Tag Archives: tie-dye cupcakes

Cupcake Award Winners Announced!

As the votes for the American Giving Awards come in, we’ve been counting up your cupcake money–our mailbox is chock full of your donation envelopes each day!

Nearly 200 bake sale teams pulled together the week of November 12-18 to host the largest Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off ever…and the grand total (expected to increase, as some belated bake sales come through) is already a whopping $24,564! When all is said and done, tie-dye cupcakes will have raised $25,000 this season!

All of the bake sale teams were extraordinary–just take a look at all the photos we gathered from Facebook and Twitter here–but a few really stood out and we hereby proclaim them the 2012 Cupcake Award Winners!

MOST MONEY RAISED: Prospect Sierra
The returning champs from 2011 raised $4,584 from their cupcake sales in Berkeley, CA–can you believe it?!

BEST PRESS: First Place: Ithaca
Ithaca’s school paper showcased all their hard work in an incredible piece!

Runner Up : OSU

BEST TEAM UNIFORM: Hofstra
A cupcake costume and a “Real Men Eat Cupcakes” t-shirt put She’s the First Cupcake Sales on an even bigger platform!

BEST ADVERTISING: University of Michigan
Michigan’s fun “Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake” is one of the ads that really helped them put their bake sales out there!

BEST VIDEO: First Place: Alverno High School
The girls at Alverno High School made an incredible video that encompasses the whole mission of STFCupcakes!

Runner Up: University of Central Florida
Our campaign got a theme song courtesy of the Cresendudes.

BEST SOCIAL MEDIA: First Place: TCNJ
From updating on the amount raised in real time to creating their own hashtag TCNJ takes best Twitter strategy!

Runner Up: Northwood High School
They’re high school students with a plan, an amazing Facebook plan at that! Northwood took Facebook by storm every day during their bake sales!

MOST CREATIVE TABLE: Didja Know? Show
A true testament that cupcakes can be sold (and make a change) anywhere! Didja sold cupcakes out of the back of their car and helped raise awareness with their unique presentation!

Runner Up: Wisconsin
Wisconsin got people talking about girls’ education, cupcakes, and She’s the First by having a Cupcake Toppings Bar! Amazing, right?!

Congrats to all, and thank you to our judges, Interns Lily and Vivian. Winners in each category will receive a prize pack from Jane Cosmetics!

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Bake-Off Day 6: Football Games & Baking Twins

We’ve reached day 6 and are headed for a delicious conclusion! Sales were held all over the U.S.: from Michigan to Pennsylvania to California. At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., our UMich chapter sold blue and yellow cupcakes to football fans (and they won!) Meanwhile, Northwood High partnered up with Baking Bestie Georgetown Cupcakes with some sweet results! And in NYC, founder Tammy Tibbetts and Director of International Operations Chisten Brandt have some ideas in the oven for THE AMERICAN GIVING AWARDS!

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Bake-Off Day 5: Cupcakes Put a Song In Our Heart!


We still have TWO more days of baking left and already some have reached and surpassed their goals! TCNJ raised over $1,000 this week, Bryn Mawr raised over $600, and so many more baking teams were able to break a first by sponsoring a girl! Plus, UCF got their own “Cupcake Theme Song” courtesy of Crescendudes. You have to check out this video (it could go viral!).

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Bake-Off Day 3: East to West Coast & Wisconsin, too!

Day three of the Cupcake Bake-Off reached far and wide, from college campuses to Hollywood! Hofstra University sold more than 600 cupcakes (the “Real Men Eat Cupcakes” campaign might have something to do with it!) and we got a Facebook shout out from our friends at Half the Sky, whom we greatly admire. Boston College got a break from baking, thanks to a generous donation from Georgetown Cupcake, and our Los Angeles supporters held a marvelous event in Hollywood that raised more than $500! See the tweets below and Flickr to catch up on what you missed!

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Bake-Off Day 2: Real Men Eat Cupcakes!

Day 2 of the She’s the First 2nd Annual Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off was just as strong as Day 1! Hofstra shared photos of students wearing “Real Men Eat Cupcakes” t-Shirts and promoted “cupcake cannibalism” with pics of their delightful cupcake mascot enjoying the colorful treats. Students at TCNJ, Dartmouth, and Michigan live tweeted their sales, while She’s the First interns held their very own tie-dye cupcake bake sale at the She’s the First headquarters! Check out the highlights in our Storify below. Our cupcake week is off to a great start and we’re so excited to update you on the fundraising total very soon!

