin. Compare a few: margins and delivery areas differ.
Run a 2–3 week order window. Many groups still use a paper order form each family takes to work and to the grandparents; some bakeries give you an online order page instead. Safest is to collect the money with each order, before you send the combined order, so an order nobody pays for can’t leave you owing the bakery. (Oxford’s own arrangement is that no money changes hands until delivery day, and you pay it from what you’ve collected.) Keep it to 4–6 flavours: more slows ordering down.
When orders close, add them up and send one combined order (Oxford wants it 7 days before delivery). On delivery day, 2–4 helpers sort the cartons by family or class, and families collect in a set window with chilly bins. Ask for delivery shortly before the collection window, and line up freezer space for anything not picked up, plus someone to chase it.
Then pay the bakery, bank the margin, and tell everyone the total.
The money, as an example sum
Sell at $33 a carton, keep about $8 of each, so 180 cartons = $1,440. That’s about the typical result.
Using the figures on this page. Your prices and costs will differ.
| 180 cartons sold at $33 | $5,940 |
|---|---|
| Paid to the bakery (180 × $25) | −$4,500 |
| Raised | $1,440 |
If it goes slowly. If only 90 cartons sell: 90 × $8 = $720. You only order what’s been ordered and paid for, and there’s nothing to pay up front, so a slow drive makes less but shouldn’t lose money. The risk is pies nobody collects, not pies nobody buys.
When to shrink, switch or cancel. Check the bakery’s minimum order or free-delivery level before you start (Oxford: free Waikato delivery on orders over $1,000). If orders are well short a few days before the cut-off, send one more reminder, or ask the bakery whether you can push delivery back a week.
What makes it work. It works with a short flavour list, three reminders, and families who each sell to their own workplace. Pies sell all year, best in winter. It flops with too many flavours, no reminders, or no plan for the pies nobody picks up.
Where the money figure comes from
Raised's worked example for a 300-student school: $3,600 sales, $1,440 profit (illustrative; Raised is a platform that sells this service). Maketū Pies: group keeps $8 per carton of six selling at $33. Low and high are estimates.
Last checked October 2026. Ran this? Tell us what you raised and we’ll use real results to improve the figures.
Ways to run it
- Family pies
- Large pies for the freezer; easy to sell to households.
- Single pies by the carton
- Cartons of six; good for lunches and workplaces.
- Other frozen food
- Samosas or cookie dough run the same way, with their own suppliers and margins: see ‘Samosa fundraiser’ and ‘Frozen cookie dough’.
Step by step
4 weeks out
- Choose a bakery: compare the margin, the delivery area and any minimum order.
- Book the delivery date.
- Pick 4–6 flavours.
Order window (2–3 weeks)
- Send the order forms home with the collection day on them.
- Remind families at the halfway point, three days before the cut-off and the day before.
- Close orders on the day you said.
The week before delivery
- Add up the orders and send one combined order (Oxford: 7 days before delivery).
- Line up 2–4 sorters and a backup freezer.
Delivery day
- Sort the cartons by family or class name.
- Hand out in a set window.
- Uncollected cartons go straight in the freezer.
After
- Pay the bakery.
- Bank the margin and tell families the total.
Getting the word out
Even a well-run plan fails if nobody hears about it. There are two asks, and the first one goes out first.
- Ask for help
- Families to take the order form to work, to the grandparents and to the neighbours. Most orders come from one family selling to its own people.
- Ask people to buy
- People to order, and pay, before the cut-off.
- When to start
- Start on the day the order window opens, with the cut-off date in every message. Remind at the halfway point, three days before and the day before it closes.
Where to put it
- Asking people yourselfMost yeses come from someone asking directly. Give every member a short message they can send to family and workmates.
- Email lists and group chatsYour members’ email list and the class, team or church group chats. Short, with one date or one link.
- School, club and church newslettersYour own newsletter is free and read by the families most likely to say yes. Check when it closes.
- Local Facebook pages and community groupsPost in your town’s community page and local groups (check their rules), and share from your group’s own page.
Put the collection day, time and place on the order form, so buyers know when to come.
The full guide to getting the word out: every channel from flyers to the evening news, with lead times and costs.
Taking the money
Ways to pay that suit this
- Online pre-orders and paying aheadTake the money with the order, before you buy anything: by bank transfer, the school’s payment system or the supplier’s own order page.
- Bank transfer and pay-by-bank QR codesPut the group’s account name and number on a sign with a reference to use. No card terminal needed, but slower at a busy table.
- The school’s payment system or officeSchools already take money from families through an app or the office. Ask whether your fundraiser can use it.
Take the money with the order. No float needed: nobody should be paying on delivery day if you can help it.
The full guide to taking the money: floats, card readers and their fees, bank transfers, school systems and counting up.
What you’ll need
- Place
- Not neededNone needed
- Landowner’s permission
- Not needed
- Council permit
- Not needed
- Food rules
- Not neededNo food sold
- Alcohol
- Not neededNo alcohol sold
- Gambling rules
- Not neededNot gambling
The bakery is the registered food business; keep pies frozen and have a backup freezer for uncollected orders.
What you can get donated
Freezer space.
Tips
- Pies sell year-round, best in winter (Raised).
- A Waikato school posted that it sold over 1,000 Oxford pies in one drive (Facebook).
Watch out for
- Too many flavours slow ordering (Raised).
- No backup freezer.
Pie fundraiser: checklist
0 of 9 done
Before
While it runs
After
The bakery is the registered food business; keep pies frozen and have a backup freezer for uncollected orders.
* General fundraising information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Money figures are examples and estimates, not promises. Check current official requirements before you commit. About this guide