School fundraisers??

[Mattemma]

My kids are now in a private school that we struggle to pay on dh's income.On top of tuition, supply fees,gym fees,and co-op fees the kids get the fundraiser catalogs.Oh and general donation to go directly to the school is coming soon. Due to the increased gym and co-op fees I doubt I will(or could afford to) pay for these fundraisers.

I do however pay for Monday pizza or buy cookies.These fundraisers go towards a camping trip for the younger kids and mothers day event for the kinders.There is also the plant sale where the teens grow plants to help pay for their yearly trip.

My mom mentioned buying from the catalog so the kids won't feel left out,but we have not bought for 2 years and so far they survived. I don't want to start some dcycle.

I too would rather just write a check than sell/buy items from a catalog.

Oh we do scrip cards too.I order gifts cards I would normally use,and the school gets a small percentage.

We do our best to help,but we can only afford so much!
We live on a busy road so no sellers except for weird looking adults that I refuse to open the door too!

 

[Chickenmaven]

The kids in my area are selling these discount cards & coupon books for TEN DOLLARS. Makes me kind of yearn for the good ol' days and the $1 candy bars...

 

[GrayDragon]

A lot of fundraisers are for clubs and the like, rather than for the school. If you want real input on the fundraisers, join the PTA. They are usually the ones controlling fundraisers.


The year my old school had a sensible PTA, their fundraiser was a 'craft con', Each kid was required to submit one crafted item for sale (essentially a take-home art project) and parents were encouraged to donate crafted items.

One mother donated a quilt that was auctioned for nearly $8,000. Needless to say, there were a lot of funded extracurriculars that year.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I miss the old days of car washes, bake sales (where moms and kids baked sale items), and even carnivals where the food was hamburgers cooked by the Dad's Club/PTA/whatever group, simple carnival games and the like. The world does not have to be all extravagant.

By the same token, a lot of things schools "need" are really wants. Technology is nice, but the level that some schools have is far beyond what is needed; likewise for facilities. You don't have to be cutting edge to have a good school. You need books (and no, they don't have to be new or nearly so), you need paper & pens/pencils, you need a good teacher. You need enough computers for students to teach them appropriate productivity programs (word processing, spreadsheet, presentation) and to have some self-paced teaching applications.

 

[hinkjc]

I didn't read everything, sorry. But I do want to say we have already received 3 fundraisers in the first 6 weeks of school. This is getting crazy! I feel awful even asking people if they want to buy something anymore. I mean, come on..look at the economy. I'm wondering what else is coming over the next few months.

 

[EweSheep]

Next would be Girl Scouts cookie sales! i would take that instead of fundraisers!

 

[chickaddict]

We kept ourselves up to our eyeballs in debt keeping our kids in a parochial school that was and is surviving on fundraisers.

If it was only the school fundraiser (twice a year) I could live with that but its all groups.

In one year alone we faced the following list

cub scouts - at least 2 per year plus the cake auction
and selling hot dogs at the mum parade
basketball - at least 1 per year plus selling ads for tournament
pamphlets and working in the kitchen all season
youth group - 3 that year to earn enough money for a national
gathering in Florida
soccer - candy bars and cheesecakes

travel team basketball - I don't even remember what we had to
sell i just remember thinking FAMILY, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS ARE EVENTUALLY GOING TO GANG UP AND KILL US.



The school eventually started an opt-out program. $25.00 a year freed you from fundraising. At 25 bucks they were getting a clear profit that would probably be more then they would have gotton from whatever you were trying to sell.

 

[chickeypoo]

id rather just give them the little bit of money they need instead of selling crappy items that are expensive but cheap. we had a carnival and i donated 6 plates of cup cakes(two boxes of mixes and one can of frosting and sugar i colored myself and a few mint candy leaves and black jelly beans and licorice) and they had a few cute games but also had TWO inflatable things.. now i am sure that wasnt' free! so why not just have a few nicer games and no inflatable things. ugh. what's the point of having a fundraiser if you spend extra money on the extra stuff you don't really need? maybe i will be joining the PTA this year to see what's going on.

Sue

 

[Kanga77510]

I think we're on our fourth school fundraiser. They had one within the first week of school. Drives me nuts. I get they need funding for the school, but it's like they make Avon people out of my kid.

My Girl is in the Girl Scouts and does cookie sales, they practically sell themselves! I'm cool with that. The school stuff, not so much.

 

[007Dawn]

They should at least give a pizza party for the children. That is a shame! BUT we live in a society that me and me and me only counts.