Running a School Cookbook or Calendar Sale

This guide is part of school fundraising ideas compared. Cookbooks and calendars are a special kind of product sale: instead of reselling a vendor's catalog, the school makes the product. That means the school keeps more of each sale, and also that volunteers carry the editing, permissions and deadlines a publisher would. The money is modest and the work comes in a burst, so it suits a group with one or two organized volunteers and a few months of lead time.

Cookbook or calendar?

Recipes and copyright

Most of the legal questions in a cookbook come down to one distinction the U.S. Copyright Office draws in its circular on works not protected by copyright:

• The list of ingredients isn't protected. The Office says a mere listing of ingredients or contents, or a simple set of directions, is uncopyrightable, and it won't register recipes that are only a set of ingredients and a process.
• Creative writing about the recipe can be. The Office says a recipe that creatively explains or depicts how or why to do something may be copyrightable, and that a registration can cover the written description, not the ingredient list.
• Photos and the book as a whole can be. In the Office's own cookbook example, the registration can cover the text and photographs but not the ingredient lists, and the Office says a creative selection or arrangement of specific content can be protected too.

What that means for a school cookbook, in practice:

• Ask families for their own recipes, written in their own words. Grandma's handwritten card is ideal. A recipe a family cooks from a published book or a food website should be rewritten from scratch, not copied, and the headnote, stories and photos left out.
• Don't copy photos from websites, magazines or other cookbooks. Use photos volunteers take of the dishes, with the photographer's permission, or skip photos.
• Credit the contributor by family name or first name, with their consent, and note "adapted from" when a family tells you the recipe started elsewhere.
• Use clip art, fonts and design templates only under a license that allows printed products for sale.

This is general information, not legal advice. If a contribution looks copied or a family wants to reprint a well-known chef's recipe word for word, leave it out or ask an attorney.

Student artwork, photos and names

Student art belongs to the student. The Copyright Office explains that copyright exists from the moment an original work is fixed and initially belongs to the author who created it. A drawing chosen for the calendar is the student's work, so get the family's written permission to print and sell it, as the art-a-thon guide's section on student artwork describes for student art shows. The same goes for photos a parent took: the photographer owns them, so ask before using them.

Faces and names need a check with the school. Under the federal student privacy regulations (34 CFR 99.37), a school that discloses directory information must first give public notice of what it has designated and of parents' right to refuse, along with the period within which they must say so in writing. Many schools also keep a list of families who don't want their child's photo or name published. Before printing any child's face, name, grade or class, ask the office for that list. The promotion guide uses the same rule for social posts.

Print-run math

Printing has a per-copy cost that falls as the run gets bigger, and the unsold copies are pure loss. That's why preorders matter more than any other step: they tell you how many to print and bring in cash before the printer's invoice arrives. Get at least two written quotes for the same page count, size, paper, binding and delivery date. The figures below are placeholders; use your quotes.

Example An 80-page spiral-bound cookbook sold at $20. The volunteer designer charges nothing.

The cheaper per-copy price only pays off if the extra copies sell. Break-even is 49 copies for the small run ($975 ÷ $20 = 48.75) and 72 for the large one ($1,440 ÷ $20). A safe pattern: print preorders plus a modest extra for staff, new families and a holiday table, and reprint later if needed.

Example A student-art calendar sold at $15, 200 printed at $5.25 each ($1,050). Selling 170 brings in $2,550, for a net of $1,500. Twelve local businesses each give $50 to be thanked on a month page, adding $600, so the net is $2,100. Keep those thank-yous to a name and logo: the sponsor recognition wording guide explains why federal tax rules treat thanking a sponsor differently from selling an advertisement.

Run your own numbers in the fundraiser budget worksheet or compare this sale with other options in the profit calculator. Selling printed goods is a sale, so check whether sales tax applies in your state; the product sales guide's sales tax section shows how differently states treat school sales.

Calendar details that trip people up

• Pick the calendar year first. A school-year calendar (August to July) must be in families' hands before school starts or right after; a January calendar sells in the fall. A calendar that arrives late barely sells.
• Use only published dates. Add school holidays and events only from the district's adopted calendar, and say "dates subject to change." Two people check every date against the source.
• Choose art fairly. One piece per grade per month, a class collage on each page, or every child's art in a thumbnail grid all beat a contest that leaves most families out.
• Return originals. Scan or photograph the art and send it home by a promised date.
• Space your sales. Avoid selling the calendar in the same weeks as another product sale; the fundraising calendar maker helps you see the year at a glance.

A timeline for either project

1. Four months out: approval and quotes

   Get the principal's approval, confirm the selling rules with the district, and collect printer quotes with deadlines for files and the delivery date.

2. Three months out: collect content

   Send the recipe form or artwork permission slip home, with a firm due date. Ask the office for the photo and name opt-out list.

3. Ten weeks out: check and edit

   Run every item through the permission check, test a few recipes, standardize measurements and formatting, and follow up on missing forms.

4. Eight weeks out: open preorders

   Show a sample page and the price in the family letter; the parent letter templates can be adapted. Collect payment with orders, and log every payment as it comes in.

5. Six weeks out: proof and print

   Close preorders, have two people proofread names, dates and amounts, sign off the proof, and place the print order.

6. Delivery

   Sort by class, check off each order, keep a box for the office and new families, and count leftover sales money with two volunteers on a cash count sheet.

A cookbook also works as a companion to other events: sell it at a bake sale table, or feature student art from an art-a-thon in the next year's calendar.

Sources

1. Works Not Protected by Copyright (Circular 33, revised 03/2021), U.S. Copyright Office (accessed 2026-10-30)
2. Copyright Basics (Circular 1, revised 09/2021), U.S. Copyright Office (accessed 2026-10-30)
3. 34 CFR 99.37: What conditions apply to disclosing directory information?, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (accessed 2026-10-30)