Comments on: School fundraising: I’m embarrassed to ask friends for money

By: MomOfThree

MomOfThree — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:13:53 +0000

The whole concept of the Boosterthon seems great at first because it raises so much money and encourages healthy fun (running laps). But I hate that they bring the junk trinkets in class and pressure the kids everyday under the guise of “values” and nowhere on the literature does it state that almost 1/2 the money goes to the Boosterthon people. If I am making a check out to my school/PTO or asking my neighbors to make a check out the school, I think it is reasonable that the majority of it would be kept for the school when no real “product” is being exchanged. When I found out 49% of the monies were going to Boosterthon, I felt we (parents, donors) were mislead and that the kids were being used to profit not only the school but the folks at Boosterthon.

I understand the need for fundraising, I just think the Boosterthon concept is a bit misleading when no one knows 1/2 the money does not go the intended party. And they do pressure the kids to compete with each other and put classroom against classroom in fundraising. They are Pre-K through 4th grade in our school so they are very eager to please and are told to try to get 10 pledges each. I think there is a fine line between motivating and using the children and they are right on the fence IMO.

By: Andy Stockglausner

Andy Stockglausner — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:37:08 +0000

GREAT blog! This is great information! I have a great fundraiser idea that my photography company offers. I do a family photo raffle that I have had organizations raise over $10,000 with. Also, a kids art fundraiser that we do. The nice thing about art based fundraisers is that parents don't feel like they are being asked for money because they are purchasing great products with their kids artwork on it. More info can be found at; www.kidsartfromtheheart.net or www.mvp-studios.net

By: Winston

Winston — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:20:00 +0000

Hi. Between Me And You™ journals have worked very well as fundraisers. http://www.sanddunebooks.com

An online fund-raiser would be very simple. Basically, we would agree upon a special code that you will promote to people to whom you email or otherwise send to the Between Me And You™ site to make a purchase.

We can agree to a specific time frame for your promotion and you will receive $4.00 for every journal that is purchased using your code.

My email address is on the site and please feel free to email with any questions. Thank you … winston

By: alba gibson

alba gibson — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:50:02 +0000

As a parent these fund raisers can be irritating and humiliating. I don’t like having my children go through the neighborhood trying to sell to the neighbors. I also don’t like begging my childless coworkers to buy cheap wrapping paper or cookie dough. Ugh! But, I very recently discovered the most amazing new school fundraiser company that sells organic, recycled, sustainable, non-toxic and biodegrable fund raising products. They are fabulous!!! It’s so much better to have our children selling items for their school fundraiser that people would really like and feel good about buying and using. Check out their site for ideas. This could be fantastic to support our schools and shop earth-friendly: http://www.brightgreenkids.net
Share this with your school or with friends who have kids in school. I think it’s amazing.

By: Diana

Diana — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:30:14 +0000

I feel that when the PTO is offering a special “fun day” or BMX show for all who have sold a particular amount of items (Which is NEVER a one item min.) which is held DURING school hours………is sending our children the WRONG message. There is nothing more horrible than to send the message to those who are limited to who they can approach to sale items. I feel this sends the message that they’re not worthy. There are a lot of single parent homes that the child can’t sale or market for the profiting company and the PTO in a SAFE manner. What kind of message are we sending?!?!? Why do these companies not offer a reasonable “BUY OUT”? Why do the officers of the PTO staff not hold their ground with these blood sucking companies? Why do some schools offer to let a picture company take advantage of profit twice a year instead of once. They take a regular school pic in September and then wait untill spring to pull out all of the beels and whistles for the reaaly cute poses. They should do it all in one shot. It’s a very sad thing that we as parents are standing around watching!!!

By: Mother-O-Five

Mother-O-Five — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:09:04 +0000

Our band boosters group starts in January, making arrangements to man a fireworks stand (last of June- July 4). The stand earns about $4,000 or so. Someone has to have a travel trailer to set up and live out there for about a week. Students and parents sign up to work shifts. That one event takes care of most of the needs for the year. Hope that helps someone. We are all in this together!

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:27:10 +0000

In relation to the laps, I remember doing the “Jump Rope for Heart” fundraiser around February. Like the laps fundraiser, the kid would ask the neighbors or other people to donate. I think the way it ran is the person the kid asked for donations called most of the shots. They’d say “I’ll pay you x dollars if you jump y times.” Then the kid would record that, and then total up how many jumps they’re supposed to do. In P.E. the kid would grab the rope and begin jumping that many times.

Or else it worked like the laps, with x dollars per jump.

By: fk

fk — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:16:07 +0000

People may not have always purchased what my son was selling, but they usually made donations. One year, I was babysitting my niece over a long weekend. My son, at the end of middle school, was fundraising for his fall football program. We walked the n’hood with him and I stood at the curb with the stroller, usually out of sight. He was hoping for $5-$10 donations, but people were very generous…he wound up with several $20 donations, a $25 donation and even a $50, along with the $5 & $10 ones! I joked that they saw the stroller and felt sorry for me…a toddler and a teenager. Seriously, though, if people believe in a program, they support it.

Regarding the wrapping paper: That was the BIGGEST money maker at the elementary school. It was huge. My son did not go door to door, but family members asked every year about it and always ordered. The middle school did no fundraising, but asked for a one-time donation of $50 at the beginning of the school year. That was easy. In high school, there was a lot of fundraising for the sports programs, discount cards or coupon books. They paid for themselves after a couple of purchases. There was also an annual banquet & auction benefitting the sports programs at a nice hotel. That was actually a lot of fun. I only participated in the silent auction, but the live bidding was fun to watch. There was serious bidding going on and some people had DEEP pockets, so much so that, high bidders who did not walk away with the prizes were offered the opportunity to buy the very same prizes at the winning bid price. They got their prize and the school wound up with twice the money.

By: irisheyes

irisheyes — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:50:59 +0000

Try being a teacher and getting money from fundraisers at a high poverty school. Even Boosterthon won’t come to us anymore because they said “we didn’t raise enough money as a school” for them to take the time to come to us.

But certain people I work with have no problem asking me for money three and four times since school has started because their media center budget was cut. Guess what? So was my budget for consumable supplies. Mine went down 75%, plus my check is $100 less for the next four months thanks to my furloughs. I’m so over people asking me for money. I don’t have it, I can’t pay it, and people just need to deal with it.

Sorry, I just had to vent after this week.

By: DB

DB — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:01:34 +0000

Our school (is it still my school if my kids have graduated? Hmm . . .) has an auction every two years, and it generally raises some serious money — well over $100,000, and often more. One year, one of the prizes was a foursome round of golf with Jack Nicklaus. That went for over $25,000 . . . jaw-dropping, but hey, how cool for someone for who could afford it and for whom it was a major high? I love auctions, but honestly, this one was a little too rich for my blood. Our preschool had an annual art auction that was always popular, and raised lots of money, too.

Any parent who slaps their child across the face has already lost the argument. I wasn’t adverse to a swat on the bottom for the little ones, usually to break a tantrum, but across the face? If it were another adult, it would be considered assault and battery.