Having a Overload Money Request for Donation day

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

on feeling nickel and dimed to death!!!

DS went to private school until last year. Not only did we have to pay tuition, we were expected to do a Fall fundraiser AND go to a luncheon/auction in the Spring. And if you didn't attend then you were expected to give a check for "underwriting".

We moved DS to public school. Now we are asked to sell things, buy things from the other schools in our "cluster", and attend a Fall fundraiser/auction with tickets MORE EXPENSIVE than the ones for the private school!!! Hello? We also have two book fairs each year, which I don't mind. We do write a check to "join" PTA every year. Oh, THEN there are two school sanctioned fundraising walks - one for diabetes and one for cancer. The children MUST bring at least $5 in donations or they are not allowed to participate! Thank goodness they sent a letter asking parents to opt in to the catalog sale because so few kids participated last year. Hmm. What does that tell you? Being a public school we are limited to what the funds can be used for, which makes it that much more interesting! I think a Bingo night would be a lot of fun! I have no problem with inexpensive, optional events that allow the kids to participate. How many games of Bingo can we play for $150? That's what two tickets to the Fall fundraiser would have cost us!

I am the Co-Chair for the Dallas AIDS walk this year. I have been on the Steering Committee since 2001 - I am extremely dedicated to this event. Last year DS raised over $400 for the walk, and he will participate again this year. I would MUCH rather have my family and friends donate to the cause that I spend ten months out of the year working on than asking them weekly for money for other little fundraisers. I co-chaired the auction for the private school one year, so I know how much money goes to pay for food and decorations and so forth. Those events are expensive! Better to donate my money directly to the cause IF I choose to donate.

I had a voice mail from the YMCA yesterday asking for money. You know what? All of my charitable contributions for 2005 have already been allocated. Thank you for calling.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Thanks to those of you that replied to my concerns over the popularity of family-based fundraising events...I feel like we are definitely on the right track!

If your children attends a school where the fundraisers are getting out of hand, you really do need to get together with friends and neighbors and attend a PTA/PTO meeting ( ). That way you can see first hand where the money is going and give some input as to whether or not you think it is an appropriate use of funds. Our school has PTA Board meetings every month and General Membership meetings on a quarterly basis. Both meetings are open to anyone that wants to attend and we provide childcare. Do you know who shows up? NO ONE! The long winded point I'm trying to make is that everyone should try to understand the system before they complain or distance themselves from it. Afterall, the primary goals/focus of these groups is to do what's best for the students and school staff.

 

[3xthecharm]

Our school has one great fundraiser a year. They call it Race for Education. Each child sends in up to 15 names with addresses. The children write a personalized note that gets sent to each name asking each person to sponsor a student for the race. This way donations are anonymous and people don't feel bad saying no and the parents don't have to go around asking people.
The children then walk/run for an hour in a local park/ track. It turns into a fun day for kids and parents. This "race" brings in so much money we do not have to do fundraisers throughout the year. We would not even be able to come close to this amount of money by selling stuff and the kids really have much pride in the race.

The original poster is my sister. Let me mention that our SMALL school with only about 130 students managed to raise over $21,000 in this one fund raiser. That's right $21,000.

 

[Becky2005]

I am curious -- it is clear many people hate the normal fundraising "tools" such as catalog sales, candy, etc. but how do you feel about attending PTA/PTO functions w/your children? I posted earlier that we have Bingo Nights. Cards are $1 each and our additional profit comes from food sales such as pizza, soda, etc. We also have a Sock Hop that costs $3 admission also w/the option of purchasing snacks. Are these types of activities in the same category as "take-home" fundraisers? As a PTA board member we thought we were doing great by shifting our focus...now I wonder.

I don't consider them the same thing since it's completely optional to attend or not! It's not completely shoved down your throat (although wtih our Fun Fair! Sometimes. ) but the kids LOVE it and they have a good time. For us it's a fun way to spend a day as a family (if we can make it, sometimes we can't, sometimes we can). We have a silent auction that goes along with it and you can actually get a some pretty unique things!

 

[matdamom]

I am curious -- it is clear many people hate the normal fundraising "tools" such as catalog sales, candy, etc. but how do you feel about attending PTA/PTO functions w/your children? I posted earlier that we have Bingo Nights. Cards are $1 each and our additional profit comes from food sales such as pizza, soda, etc. We also have a Sock Hop that costs $3 admission also w/the option of purchasing snacks. Are these types of activities in the same category as "take-home" fundraisers? As a PTA board member we thought we were doing great by shifting our focus...now I wonder.

Like others, I don't mind the PTA family type functions. My daughter's PTA does a fall festival where they sell sheets of "tickets" and there are carnival-type games set up and each game costs one "ticket" A sheet costs $10 - we bought two sheets and my two daughters had such a wonderful time playing all the games, painting pumpkins, getting their faces painted, doing the cake walk (several times), etc. Also, they did a family movie day at a local theatre which was also a fundraiser. The school/PTA only does one catalog sale fundraiser per year, thank goodness. This year they combined several items - magazines/cookie dough/yes cards.

Instead of asking parents for money for a Tsunami relief fund, the school asked for donations of books and they had a book sale. They raised over $5,000 and every penny of it went to help students in Sri Lanka through a former student who is living there. I gladly gave three boxes of books, felt like I was helping a good cause, but didn't have to take money out of my normal budget.