Ugh! Fundraisers!!!

[Fire14]

Go here http://www.littlebrowniebakers.com/
and in the lower left hand corner is a yellow rectangle to find where cookies are being sold in your area. (or if you want to order from me I can deliver on our drive through OH from Maryland to IL in November )

Thanks for link but all ones listed happened in Feb and March LOL. As for delivery it wouldn't be a first, one yr my neice mailed his order to him.

 

[NVDisMom]

I have a question as I have seen this trend in several posts - why are girl scouts sales more important then school sales? I would put a higher priority on my child's education than extra-curriculars and the schools need this money (sad but true)!

One, the extra curricular stuff is what gets cut first in any budget. There is a great deal to be learned by a child in the extra curricular activities and frequently, as they get older, that may be the only thing keeping a high risk child attending school and remaining involved in their education. Two, my taxes and the mandatory fees go to the school. They, like the average American household, need to learn to work within a budget. Three, I know how the money will be utilized, unlike many of the generic school fundraisers. The money seems to disappear into obscurity.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

I have a question as I have seen this trend in several posts - why are girl scouts sales more important then school sales? I would put a higher priority on my child's education than extra-curriculars and the schools need this money (sad but true)!

I think one difference is that people actually like and want the Girl Scout coookies. I have never heard anyone say "I can't wait until the next time someone comes door to door selling wrapping paper" but I know quite a few people who actually look forward to being able to buy Girl Scout cookies. It doesn't feel as much like hawking overpriced junk when the product is something people actually want to buy.

 

[mom4graceandlogan]

Oh how I hate fundraisers. We live in an isolated area and our family members(about 4 of us can only be tapped so much and I don't want to burden those because they don't have the extra $.) In this economy the overpriced fundraiser stuff is ridiculous. The worst part it the brainwashing they do at school pep rallies for the garbage. My daughter came home with a green paper wrist band on that I tried to cut off and she cried and cried that the principal said she was not allowed to remove it and could not get any prizes if she took it off. The wrist band reminded her that she had to sell 10 items that weekend. Are you kidding me! It was like a wierd cult. I completely support scouts PTA etc. But don't go through my child to do it. . We do girl scouts, they have added a fall fundraiser in addition to cookies, overprices magaizines and candy. I cannot stomach asking anyone to support it, so I am sending in a $75.00 check( I love scouts) this is the same profit as selling 75 items., but my daughter won't get the patch. Last year the school needed media production equipment and asked every kid to sell at least 2 orders of cookie dough at 10.00 an order( would make 4.00total) I sent in $50.oo to apply directly and begged not to send me any cookie dough. apply the whole amount. I think learning sales like girl scout cookies( a reasonable value) are great but don't teach my daughters to sell crap promising four silly bands as a crazy inticement over their heads. Really disturbing aspect of public school. I know private do some fundraising but not the same. We did private schools until ours closed and am considering anther or homeschooling.

 

[hambirg]

Idk. . .my kids went to private school for along time and they did all the same crappy catalog sales, etc. Now that they are in public school they don't do any of the junky catalog stuff. They did have a book fair during open house. .eh. Only my youngest daughter wanted something and then I told her she would have to pay for it out of her piggy bank, so she eliminated everything on her list but one $4 book.

We did just get the cookie dough flier though. I actually like the cookie dough, but it is overpriced. I'm not sure if I'm going to get any. Maybe I will get one order. I always tell my kids that I will just buy them a prize from the store and they have seemed to have gotten over the prize thing.

What I much prefer as fundraisers is something where it is also community building and the middle man has been eliminated. . .spaghetti dinners, ice cream socials, school carnivals, even car washes. The problems with these kinds of events and I think the reason PTOs are inclined towards these other types of fundraising is because they take MANPOWER. . .volunteers, coordinators, etc.