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Want to Win a Cupcake Award? Here’s How!

From November 12th to 18th, more than 150 baking teams will be helping She’s the First “Bake a Change” to sponsor girls’ education in 8 countries. This is more than DOUBLE last year’s involvement!

Amazing, right?

Each team is working incredibly hard to make their bake sale beyond spectacular and we want to recognize the superstars! So the week following the Bake-Off, She’s the First will be awarding its Second Annual Cupcake Awards!

She’s the First will choose winners in SEVEN categories the week of November 19th. All you have to do is show off your amazing cupcakes and advocacy for girls’ education. Tweet us updates and photos (@shesthefirst, #STFCupcakes) and post to our Facebook Wall. Aside from an awesome certificate (check out last year’s here) that you can share all over social media, each winner will also receive a prize pack from Jane Cosmetics!

To recap, here are tips on how to stay on She’s the First social media radar!

– For Twitter or Instagram tag @shesthefirst and #STFCupcakes on ANY bake sale related tweets!

– Share your pictures to our Facebook page or tag us in posts to your own page.

Now, some more good stuff! Here are the categories STF will be awarding prizes for:

  1. Best Social Media
  2. Most Creative Display
  3. Most Money Raised – First Place
  4. Best Cupcake Team Uniform
  5. Best Team Photo
  6. Best Advertising
  7. Best Baking Video

P.S. We’ll be putting out a Storify daily through Bake-Off week, so definitely make sure to use #STFCupcakes!

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Wednesday, Join Our #Cupcake411 Hotline!

Can you believe our 2nd Annual Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off is NEXT week?! We kicked off the campaign back in September with a Twitter Party, and now, as we get down to the wire, we’re firing up our social media channels again–with a Cupcake Help Line!

Before you read on about #Cupcake411, remember there’s still time to sign up to host a bake sale here — whether it’s at your school, in your office, at your bakery, or at another popular place in your community!

From November 12-18, more than 150 bake teams will be hosting their bake sales to sponsor girls’ education! For some, this will be their first time organizing a bake sale, and we want to answer any and all last-minute questions you have.

So we decided to open the #Cupcake411 Hotline, this Wednesday, from 4-7pm EST.

We want to answer YOUR questions regarding anything cupcakes! Here’s how #Cupcake411 Hotline will work:

1. Send your questions to @shesthefirst on Twitter or add a comment to our Facebook wall, anytime from 4-7pm EST

2. We’ll answer your questions or direct your questions to one of our experienced bakers on call.

3. Make sure you tag @shesthefirst and use #Cupcake411, so we know you’re talking to us!

Tweet ya later!

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Win a Scholarship for YOU & Jancy in India

How would you like to win some scholarship money for yourself, while also helping a She’s the First scholar in India with her tuition?

She’s the First is teaming up with scholarship website Zinch.com once again, to offer $500 awards in a way that will get your creative juices flowing and inspire others to achieve their dreams.

Submitting your entry is fast and easy:

  1. Go to zinch.com/partner/bakeachange
  2. Fill out the corresponding form and answer the following question:

What is your recipe for success? Have a morning routine to seize the day? A game plan to reach your goals? Or a list of “creative ingredients” to share? Either way, tell us! (In 500 characters or fewer; this includes spaces and punctuation!)

Your deadline is Nov. 18th, also the last day of our Bake-Off.

So, just to recap — here’s what’s in it for you and why you should enter today!

1. Five hundred dollars for you to go to school- that’s a lot of textbooks.

2. Our best responses will be quoted here on our blog and on our social media platforms, like Tumblr and Twitter!

3. Jancy, a college freshman in India, will also receive a $500 scholarship.

P.S. If you think you never win anything, this might be your lucky break! Last April, an awesome student from California, Julia Solano, won a She’s the First scholarship from Zinch–it can happen!

Of course, if you want to make an even bigger impact, sign up to have a bake sale and bring the Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off to your school or town this November 12-18.

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Design the T-Shirts Cupcake Bakers Nationwide Will Wear!

One of the winning designs from the 2011 t-shirt design contest!

Want to add “feel-good fashion designer” to your resume? She’s the First and Her Campus challenge YOU (or your most talented graphic designer friends!) to take our campaign t-shirts to the next level, for this fall’s 2nd annual Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off.

