Small Vent fundraisers at school !

[pandora174]

Just one of those days that another fundraiser !!! I swear I have a small folder in my bag. In the last 2 weeks : bring daily change for lymphoma, every fri ice pops for 25 cents, magazine subcriptions that the kids hand wrote, clothes, school supplies for Haiti, sphagetti dinner tickets, every other Saturday car wash !!

I know I sound ungrateful. & yes we do participate b/c they are worthy causes & the school uses the funds for the benefit of the kids & others & I feel very blessed..

But jeez DS (7) comes back already telling me the script for whatever fundraiser before I even read the paper I have a checklist to keep up with all the stuff, not counting church fundraisers ! Oh well vent over, as I hurry to football practice. Part of being a mom, thanks for letting me rant

 

[cornfarmer]

I completely understand and agree. we have three kids and we seem to be at an endless fundraiser.

I don't know how many Christmas wreaths, cookies, nuts, bread, softner salt, magazines...we have sold over the year.

 

[mousebymarriage]

As a PTA President I completely understand your frustration with the endless fundraisers but, please understand our reason for doing them. I can only speak for my school but, we do a variety of fundraisers to give everyone a chance to participate. We honestly do not expect every family to participate in every fundraiser (even I don't participate in every fundraiser). We understand that times are tough and most people are stretched pretty thin financially, which is why we try to have a variety of fundraisers hoping that each family finds at least one that they can support. It may not seem like much but, even selling a few candy bars or subscribing to just 1 magazine helps the children of our school tremendously. If every family participated in only 1 fundraiser each year it would be wonderful, the children, the PTA and the school really do appreciate any effort that is made.

 

[cmrules]

Do what I do, write a donation check to the PTA at the beginning of the year and then throw away all the fundraiser info guilt free! I figure if I write a check they get ALL the money but if I buy the chocolate or the wrapping paper or the candles they get maybe half.

I do still participate in the fundraisers for causes like Haiti. For those I encourage the children to give a portion of their allowance money and I match whatever they give. It teaches them the gift of giving and when they turn in the money it means something.

 

[lovintennessee]

I use to do every school fundraiser but since the school my daugher is attending won't let us know exactly where the money is going I have stopped supporting them.

 

[3happydancers]

I use to think I had to do all the fundraisers that came home. But now, I participate in some, not all of the fundraisers. I choose the ones that have meaning to me and I only purchase what I would use.

I saw one post who said they write a check to the PTA at the beginning of the school year this way the PTA gets the entire amount. I never thought to do this, but I do like the idea!

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

I've always 'picked and chosen' among the fundraisers for my daughter's school. Never felt bad, never regretted it.

 

[vickiemariko]

I hear ya on the never ending fundraisers! But I'm like a previous poster in that I make as much of cash donation as I can at the beginning of the school year and then toss all the info for wrapping paper and cookie dough. My DD6 also has her grandparents donate some money as well. It's just that none of our family needs or wants any of the stuff involved with fundraisers. Not to mention it's just plain easier to gather up some small donations from immediate family and then give the school the money. That way they don't have to split the money with a company as well.

 

[kathie859]

My DD (now a mother of a school aged child) informed me earlier in the school year that she had written a note that her child would not be participating in any sales events; however, she would be happy to make a donation if she supported the cause. She told me that she felt this way since the private school that she attended required any girl who participated in the sports program to sell boxes of fruit at Christmas. She absolutely HATED doing this. Luckily, she had a great-aunt who loved to buy the fruit for xmas gifts. DD was also unlucky enough to be the daughter of the Girl Scout Neighborhood Cookie chairperson so she got to sell GS cookies, too.

I never knew how traumatized she was

 

[v.t.]

Ditto to all the OP's that simply write a check to support the cause. Sometimes my kids get mad at me because I do not allow them to sell to our family and friends to get the 'great prizes'.... but I explain that the school only gets a fraction of the money then we talk about donating money as well as time to our favorite causes.
It has gotten to the point that they say, "I don't know why they keep making us bring the folders home to you, all the teachers KNOW we don't sell this junk!"

 

[looo33]

I too give a check to the PTA in the beginning of the year and then toss all the #$%^ fundraisers. I wish all PTA's would just send home a letter in early September (or whenever your school starts) And ask each household for a donation. In the letter let them know that this is to replace ALL PTA fundraising for the coming year. I bet they would be surprised at how much $$$ is brought in.

 

[penn19]

I use to do every school fundraiser but since the school my daugher is attending won't let us know exactly where the money is going I have stopped supporting them.

I hear ya. Same here with my ds school. They were always sort of vague. We do Box Tops and they never could quite tell me what the money was being used for. Science "stuff" maybe they said. I stopped donating.

I think more and more schools get used to parents supplementing what taxes used to pay for. I pay close to $10,000 a year in taxes and yet I am expected to supply paper, pens, notebooks, crayons, tissues etc....every year. And then periodically throughout the year. Plus donate money towards every other fundraiser that comes down the pike.
A few years ago the big push was buying "ELMOS" . Some sort of overhead type instrument. The PTA bought all the teachers ELMOS. Had to have them. I can't tell you the price of them. $1,300 each? Something like that. Now less than 2 years later all those ELMOS are obsolete and the PTA had to go and buy whatever the latest and greatest gadget was.
It leaves you feeling a little bitter....

 

[quentina]

I too give a check to the PTA in the beginning of the year and then toss all the #$%^ fundraisers. I wish all PTA's would just send home a letter in early September (or whenever your school starts) And ask each household for a donation. In the letter let them know that this is to replace ALL PTA fundraising for the coming year. I bet they would be surprised at how much $$$ is brought in.

