Keeping Close Buy

Going green

By Deidre Fulton | October 27, 2010

Masey Kaplan's children used to bring home fundraising catalogs — the ones from which part of the proceeds go to the school — from their Portland school, full of wrapping paper and plastic toys and goods "from god knows where." Kaplan, a graphic designer who lives in Portland, was torn.

"I thought, I want to support his school, but don't really want any of this stuff," she recalls. Rather than buy crap or abashedly hawk those wares to relatives and co-workers, Kaplan often found herself simply writing a check to the school as a donation. But at the same time, she was scheming: "Maine is just rich with beautiful things — delicious, high quality, well-designed things that people want. Why not put them all together and raise money for schools and help the local economy at the same time?"

Read the full article

School fundraising takes field trip to local marketplace

Close Buy's catalog of local goods turns school benefits from an obligation to a pleasure, school groups say.

By Edward D. Murphy | March 14, 2011
Staff Writer

When Renee Bender's daughter brought home a gift catalog used as a fundraiser for Longfellow Elementary School in Portland, the reaction was less than enthusiastic.

Masey Kaplan shows products from her school fundraising catalog, Close Buy, at her Falmouth home. The catalog features products made by local companies, such as lip balms from Westbrook-based Mad Gab's and handbags from Angela Adams.

The Close Buy catalog offers vendors 50 percent of sales and schools 30 percent of sales. Founder Masey Kaplan is thinking of adding a spring catalog with gardening tools.

"I was like, 'What can I stand to buy?' " said Bender, co-president of the school's parent-teacher organization, knowing that a portion of what she spent would go to her daughter's school. "What can I buy that won't really bug me?"

That all changed this year when she flipped through the new Close Buy catalog, which features items from Maine companies, such as coffee from local roasters, lip balms from Westbrook-based Mad Gab's and even handbags from Angela Adams.

Read the full article

Mom Q & A: Masey Kaplan

April 1, 2011

When her son Owen was in kindergarten and brought home his first school fundraising catalog Masey Kaplan bought some wrapping paper. Sure it was over-priced, but it was a way to support her son and his school.

A year later, Kaplan still hadn’t used the wrapping paper, but along came another catalog. This time, she says, it didn’t feel right to make another purchase.

“There was nothing in that catalog that I particularly wanted,” she says. “Everything came from overseas. I didn’t feel comfortable asking family members to buy anything.”

From then on the Kaplans chose to write a check to the school and participate in other types of fundraisers. Still, the catalogs kept coming, pushing Kaplan to decide there had to be a better way.

Read the full article