Curious as to when your dd is going to NYC. My son's hs is doing a NYC trip right before Easter week for 4 days also. My son is in both drama and chorus and we opted for him to go under the chorus group because it was $90 cheaper. Apparently the drama students attend one more Broadway play while the chorus has a performance. He enjoys both and many of the kids are split between the two anyway so he didn't care which. Anyway, their trip total for 4 nights is $575. We're really not doing fundraising per se but the kids could get community sponsors if they chose to. Since this trip was being planned before the end of last year, a letter came home over the summer with payment plans. Every month we pay a set amount and that's it. The band students are also going and they did a different fundraiser - if you can call it that. They actually put up flyers and sent letters to family, friends, community businesses, etc. advertising a "no fundraiser" fundraiser - ie. in lieu of purchasing the same old stuff from every student you know and the school earning just a small percentage of the sale, why not skip the stuff you don't need and donate a small amount directly to us. <-- That's not verbatum obviously but it has really worked out for them.
In other events we have done KK sales and always clear at least $1000 on a Saturday morning. Another good seller is the Yankee candles. Same son's junior class sold Yankees for prom money and they made nearly $3000.
I like PC but I agree that 20% is just not enough return. Even candy bar sales bring in 50%. There must be an insider as others have mentioned. Good luck.