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

[RIDISNEYLOVERS]

I am the PTA co-president for my daughters school and we are going to have a new "Health and Wellness Policy" going into effect by June of this year. We have an operating budget of $24,000. This policy states that we cannot sell candy and we have to have "healthy" food offerings. So if a catalog has candy in it we cannot have that as a fundraiser. Our catalog sales last year brought in about $12,000.00 for the PTA. We sold cookie dough ($7,000.00), we sold pizza and calzone ($5,000.00). Whenever we sell something is has to do with food. We have one fundraiser (Entertainment Books) that is not food and we have no problem selling that.

Also, if we put on a PTA Event such as a Halloween Party we cannot have cookies, pizza, hotdogs, etc. And the juice that we offer has to be 50% - 100% Juice. We cannot offer a beverage that has artificial sweetners in it. So what should we serve to keep the cost down and within these guidelines??

We are contemplating on eliminating the PTA at the school but we are here to help the children.

What fundraisers do you do that are not food driven?

Thanks for your help.

Lisa

 

[Pooh's Pixie]

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.

 

[AboutTheMouse]

Our PTO does a spring plant sale. They teamed up with a garden center and people order flats of annuals or perennials in advance. They are typically delivered Mother's Day weekend.

Other ideas:

Movie night
Gift cards or "scrip"

 

[gemmie214]

Two ideas:

50/50 raffel tickets

Calenders with a winner a month - gift certificates donated by restaraunts, stores in the community.

I have a question. Wouldn't your parent organization operate seperatly from the school? Around here, the parent councils, have thier own bank accounts. Thay are their own organizations that recieves input from the distict and the schools but they can adapt their own by-laws.

 

[SueInBoston]

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%) .

 

[Trish Bessette]

I am the PTO principal for my DD's school and we are separate which means we can do pretty much what we want. We do Sally Foster in the Fall. In the spring we have done plant sales and bulb sales.

Another popular event is in November we distribute large baskets to each classroom (we have a small school) with a theme. WE send home notes to advise parents what themed basket their classroom has and if they can purchase items to go into the basket. Then after a month I collect them, shrink wrap them and put a large bow on top. We display them for about a week in our library and sell raffle tickets. We raffle them off after our K-4 holiday concert/play in December. The night of the play we sell TONS of tickets as parents arrive.

I was thinking about making a few baskets up of school supplies and raffle them off on our first day of school celebration. We always do a community breakfast on the first day so I figure it would fit in perfect!

 

[RIDISNEYLOVERS]

What is direct appeal?

 

[bananiem]

www.originalworks.com

 

[Pooh's Pixie]

Even though I think most PTOs are separate, I think the schools can dictate to some extent what is ok to do. After all, you are using the school. I don't know the legalities of it, but I know that the school told us that they could jeopardize federal funding because of the food nutrition guidelines...don't know if that's a load of hooey, but that's my understanding!

 

[RIDISNEYLOVERS]

Our PTA does operate separately from the school. We do have our own bank accounts and things of that nature, however, we have to operate under the school's guidelines. The hardest part for us is putting on events. Even if the event is hosted off school grounds we still have to comply to these guidelines.

What types of food would you serve at an event - such as the father daughter dance?? Or the Halloween Party?

Thanks for these suggestions - keep them coming.

Lisa

 

[storzo]

Non-food/healthy done at my son's school

1. Tricky Tray
2. Balloon Grams on the various Holidays
3. Pencils, Erasers, Cases with School Name

At some friend's schools

1. Wrapping Paper
2. Yankee Candles
3. Magazines
4. Plants

 

[storzo]

For the food served at functions how about pretzels, cheese and crackers, fruit and dip, etc. And would you be allowed say turkey franks or burgers or pizza with wheat crust and low-fat cheese?

 

[Christine]

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 timeframe, 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!

 

[mickeyboat]

Personalized note pads, those round stickers people put on their cars with the school letters on them, school t-shirts, stickers and magnets made with kids' art.

For food, that is a tricky one. How about a salad bar?

 

[Maddle]

no candy, no soda, no party foods.....why bother? Who's "really good idea" was this, anyway? Who set the policy, and who is going to fund the operating budget for the PTA/O now that they have pulled the rug out from underneath you?

Just out of curiosity, what do you use your operating budget for?

Maddle

PS - do those guide lines apply to fund raising products that are marketed to school children, or to the general public? - M

 

[Brianne]

www.originalworks.com

Our school just did this fundraiser--I'm pretty certain it's the same company. They sent home a sample magnet of the child's work that was ours to keep.

The school asked every child to draw a self-portrait, then asked parents to at least purchase a tile for the tile wall at school. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

An added bonus was, since we're a uniform school, if a tile was purchased for the wall at school, the child would get a free dress day.

The price wasn't bad--I think I spent just under $35 for my 3 who attend the school. My oldest was disappointed that he won't have a tile on the wall.

 

[disykat]

I hope a silly food rule isn't going to put your PTA out of commission! Although I agree the rule is overboard, I'm just shocked a PTA would consider disbanding over this. PTA is about so much more than food. There are many more ways to make money and many ways to help the students that don't involve food at all!

 

[amid chaos]

Spring flowering bulbs, sell in the fall.

 

[powellrj]

we have done lots of healthier type meals over the years for carnivals and school events.

Chicken and noodle dinners
chili suppers
spaghetti dinners
baked potato bars
Ham and bean suppers
BBQ chicken or pulled pork

 

[mom2kazkids]

Every year our big fund raiser is what we call The Wildcat Challenge. Each child is given 100 grade appropriate questions that are asked to the child in 6 weeks from the time that they receive them. (answers are provided) The childs family/friends etc pledge money for each correct question or can make a general pledge. We are get corporate sponsor and provide T-shirts for all the kids and teachers in the school. Our enrollment is about 150 kids K-5 and this year we raised over $9000.

The Challenge day is one big celebration in the AM, we hae celebrities (ploice officers, firefighters, team mascots, and the womens college basketball team) come in to ask the kids the question. This is the second year that I have had kids at the school and the first year that I helped with it, and it was a fun time by all. The school then has a traveling trophy for the class with the best overall percentage, and then they get to choose the color of the T-shirt for the next year. The t-shirt design is submitted by students and voted on by the students.

This is really the only fund raiser that the school does.

Barb