PTA's & PTO's Need advice ...

[clh2]

Our elementary school PTA did a read-a-thon one year, and raised enough money to not have a product fundraiser. There was minimal costs involved, although they did offer a reward of $5 in Barnes & Noble GC for anyone who raised over $100 in pledges.

The read-a-thon happened at night, and while milk and cookies were served during a break - healthier snack options could be selected.

For your other events - is popcorn an option to serve? Popcorn always was a big seller at PTA events. For sale - our elementary PTA found that bottle water sold more than soda. So that is an option too.

The basket fundraisers are a great idea too! Our elem. school was very successful with those.

In middle school, the student council's big fundraiser is a magazine subscription sale. Definitely on food involved there.

And, my last idea - which is a great one in my local area - it may not be possible where you live. Our local big chain of theaters offers gift certificates for fundraising. Although I don't know the exact %, I am under the impression that the organizaation gets a fairly high % of the amount sold.

 

[chris1gill]

We have a similar policy at our school, although yours sounds stricter. We still sell Sally Foster (catalog) which does have candy in it but it's not the main focus. That's our main fundraiser. We can't do the pizza/cookie dough sales. We do have food at our events. So far they haven't hit us there yet.

Maybe Yankee Candles? Check some of the PTO websites, they may have suggestions. Good luck. And don't dismantle the organization, just maybe scale down so you don't need to raise as much money.

Our school also sells Sally Foster minus the food catalog...

Yankee Candles does do fundraiser's, although we haven't used those before.

Right now I'm currently fundraising for our Parent Association... I'm calling businesses from all over the place requesting donations for a social evening with auction that we are having off campus. It's adult only... We'll see how much the auction brings in I suppose. We have received some good auction items.

In the fall, we have a festival, each classroom makes up a basket, parents can donate baskets (filled with whatever... lego's or electronics or just any topic item), then we sell tickets for the day... we also let local artisans sell their crafts.... and then we also have a bouncy house... there's face painting I think... the kids love the festival as do the local's.... so we make a ton of money with it.... no food involved....

I would prefer if all schools started doing what yours is doing.

 

[friend of pooh]

I've seen schools sell beach towels and make a good amount of money. They had several different designs:sports teams, animals, and one that had the school logo.

 

[Becky2005]

Our school do direct appeal. I much prefer to directly give than overpaying for stuff I don't need (also my employer matches my contribution 100%) .

That's what our grade school does! Just straight out asks for donations with a suggested amount per child or per family. We still have lots of little fundraisers though but no selling anything directly to other people.

Then my oldest moved to Middle School and they do magazine sales there (YUCK!).

So far our school has not banned food stuff which is really good, my DD takes gymnastics at the High School and you should *see* how many fundraisers the different clubs do that deal with food. Hershey Kisses during Valentine's Day; Fannie Mae Candies (DD already informed me she is buying those when she gets to HS! ), etc... These are all different clubs though.

I know our grade school did recently do a barbeque dinner fundraiser, I know it's something that our Principal suggested years ago but this was the first year it was done. People ordered the dinners ahead of time and then that night they went and picked them up, was actually delivered to them in their cars and it was a meant to eat that night type of thing. I think that would be considered healthy food.

 

[Pigeon]

Another vote for the direct appeal. I'm very happy to support my kids' school by sending them money and avoiding dealing with fundraisers that I almost always hate.

I will not buy overpriced crap of any sort where my children are expected to be the unpaid salesforce of corporate America. Corporate America can sell its own crap.

Our school also does an annual pasta dinner. Ziti with sauce, italian bread, salad, soda and a few cookies for dessert. The food is donated by the parents (all third graders, please donate a box or two of ziti, for example). You could substitute fruit for the dessert and a small bottle of water for the soda. Ours is five bucks a head. The school administrators and the PTA do the cooking, and the older kids are servers. It usually makes a considerable amount of money.

 

[tw1nsmom]

Why don't you also brainstorm some ideas for healthy snacks to serve at events. Two that come to mind are air-popped popcorn and either cider or hot chocolate made with low fat milk, or watermelon slices. Really, at most of our school events the food gets overlooked for the fun activities. As for food fundraising, there are many other alternatives.

 

[SueInBoston]

What is direct appeal?

Just a straight request for money. Our PTO does a direct appeal mailing in the fall, it includes the annual budget itemizing each expenditure. It gives the parents a clear picture of where the money is going.

Sue

 

[Blue Skies]

My son's Catholic school makes a LOT of money doing a school walkathon. The walkathon is strictly to raise money for the school, it is done during the school day (over a period of two hours).

The kids walk as many laps as they can in that amount of time. They have sponsors for their laps. The fundraiser costs the school no money at all, it just requires some volunteers during the day to get the kids organized and people to count laps.

As I said, they make a ton of money, it's a small time frame, no overhead, etc.

Now, I don't know the ramifications of doing this in a public school during the school day. But, it gets the kids out and moving too, and they really look forward to it!

Our DS's Catholic school does this too; they call it a marathon. The kids work to get pledges for how far they walk/run. This year it was held on a Friday after school and they had a picnic/bonfire for the kids and parents afterward. The school (200 kids) raised $40,000!

All the Catholic schools in our diocese do a Marathon on the same weekend. I think it works great because the students don't end up selling "junk" no one wants - plus the school keeps ALL the $$$.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

One of our fundraisers are "parent things"....

