Parents: Fight dumb school fundraisers!

I would like to whip whoever sent this eight year old to my house to sell me something out of a catalog. She was without a chaparone; no other child or adult was with her. What makes it worse, is we live out in the country and she is walking.

I have heard about a middle school in Upper Arlington (Columbus), Ohio where they have a "No Fundraising Fundraiser". They have calculated what they made in fundraisers and send a notice to parents stating that they made approximately $20 per student in fund raisers and if the parents will each donate $20 they will commit to NO FUNDRAISERS. Upper Arlington's median income is higher so I am sure that the $20 is more than many schools. I've wanted to send a letter to their PTA who heads it up and ask for a copy of their verbage so I could bring it to our school. If I could give $25 ($5 extra to cover those who aren't able to donate) once a year and not have to deal with any of the hassles I would do it in a second. If anyone has done something like this could you please share some of your information?

I stumbled upon this page while looking for information on how to become a fundraising vendor. I am a parent of a 5th grader and can see the desperate need our schools have for funds. I am in the process of starting a new kind of company, where we manage personal computers and keep them problem-free, secure, and can even fix computer problems automatically. This is a real product, that solves real problems, not just "donation giveaway" junk.

Because we are an internet-based technology service company (not a manufacturer), I have a vision for a fundraiser program which would involve a large, upfront payoff, then followed every month in recurring revenues. This creates a scenario where schools can begin building a renewable funding model, rather than a one time payday.

Proposed benefits :
1. No door-to-door! the safety of the students should be the first priority. Rather than catalogs and products, student will be given email packets that they can use to create their own email campaigns - extending the reach of their sales efforts around the globe

2. Eco-friendly - By default, our system enables EPA specified Energy-Star power saving features on all managed computers, saving the earth, and your power bill. Since all materials can be provided online, very little paperwork needs to be printed and sent home.

3. Recurring profits - cost per sale = $30/mo. 50% of first month goes to school ($15). After that, the school will receive 10% ($3) for every account signed up, every month, for as long as that account stays active.

4. Real-world educational experience. Getting children used to the idea of conducting work on the computer is a vital part of modern education which is not being realized as strongly as it should be. Our system would be a very simple version of a telecommuting job.

5. Prizes awarded for innovation and creativity of efforts, not just sales. Kids can do amazing things if you let them. Moving kids from the street to a global online marketplace should produce some interesting results!

6. Will have an option to "just donate".

7. Fully trackable online - watch funding campaign dollars grow.

8. We supply the party!

Revenue model:
Students sell:
100 accounts: $1,500 up front, $5,100 possible annual profit.

1000 accounts: $15,000 up front, , total annual profit? $255,000 per year, or $3,600/month in recurring funding.

The service is set to be launched in one month. I have no idea about account retention or anything like that, but I would love the chance to get started funding schools ASAP.
I hope someone out there can provide me with some information as to where to start.

Here in Missouri we collect taxes from casinos that is placed in the states education fund. Then that same amount is removed from the fund and used elsewhere.

These are the same casinos that Missourians voted successfully against twice in the past. After which they were issued licensing without our vote.

We need to keep our states collected taxes from these casinos in our states education fund where it belongs and is needed.

We as parents and teachers don't need to be forced to buy school room supplies in these tough economic times.

We need our children in their classes, not in some assembly listening to a charlatan lie about some pie-in-the-sky prizes none of these kids will win.

We as Missourians need to write our Governor Jay Nixon and demand these funds remain where they belong without exception and without any switch-a-roo for our children and the future of our state.

The best fundraisers seem to be a coupon book or a restaurant card.

The coupon book is just what it seems. A booklet containing 30 to 40 pages of different restaurants and services. Everything from BOGO double cheeseburgers at Burger King to $5 off an Oil Change at Express Lube. The Books are sold for $10 dollars and the school makes $5 and the company producing the book makes $5. No cost is occured by the merchants who provide all their own logo, designs and offers.

The Restaurant Card is similar but is the size or a credit card with 10 to12 squares on the back. Cards are sold for $5 with the producers keeping $1 per card. Once again offers would be more specific. Free small drink w/ burger purchase or free med pizza w/ purchase of large.

These offers both provide an offer for the school to make money without occuring a cost and the opportunity for the patron to actually receive something of value.

The point of this article is that organizations looking to raise money need to be more selective in choosing their methods because they will be more successful. As parents, we need to take responsibility for the fundraisers and not blindly accept the catalogs of crappy stuff to sell as the only method.

Remember, there are lots of different ways to raise money for schools and similar organizations that do not involve helping or-profit business get rich in the process. The companies who sponsor the gift wrap - cookie dough - popcorn - and other over-priced items are making tons of money from these fundraisers. They don't give up part of their profit to help the non-profit organization. Instead, they increase the prices of the items. If the companies didn't make money, they wouldn't be in that business.

