have you ever fundraised to send your child on a school trip

[luvmy3]

that is sort of like fundraising for your child to go on a people to people trip- I have NEVER agreed with that- if you want your child to go on that trip then don't expect other poeple to pay for it.



That would NEVER EVER fly here- there is NO selling of candy or anything unhealthy in the schools here. In fact they encourage you not to een send it into school for your own kid!

OP sorry- but I feel that if your child won an award and they need to travel to get there then you should cover that expense yourself and not ask others to pay it.

ITA, this isn't a cause that needs fundraising, this is a case where a parent can't afford a trip for her ds to get an award.
OP, its wonderful he won, and a great experience for him to be able to receive the award however this isn't something you should be asking people to pay for. If you want him to go, then you need to be responsible for getting him there. Sell your things, get a part time job, put your change in a jar and go without things, but if you can't afford it then you can't afford it

ETA This isn't a "school" trip, this is a personal trip. He may have won the award through school, but this is not a school sponsored trip. If it was then they would be helping to pay, and doing their own fundraising for it.

 

[iheartpeterpan]

Wow, I can't believe how critical people are.

How is this any different from band students selling Citipass books to pay for their trip to Disney so they can march down main street then spend the rest of the day playing? How is this any different from cheerleaders fundraising for their trip to "nationals" at Disney? Or soccer teams? How is this different from kids who are going to DC to participate in youth legislature or model UN fundraising? This happens all the time guys, and lots of people/family are more than happy to contribute to that cause when you see young people doing good things. If you don't like it then don't contribute - that's fine - but acting like this family is doing something bad or wrong by trying to find a way to get somewhere so that the kid who earned this honor can receive it is just nuts! Youth fundraise all the time. For groups (cheerleading, soccer, football) and individually (eagle scouts, church pilgrimages, etc.).

Good luck OP. Depending on how old your son is, could he do odd jobs around your neighborhood to earn cash? Some restaurants also have fundraising opportunities for individuals like this - ie, get so many to come in on this night and you get a % of the sales. Check around with your local restaurants (or ask the PTO if they know any like this). Talk to family. have a garage sale. Check with family members to see if anyone has a mountain of frequent flyer miles to donate. You don't mention how old your son is - could he go alone, or do you need to go with him?

Good luck and congratulations on your son's success.

 

[summermac]

If you know anyone that sells candles, etc he could contact that person and do a fundraiser that way. My son's ball team does this and makes $4 per candle.

 

[scrapquitler]

ITA, this isn't a cause that needs fundraising, this is a case where a parent can't afford a trip for her ds to get an award.
OP, its wonderful he won, and a great experience for him to be able to receive the award however this isn't something you should be asking people to pay for. If you want him to go, then you need to be responsible for getting him there. Sell your things, get a part time job, put your change in a jar and go without things, but if you can't afford it then you can't afford it

ETA This isn't a "school" trip, this is a personal trip. He may have won the award through school, but this is not a school sponsored trip. If it was then they would be helping to pay, and doing their own fundraising for it.

Sorry to rain on your parade, OP, but I agree with what the person I have quoted said. If your son was going on this trip as a part of a group, then I do believe fundraising is appropriate (To pay for PART but not all of the trip). For an individual thing, I think fundraising is inappropriate.

I do donate to the school marching band trip to the Orange Bowl Parade, the church youth group trip to work in a Haitian orphanage, the boy scout troops trip to the national camporee. But I don't donate to the kid who wants to visit Australia on a people to people trip.

But that's just my opinion.

And if you DO decide to do fundraisiing, take heed of what someone else said about making sure that what you do is legal. In my state, for example, raffles are a tightly regulate thing, they are monitored by the State and require permits, counting of tickets, paperwork filing, etc. It wouldn't send the right message to your child to do something illegal, so you want to make sure that if you do something, it IS legal.

 

[okeydokey]

I think most people are just fundraised out. Every group out there is fundraising year round now and it gets old fast. I can't walk into the grocery store anymore without getting a bucket shoved at me begging for money.
I think it would be great for him to work to earn some money for the trip.

My kids have been invited to things that we just can't financially swing and we have told them so. It's a nice honor, and you should be proud of him, but maybe the trip is out of reach.

 

[RunDanceSkate]

Since the nomination for the award came from the school I think the award should be sent to the school and presented there. That way he will receive it in front of his friends, teachers, family members and classmates. Schools usually have assemblies where awards are given out.

 

[rszdtrvl]

My son and I are doing a trip this June that we did fundraising for. Of course, a lot of ours was group fundraising.

We did as a group:

School Dances
Spaghetti Dinner
Rummage Sale

Separately we :

Sold concessions at school sports
Yard Sale
Sold stuff on Ebay

Is it just your son, or will other children from your son's school be attending? If more than your child, get together with other parents and do a multi-family fundraiser.

