School Fundraising

[CookieGVB]

When my son attended private school in New York, they actually gave parents a contract to sign that stated they could either participate in the raffle, candy, etc. sales...OR they could write a check directly to the school for a certain amount. But the amount was MANDATORY - either in actual donation or in sales. I figured the school benefitted more from the actual donation than the same sales figure.

Last year, the elementary school was selling Cinderella cheesecakes. My co-workers go APE for them, and ask me about them before I have the order form, but do you know what a pain it is to travel with 20 or so cheesecakes on a BUS???

 

[bananiem]

Our old school sent out a note like that with the fundraiser stuff.
We moved and the new school sent out a letter that stated that any family that chose not to do the fundraiser was asked to donate $25 per child to the PTO. Works for me!!

 

[CamColt]

Wow! I didnt expect as many postitive responses. I guess it is a good idea.

The prize issue is a good one. And yes, the prizes for the fundraiser are from the company(mostly the typical cheapo junk the kids love). I will bring this up with the rest of the committee, but Im thinking of maybe entering all the names of kids who doante money into a drawing for a gift card to maybe Toys R Us or Barnes & Nobles. Any other ideas on that?

 

[disykat]

We do that every year. Our fundraising company gives the kids prizes for donations just like for purchases. That said, we have very few people who take this option (I am one of them and I usually run the fundraiser!). It is written in the fundraising info, and we also put it it newsletters etc. I think the problem is that people throw anything away that has to do with the fundraiser without reading it, so they never know this option exisits.

I think actually putting amounts at the bottom is a good idea because it's another way to catch their attention. Every year I get irritated when people complain about the fundraiser and I suggest taking the donation option and they say they didn't know that was allowed!

 

[tar heel]

I'm truly surprised that so many of you have schools that do NOT ask for donations in conjunction with the fundraisers. Just make sure that the prize thing is taken care of.

At our elementary school this year, each participant gets a school water bottle, each kid who brings in an order for 5 items gets a T-shirt and everyone who sells 10 or more goes to the megaevent (typical school fair-type thing except you don't have to buy tickets). A $50 donation gets the kid to the 10-item level. I chose to buy 5 items this year but have sometimes done the cash donation in the past.

REMEMBER -- If you choose to go the donation route and you or your spouse works for a major company, you may be able to get a corporate match for the gift. In some communities, you can even designate a United Way-type campaign gifts to any nonprofit. It also is, of course, tax deductible but then so is the school's portion of the fundraisier. That is, if the school gets 50% and you spend $50, you can deduct $25.

 

[tar heel]

One more thing -- I reiterate that I would not put the donation suggested amounts too low. While it is true that someone who wants to give lower than the amounts listed may feel cheap, try not to worry about that. The hardest thing about fundraising is getting comfortable with ASKING and that includes asking for more than a minimal amount.

 

[snoopy]

Excellent idea. I write a check on "Back to School Night", and ask that they refrain from sending home the fundraiser crap, but somehow, I always get it. Which promptly gets thrown in the trash.

 

[disykat]

Originally posted by snoopy
Excellent idea. I write a check on "Back to School Night", and ask that they refrain from sending home the fundraiser crap, but somehow, I always get it. Which promptly gets thrown in the trash.

Exactly my point - the donation option is probably available, like most people you just haven't read the info!

I think it's great to take the donation option into your own hands and a good idea to get it over with early. The problem with asking PTA not to send home the info is that they do not directly control that - they just give a stack to the teachers. It would be pretty much impossible to keep track of all the kids whose parents don't want fundraising info, figure out what classes their kids are in, notify the teachers not to send to those students, and then follow through to make sure.

 

[snarfer1]

WOW! A lot of great replies with many POVs!

1) I already pay $12,500.00 a year in school taxes!

2) I'm not thrilled with my school board. So I tend not to support them. (This is new, I always did support my school districts, this one is the exception. I vote in Schoolboard elections, I goto to the PTO (I like PTA BTW), so I'm not just a complainer.

3) I think the donation option is great! In all my prior districts I would have gladly given directly.

4) I do think you should start with a $5.00 amount and go up to a blank (write-in amount). By printing the $5.00 on the form it makes it an offical and acceptable amount. The divorced mon, with a sick kid, probably can not afford more, why not take her feelings into account?

Lust like all other areas of life, you will not please all of the people, all of the time. By including the $5.00 amount, I believe you are including more without reducing the amounts given by others!

Good Luck,

-Tony

-Tony

 

[tar heel]

It is beyond my comprehension that you pay $12,500 in school taxes. I can't imagine what your total property tax bill is. We pay about $2,500 and that includes schools, police, fire, city streets, social services, etc. Are your schools primarily locally funded as opposed to state funded? Most of our school funding comes from the state.