Not only do the tie-dye cupcake bakers order these shirts to wear at their bake sales (thus, seen in photos that go all over their Facebook pages!), but most importantly, 100% of the profits directly sponsor girls’ education in our eight partner countries. Here’s when and how to enter:

1. Download the template to design on here (it’s a blank white square, so when it opens, right click and “save as”)

2. Upload your design to our custom Facebook tab (made possible by Wix Social!) between September 4-17th, and tell your friends to “like” it! Note: It has to be a JPG, and if it doesn’t go through, just make the file size smaller!

How will we choose the winner? We’ve got three superstar judges and YOU will give your input based on Facebook likes. (Your votes do influence the outcome!) We’ll announce the winners by September 20th.

"Keep Calm, Have a Cupcake" pillow from Dormify, a gift for the 3 winners

What do the winners get? In addition to the glory of having their work worn by world-changing bakers all across the U.S., they’ll win a “Keep Calm, Have a Cupcake” pillow from Dormify. There will also be a gift bag of Jane Cosmetics makeup awarded.

Need inspiration? Check out the photo album of t-shirts designed last year here. Or, surf Pinterest (follow our Boards here!)

Winning t-shirts will be available for purchase around October 11th – just in time for the first-ever International Day of the Girl (for which we’re organizing the XX Summit!)

Spread the word to your networks with this tweet:

Design a cute cupcake t-shirt & help sponsor girls’ education with @shesthefirst & @hercampus! Enter on Facebook: http://ow.ly/diCWF

Ready? Set…design!!!

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We Need Your Vote to Win the Oscar of the Non-Profit World!

News flash! We recently found out that we’re in the running to receive the “Most Creative Fundraiser by a Charity” Classy Award — and we need your vote (select the Eastern region) before July 26th! We received the nomination for our Tie-Dye Cupcake Campaign, which will be in full force again this November. Tie-dye cupcakes have made such an impact, in such a short amount of time — the campaign not only sponsored 48 girls in 8 developing world countries, but it has also inspired hundreds of students in the U.S. to be leaders and advocates for universal education. Over the next couple of weeks, the public will be encouraged to place votes in all categories. We have a couple suggestions for you!

In the East: She’s the First (Most Creative Fundraiser By A Charity), The Adventure Project (Best New Charity, Disaster Relief And International Aid)

Midwest: Bright Pink (Most Creative Fundraiser By A Charity)

West: Mama Hope (Most Effective Awareness Campaign By A Charity), KickStart International (Hunger and Poverty Relief)

Winners will be determined half by the number of votes their organization receives and half by an esteemed judging panel. The regional winners are revealed on July 31st (once again, we are the EAST!).

A Classy Award would be a huge honor for She’s the First to receive and undoubtedly attract more donors for girls’ sponsorships! There’s a very prestigious group of people lined up on the Leadership Council overseeing the Awards, so this recognition truly means a lot. People like Adam Braun (Founder and Executive Director of Pencils of Promise), Adam Garone (CEO & Co-Founder of Movember), and Jim Moriarty (CEO of Surfrider Foundation).

But I’m sure you’re wondering now…what happens next?!

Well, if we are chosen as a Regional Winner, we will then move onto the National Judging round. (August 1-September 20) In this round, the Leadership Council will work together to determine 16 national winners. Then on September 22nd, comes the most anticipated moment of all time… the announcing of the winners at the Classy Awards in San Diego, California!

So, if we win, what are some of the prizes? We’d get some of these pretty cool fundraising benefits and the recognition will definitely help us attract more donors/sponsors for girls’ education! We’re crossing our fingers for this huge opportunity!

Remember to vote She’s the First for the “Most Creative Fundraiser by a Charity” category! You can also show your support by tweeting about our nomination, and letting everyone know to vote.

Copy & Paste this to Twitter! Take a look: @shesthefirst is nominated for a #ClassyAward in “Most Creative Fundraiser By A Charity” category! Vote: http://ow.ly/clXFF

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Cupcake Tees and Totes at Shanti Bhavan

Hello World!

My name is Aishwarya and I’ll be the new Shanti Bhavan researcher, reporting on all the great things happening at our partner school in India. I was born in India but raised in the U.S., making me a first generation Indian American. I graduated from the Huntsman Program for International Studies and Business at the University of Pennsylvania and I currently live and work in New York City. Ensuring that females in the developing world have access to education is a cause that is very important to me and I am extremely excited to be joining the She’s the First team!

