Deliver Us from School Fundraisers
My son dragged me to a PTA meeting tonight. They’re kicking off the annual school Spell-A-Thon, which roughly translated, means Give us money to sponsor your child in their weekly spelling test and we’ll give them cheap dollar store prizes to make them go door to door.
I hate fundraisers. I’d rather just give the school money, and have them not brainwash my child into believing that he MUST raise $1000 dollars to get his classroom a pizza party. Good golly, Miss Molly.
When I was growing up, I vividly remember trying to sell candles and gifts. You know, those fourteen dollar tins of chocolate caramels that were nasty-tasting? And the mixed nuts that were smaller than a jar of Planters, but retailed at $19.95? My poor neighbors probably hid when they saw me coming. I managed to sell enough to win one of those walkman speakers. The darned thing plugged into my walkman and worked for about a week before it broke. My hopes and dreams were shattered, and I saw the dark side of fundraising. :hissyfit:
In high school, I sold nuts. It actually wasn’t bad, because a neighborhood lady did a lot of holiday baking and my nuts were cheaper than those at the grocery store. My parents dutifully supported me, but alas, there were no prizes.
(Aside: The only fundraiser that I fully support is Girl Scout Cookies. Oh, for the love of Thin Mints. Heaven, I tell you. I buy wayyyyy too many of those.)
My four-year-old daughter came home with a fundraiser for the Yankee Candle Factory. FOUR. YEARS. OLD. :angry: You’ve got to be kidding me. And we pay preschool tuition. Um, that catalog kind of made its way into the circular files. Shh… 
What fundraisers do you despise the most? Or which ones do you actually like?
Michelle posted in Writing @ 10:16 pm | Viewed 1898 times
Amy Says:
:ick:
We do not let our children fund-raise for school, EVER. And we broke the “fundraising for prizes” thing early. You do not fund-raise $1,000 to win a $10 prize. You save your money and you buy the toy yourself. You do NOT rape grandma and grandpa’s wallet for a tax-supported institution.
Class wants a pizza party? Get together parents, kids and teacher, and make it happen, don’t go begging.
On the other hand, 9 is selling popcorn for Scouts. Scouts is not self-supporting, so I let him ask family members only, but my family knows they can say no if they really can’t afford the $10. But for schools? Never.
Sorry, this subject hits a huge nerve with me…
Michelle Styles Says:
As a former chairman of the PTA, can I say that I understand about fund raisers. The plain fact of the matter is that for the little extras, schools do not have the money. Budgets are tight. PTA also provides a way for community of parents to bond. I always operated on the assumption that every parent was automatically a part of the PTA, and how they chose to support was up to them. Some give time, some give talent and others treasure. But ultimately all the children#s education benefitted. And studies have shown that children whose parents are involved in PTA tend to do better at school.
I do agree that the products sold should be of good quality. For example, the tea towels with the children’s pictures/signatures on have proved useful for washing up and a great gift for various relations.
When I was running my middle school’s PTA, we always tried to tie the money into a specific project. For example, the only reason why the library was refurbished was that the PTA raised the money. One of the things we did was to have a signed book auction. The Scholastic book fairs also proved a great success. And we did have a local independent bookseller come in…
Takeout nights where a local Indian restuarant donates part of the proceeds are also popular (we discovered several new restaurants that way) as are bag packing at places like Ikea or the local supermarket. The 100 club also works — it is a self financing monthly raffle, limited to 100 people.
The trouble with catalogues is that you do have to find someone to run the scheme/collect the orders in and distribute. That said, the wrapping paper and Christmas cards were always of good quality.
Mary Says:
My school doesn’t have a lot of parent involvement in PTA. The teachers do all the work there. Michelle S, you have some great ideas, and you’re right, there isn’t a lot of money for the extras. Field trips have doubled in price, just to take the bus! We don’t have money for that. That’s all I can think of at this hour
The fundraisers I like are the cookie dough and the Coke fundraisers. Both things I’ll really use. Also, I don’t mind the wrapping paper ones, either.
