Kids Fundraisers Today

[slo]

My DD21 graduated HS in 2022. When she had fundraisers for HS softball and travel softball she always asked people herself to support her. I also put it on Facebook for people to get the link for online ordering. When she delivered the fundraiser item, she always had a thank you card to go with it.

Today….kids by me are not asking people for their support. Parents just put it on Facebook and they repeatedly ask their friends & family for support. I don’t know if the kids even know who ordered, because these items are delivered to your home by the fundraiser company, and I have not received one thank you, verbal or nonverbal, from any child/teen I supported.

Am I the only one seeing this trend in fundraising? Am I the only one that thinks if a child/teen wants support that they should ask most people themselves (I’m talking about asking people they see on a somewhat regular basis)? My DD would get people’s phone numbers from me and text them herself and other kids on her teams did the same.

What are your thoughts on this? I’m still buying from all these kids because I love them all, but after I’m spending $200+ a year, it’d be nice to know if the kids know I supported them. I’m probably sounding old fashion, but a little thank you would be nice.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I LOVE the new trend for fundraisers with the calendar and you "buy" a day. I always hated buying the overpriced stuff that I knew the school/team was only getting pennies on the dollar return from. Being able to Venmo $10 to your kids fundraiser is so much better than buying wrapping paper.

 

[slo]

I LOVE the new trend for fundraisers with the calendar and you "buy" a day. I always hated buying the overpriced stuff that I knew the school/team was only getting pennies on the dollar return from. Being able to Venmo $10 to your kids fundraiser is so much better than buying wrapping paper.

I haven’t seen this here.
By me it’s popcorn - every group is doing the same popcorn fundraiser - a tiny bag for $12-$15 each. I have so many bags now and I can’t even eat popcorn - LOL!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

My kids are still in school and occasionally selling stuff, and while DH and I will help they do go door to door in our neighborhood (common in our neighborhood, lots of kids do it). Of course one of us will be with them. These days they’re pretty much only selling chocolate bars or just a ”sponsor me” type situation where it’s just donating money and no item is received. My oldest used to sell wrapping paper, candles, pizza, all kinds of stuff when she was in elementary and middle but now they don’t sell that stuff anymore. Just overpriced chocolate bars and sponsorships. The chocolate bars are very popular though lol

 

[DisneyHardin]

I haven’t seen this here.
By me it’s popcorn - every group is doing the same popcorn fundraiser - a tiny bag for $12-$15 each. I have so many bags now and I can’t even eat popcorn - LOL!

Around here it seems like everyone does the calendar. If a kid sells all the days it's $465 all cash to their school/team. I haven't seen a popcorn fundraiser here except for the Boy Scouts and their popcorn.

 

[slo]

Around here it seems like everyone does the calendar. If a kid sells all the days it's $465 all cash to their school/team. I haven't seen a popcorn fundraiser here except for the Boy Scouts and their popcorn.

I like the fundraiser you described - I wish this was done by me.

It’s funny you mentioned The Boy Scouts because I just recently bought a $20 box of microwave popcorn from them - I couldn’t believe how expensive it was. But this sweet little boy asked me as I walking into the meat market and I couldn’t say no. He was very grateful.

 

[fla4fun]

To be honest, I haven’t seen any kids involved in fundraisers for a long time. Even before putting it online was the big thing, the parents would bring the “catalog” to work and leave it in the break room for a few days before badgering their immediate coworkers to buy. I think it’s a shame that the kids aren’t more involved since they are the ones who are reaping the benefits. It means so much more when you work for it yourself.

 

[mjkacmom]

Having 5 kids in a ton of activities, we never sold anything or asked for support. Well, they did sell Gertrude hawk candy bars, $1 each, the younger ones would sell them at the older kids’ games, ended up selling a bunch of boxes every Saturday. Dd23 was very involved in her universities annual dance marathon charity, childhood cancer, raised over 1.8 million last year. I’d repost her Facebook post on my page, she always sent thank you’s, I asked her to let me know who donated and would always donate to my friends’ kids. Otherwise, no selling. Canning outside of stores is a big fundraiser here, plus restaurant nights.

 

[jo-jo]

I don't like fundraisers. Last year, they had told the kids, sell so much and you get to go to a pizza party and get there by limo. Day of the party, the limo, was a small school bus type vehicle painted black. Parents complained and was told the limo was in the shop. And the candy was $8 to $12 for something you'd get from the dollar store.

I'd rather just give $10-$20 to the school, instead of buying $20 of stuff and the school get $10 or less.

 

[Dan Murphy]

When she had fundraisers for HS softball and travel softball she always asked people herself to support her. I also put it on Facebook for people to get the link for online ordering. When she delivered the fundraiser item, she always had a thank you card to go with it.