I agree that it is easier to just write a check to the school instead of jumping through hoops to purchase something from your child. However, NEWSFLASH! It's not just about you or the money!! It's about teaching the kids business sense. I remember growing up in school and having to sell candy or things from a catalog, and I remember my mom would moan and groan over it. BUT I LOVED IT! I loved the challenge of how much could I sell, and the so what if we took a half hour break to discuss what we were doing, it was exciting and we were young, the thought that if I could sell 50 items, I could recieve an AM/FM radio in the shape of a frog that flashed (hey, this was before c.d's) I was amazed and I tried hard. it was exciting and it kept me interested in school, if you take all the fun and excitement out of school, your going to turn out with very bored and annoyed students who want to drop out by highschool because they are sick of it. Leave the fundraisers alone, if you want to write a check to the school, well no one is stopping you, and you dont even have to wait for a fundraiser!!!! but let the kids have thier fun.

As a Catholic school child, I was "forced" to go door to door to sell donuts. Some of the people were really rude and called me names; almost none bought anything. Back at school the nuns said I didn't love Jesus enough or I could sell lots of donuts like Janice _____, whose relatives all bought and ate (from the way they looked) lots of donuts. My workplace doesn't allow solicitations for organization or school fund raising sales; most of it is worthless junk, but the kids can't tell. One year, a kid came to my house; I bought wrapping paper from him. Every other kid in the neighborhood came too, and were angry because I told them no. Some nasty stuff was thrown at my door. Now I don't buy from anyone! The scummy companies that put out this garbage convince schools that they can make the money they need if the kids are smart enough to sell it. It stinks! School districts should raise the taxes a bit and STOP ALL SALES involving kids going house to house after school, which is dangerous too!

My daughters' school does the VIP Business cards, where various businesses give you a percentage off a service or a meal, we sell Harkin's Cups( an Arizona owned theater) that allows you to buy a 32oz soda for a dollar each time you go to the movies, we also sell Scrip and our Knights of Columbus Chapter hold a pancake breakfast for the school twice a year where we receive 100% of the funds. Selling Scrip actually helps some families pay their childs tuition in full.

I have 5 kids and each one of them has brought home a 'fundraiser' almost every school year. Fortunately, the schools in our district have adopted the "NO HASSLE FUNDRAISER". This means that a dollar goal is stated and that number is equally divided among the number of students. Each family is asked to donate a fixed amount. It seems to be working and I don't have to ask my co-workers to buy a bunch of overpriced junk.

I've been saying this for years. My kids would come home all hyped up from the sales assembly ready to earn the great prizes just to hear me tell them (AGAIN) that they wouldn't be participating. Many times I would just write a check to the school, so I knew they would be getting all the money and I wouldn't be getting any fattening cookies or cheap junk.

I would disagree about the restaurant fundraisers - the schools don't make that much money - this is true but most families in my neck of the woods (silicon valley) still eat out quite often and our school strategically plans one of these on a night after a school sports event. It works great and is minimal effort and no cost to school or volunteers.

My school does an annual appeal (outright monetary donation that can be tax deductible) and a dinner/auction gala - Everything in the auction is donated and so while it does take a lot of volunteer effort to kick the event off the ground, it still raises alot of money for the school. Even if a school has an auction that is a bargain basesment (i.e. wins for 2/3rd the value) who cares? the school still gets the money. The key is to market to 3 levels of particiaption at any auction (I've been doing them for 5 years) Our auction has something for everyone at various levels of financial commitment including a last mand standing event that is outright donations that can be tax deductible, raffle tickets for packages of prizes worth $75 each, sign up parties and of course silent and live auctions. We grossed $131k at our last one and I come from a school of 250. You will say - oh they make a ton of money in silicon valley - not all of us I cn assure you and the income demographic for my school is not illitest. It's all calculated strategy.

My school says that it has 2 main fundraisers and hopes that there will be 100% of school participation in both - and then we have the restaurant nights every so often.

I think the key is to choose wisely and not overdue it - my last school had fundraisers going on all the time - sometimes more than one at a time - it was to overwhelming.

I hate to think of my grandchildren doing this. A neighborhood child came to my door last year selling candy, it was almost dark out, and I didn't see anyone with him. I was scared for him. Of course I couldn't say no, but I do not like the door to door thing in these times. How about a giant yard sale, where the family's all donate items to sell for 100% profit. They could have it at the gym or out side in the spring. Parents, teachers and children could organize and run it. Or what about sending out flyers to parents AND grandparents asking to donate $1.00 per child or grandchild per month. Seems like at the end of the year that would add up to a lot and every one could surely afford that. Make sure the families know what their goal is and send a note with the children thanking the families when they reach their goal.

I hate fundraisers!!!! My friend was a PTA leader at a nearby school district and they did not do them, which saved a lot of time for the PTA parents to do worthwhile projects.
That district asked for $20 per child for activities. This was not an affluent area and they always went above their goals because many people donated extra in case others could not afford it. Worked great!

A lot of people posting say they would rather just donate money, but apparantly they are not, because most organizations are really hurting for money these days. When I buy items from children for organizations, I look at it this way, I am getting a discount on the product, since a portion is a donation and a child is learning how to do sales. I am also making a donation that realistically, I would not have made otherwise since it is usually for an organization that is not one of my "pet" charities. That is to say that I don't care about my neighbor's kids' school enough to give a donation, but if I like the product they are selling I will buy it and then that helps their school and that is a good thing even if I wouldn't have just given them cash.