Soooo. . .my suggestion is that schools will stop doing the "sell crap" kinds of fundraisers when they start to NOT be worth the effort. . .and it's not much effort with these type because these companies provide a lot of support. I know just how they sell it to PTOs. . .been there. "You will only need one person to coordinate. We'll do the rest. (While we also take half of the $$). Go to your PTO meetings and tell them that people don't want to do them anymore. . .offer alternatives. . .and THEN be willing to take it on! I pushed hard for the ice cream socials at my kids' school. And I got the. . eh idk (because they thought it sounded like a lot of work). I just told them that I would handle it. I got the ice cream, whipped cream and syrups donated. I bought some cherries. And I found 2 other mom's to help me. We did it easy peasy lemon squeezy and we made $600. Once they saw that it wasn't a huge headache, that it was over and done with in one night, everybody actually had a good time. . .and we made just as much as we did with some of these crappy sales, but ALL the money went to the school, they were on board with doing more of these types of fundraisers.

 

[brymolmom]

Idk. . .my kids went to private school for along time and they did all the same crappy catalog sales, etc. Now that they are in public school they don't do any of the junky catalog stuff. They did have a book fair during open house. .eh. Only my youngest daughter wanted something and then I told her she would have to pay for it out of her piggy bank, so she eliminated everything on her list but one $4 book.

We did just get the cookie dough flier though. I actually like the cookie dough, but it is overpriced. I'm not sure if I'm going to get any. Maybe I will get one order. I always tell my kids that I will just buy them a prize from the store and they have seemed to have gotten over the prize thing.

What I much prefer as fundraisers is something where it is also community building and the middle man has been eliminated. . .spaghetti dinners, ice cream socials, school carnivals, even car washes. The problems with these kinds of events and I think the reason PTOs are inclined towards these other types of fundraising is because they take MANPOWER. . .volunteers, coordinators, etc.

Soooo. . .my suggestion is that schools will stop doing the "sell crap" kinds of fundraisers when they start to NOT be worth the effort. . .and it's not much effort with these type because these companies provide a lot of support. I know just how they sell it to PTOs. . .been there. "You will only need one person to coordinate. We'll do the rest. (While we also take half of the $$). Go to your PTO meetings and tell them that people don't want to do them anymore. . .offer alternatives. . .and THEN be willing to take it on! I pushed hard for the ice cream socials at my kids' school. And I got the. . eh idk (because they thought it sounded like a lot of work). I just told them that I would handle it. I got the ice cream, whipped cream and syrups donated. I bought some cherries. And I found 2 other mom's to help me. We did it easy peasy lemon squeezy and we made $600. Once they saw that it wasn't a huge headache, that it was over and done with in one night, everybody actually had a good time. . .and we made just as much as we did with some of these crappy sales, but ALL the money went to the school, they were on board with doing more of these types of fundraisers.

I LOVE that you were willing to 'put your money where your mouth is' and volunteer to head-up and execute a different fundraising idea!!! I wish we had some parents in my PTO who are so willing....

And while I LOVE that you did this...unfortunately we'd have to have about 20 of them to even make the same amount at OUR school as we do with the 'crappy fundraisers'...even though MANY hate them, some kids/parents really get motivated for one of the good prizes -and we tend to make at least $10,000 - $14,000 which is about 60% of our budget for the year.

That's why we do them - to do an even to make that much money would take way more than 3 volunteers....

 

[LisaNJ25]

Thanks for link but all ones listed happened in Feb and March LOL. As for delivery it wouldn't be a first, one yr my neice mailed his order to him.

also check out http://www.abcsmartcookies.com/

There are 2 cookie distributors and your local council may use this one.

Some councils sell in the fall.. others in feb and march

 

[TruBlu]

I LOVE that you were willing to 'put your money where your mouth is' and volunteer to head-up and execute a different fundraising idea!!! I wish we had some parents in my PTO who are so willing...

We did this at our school. We designed a read-a-thon. We aren't in a high income area, but our R-A-T still made over $12,000!!!! It was definitely worth our effort, and the kids really had fun with it - much more so than selling stuff out of a catalog. But, it was more work than the catalog sale. If you don't have parents willing to help, then you don't really have a choice... At our school, a lot of the parents who complain never come to a PTA meeting and never help with anything. We even hold our meetings at night and provide child care, so it's pretty easy to attend. I work 10 hour days and I go...