Good luck. I agree that people are tired of donating. We did 90% - if not more - of the fundraising on our own. Both my son and I are going, and the trip was over $6,000 total for both of us.

 

[klynn]

Congratulations to your son! Since your van was involved in an accident, have you checked into renting a car so you could still drive to Denver? Sometimes car rental prices are very affordable.

 

[SaraJayne]

No, we don't do "fundraising".

If we can't afford the trip ourselves, our kids don't go. We won't ask others to pay for something we should be paying for to begin with.

 

[akclayton]

Since the nomination for the award came from the school I think the award should be sent to the school and presented there. That way he will receive it in front of his friends, teachers, family members and classmates. Schools usually have assemblies where awards are given out.

I agree with this. They should take the award to the child and not make child and the family be responsible for driving thousands of miles to get it. If they deserve it, then why can't they bring it to him? It should be an honor.

 

[happygirl]

Try a corporate sponsor. What a great accomplishment for your son.

 

[babyrich]

Maybe instead of doing the type of fund raising a group would do for a trip. Maybe he can email neighbors and family and let them know about the award, tell them he needs assistance getting there and he can shovel walks, mow lawns, rake leaves, and etc. He can schedule to do these things on the weekends in return for their "donation".

I think alot of the other suggestions might require more time to plan the actual fund raiser.

Congratulations and Good Luck!

 

[ccgirl]

This award is ligit. It is the council for exceptional children award. It is for children with disabilities who have done great things for their school and or accidemics and not let their disability get in the way. In my sons case he is hearing imapired , but the teachers that nomimated him beleived in him nominated him and he won.

As for how far denver is it is about 13 hours driving from nd. I have checked into air fare the cheapest i found is 850.00 a person granted it may go down i hope.

I also wanted to teach him that by raising some of the money himself that he can do it if its what he want to do.

Congratulations! It sounds like a great award! You must be very proud.

Check into the tax ramifications of fundraising. I believe you would have to claim all monies as income on your taxes since you are not a not-for-profit entity. I could be wrong.

How old is your son? Is he old enough to pick up a paper route or do some odd jobs for people? If so, I would look into that.

Personally, all vacations under 18 hours we drive to so we would just drive him there rather than flying. That way the only cost is the gas, food, and a hotel for one night.

 

[VAfamily1998]

Congratulations! It sounds like a great award! You must be very proud.

Check into the tax ramifications of fundraising. I believe you would have to claim all monies as income on your taxes since you are not a not-for-profit entity. I could be wrong.

How old is your son? Is he old enough to pick up a paper route or do some odd jobs for people? If so, I would look into that.

Personally, all vacations under 18 hours we drive to so we would just drive him there rather than flying. That way the only cost is the gas, food, and a hotel for one night.

Can kids get paper routes anymore? I'm pretty sure that around here paper routes are done by adults in the very early morning hours (before 5:30 am) from their cars. I haven't seen a kid on a bike throwing newspapers since the late 80's!

ITA with you about driving instead of flying.

 

[Metsfan520]

I'm sorry, but I find this kind of fund raising a little much. I think your son should be congratulated for winning this award, but if you guys can't come up with the money and there isn't some kind of sponsorship available, then please don't ask me to help pay for it.

 

[sharbear]

I would ask if the school board or PTO could help with the cost. Since it's an award that a teacher nominated him for there is no harm in asking.

I have a problem with fundraising for those people to people tours and things like that. But this sort of thing is very different and I would go to the school first. They can only say no but they might help and they might have ideas of where you could go for funding.

 

[daisyx3]

You may want to ask the local service organizations: Rotary Club, Exchange Club, Elks, etc. They all have strong support for youth and may make a donation. You could even ask the teacher's union at school if they have one. My union donates to worthy causes like afterprom, etc. and for some competitions. (before anyone asks I have a snow day, I don't DIS during school).
Thanks to Michelle Obama, no one can sell candy during school, even during extracurricular time. My oldest got to go to Stratford, Ontario her senior year because the AP English class sold so many candy bars--now my younger daughter's class might not get to go at all because no other fundraisers make that kind of money.
Daisyx3

 

[squirrel]

The OP said she was going to drive but then their van was in an accident so now she is looking at flying.

 

[Allison]

Can kids get paper routes anymore? I'm pretty sure that around here paper routes are done by adults in the very early morning hours (before 5:30 am) from their cars. I haven't seen a kid on a bike throwing newspapers since the late 80's!

ITA with you about driving instead of flying.

Sure they can. Lots of kids have paper routes in my area.

 

[ccgirl]

Can kids get paper routes anymore? I'm pretty sure that around here paper routes are done by adults in the very early morning hours (before 5:30 am) from their cars. I haven't seen a kid on a bike throwing newspapers since the late 80's!

ITA with you about driving instead of flying.

Yes, they have them in my area for the local papers.