In PA, public schools cannot legally do this. I was a PTO treasurer for MANY years.....I wish people would of written checks, it just doesn't happen. I had many people ask for a $$$$ amount per kid. I put it in excel, figured it out, told them and they almost ****. Never saw a check.

 

[dclfun]

This was years ago but my kid's school ( a public school) had a yearly spring fair complete with rides- a really big event. The fair was held in the evenings for one weekend but on Friday ONLY those children who had sold X amount of chocolate bars got a 1/2 day out of class to go ride the rides. The other kids had to stay in classrooms and do worksheets. I was FURIOUS! I had four kids in that school, did not like my kids going door-to-door, could not afford to write a check, and cried over thinking of my kids being excluded. I let them skip the day at school rather than to be one of the ones left behind. So, yeah...I hated the fundraisers too and especially this one. I volunteered my time extensively in the school. Didn't have alot of money, but I did have time so I felt I gave my fair share. I started a paper back "Swap Shop" that was run by the second grader's three times a week under my supervision and an "Achiever's Club" that I ran every Friday for at-risk 5th graders working on a goal, getting Domino's to donate a weekly pizza, arranging games and esteem-building activities and running the group along with the school social worker...so I did my part and did it happily. I also felt that the taxes I paid should have been enough to provide the basic equipment and books but I was a girl scout co-leader with a friend who was a kindergarten teacher and she had to chip in quite a bit of her own money to buy things needed for her classroom, year after year.

 

[AntePrincess]

Public school isn't free, even after taxes. I consider the tax money spent on the schools to be a sunk cost that I cannot recover and do not feel guilty about not using the schools "to get my money's worth." With how faddish education has gotten, I donate to the local library and not the school. I know where my library donation goes, after all. In the end, I suspect that I save money by homeschooling.

 

[DVCBELLE]

What bothers me about fundraisers at my kids school is the pressure put on the kids to participate. Class gifts if EVERYONE in the class participates - That doesn't seem fair to families who aren't able to. Last week my daughter came home with a wristband on to remind us to fill out a book of postcards to mail to people to buy magazines. She had to return the book with our addresses by the next day in order to get the cool prize.

If I just write a check - then DD doesn't get the prizes for the fundraiser and then she is mad at me for making her be the only in her class who didn't get something or we let her whole class down when they don't get a reward.

I don't mind the fundraisers but I wish they wouldn't bribe the kids to participate.

 

[pandora174]

What bothers me about fundraisers at my kids school is the pressure put on the kids to participate. Class gifts if EVERYONE in the class participates - That doesn't seem fair to families who aren't able to. Last week my daughter came home with a wristband on to remind us to fill out a book of postcards to mail to people to buy magazines. She had to return the book with our addresses by the next day in order to get the cool prize.

If I just write a check - then DD doesn't get the prizes for the fundraiser and then she is mad at me for making her be the only in her class who didn't get something or we let her whole class down when they don't get a reward.

I don't mind the fundraisers but I wish they wouldn't bribe the kids to participate.

Yup, that's it. If he sent magazines to relatives, he got some cool light up glasses, if anyone buys 2 magazines he gets a Looney toon t-shirt, if they donate to the Lymphoma society the class with the most $ gets a Olive Garden lunch, if he sold Yankee Candles (for actually I sold them), the class gets a pizza party & etc etc. Not counting the spring festival, harvest festival etc. Ours is a small private Christian school so no PTA, just the administration puts together the fund raisers & parents get a choice of paying $5 a year to get together with the administration on choosing fundraisers Oh well...at least I do know where the $ is going to, I just hate the sales pitch I get from my 7 year old

 

[ChrisinNJ]

Our school does one a few major fundraiser events each year.

The biggest is "Casino Night." It is in a country club $65.00 for admission & dinner. They were offering a reduced price raffle ticket option (they raffle off baskets & prizes tricky tray or chinese auction style). If bought in advance, raffle tickets were $55.00 for a pack (and that was considered a discount from the cost of tickets that night). So thats $120.00 and you haven't gambled or had a drink yet .

I live in an upscale area, so they get away with it. I have never attended. I expressed more than once, that I love chinese auction events & that if they had an event at the school or lower cost venue I would attend & buy tickets, the head of fundraising said she has heard that before. But the more expensive event gets a good turn out, so they don't change it.

They also do a 50/50 raffle up until this year the tickets were $100.00 EACH!

This year they made them $5.00 each, but split the prize 3 ways.

They do a few other fundraisers that are less money, but still end up costing me because I have 3 kids & they each want to participate.

 

[pantherlj]

Yes, I agree - the bribing of the kids is the worst part of the whole thing! Limo rides, pizza parties, animal shows.

Why not teach them that they are raising money for their school to make it better for them! That would teach them a bit about charity (in a warped sort of way I guess LOL).

I throw everything away but I do LOVE the silent auction! I'll glad pay $50 for a $50 gas card. Of course, it's exciting when I get it for less. DD last year spent $15 of her own money to go on a nature hike and picnic lunch with the science teacher.

 

[kirstenb1]

I too give a check to the PTA in the beginning of the year and then toss all the #$%^ fundraisers. I wish all PTA's would just send home a letter in early September (or whenever your school starts) And ask each household for a donation. In the letter let them know that this is to replace ALL PTA fundraising for the coming year. I bet they would be surprised at how much $$$ is brought in.

Our school did this last fall. They asked everyone to donate at least $25, and there would be no other fundraising for the year. They brought in 1/3 of what they had expected. A lot of our families are low income, and couldn't afford or didn't participate for whatever reason. At least a fundraiser allowed them to hit up co-workers, etc. I don't envision us ever doing the "unfundraiser" ever again.