I agree, with all the fundraisers, sometimes I think its better to just donate the money, I get a crappy product for $20 and the school gets a whole $3. The items suck, the cookie dough is not that great, i would rather make my own. However I do understand that sometimes fundraisers are needed because some people will not "give" the school money without out at least getting something in return, its called an incentive, and people are selfish.

I am now 41, but when I was a youngster, I seemed to be fundraising for everything...cub scouts, 4-H, baseball, basketball, student council, school trips, and sometimes it seemed "just because we need the money."
I sold popcorn, seeds, pizza, chocolate, magazines, cassette tapes (this was before CDs), and just about anything I think was available at the time.
I always bought into the hype for the "prizes" you could often win, and normally stopped selling when I maxed out the prize list.
The "final" fundraiser I did was for Student Council when I was in 9th grade. We were raising money for new furniture for our "commons" area, where the top students (I was among them) got to go to study during study hall. We sold...CANDLES.
I wasn't overly excited, but they had some AWESOME prizes, including a Kodak 35mm camera, which I REALLY wanted. In addition, anyone who sold over 100 candles got $100 CASH, and the top person overall got $250 CASH in addition to the $100 if you were over 100.
I sold candles like crazy. For about 3-4 weeks straight, I would finish my paper route and hit every house within biking distance, giving them my sales pitch and taking candle orders. I became quite the salesman and the orders were coming in fast and furious. Christmas was coming and I sold the candles as "the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for person" on your shopping list.
When all was said and done, I sold 842 candles! I was thrilled!!! I won the camera (and pretty much anything else I wanted), I won my $100, and I won the $250. When the candles arrived, my mother had to make 4 or 5 trips to the school in her compact car to pick them all up. Our house was completely filled with candles.
That's when the problems started. Taking the orders was easy, but we only had a week to collect all of the money for candles I had sold for about a month. My mother helped me out on my paper route that week and drove me to all the homes I had taken orders from. Luckily, many of the homes had ordered multiple candles. However, we had such problems reaching some people at home. Turns out some people normally worked evenings and I had happened to catch them on their day off when I took the order. I ended up delivering candles the entire weekend as well.
I was so happy to have them delivered and to deliver the payments to the school the following week! Now all I had to do was wait on my prizes. A few weeks went by and we had received nothing from the company. A month went by...nothing. Two months, three months...still no prizes.
Finally, my mother had had enough. She went to the teacher who ran the Student Council and let her have it! She also contacted the company we sold the candles through and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau AND threatened to write a letter to the editor or our local newspaper.
About a week later, my prizes arrived. The $350 in cash was GREAT, but the camera which I had wanted so badly was NOT a Kodak 35mm, it was a cheap no-name brand 35mm...the kind you could buy at Walgreen's for about $10 at the time. We decided to drop it and be happy with the money, but that was the LAST time I participated in any fundraisers.

I now have a 12-year-old daughter, and have bought girl scout cookies and magazines from her, but that is where we draw the line. Whenever she hears one of the "hype" presentations offering the free crap if you sell so many of whatever item, I remind her of my story and let her know she can do work around the house and I will buy her a nicer item. I learned my lesson the hard way, so she doesn't have to.

Of course, every other child has to go door to door as well. A lot of neighbors complained that there were too many fundraisers.

At our school we have a very hard time getting parents to support the school so, last year we started selling popcorn pickles and nachos every Friday. We spent $2000 on a popcorn machine and another $400 on a nacho machine, which paid forthemselves the first year we had them. From those we earn about $3150 once we minus the cost of product, per school year. We also have a cotton candy machine that was there when we took over the PTA. A local popcorn company donated a can a flosene and a grocer gives us the bags to put the candy in, so all we are out is cost of sugar (about $13). The last time we did cotton candy(.50), popcorn(.50) and nachos($2)we brought in $350.

Why don't we all fundraise for our country's future leaders by paying taxes. 10% on the dollar for every person above the poverty level. It becomes a part of our household budgets. Not just for the middle class, for all. What really gets interesting is when your children get in highschool and they are in band and other in school activities and you get a fundraiser for each. I have volunteered in the classrooms of our schools and I see teachers purchasing things for their classrooms to educate children. They are buying some of these items out of their salary and not being reimbursed. Some schools are even using fieldtrips to do some fundraising. I just think it is a sad situation. The fundraisers I do enjoy are the ones where the kids are doing some work such as car washes to raise funds. Then I start to wonder if it isn't a sad state of affairs when we make our children do labor to pay for education. Isnt that what they are suppose to do complete college. I don't know the answer. I wonder how other countries are doing with their education budgets. Quite frankly I just would rather pay the proper taxes to get all of the services we receive for the nation to be well taken care of and our children educated. Thats just me though and then there is the people in charge of controling how the tax income is spent. They need to be more accountable for what they spend.