The proud judge with volunteers Ashley Monroe and Isabel Rutherfurd

Today I bring back an old friend of ours: Remember Jancy? Jancy is a senior at Shanti Bhavan and was chosen to judge the Cupcake T-Shirt Design contest this past Fall. Being the top art student at Shanti Bhavan made her well qualified for the task. Someday, she hopes to be a fashion designer and wants to take business courses in college so she can start her own fashion company. Given how savvy she already is, I wouldn’t be surprised if she were one day running her own fashion empire!

Well it took a while, but here Jancy is receiving her favorite t-shirt pick (designed by Kelsey Thorn, Skidmore College Senior) and tote bag (designed by Krista Firkins, Emerson College Senior).

Jancy receives her "Make a Change Bake a Cupcake" t-shirt designed by Kelsey Thorn of Skidmore College

Jancy's "I'm a Baker, Not a Fighter" Tote by Krista Firkins, an Emerson College Senior

Did any of you pick the same tee? Isn’t it cool to know that all the way in India, Jancy is wearing the same thing?

I look forward to becoming a regular on the She’s the First blog and getting to know you all!

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Savoring Cupcake Success at Ithaca College!

Below is a guest post from Food for Thought’s Communication Director, Colleen Wormsley.

Food for Thought's colorful cupcake table!

Food for Thought's colorful cupcake table!

When I first saw a picture of a tie-dye cupcake tweeted by She’s the First this summer, I fell in love. As an avid fan of baked goods and social good, I knew that the She’s the First Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off would be an awesome fundraiser for Ithaca College’s Food for Thought to support. I knew that the bake sale would be a great way to help a girl in a developing country, but I didn’t realize how our sale would help in so many other ways.
1. It helps a girl in India receive an education. All of the money raised by Food for Thought will support a girl at the Shanti Bhavan School in India. This school is especially amazing because it provides girls in the lowest caste in India with an opportunity they could have never imagined – an education. Shanti Bhavan breaks the cycle of social discrimination and allows disadvantaged girls to reach their full potential.

2. It helps a local business. Food for Thought sold tie-dye cupcakes that were graciously donated by Purity Ice Cream, a local ice cream shop and bakery in Ithaca, NY. We were able to encourage students to support a local business by providing Purity Ice Cream with free publicity. Purity’s specially-made tie-dye cupcakes became a must-have item on campus!  Heather Lane, the owner of Purity Ice Cream is also a professor at the School of Business at Ithaca College, so we were especially eager to help promote the company’s generosity!

3. It helps establish awareness of Food for Thought on campus. Through our She’s the First Tie-Dye Cupcake Sale, Food for Thought was able to spread awareness of its mission to serve children around the world who are lack access to quality food and education. Our cupcake table attracted so many people who might not have known about Food for Thought and our members were eager to enlighten students about our role on campus. We had new faces join us at our meeting on the Monday following the bake sale, when we Skyped with She’s the First’s Researcher, Hannah Brencher. Food for Thought’s Facebook likes, Twitter followers, and interactions all increased during the bake sale which will help Food for Thought reach new people in its future endeavors.

4. It helps me put my marketing major to use for a good cause! As the Communications Director of Food for Thought, I was able to apply what I’ve learned in my classes at Ithaca College. I created a communications timeline, designed promotional materials, pitched media outlets, updated Food for Thought’s social media outlets, and made sure our table looked fabulous. My experience with the She’s the First Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake Sale is relevant to my career goals and has provided me with great experience that I can put on my resumé.

I’m so glad that Food for Thought was able to help so many people by selling the most adorable (and delicious!) cupcakes ever. All of our members had so much fun and we’re all looking forward to next year’s bake sale!

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Photos from Our 2nd Birthday Bash at Molly’s Cupcakes

While tie-dye cupcake week is taking the country by storm, we celebrated our second birthday here in NYC at Molly’s Cupcakes, a cupcake shop in the West Village. They created tie-dye cupcakes especially for us, and donated the proceeds to She’s the First. Check out some of the best shots of the night — and if you’re ever on Bleeker Street in NYC, stop in and say hi for us! Trust us, one bite of their cupcakes and you’ll be a fan, too.