My DD would get people’s phone numbers from me and text them herself and other kids on her teams did the same.

Great training!

 

[Meriweather]

We don't usually see kids come around for fundraising.
This year we had a football player come and they were selling the cards that had coupons for meals and services.....last for a year and some could be used over and over.
$25. Not bad.

 

[jo-jo]

We don't usually see kids come around for fundraising.
This year we had a football player come and they were selling the cards that had coupons for meals and services.....last for a year and some could be used over and over.
$25. Not bad.

Haven't seen those for years, but those were a pretty good deal. Even if you only used one or two coupons. Much rather do that , than the 2 oz candy bar for $12.

 

[Dan Murphy]

The one I hate is the automated ones. We have friends who have a daughter in parochial grade school. For the past 3 years now, shortly after start of school in August or September, I get a fund raising email that is supposed to look like it is coming from the kid. Selling nothing, just send money. If she collects enough money, she gets a prize. So, I send money online. I get an automated thank you email. Included in the thankyou email, they ask if I like to give a little more. No, I sent in what I am sending in. Over the next few weeks, I will get maybe 3 or 4 more emails, where "she" is telling me how close she and the school are to getting their prizes.

I presume the total involvement of the kid was to supply email addresses and names. Not good.

 

[_19disnA]

I don't mind fundraisers run by the school were the money actually goes to them. The ones I have zero use for as those run by some '3rd party' who likely has a staff of overpaid people keeping a big chunk of what they collect. I am not donating to pay their salaries. Let them run their organization as volunteers so the money actually goes to the place it is intended.

 

[mjkacmom]

The one I hate is the automated ones. We have friends who have a daughter in parochial grade school. For the past 3 years now, shortly after start of school in August or September, I get a fund raising email that is supposed to look like it is coming from the kid. Selling nothing, just send money. If she collects enough money, she gets a prize. So, I send money online. I get an automated thank you email. Included in the thankyou email, they ask if I like to give a little more. No, I sent in what I am sending in. Over the next few weeks, I will get maybe 3 or 4 more emails, where "she" is telling me how close she and the school are to getting their prizes.

I presume the total involvement of the kid was to supply email addresses and names. Not good.

That reminds me of the ones that asked for email addresses from parents. A large group of moms would agree just to use each others emails.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I had a neighbor kid here just this morning, collecting for a walk-a-thon for her robotics team. She did it herself, and I did donate.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I absolutely loathe fundraising. Most parents here post it to Facebook because so few people will open their doors to strangers and you can hit a broader audience more efficiently. The problem is that pretty much everyone we know also has kids in pricey sports/arts, so nobody ever buys unless it’s something they already wanted. Family is only willing to buy here and there because it’s so much. We tried having DD15 go door to door last year for a poinsettia fundraiser, but most people won’t open their doors. She sold a few to people we knew and delivered them by hand with an in person thank you, but it was entirely too much work for $75 in earnings. It’s so tough that many groups here resort to just putting the kids on corners of a busy intersection and have them hold up signs for money. Thankfully, our current coaches aren’t into that…because I really hate standing on corners begging for money.

The last club our team was tied to gave a fundraising buy out option tacked on to dues. Our current club doesn’t do that. It turns out none of us are able to sell much of anything, so anytime we do a sports squares or raffle fundraiser, we’re essentially just buying out by buying our own tickets/squares with the hope that maybe we’ll win a little back.

It’s even worse for many of the school fundraising events. Most of us are trying to sell the same things. The only times we ever make money is when we do a spirit day at a local business willing to donate a percentage of the day’s profits to our groups. I have seen that people are much more likely to buy in if it’s school related vs private team.

I am not opposed to some kind of formal gratitude, but it’s so darn impossible for anyone here to sell that she’s usually just thanking me and DH.

 

[Rogue1677x]

When my daughter was in school we she never did any of the typical fundraising activities, which were pretty crappy anyways.

She did a separate fundraiser with my husband in elementary school for cancer research. It was a bike ride, I can't remember how many miles, but she trained for it and completed the course, while managing to raise $300 between family, friends of family and my coworkers (many of whom had survived cancer).

 

[Southernmiss]

I never had my kids sell stuff.


I just asked how much could I write a check for or paid all the fees myself to get out of selling stuff.

With 4, we only let the participate in one activity at a time until high school when the kids could do car washes or work dinners to raise money for that group.

 

[amcnj]

I am currently out of the loop on kids’ fundraisers. Over the years my own had those books that you had to look at them several times to even find something you might actually use. There was also cookie dough for a while. As they got older, it switched more to teams, and included things like coin drops, frozen pizza kits and car washes.

The last two I recall being asked about were discount cards the football team sold. But even that was two and three years ago. I guess the boy graduated or they didn’t do that this year.