Taryn Raye Says:
I’m not sure which fundraisers I like, though I know last year my stepson was in Cub Scouts (we pulled him out because he wasn’t getting anything from it at all because they were always cancelling meetings and weren’t doing the activities they said they would be doing). We did the popcorn sale among family members and my husband bought 2 boxes of 15 count microwave popcorn. I have to say it’s not the best popcorn in the world (though they basically claim it is)- husky, tough, doesn’t pop well, etc. We still have a full box and I hate to say it wasn’t worth what it costed.
We also have the QSP magazine thing where you have to pimp out at least 7 family/friends addresses to guilt them into buying magazines. Already, my grandmother ordered a magazine for my daughter, but I got a letter (addressed to my 5 year old) stating that the magazine is no longer available and you can go to the website to do a magazine replacement. I tried that, to no avail, so I’m going to have to try again today or call and try to get that straightened out.
Most of the fundraiser books we’ve received are for high priced items you can easily buy for half the price at Wal-Mart or The Dollar Store. I don’t have the heart to go after family, friends and neighbors to buy the stuff. The idea of fundraising sets off my guilt sensor. If I can’t even afford to purchase the items, I know my family members, friends and neighbors can’t either.
I’d rather be given the option to make a donation to a school fund if I don’t want to sell stuff through a fundraiser.
Treasia/TruckersWife Says:
This is and always will be a sore spot in my side “subject”. While I realize PTA’s and schools do not always have the funds available for things sending children out to do their work is not the answer to it. I’ve never let my kids go door to door or even around our neighborhood. In fact we end up buying however many dollars worth we feel we can. I am one of those parents who cringe and hide when I see someone knocking on my door selling things. I think schools realize that it is hard to look a child in the face and say “NO” to them and this is one of the reasons they choose this method.
What is wrong with things like bake sales, car washes, auction nights, ticket sales and other things where you do actually get your monies worth when you partake? I remember growing up and our school having a people auction each year. Each person donated themselves and their time for certain things, such as cleaning house, mowing yards, or whatever they chose. this went over really big and they made lots of money. I for one had rather do this than send my child out begging.
Fedora Says:
I tend to dislike the fundraising in general because it chaps my hide that public schools aren’t properly funded through the taxes we’re paying, but that’s a different rant.
I tend to prefer to donate directly if I support the cause; I don’t want to also be paying for random junk that I don’t need and horrible prizes that my children definitely don’t need.
That said, I did buy stuff from the kids’ Sally Foster sale, and we offered it to a few friends and some family who might be interested, making it clear that we had zero expectations.
And yes, I do buy Girl Scout cookies
Yum!
Michelle Says:
I don’t mind the fundraisers when the products are good, e.g. the Scout cookies or magazine drives. But the bad ones just annoy me. I’ll donate my time, I’ll donate money straight to the school…just don’t make me buy candles and wrapping paper, though.
Treasia–I agree that it’s just wrong to make a child go through this. I like the idea of a people auction, though.
Tori Lennox Says:
I hated fundraisers when I was in school. I was so shy the whole going door-to-door thing terrified me.
Jeni Says:
I despise fundraisers… Two kids in school, so I always have 2 that I have to deal with – luckily they have never been in the same school at one time. We only try to sell to family – and they always seem to buy. This year however I tried to ditch the fundraisers. My daughter made a last ditch effort to hold up her end of the deal for her chorus fundraiser – which I was okay with because the program funding was cut and they needed the money for competitions, etc – she met her quota. Her school doesn’t do typical fundraisers. This year they had a Back-to-School bash during the first month. The kids pay about $10 to get into an immediately after school dance that included different games, face painting, etc. Food/drink was available as well for small amounts of money. I like those kind of fundraisers. My son has always had one fundraiser a year. This year he brought home the gifts & wrapping paper deal the school usually does. We sold two things… I wasn’t worried about it, but he sees the prizes, and at 7 years old, doesn’t realized it’s mostly cheap junk. I told him I would take him to the store and buy him a prize – cheaper for me in the long run. Then, not 2 weeks after that fundraiser was turned in, he brings home another one – this time selling cookie dough, candies, and such. He’s doing better with this one – guess my family has a bit of a sweet tooth. The prizes are worse for this one and you have to sell twice as much stuff to get them. Ahh! Hope that was the last one!