 

[littlezar]

I miss the schools my kids attended in NC. Every Friday there was a little group of us that made popcorn and the kids bought it for 25 cents a bag. We easily made $250-300 per week in a school with around 800 kids. It only took a couple weeks to cover the supplies for the year and the rest was profit. Some parents would buy bags for the whole class. Teachers, office staff, custodians & the nurse would buy it. Even the mailman would come in and buy a couple of bags!

The other fundraiser I loved was the school carnival and basket auction but it does take quite a few volunteers. Each teacher had their own theme for the baskets. Of course, they sent the note home with all the themes on it and said feel free to send in anything extra. One year our class had the carwash basket and I found Fuzzy Dice at Big Lots to send in. My girlfriends hubby ended up bidding high and winning because he wanted the dice, LOL!! There were also a few things donated by local businesses.

 

[Colleen27]

I'll give our schools credit; they do try to go for less intrusive fundraisers as much as possible. Box Tops/Campbells labels are the "fundraiser" that gets the pizza party reward, rather than the overpriced wrapping paper and chocolate sale, so I don't feel like DD is missing out on anything when I just write a check to the PTA and skip the sale. Our grocery store gives 1% "community share" to organizations who collect receipts, and the elementary makes heavy use of that as well.

At the middle school, Scrip is the main fundraiser and I love that because it isn't a change in budget/spending, just a different way of doing it so that the school gets credit for the shopping we'd do anyway. The band sells Entertainment books, but those are an easy sell with so many places that people go anyway included in the coupons and I feel better selling things that have an actual value to people, rather than just that obligatory purchase of an overpriced something to support the kids.

The only traditional sales fundraisers we do any more are for scouts. The Girl Scout nut and magazine sales are going now, and we'll have Boy Scout popcorn soon, then Girl Scout cookies in January (another super easy sell - those things are like crack, I swear!).

I was surprised by the GS sales when we got the info last week, our council changed product suppliers and the prices aren't bad, most things in the $5-7 range on the candy/nut brochure. The magazine subscriptions are okay prices, you could get better if you know where to look online but they're competitive, and we have enough people in the family now who order every year for DD to get her patch without hounding anyone.

 

[Colleen27]

I miss the schools my kids attended in NC. Every Friday there was a little group of us that made popcorn and the kids bought it for 25 cents a bag. We easily made $250-300 per week in a school with around 800 kids. It only took a couple weeks to cover the supplies for the year and the rest was profit. Some parents would buy bags for the whole class. Teachers, office staff, custodians & the nurse would buy it. Even the mailman would come in and buy a couple of bags!

That's a biggie at our school too. Most of the kids and teachers buy a bag, and a lot of them (including my DD) buy extras to take home to siblings that don't attend the school. My 2yo looks forward to the 9yo getting off the bus on Fridays as much for the popcorn as because she's excited to see her sister!

 

[Colleen27]

I have a question as I have seen this trend in several posts - why are girl scouts sales more important then school sales? I would put a higher priority on my child's education than extra-curriculars and the schools need this money (sad but true)!

Because schools are funded by multiple sources, and at least in our district fundraisers are used for extras. Yes, the extras are nice to have, but those fundraisers aren't about education - they're about new playgrounds, offsetting the cost of field trips, planting a tree on Earth Day, funding the 5th grade farewell party. Scouts and other extracurriculars don't have a regular operating budget. Dues and fundraisers are all they've got.

And organization fundraisers tend to be easier sells because every kid in the whole town isn't selling the exact same thing at the exact same time. There are about 15 elementary school kids on our block alone, all selling the same wrapping paper & trinkets, but DD is the only Girl Scout and DS is one of only two band members.

Also, at least in our area, the scout and organization fundraisers tend to be better products at better prices and more clear on where the proceeds go. Girl Scouts and band especially are excellent about offering a good product at a decent price with a clear breakdown of how much they're earning.