The Des Moines Register recently published an article about the issue of product fundraising at work.

Product fundraising produced retail sales of about $4 billion nationally in 2001, the latest figure available, according to the Atlanta-based Association of Fund-Raising Distributors & Suppliers, an industry trade group. About 46 percent of the total was kept by the nonprofit groups; the remainder went to businesses that provide or distribute merchandise to be sold.

Fundraising in the workplace by employees is an important source of income for campaigns that support youth groups and civic organizations. The practice also can be an issue for employers.

“The bottom line is: Is it going to detract from servicing your customers and clients,” said Lori Strottman, president of the Central Iowa Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management.

Many businesses actively support charitable organizations such as the United Way in the workplace, urging workers to give money to help a variety of community organizations.

The issue of asking at the office, however, is more clouded when it comes to “product fundraising” - selling candy or popcorn, for example, to raise money for youth groups or church or civic organizations.

Employees - often parents helping a child make sales - may look to coworkers as potential fundraising donors.

The practice puts businesses in the position of deciding what is within, or off-limits in the workplace….

Policies vary, but generally smaller companies are more apt to allow individual fundraising, Strottman said.

Smaller businesses have fewer written policies, less bureaucracy and, above all, fewer workers.

In large companies, sheer numbers of workers mean the practice can be a problem, Strottman said.

“You’d have it going on all the time,” she said.

Whether a company is large or small, the key issue is whether allowing solicitations will interfere with providing service to customers and clients, Strottman said.

The second consideration is numbers of employees. More employees means solicitations are probably going to happen more frequently, creating problems, Strottman said.

Among the issues: Supervisors may have to take time to provide oversight.

“That’s not their job,” Strottman said.

In central Iowa, Principal Financial Group, FBL Financial Services and Allied/Nationwide Insurance are among companies that have polices that prohibit or limit individual fundraising.

“We do need to focus on work and serving customers,” said Libby Jacobs, Principal Financial Group’s community relations director.

Unrestrained individual solicitations at a company as large as Principal Financial Group - 7,500 workers in central Iowa, 14,000 nationwide - wouldn’t work, Jacobs said.

At the five-person, Re/Max Action office in Des Moines, real estate agent Lee Saveraid has no problem with fellow workers occasionally selling fundraiser candy or other small items.

“If it’s candy, I’m all for it,” Saveraid said.

Agency owner Bunny Southard said the practice helps worthy causes and workers don’t pressure co-workers to buy.

At Harding Middle School in Des Moines, Breannah May was among 35 band members who sold frozen foods to raise money for a trip in May to perform in a band contest at Worlds of Fun amusement park in Kansas City.

Sales by parents to co-workers were important to the drive, band director Craig Swart said.

“If we didn’t have that, we wouldn’t make it,” Swartz said.

How some local employers handle employee fundraising on the job.

ALLIED/NATIONWIDE INSURANCE, Des Moines, 3,500 employees in central Iowa - No personal fundraising is allowed in the office, spokesman Mike Palmer said.

FBL FINANCIAL GROUP, West Des Moines, 1,200 employees - Solicitation isn’t allowed in work areas during business hours. Supervisors have flexibility in enforcement, but no activity may infringe on making sure that work gets done, spokeswoman Lori Strottman said.

KOCH BROTHERS office equipment and supplies, Des Moines, 70 employees - The company has no formal policy, which allows employees to bring in sign-up sheets and take orders for fundraising items, President Dutch Koch said.

PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP, Des Moines, 7,500 employees in central Iowa - During work time, employees may not distribute literature or offer items for sale in the work areas of the company, according to the company’s employee handbook.

RE/MAX ACTION real estate office, Des Moines, five employees - Employees are allowed to sell fundraising items such as candy in the office. “I think it’s great,” owner Bunny Southard said. “It gives us something to eat.”