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STF*{FGCU} Has Sweet Success at St. Michael Lutheran School!

I could not be more proud of the amazing ladies of She’s the First*{FGCU}. We had our bake sale today at my alma mater, Saint Michael Lutheran School and it couldn’t have gone better! Not only did we get to sell our sweet treats, but we got to sell them to adorable little kids! We had patrons from pre-K 3 all the way up to 8th grade and they were all equally as adorable! I wish I was constantly streaming photos to show their faces when they saw a table full of over 200 tie-dye cupcakes!

Our sale was to benefit Starfish One by One,  a She’s the First partner program in Guatemala that Christen Brandt, Kate Lord, and I visited in January. After visiting Guatemala, I fell in love with the program, the girls, and everything about it. All of the She’s the First partner programs are amazing, but Starfish One by One will always hold a special place in my heart. We’re still waiting on totals because our sale will be continuing throughout this weekend but we’re optimistic about our end result!

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Last-Minute Tips for a Delicious, Successful Bake Sale!

Ready to fire up your ovens and change the world with your tie-dye cupcakes? Here are a few helpful reminders for your bake sale (for more details, check out our Guide to the Best Bake Sale Ever!):

1. Get the word out: Cover your campus in flyers!  If you haven’t designed one, here’s a template you can download from Microsoft PowerPoint here.

Designed by Kelsey Thorn & the team at Skidmore College

2. Stick together: Leaders of cupcake teams belong to this Facebook Group (join!), and they’re constantly coming up with ideas to share! Last week, Kelsey Thorn shared the thank you cards she made, to give those who buy a cupcake a lasting impression — great idea!

3. Follow the recipe and bake: If you’re worried about making your cupcakes really pop, watch the video from Katy!

4.  Tell us all about your bake sale, every step of the way!

Here are some helpful tags to remember:

Twitter: #STFcupcakes or mention @shesthefirst

Facebook: Tag us or visit our page at www.facebook.com/shesthefirst

We can’t wait to see all your photos and videos from the sale!  We’ll be awarding prizes from the Popcorn Factory the following week to the teams who dazzle the most on social media.

5.  Download the form so you can send your donation afterwards and we can make sure it gets sent to the country of your choosing!

If you have any questions, email cupcakes@shesthefirst.org or tweet us at @shesthefirst and help will be on the way!

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PR 101: How to Secure Bake-Off Media Coverage!

T-shirts are a G-R-E-A-T PR collateral tool to create buzz and awareness around campus.

We are excited to announce that 80 schools are participating nationwide in this year’s Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off, from New York to Honolulu, and internationally in Australia too! (Crikey that’s great, thank you Aussies!)

Another key ingredient to making the bake sale fundraiser a success is getting the word out to local media. In addition to the school newspaper, zone in on the top 5 to 10 newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations in your city. A couple STF ladies have already seen some great media success! Kelsey Thorn at Skidmore scored some sweet media coverage, along with Tehrene Firman from the University of Northern Iowa, who got this great hit. Let’s keep ‘em coming!

What’s the best way to go about media outreach? Well, here are some tips to help create buzz around these tasty tie-dyed treats.

5 Tips on How to Secure Press Coverage

  1. Add the sprinkles, make your pitch sparkle! Brainstorm on why your school’s bake-off has a cool factor. Is this the biggest fundraiser the school has ever done? Be sure to tweak the media alert template and include fun facts about your STF chapter. Editors sometimes like to run hi-resolution images with stories, so check the She’s the First website here for pictures of sponsored girls and other cool images that work well in articles too.
  2. Hit up Twitter-friendly media outlets. See which of the top 5-10 media outlets or outlet journalists and media are active on Twitter. You can also contact local key influencers who aren’t media. Ask these contacts to retweet the event linking to your Facebook page our website for additional info.  For tweets, be sure to include the hashtag #STFcupcakes
  3. Email the She’s the First media alert to local media. In this case, it’s best to reach out to the entertainment, lifestyle and food editors. If you’re unable to find the editor’s contact info online, give the outlet’s mainline desk a buzz. Once you’ve pulled together a media list of contacts, it’s always best to personalize the pitch and send information via email first, then follow-up via an email check in or phone call. Editors are normally on a tight deadline, so keep it short and sweet!
  4. Submit event info to online calendar listings. Most newspapers and other media also have online calendar listings. You can email the calendar listings contact directly, or in most cases, submit info through online submission form. This is a quick and easy way to get the event deets out.
  5. Write the article, then pitch the outlet. Instead of pitching story ideas, Alanna submitted her story to the Huffington Post and scored a fantastic article! For the journalism pros, step up the game and do the same–not only is it a great experience to test the waters as a contributing writer, aka “stringer,” but these hits are awesome clip examples when interviewing for internships and jobs.

