school fundraisers frustrate me :(

[MariDisney]

hopefully this link will work. I scanned the prize sheet for facebook. It's letter G.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31724931&l=0ca9d03a28&id=1265941286

I think it says "See details below" or something similar. Can you scan that? I'm very curious.

 

[surfergirl602]

I think it says "See details below" or something similar. Can you scan that? I'm very curious.

sure - give me a few minutes - I'm in bed with the laptop and the scanner is upstairs.

 

[MariDisney]

sure - give me a few minutes - I'm in bed with the laptop and the scanner is upstairs.

Take your time. I'm not even going to pretend I feel guilty for you getting out of bed, because my curiosity just has the best of me.

 

[surfergirl602]

I actually got the time wrong - its two nights, not 4, but that doesn't really matter to me. Here's the scan of the sheet.


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31746458&l=020fd3f8e5&id=1265941286

 

[barkley]

Hey OP, I'll buy 20 items if you will take ME to Disney!! Wow, I can't beleive that selling 50 items would be a trip to Disney!~!!!!!

Anyhow, I hate fundraisers as much as the next, but I am active in my school's PTO and can tell you what we do with all the funds (which are usually about 40-50% of the selling price).

We help teachers pay for field trips, thus cutting the out of pocket cost for parents. We bought the teachers fans for their classrooms; we buy copy paper for the school (We are so short in the school budget that the school dept only gives each school xxx boxes of copy paper for the year **typically about 50 boxes) and when those are gone, your out of paper for the year).

We also bought instruments for the music department, a kiln for the art teacher (wihch I think still hasn't been used after 5 years, books for the library, end of the year ice cream for the kids, etc.

So, despite the headache it really benefits the kids in the end.

i understand where you are coming from, but when i look at the kind of stuff your school's fundraising goes for (with the exception of copy paper) it kind of floors me.

instruments for the music department? i've never known a public school (or the private schools i've been associated with) that provided the kids with instruments (except recorders for the k-3rd graders which got used for decades). heck-allot of the schools don't even have music departments at all.

a kiln???? (let alone an actual art teacher).


now if fans are needed for the classroom i can see that-but it seems that would be a maybe once in 5 year expense at most.

field trips. well, to some extent i can see this but to another i just don't know that any field trips lost because of not putting the kids/parents/teachers (let alone-those dedicated people like yourself that volunteer to organize/tally/deal with distribution of the fundraising sales stuff) through these awful fundraising sales would be all that detrimental to the kids.

that said-i've got one kiddo in a private school that does not fundraise (which seems to NOT be the norm with private schools these days) in large part b/c the parents have been vocal that they would prefer that the school just figure out what the cost of field trips is and bundle it into the freaking tuition (we pay like $120 of our tuition costs per year for field trips which is way less than most of my neighbors with fundraising school kids seem to spend/solicit the rest of to spend). i've got another in kiddo in a public school that does not fundraise-they just don't do field trips beyond maybe 3 for the entirety of k-6th grade (and they are local, cheap trips) which they are prohibited to charge the parents for, so if it's not in the budget it's just not done. i'm sure the kids would like more field trips, but they don't seem to suffer by virtue of not having them.

 

[surfergirl602]

What also gets me is that the paper says the start date was sept 7th - it just came home last week! LOL

 

[surfergirl602]

Take your time. I'm not even going to pretend I feel guilty for you getting out of bed, because my curiosity just has the best of me.

I needed to get a snack anyway. Yeah.

That Starbucks icecream in the freezer has been calling my name all day.

 

[MariDisney]

I actually got the time wrong - its two nights, not 4, but that doesn't really matter to me. Here's the scan of the sheet.


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31746458&l=020fd3f8e5&id=1265941286

Very interesting. Looks like it's just 2 nights in a hotel (since it doesn't say WDW, I'm assuming off property) and doesn't mention any tickets or anything. But that's still a pretty expensive prize at that level. Thanks for sharing it.

BTW, I love that our school has stopped fundraisers altogether and ask each family for a $35 donation to the PTA per year. I am very happy to do that.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Okay, that makes a little more sense. It's a couple of nights in Orlando (or other destination), which is not necessarily a Disney hotel and doesn't seem to include anything like park tickets.

 

[surfergirl602]

Very interesting. Looks like it's just 2 nights in a hotel (since it doesn't say WDW, I'm assuming off property) and doesn't mention any tickets or anything. But that's still a pretty expensive prize at that level. Thanks for sharing it.

BTW, I love that our school has stopped fundraisers altogether and ask each family for a $35 donation to the PTA per year. I am very happy to do that.

All that matters to an 8 year old is the picture. On the prize sheet there's a picture of the Epcot ball and a person with Mickey ears on. To her, THAT means Disney.

 

[MariDisney]

All that matters to an 8 year old is the picture. On the prize sheet there's a picture of the Epcot ball and a person with Mickey ears on. To her, THAT means Disney.

Oh yeah, I totally understand that. My DD, who is almost 11, would need the full explination too! I was just trying to figure out what the full story is.

 

[surfergirl602]

Oh yeah, I totally understand that. My DD, who is almost 11, would need the full explination too! I was just trying to figure out what the full story is.

