I have a confession to make. The last few years my kids attended high school, I didn’t buy anything from their fundraisers. Nothing! Instead, I wrote a check directly to the PTA. So when I saw this form above all over the news and Facebook, it made me smile. Clearly I’m not alone in my desire to open up my checkbook instead of buying overpriced wrapping paper.
Yes, I volunteered at their sporting events and baked over 2,000 cupcakes. But did I buy any? Nope. Not a one.
I think there is a PTA training manual out there that talks about how important it is for these cute little kids to put on even cuter smiles and roam the neighborhood peddling whatever junk-of-the-month they are selling. Because how can you tell them no? And then, as parents, we feel obligated to buy. We shouldn’t, because if we are being honest, most of the stuff they are selling you can buy elsewhere for a fraction of the price. And even though the prices are jacked up for your fundraiser, only a fraction of that goes directly to your child’s school. It’s a racket!
That’s why I just started writing a check directly to them. I knew every penny went right to the school and then I didn’t have 12 sets of sports team mugs I’d have to donate to Goodwill in a year or two. The PTA that sent the letter home above is genius in my opinion. I wish more schools would do the same.
What do you think of the idea? Would you rather write a check and not have to deal with the crazy fundraisers? Do you feel obligated to participate and buy? Do you think the letter that PTA sent in lieu of fundraisers is inappropriate?
This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.
Bea says
I totally agree with making a contribution.
I really don’t eat pepperoni sticks or popcorn, nor do I want to order overpriced magazines (I get about 20 for free) or super expensive wrapping paper (we rarely exchange gifts and use Dollar store bags instead) or limp wreaths at the holiday. Yes, I did buy from almost every child that asked, but always felt the schools earned so little from these ventures.
Loved the script for gift cards and bought the Home Depot, car washes & restaurant cards. The kids maybe got 10% from that, but at least I could also use the product.
Bea says
I have to confess that I never had children, but do support the kids and the schools.
Thank you teachers for all you do!
Linda says
Brilliant!!! I love this!! I have been on both receiving ends – parent and head of PTA – and HATED fundraisers!! I too, just wrote a check and was done with it!!
The funniest story though was my sons junior class was raising money for the prom. They sold candy, doughnuts, popcorn, and pizza. He participated in none of it. His teacher reminded him, as she did with each fundraiser that he would have to come up with his allotted amount for prom. His response was, “Well, my mom hates junk food, my dad has cholestol issues, and my grandparents have health issues – so until you come up with a healthy fundraiser like selling fruits, nuts, or veggies, I guess I’ll have to come up with the cash!!” I thought it was a hoot!!!
Danielle says
they actually have a fund raiser here in Colorado, where they sell crates of peaches or pears that are grown in the Western Slope area. The schools buy the crates for about $20 each, and resell them for $30. It works out really well!
Marie says
Let’s not forget the volunteer who has to order the products, count the money, run down the kids who sold the products but forgot to fill in the purchaser’s name, sort the product into individual seller’s bags, distribute the product to the classrooms AND deal with the parents who whine that their child sold the most so “where is their free gift?” Yikes-never again!
In my opinion, same goes for school auctions. I believe in picking an arts program & becoming an “angel” for them. Most bang for your money without all of your money going to some place that is seen as a black hole for school funding. Am I opinionated? You bet!
Lisa says
Absolutely. Last year I told my husband that I’d just write a check for some amount. My son whined that he wouldn’t win whatever piece o’crap for having a certain number of sales. I told him I’d buy him whatever it was for the 25 cents that it was worth. Of course he forgot all about it. Granted some kids are from lower income households and might not be able to come up with the funds and might otherwise not be able to participate.