But most importantly as always, have fun. Cheers!

 

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Meet the Most Generous Donor of the Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off!

In Naturally Nora's Princeton, NJ headquarters, Nora Schultz with The College of New Jersey student (and tie-dye cupcake bake sale organizer!) Jamie Primeau

Nora Schultz believes cupcakes can change the world because she’s seen the undeniable delight this dessert brings to others—especially children.

“Even if there’s no immediate, obvious financial change, you give (a child) a cupcake and the whole energy that comes from it is pure happiness,” Schultz said.

This Princeton resident is the mind behind Naturally Nora, a company that believes food should be made in a kitchen—not a laboratory.

With the help of her business partner and husband Steven, Nora sells all-natural scratch-in-the-box cakes.

Speaking of the upcoming She’s the First bake sales, she said, “You’re taking that (happiness) and attaching an actual financial component to it, which is more long-lasting. It’s just terrific. It’s a great combination.”

Nora is playing a major role in propelling the cause forward.

“We’re supporting the local bake sales—New Jersey and New York—with donations directly,” she explained. “I’d love to be able to send them to all the different sales, but what we’re going to do is pick one sale in particular and send enough mix to make 1,000 cupcakes. So it’s a lot of cake and frosting mix.”

The contest is going on now and for more details, click here! Continue reading →

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We Need Your Sweet Tweets!

Don’t forget how powerful Twitter can be to reach the goal of our tie-dye cupcake campaign — to get a bake sale in every state and 200 participating teams overall! It would be cake to raise a ton of money for girls’ education with that kind of teamwork! 140 characters doesn’t seem like a lot, but if the right person sees your tweet, we can get another sign up, or spread our messages to hundreds more people with a retweet.

Not sure what to tweet to get the word out about She’s the First?  Here are some great starting points if you’re stuck:

  • I signed up to have a tie-dye cupcake bake sale at my school for @shesthefirst, u can too! Sponsor girls’ ed: shesthefirst.org/cupcakes
  • I’m going to change a girl’s life forever by baking cupcakes w/ @shesthefirst. Join me: shesthefirst.org/cupcakes
  • We are starting a sweet, colorful cupcake journey to sponsor girls’ ed w/ @shesthefirst! Check out: shesthefirst.org/cupcakes
  • Join a movement to celebrate firsts and sponsor girls’ ed worldwide by hosting a tie-dye bake sale at your school: shesthefirst.org/cupcakes
  • I’m going to be a Cupcake Captain and change the world with cupcakes and @shesthefirst: shesthefirst.org/cupcakes
  • Help make the Cupcake Campaign a sweet success. Host a tie-dye cupcake bake sale at your school: shesthefirst.org/cupcakes

Just be yourself — your enthusiasm for She’s the First will come through naturally!  And don’t forget to add the She’s the first hash tag: #STFcupcakes

We also have a very active and enthusiastic Facebook community — both on our page and in the Cupcake Coalition Facebook group.  If you have problems or questions, these are both great resources for you and your team!  Recently, several bake sales have found creative ways to get around a ban on homemade baked goods on their campuses – if you have this problem too, check out the Cupcake Coalition’s solutions here.

Most importantly, don’t forget your step-by-step guide to having the BEST bake sale ever!  you can download it here!  This week, try reaching out to student publications on campus to get coverage for your sale so you’ll sell out of your delicious cupcakes in no time!

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How Ithaca College’s Cupcake Team Overcame a Roadblock!

When Elizabeth Stoltz and her team signed up to host a Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off, they had no idea they couldn’t sell homemade cupcakes on their campus!  But these clever girls quickly found a way around the restriction and are going full speed ahead with their bake sale preparations.  Here’s how they triumphed:

Ithaca, New York is world famous for its tie-dye t-shirts that proudly boast, “Ithaca is Gorges!”  Here at Ithaca College, we hope to make tie-dye iconic for another reason – cupcakes!  My name is Elizabeth Stoltz and I’m a researcher for She’s the First as well as Founder & President of Food for Thought, a student organization at Ithaca College dedicated to improving the lives of children around the world.  Food for Thought is caught up in the cupcake sweetness sweeping the nation!

