We tried a completely new Co. since our schools (2) do not want to sell sugar this year. It was a little slow at first but now the parents acutally look forward to it.
If you're okay with raffling tickets and raising money for a cause/organization this is a good way to do it.
Sell a raffle ticket for and set amount (you determine that). With the ticket the buyer has a chance to win half of the total money collected with the other half going to the organization.
For example, you sell 100 tickets at 5 dollars. The winner gets $250 and the org. also gets $250. It's important that you stress your cause to the buyer since neither one of you will know the total cash amount until all tickets are sold (you can give them an estimation if you're comfortable doing so). Best of all, you will only be out the cost of the physical tickets.