Karen says
After working with my sister on an ass kicking PTA in California, I was beyond disappointed with the PTA when my daughter started school in Texas. The school is title one which means a large number of kids come from economically disadvantaged homes. The PTA does silent auctions with starting bids 58% of the families cannot participate in. Then I saw how little money went to the actual school. They do school pictures three times a year, which they get a percentage and they do three horrid fundraisers of over priced, dollar store garbage. The week before Halloween, they sell chocolate bars. Has anyone noticed the world’s finest chocolate bars kind of suck now? Last year they started selling spirit sticks. Their cost is 35 cents and they charge one dollar each. If they run out of the spirit sticks your child wants, they keep the money. I have totally given up on the PTA and support the class room directly. I send supplies or anything they need. Teachers spend TONS of money out of pocket and can only write off $250 worth on taxes. Teachers deserve far better! Ok…. now off my soap box rant! 🙂
Marcia says
The silent auctions at our school have starting bids that 75% of our kids cannot afford (we are also Title I). Over the last couple of years, as someone would bring up the desire to be “inclusive” in our auction, the long-timer would say “stop. You cannot think of it that way. The only point of this particular event is to raise as much money as possible. We have learned that X,Y,and Z sells and it’s about 20 families total who spend the bulk of the money. We have plenty of inclusive events throughout the year. This one is about money.”
Lisa B. says
I totally agree. Write a check to the school OR ask the teacher what kinds of extra supplies are needed for the classroom (depending on the situation). That helps the school directly and other companies aren’t skimming 80% of the profits! Why should these makers of cheap chocolate and plastic junk profit from the after-school sales efforts of your kids?
jfred says
I personally have an issue with schools receiving $9000-10,000 of tax payer money per child, and parents spending $200+ on classroom supplies (hand sanitizer, 24 glue sticks, paper towels, etc), AND teachers spending $$$ every month for classroom supplies and decorations, and parents spending $ for class parties and xmas and valentine gifts….and then the school still wants more money through fundraisers. It seems like a ton of money is being put out there….. (I forgot about all that $$ needed by band and athletic parents….and field trips….) It’s what happens when beaurocrats run the program.
MerryMouse says
Oh yeah, Lisa got it right. When I told the kiddos that I would rather make a check out to the school, the horrible marketers had already gamed that escape clause. Real quick they decided to “hook” the kids with offers of prizes for the most tickets/products sold, so you look like a creep. We don’t do “Book Fairs” either. Total scam. I love donating directly to the teacher. Sometimes it isn’t money, either. I spent a rainy weekend cutting out hundreds (thousands?) of multi-colored paper shapes in all sizes. It brought tears to the teacher’s eyes!
julie says
When my kids were in middle and high school, they had a thing at the beginning of the school year called Freedom from Fundraising. If you wrote a check for, I think, $40, they would never ask you for the whole year to participate in anything. It was brilliant. I was happy to do that every year!
Marcia says
That’s awesome! At our school that would be $100.
Marcia says
I saw this on my feed and also thought it was brilliant.
The first year my son was in kinder, we wrote a big fat check because we didn’t have preschool to pay for anymore. And we volunteered a couple of hours.
But then there were 5 or 6 fundraisers in the first few months. Entertainment books, raffle tickets, wrapping paper/ magazines, a dinner fundraiser. In the spring was a fancy offsite auction, ack!
Then I had another baby (cue the daycare bills again). That year, I think everyone was over the fundraisers, so they just asked for money, but not nearly as “cute” as this letter. It was more wordy and practical.
And it didn’t work.
Fast forward to 3 years later. Now I have a 4th grader and a 3 year old AND I’m on my second year as the co-VP of Fundraising for the PTA. What a thankless job.
The candy/ wrapping paper sales are annoying (haven’t done it in 3 years), but they made consistently $5k to $8k a year. The entertainment books are useful, but every. single. school sells them. The straight up “give us money” doesn’t work so well because 75% of our students are poor and on free/ reduced price lunch.
The spring fancy auction makes about $15k but it is a CRAP ton of work. I cannot do another one. just. can’t. While holding down a full time job. It was a hundred hours of work or more, and that’s not volunteer work where I get to be with my kid in the classroom – it’s time AWAY from my kids.