Michelle H. Says:
My husband said the same thing about just being able to donate money instead of buying things we don’t need. The check did not even clear from the first fundraiser, and yesterday there was a new one in the backpack!I have one in preschool and one in kindergarten, and they both have fundraisers. Add this to Market Day, and it will be a very expensive year. (But if you need some nuts, 6 chocolate caramel hearts for $8 or some wrapping paper, come over to my house!)
I am almost embarrassed to say my husband bought over $450 worth of things from my son’s fundraiser. I was in charge of daughters, so I kept it under $125. The new fundraiser is for cookie dough, so guess what everyone in the family is getting?
Michelle Says:
Michelle H–I’d probably hide that new catalog from my husband!
Jeni–the Back to School Bash sounds like a great idea.
Rene Says:
I have been hit so hard with fundraisers this fall. My kids’ school already had a fancy dinner/art auction which cost me a pretty penny to attend, my son’s school sold magazines which was okay because I needed some and tomorrow is the family dance at school which is another big fundraiser and will cost me $50. Girl Scouts has started selling nuts in the fall which we have to participate in if we want to host any other troop-sponsored fundraisers. In the winter begins cookie sales which is great if you are a cookie buyer. Cookies are a major pain if you are a Girl Scout leader. I just feel overwhelmed by the number of them. And since my husband is a business owner in our town, he gets hit with another slew of fundraisers. He gets hit with the big ticket contributions.
beth Says:
We have the little munchkins coming to our door these days as well. While, in general, I don’t like them, we inevitably buy at least one thing (sometimes two) from any kid who comes to our door cause dang it, I remember how badly that sucked when I had to go begging and my hubs agrees.
Still, I’d honestly just give them $20 for the school and be done without having to bring cruddy candy into the house.
Mandy Cat Says:
Granted I completed high school in 1963, just after the earth’s surface cooled. Still, I’m amazed at how things have changed. Since my father was a military officer, we moved usually every two years, so I went to a lot of public schools in many different states. I don’t remember a single school fundraiser. I certainly never went door to door selling overpriced doodads to win prizes. Field trips were free. My parents would have been both surprised and annoyed if any of my schools had failed to offer some sort of arts and music program, at no extra charge. They would have been equally astonished if they’d ever been asked to contribute money to a school, as though it were a charity; they paid property taxes and as far as they were concerned that took care of the matter.
jaime Says:
I am in my mid-twenties so selling stuff for school / girl scounts wasn’t that long ago. Please, if you’re a parent, don’t make your kid go through this. I was pretty shy as a kid and hated going door to door asking strangers to buy stuff. Going around your neighborhood and knocking on strangers doors is asking for trouble nowadays anyways. I didn’t even understand why I was doing it back in the day aside from peer pressure. If your kid is going to be acting as a sales rep, at least let them earn minimum wage doing it. I think the last sale I did was for soccer in high school selling candy bars.. I ended up eating a bunch of the candy and paid out of pocket for it lol. Such a scam.
Marcia Says:
In this day and age, I hate the thought of schools making the kids go door to door to raise money. I absolutely hate fundraisers and think they should be abolished! Except for Girl Scout cookies, of course. Someone mentioned other good ways to raise money. When my boys were in elementary school, there was a Christmas Shop for them to go shopping for family and friends. That was a good fundraiser for the school. I know there is a need, but I’m in agreement that I would rather just write a check and be done with it. That’s what ends up happening anyway.
As my boys got older, the fundraisers became requirements and they had to sell $200, $400, or whatever to raise money for sports as well as school. I always wrote a check.
Guess what? They’re in college now and it still hasn’t ended. I almost fell over when a fundraising letter came home from the baseball team. Here comes the checkbook and pen again…
Destiny Says:
I am a PTA member and I hear so often how cheap the prizes are for fundraisers. We are not calling them prizes anymore but gifts because what the kids and parents need to understand is the real prize in all of it are the new computers and playground equipment. I to belive that our tax dollars should pay for this stuff but the reality of it is that it doesnt. I also feel that parents should only do what they are comfortable with and if that means helping out at santa shop but not selling candy bars well I’ll thank you just as much for your time. One last thing KIDS SHOULD NEVER GO TO DOOR TO DOOR! In every fundraiser we do we state that kids should not go door to door for safety reasons. So please if you do them keep your kids close to home and when they get the cheap prize explain to them that the goal was to help their school and help take the focus of the cheap prize.