I tried explaining it - she wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise. LOL There was no telling her NO! She is going to win a vacation for her grandma, and there are no if's and's or but's about it. She even made videos for me to post on facebook asking people to help support her school and help her win a vacation for her grandma. it was too cute.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Take your time. I'm not even going to pretend I feel guilty for you getting out of bed, because my curiosity just has the best of me.

Thanks for the additional information OP--I am curious too and glad you got out of bed (and jealous of you NOW when I am getting kids ready for school and you are relaxing and about to sleep).

It sounds very underhanded of the fundraising company to "sell" this to the kids as a trip to Disney World when all it is is a 2 night hotel stay. I think they can afford it because so many people would "win" it and then not be able to use it (since it takes your money to get there and to get tickets and the like) and even then most people would add on extra nights so the hotel might still turn a profit (or it might be one of those time share spiel deals). There could also be some pretty serious black out dates. In the meantime--they got a lot of people (like you) to work REALLY hard and sell maybe twice as much as you would otherwise but still not get to the prize level.
It is sooooo underhanded to "motivate" kids like this

I would complain to the school and ask that my kids NOT attend any future fundraising assemblies (that is not an education anyway).

 

[surfergirl602]

Thanks for the additional information OP--I am curious too and glad you got out of bed (and jealous of you NOW when I am getting kids ready for school and you are relaxing and about to sleep).

It sounds very underhanded of the fundraising company to "sell" this to the kids as a trip to Disney World when all it is is a 2 night hotel stay. I think they can afford it because so many people would "win" it and then not be able to use it (since it takes your money to get there and to get tickets and the like) and even then most people would add on extra nights so the hotel might still turn a profit (or it might be one of those time share spiel deals). There could also be some pretty serious black out dates. In the meantime--they got a lot of people (like you) to work REALLY hard and sell maybe twice as much as you would otherwise but still not get to the prize level.
It is sooooo underhanded to "motivate" kids like this

I would complain to the school and ask that my kids NOT attend any future fundraising assemblies (that is not an education anyway).

Well, we are going to Orlando next June anyway... so it would really help my inlaws with their hotel. LOL The school is really quite small... they don't even have an auditorium. when they bring home fundraising packets, I usually just toss them in trash.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Well, we are going to Orlando next June anyway... so it would really help my inlaws with their hotel. LOL The school is really quite small... they don't even have an auditorium. when they bring home fundraising packets, I usually just toss them in trash.

It would help if the hotel is somewhat near where the rest of you will be and June is not blocked out. . . YOU do not need to fret over having lost something truly valuable on this--your DD needs to see there is nothing worthwhile lost

I think going back to tossing in the trash is a good idea--no assemblies for fundraising sounds nice. Our kids always had to sit in the floor of the cafeteria and hear these spiels. I actually did tell the school that while my kids were allowed to participate in any kind of sex ed, read any books, etc they were NOT going to spend any more time "learning" at fundraising assemblies. They could sit them in the office or have me come get them, and we would donate to the school (hey we might even buy/sell stuff IF wethink it is worthwhile) but the hyping kids up for junk prozes (shouldn't they put the effort in because they want to help their school?) was not happening.

 

[Pigeon]

We let our kids know every year before school even starts that we don't do fundraisers, period.

We explain to them how the fundraiser companies exploit children as an unpaid salesforce and how the school doesn't get most of the money, the company does. We explain about how most of the prizes are dollar store crap.

Then we explain that we do a substantial direct donation to the PTA, and that way the school gets all the money, not a percentage.

They still get a little miffed that we don't do it, but a reminder about how the companies are ripping off kids by not paying them to sell stuff usually quiets them down.

Good luck. We also had some luck with putting pressure on the school to not have assemblies designed to get the kids spun up. We sent in some highlighted of the school's own newsletters that drone on about how important instructional time is, and how parents shouldn't waste it on things like doctor's appointments, so why is it OK to use it to brainwash kids?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My dd came home with the magazine fundraiser on Fri. I already told her I paid the 35.00 to opt out of doing fundraisers.

There is just no one to sell to. Everybody in my family is on hard times and selling to them is just not an option.

 

[torinsmom]

OP, you can get a hotel in Orlando for $20-$30/night on Priceline. The "trip" doesn't include anything but that, so it really isn't that valuable. The hotels can afford to "give" a 2 night stay away, because most people will buy more nights.

When DS was in grade school and the kids did fund raisers, I used to buy him whatever prize he wanted. It was rarely more than $5 at Walmart and I didn't have to hear the whining. He sold what he could and that was his "reward" for at least trying.

 

[karenos]

I hate the school/PTA fundraising too! Our school has switched to selling scrip, which is a win/win for both the school and families. You buy something that you would have bought to begin with and no useless cr*#^ clogging up landfills.

karenos

 

[design_mom]

I am sorry that your daughter was disappointed. It definitely sounds like her heart was in the right place.

When DS was in kindergarten, they had all kinds of fundraisers. I hated it, too. And the school got so little from each item purchased. (For instance, for selling a $20 Yankee Candle, I think the school got about 80 cents!)

The next year, the PTO gave the parents the chance to "opt out" of fundraisers by asking for a donation. The response to the "opt out" option was so overwhelming, that the school now does a "walk a thon" for donations at the beginning of the school year. (Mostly it's the parents who donate.) And that's the main fundraiser of the year. I like that *so* much better than trying to sell stuff.