Old school we did "Trivia Night"....raised alot of money. It was also a TON of work.
In addition to the "buying a table", they did a 50/50 raffle which was gambling kinda and they did sell beer & soda.
Plus we had baskets and a silent auction.

Old school also used to do a "parent golf scramble". If your community is into golf that can net you some bucks.

This school has a "Gold Dust Gala" which is similar to a "parent thing". I have never gone but it is a fancy deal with a catered meal and also it has a basket raffles and each grade makes a project that is auctioned off.

 

[naaah]

our school's pto is just crap, actually most schools i know have crappy ones and most students just think they are useless and crap. Probably just created so mothers could feel more important?? i duno

 

[The Mystery Machine]

our school's pto is just crap, actually most schools i know have crappy ones and most students just think they are useless and crap. Probably just created so mothers could feel more important?? i duno

Wow....how ignorant.

Most PTA's I know are paying for alot of the things the school's cannot. We fill the gap in a "legal way".

 

[ColoradoBuffaloMom]

Our food rules changed at the Elementary School I work at so this year my Student Council couldn't sell Lollipops. We sold Smencils which are smelly pencils (12 different scents) and boy did we make a mint. We bought them for $.50 and sold them for $1.00. We sold 1000 in about 4 days.

At the elementary school we also do a Math-a-thon where the kids get pledges for each math problem they do in a set amount of time. The younger kids obviously have easier problems. We have also done a Spell-a-thon in other years.

At my kid's middle school they have a fun run in the fall and they basically just run/walk laps around the school. The kids get pledges from parents and others (no going door to door) for each lap they do.

At the HS my kids go to now, there are plant sales, wreath and poinsettia sales, soup sales, and coffee sales.

Good Luck-Once you get over the intial shock of "how can we raise money without selling food," it really does work out ok.

 

[disneymac]

our school's pto is just crap, actually most schools i know have crappy ones and most students just think they are useless and crap. Probably just created so mothers could feel more important?? i duno

If your PTO is crap, why don't you get on the board and fix it?

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

If you decide to look into candles, check with your local Home Interiors rep, too. I don't know if they offer a better % than Yankee, but just in case they do, I wanted to mention it.

My daughter was just selling cheesecakes for the track team.

 

[Kathring]

Our DD's Catholic school runs a weekly bingo game, ALL proceedcs go to the school. Parents are mandated to volunteer 5 times per 6 month stints, or you can "buy" your way out of the task. Honestly, they have PLENTY of funding from this (you'd be surprised!), and it runs all year long, every Sat night. I LOVE that we are not hit up for any other fundraising events. The PTO has at least one family themed event per school month, and also pays for all field trips (buses too). Really, we LOVE how they run this school! We have about 90 students (preK - 5th grade). DD attends even though we are not Catholic - but it was the only way around a lack of bussing & half day KG with no pre/post school care. That whole scenario doesn't work very well with 2 working parents.

 

[melanie18]

Some recent fundraisers our PTA has done:

1. Selling those magnets that go on the back of your car with the school logo/mascot.

2. Partnered with a local farm market -- all students received a "coupon" to be used on 2 specific days. 25% of what people spent was returned to the school - we made about $1,200.

3. Walk a thon - 1/2 went to a local charity, 1/2 went to school.

4. Buy One Get One Free Scholastic Book Sale.

 

[Kathring]

Oh, and years ago, I did some fundraising with Humanitees - not sure if they are still around, but they had terrific t-shirts, and they used to donate some of the proceeds to environmental causes too.

Another thought is a tag/garage sale. Parent's help to man booths and donate items for sale. (Good way to clean out your closets & get rid of older toys, etc.) I've been trying to get my DS's daycare to organize this - it would be a terrific event, if they would just LISTEN to me! LOL!

 

[PaulaSue]

OP, That is Great that your PTO is going that way with the food sales. I wish ours would. We can only do one fundraiser a year and it is Cherrydale. Not a bad compromise but we are searching for a better fit for our school.

I hope they don't disband over it. Our PTO does so much for our kids that "school" just can't time or money wise.

BTW, we do Origainal Works for one of our preschool fundraisers (I am in charge of that one) and I love it! They are so easy to do and have everything sorted by child and class for me. The products are great (Although I don't care for the mug, too plain, it needs a band of color or something all around. IMO) and are professional looking not homemade like the kids an I did it.

 

[RIDISNEYLOVERS]

Thank you for all these suggestions. I will bring them to the rest of the board and see what we can do.

Someone asked the question about where our money goes, so here is most of it:
Cultural Arts: $7,000.00
Teachers: ($25.00 each X 40 Teachers) $1,000.00
Students: ($15 for each student for their field trip X 480 students) $7,200.00
Halloween Party: $2,000.00
Santa's Breakfast: $2,000.00
Teacher Appreciation Week: $1,000.00 (every day they get something)
PTA Supplies: $500.00

There are other things too, but these are the big items.

Our motto: Happy Principal, Happy Teachers, Happy Studaents!!

Our PTA has worked really hard these past two years getting a playground for our school, raising money and doing A LOT of fundraising for that. The town has come through and have given us $80,000 for play equipment plus we raised $16,000 on our own. On Saturday, June 2, 2007 our dreams are going to be a reality and we are having our build day!!

We do not want to dismantle the PTA over this health and wellness policy but because we are being forced into these guidelines people are in an uproar and that is why I came to all of you - to get suggestions when some of us can't think straight right now. We can do this. Thank you for all your help with these suggestions.

Lisa