One of our promo flyers!

Immediately after declaring that Food for Thought would join the cupcake bake-off, we hit a roadblock.  We learned that Ithaca College doesn’t allow homemade baked goods to be sold on campus.  At first we were disappointed that our grand plans of baking and bonding into the wee hours of the night were dashed, but our setback quickly turned into a greater opportunity than we could’ve ever imagined!  We contacted Purity Ice Cream, the most beloved local ice cream shop and bakery in Ithaca, and asked them to lend us a hand…and a few hundred cupcakes.  Purity Ice Cream graciously agreed and went above and beyond the call of duty!  Food for Thought members will soon be taste-testing tie-dye cupcakes made from a special recipe specifically for the She’s the First cupcake sale!

A few members of our team

We’ve decided that we will use all proceeds from the cupcake bake-off to support a girl (or hopefully many girls!) at the Shanti Bhavan School in India.  However, we realize that $1,600 is an ambitious goal to raise solely through cupcakes.   We will be visiting local business asking them to help us “fill” our “recipe card.”  What I mean is that we took the sponsorship breakdown of a full year scholarship at the Shanti Bhavan School and made each component of the scholarship look like an ingredient on a recipe card.  We will ask sponsors to donate an “ingredient,“ like $240 to pay for housing or $55 for medical expenses, and supplement all corporate donations with cupcake sale revenues.  We will also be sending pre-order invites to Ithaca College faculty and staff.  We have a lot of other creative promotional ideas up our sleeves, so we can’t wait to get started selling cupcakes galore!

check out our cupcake flyers!

Last night, we spent our general body meeting decorating colorful cupcake Save-the-Date cards and will soon be canvassing campus with these sweet reminders!  We’re thrilled to have already generated so much community support and are so excited to make one girl’s future brighter through these tiny, bright cupcakes!

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Kelsey’s Skidmore College Team is Baking Up Big Ideas!

Kelsey Thorn

Hey bakers,

My name is Kelsey Thorn and, in just a few short weeks, I’ll be spearheading Her Campus Skidmore’s Tie-Dye-Cupcake Bake-Off Sale in honor of She’s the First, with my baking partner in crime, Audrey Nelson. I was first introduced to the cupcake campaign when Her Campus & She’s the First partnered this past summer. Shortly after, I was encouraged to submit a handful of designs to the Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off T-shirt design contest that ran on HerCampus.com. Amazingly, two of my designs won and these simple designs now have a chance to make a huge difference!

One of Kelsey's winning T-shirt designs! These will be sold on HerCampus.com & donate profits toward girls' sponsorships via She's the First.

Bringing the She’s the First cause to Saratoga Springs for the first time, we have high hopes to make a big difference. Representing Her Campus and She’s the First simultaneously, we’ll host a pre-sale at the end of October to raise awareness about the cupcake cause and excite the Saratoga community to help sponsor girls’ education in Ethiopia. The pre-sale won’t offer the infamously special tie-dye cupcakes because we’re saving those for the main event… but we’ll offer a lot of other homemade deliciousness alongside information and facts about the She’s the First mission. We also hope—fingers crossed—to obtain pre-orders for Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake Off tees (they’ll soon be sold on HerCampus.com for $15 each) during our pre-sale. Then we’ll order then and have them waiting to be picked up during our big tie-dye cupcake sale in early November. We hope the opportunity to pre-order tees will motivate people in our community to kick off the fundraising fun with the well-worth-it $15 purchase.

Welcome to Skidmore!

Among the many things we’ve done and are doing in preparation for the sale is the creation of thank you cupcake ‘receipts.’ With every cupcake sold, the little ‘receipts’ will be a token reminder to the purchaser that their cupcake makes a difference and that, with their purchase, they’ve helped to sponsor girls’ education. I designed these receipts with the intention of really getting the message across that one cupcake makes a difference and, together, we do change the world one cupcake at a time!

Needless to say, we are SO excited and I’m anxious to see what other ideas we ‘bake’ up with before the big day(s)! United through this cause, I wish the best of luck to all you bakers! I’m ready to prove that it’s more than a cupcake…are you?

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