The summary of all of this is – I have friends who don’t donate much money to the school because they “can’t afford it” or didn’t “get around to it”. But – they are happy to go to an auction and bid on laser skincare, nice dinners, and hotel stays. They are happy to “shop for a cause” at the local expensive shoe store, and spend $1000, so the school gets $300. They happily go out for pizza on the school night where the school gets 15% (so you pay $60 for pizza and the school gets $9). I don’t understand it, but I guess my “job” is to work around it.
Gina says
Our schools have a walkathon. Basically you can just write a $30 check or get sponsors. Then the kids all walk the track w a DJ in the nice fresh air. Teachers and kids get excercise and love it. Those w $30 and above get a tshirt to wear at walkathon and then go to a special dance during the last hr of school. Everyone gets raffle tix for every $30/ prizes given out at dance. Prizes for top earners, too. Businesses can buy banners placed around track and displayed all year. Whole Foods donates snacks and water. Big money made…clean fun…and excercise!
Emily says
I do not want to sound indelicate, but I live in a school district that is so poor we have federally funded free breakfasts at every school in our district. I am middle class and a stay at home mom and we are not rich, but we can pay out of pocket for most sports expenses. However, I personally know many families that cannot. I understand that its not YOUR fault they do not make as much money, but try to understand that for some families these fundraisers are the only way their children will be able to afford sports. I think that the tone of a letter like this could be offensive and that a better tactic may be to have the coach email individual families and ask if they would like to pay fees up front or participate in fundraising. The letter is funny, but not when you cannot afford it or if it would embarrass some people.
Marcia says
I had to count money last year for the entertainment book sales. One of the families turned the book back in (many many did), but this one mom wrote a letter about how money was super tight, and they didn’t know a single person who could afford $30.
So I hear you.
Jessica S says
My youngest 2 are in 5th grade. Their former Elementary school was a K- building and I was PTO Treasurer. We decided ( PTO Board) that the year our kids were going into 2nd grade we were NOT going to sell crap. We were going to come up with a donation event and make kids earn it. We called it Read, Move and Groove. It was the 5th Friday of the school year. Prior to kids were asked to solicit donations and sponsorships. Every Kid participated, Every Kid received participation reward. We purchased beaded chain necklaces and plastic charms. Every kid earned a chain and yellow charm. That Friday kids did 15min of reading ( or being read to) out in the fields, they spent 15 min learning a line dance, they spent 15m walking the track and 15 minutes on an obstacle course. For every $ 5.00 they got a charm for each event. If they got $50 we had a charm for that, $100 got a charm.. we bought a few charms in case we got any kids with donations of $150.00. 2 days before we had recieved minimal donations.. We upped the excitement and announced that in addtion to the highest earning classroom per grade getting a pizza lunch.. the highest earner PER grade got a gift card prize…
The day before I had us at $6800 in donations.. We were hoping to get to 10K.. the plan was I would stick in the school to count the last monies that came in.. other board members and Fundraising volunteers were running the event.. I NEVER left the room I was in the ENTIRE day.. over 10K dollars in bills and coins came in that morning.. Thankfully I had my mom a$100,000 we raised the next year to renovate the playground!
Yes, people prefer to donate if they know it is for the kids!
Jessica S says
*Should read K-3 building
Linda says
1) Why do people send their little children out to knock on doors of people they don’t know pedaling this junk. I am talking kindergarden/first graders. I think you idea to donate is excellent.
2) I don’t understand what school district does with all their money- the kids don’t get many field trips – they are not quality used to be. It is irrating they send kids with this stuff. I understand kids wanting to sell – I feel bad saying no but I do.
Marcia says
The school districts seem to add a lot of district level employees, including those in IT to handle the new testing requirements. Thus, the schools themselves have budget cuts.
At our school, 100% of field trips are paid for by the PTA, including the busses.
We also have had to pay for the computer teacher, the science specialist, music, art, and PE, because these are all “extras”.
Erin says
I told my kids from the start that I refuse to take part in what was essentially a scam perpetrated by corporations. I explained to them that their job was to learn, not to sell crap for some company that really couldn’t care less about their school. I told them that if they sold for the company, only a fraction of the money would go to the school, but if I wrote a check, every penny would go to the school. They were disappointed to not get any of the trinkets the company promised, but they understood my reasoning and don’t even fall for the scam anymore. I like to think they learned something about principles from my putting my foot down about it.
Jenn says
So I have to admit that I am a total sucker for the wrapping paper. Every year when my nieces and nephews come to me with their fundraisers, I just can’t help myself. I have a problem with wrapping paper anyway. When I give gifts, I like them to be pretty. I love wrapping at Christmas time as well. And the school fundraisers has patterns that you will never find anywhere else.
Teresa says
Wow! can of worms. When I was going through a divorce and my daughter wanted to go on the Disney Band trip we had to raise $400.00 I didn’t have 400 bucks to spare so we were directed to pop can drives and collecting metal for recycling. (sold to the recycling center). She worked hard, I did the driving and she earned her trip. It was a lot of work but pretty much crap-less. Lots of pop cans were returned and lots of stuff went to recycling. all good.
Tisha says
I hate fundraisers, with a passion. When I was in school, my family could not afford to participate and I was very aware of my position in relation to many of the others in my class, and that carries over to now. What I do appreciate with the PTO at my children’s school is that the money is used to pay for field trips. They try to insure that each grade goes on 2 field trips a year and the out of pocket expense for the family is minimal. We try to be generous when we can but I would much rather give cash straight out than be pushed to buy things that are incredibly over priced. I do think it is wonderful the events that are used to raise money, like a father-daughter dance, or mother-son kickball and pizza night. The events are wonderful for building community and getting to know people if you are into that.
Anita says
Funny timing for this because I just got hit up by my nieces to buy candy and wrapping paper. I don’t know if I’ll buy anything ’cause money is tight right now, but it’s better than standing in front of Walmart with a can in your hand and asking everyone who walks by for money. That happens ALL THE TIME and it drives me crazy! Even if they are selling crappity crap, at least they’re doing something to earn the money instead of begging for it at Walmart. Just my 2 cents.
Pam says
My daughter is 7 years older than my son. When my son’s school was having a book fair to raise money, my daughter (I think she was 15 at the time) took her own money (in the form of Susan B Anthony dollar coins she had been saving) to his school to buy him 2 books for Christmas. When she tried to pay, the teacher running the cash box told her she couldn’t take the coins. My daughter called me (very upset) to tell me what happened and I drove straight to the school from work. When I spoke to the teacher who had refused my daughter’s money, her logic was that the $1.00 coins were too much like quarters and another teacher running the box would get confused and hand them back as quarters. When I suggested she remove them from the box and put them some place safe until a deposit was made, she simply stared at me as though I was speaking another language. In that moment, I made my choice. I told her that she was single handedly responsible for making me decide to never give another dime to any of my kid’s schools through a fundraiser. I swore my child would never sell a single item nor would I buy anything. And I held that promise through my son’s last day of school. We did fund raisers for the JROTC (which he was active in while in high school) but all of that money went directly to the group, not the school. I have thought of that elementary school teacher often through the years. I estimate she saved me a considerable chunk of money over the years and I would’ve liked to thank her for that.
Kate says
If our society valued education and children more, things would not be like this. I’m thinking of the bumper sticker saying that it would be a good world if the military had to have a bake sale to buy a new bomber.
Tamara says
Hmmm…I believe it was those damn delicious Thin Mints that started the whole fundraising industry!
Mavis Butterfield says
Hilarious. I have no problem forking over money for Girl Scout cookies though. 😉
Gerri says
Oh! I would love to have this form!!! My youngest daughter has been in Cheer for years so that is a lot of fundraising. Last year I made 120 cupcakes (which were awesome by the way!) and the lady in charge actually had the nerve to complain to my face I made too many! All my cupcakes were sold within the hour at $2 each. Needless to say I am pretty turned off now and rather just throw some hard earned money at it even though I don’t have much of that either!
Mavis says
Wow. The nerve of some people when you were clearing doing a great thing! You need this form!