I confess. I never ordered overpriced magazines, or over priced wrapping paper or paid $20 for cookie dough fundraisers when my kids were in school just so they could “win” a crappy prize. I always just wrote a check to the PTA instead. I don’t want any of that stuff–and even if I did, the school gets 10-40% of the sale price. I would rather write them a $20 check and have them get every bit.
Turns out, I am not alone. An article on treehugger suggested that most parents are tired of purchasing over-priced crap that they don’t want. Fundraisers need a make-over big time. The article mentioned a new organization called FarmRaiser. It allows schools to offer local selections for their fundraisers. Instead of a bucket of frozen, over-priced cookies, you can buy local honey, apples, maple syrup, coffee, tea, etc. It supposedly keeps 90% of the funds within the community–if not the schools, then the local vendors and farms that are supplying the goods. I think this is a pretty good alternative to the standard school fundraiser. You get to sample some local fare and support your school. It sends a way better message than $8 wrapping paper. {Plus, as an added bonus, it brings healthier food options into homes}. Doesn’t that just make you feel warm and fuzzy inside? Right now, FarmRaiser is only in Michigan and Washington {random}, but they plan to expand as popularity grows.
What do you think, is this a better alternative to the fundraisers your kids’ schools typically do? Any of your kids’ school gotten creative and gone with some worthwhile fundraisers?
~Mavis
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Kari says
Sick.of.fundraisers!
Mavis says
Amen!
Ashley says
We always did magazines and pizza/cookie dough. I always felt bad when people would buy stuff from me, it’s just so expensive. I know our 4H did fruit boxes, but it obviously wasn’t local (pineapples in WI?). I think using local vendors would be nice, or even just having business donate things to raffle off would be great. Raffle tickets are so much easier to sell, plus you don’t have to run around distributing products when they come in. Just as long as no one messes with Girl Scout Cookies, I’m all for changing the way fundraisers work!
Mavis Butterfield says
That’s right. Hands off those cookies!
Teresa A says
I’m with you Mavis, always just write a check directly to PTA, the club or the school. They get such a small percentage of all those fundraisers that it didn’t make sense to me. Plus I don’t need all that stuff and hate overpaying for what I don’t need. Asking friends, neighbors and family members to over pay for something I will not over pay for seems ridiculous. So I always found out what dollar amount they were hoping each child would produce and asked what percentage of that the school keeps and wrote a check. Easy peasy and you feel much better about not bothering everyone you know to spend money they don’t want to spend anyway. I have bought fruit from local events (in Boise) and that is soooo much better and the organizations always get the bulk of the money after expenses.
Kris says
The last couple of years my kids’ school has done a ‘Direct Donation Fundraiser’. You donate directly to the art or music or library program. Since we don’t receive anything in return, my husbands work will match or donation.
Betty D says
One year when my son was in school….and this goes back 10 yrs or more…..Mavis you would love this one…I sure did…One year the fundraiser was for flower bulbs…..yes the real ones…Id ordered a .Amaryllis. It was a beautiful red one…and it lived for several yrs…this was in Ga…and we moved to Al I dug it up to take with me and it lived several more yrs…and not sure what happened then but I loved that flower. I really think people would love this type now…getting away from junk type foods etc. They make wonderful gifts. and can be around to enjoy for yrs…..Parents need to pull for this type fundraisers I think. It was in the fall of the yr…after school started back up. …Id sure like to see that type again for sure.
Mavis Butterfield says
I would buy flower bulbs too.
Kristina Z says
Yes! Our middle school band does bulb sales every year. The prices aren’t bad, the percentage is pretty good, and lots of people look forward to it. I also really like fundraisers that really get the kids involved more than just selling a bunch of junk. Our HS band does a dinner/ trivia bee every year, which is well- attended, and involves the band members, as well as community members and other clubs on campus. The principle emcees, the v. p. judges and times. It’s totally cool. Plus, we solicit raffle/ silent auction prizes from local businesses, with bids done at dinner and intermission. It is a total blast, good entertainment for the community, and we raise lots of money. (Not much to do around here on a Saturday night, which helps. Booster dinner dances are also popular for the same reason.) Otherwise, parents groups/booster clubs just get a check from me.
Lisa L says
My kid would start asking “would you like to buy ___ or make a donation?” He got LOTS of loose change that way. The last couple of years the school/group has taken in more money from the donations vs the actual product sales. Unless the school is seeing at least 50% of the profit, I will write a check directly to the school, not the fundraising program.
Elise says
LOL. I’m the treasurer of our elementary school PTO!
I don’t remember the exact numbers, but California schools get about 30% per child the money available on the East Coast. This is mostly due to the regulation (no more than 2% annual raises) in property taxes due to Proposition 13, passed in about 1977.
We haven’t done any selling-type fundraisers at our school in many years. We ask for a pledge to the PTO ($600 per child last year and this year), and we average about half that in the actual collection (average $300 per child). With this we pay for Art (1 hr/week/child), Music (1 hr/week/child) and PE (2 hrs/week/child, mandated but not paid for by the state), as well as copy paper (yes, the state doesn’t pay for PAPER).
The district as a fundraiser to cover ALL the schools (to raise all the library funding), and it’s a raffle and carnival in the fall. I buy those raffle tix myself because I don’t want the neighbors to go running every time they see my girls coming to the door 🙁 I save our neighborhood good will for GS cookies too 🙂
Marcia@Frugal Healthy Simple says
A, subject near and dear to my heart, as I’m co-VP of fundraising for the PTA this year. Oh why did I let myself get talked into this??
I am also in California, and our numbers are similar to yours. Our PTA raises money to cover computers, music, PE, art, and science – yep, science is not mandatory in elementary. Well, it started to get too expensive, so we dropped science last year and it’s now being incorporated into “general teaching”.
My first year at the school (kinder), I made a big donation because I didn’t have a preschool cost anymore. Then there were 10 fundraisers in the first 2 months. Ouch! After that they decided to stop with all of the fundraisers and do the “please just give us money”.
Well, that doesn’t work either. We have a goal to get about $25k this way (500 students), and we are at $5600.
It’s weird.
Some fundraisers really work well. Entertainment books – we only get 1/3 of the price of the book, but they sell well (of course, everyone sells them). The spring auction does okay. The jogathon does okay.
We’ve considered adding back in the cookie dough and wrapping paper – it’s tough though – I hate to ask people to buy this stuff AND we are trying to be a healthy school (so why sell cookie dough??)
Our school has 75% of students on free and reduced lunch. One of the wealthier schools in town just sends each parent a bill for $500 per kid (they have a PTO not a PTA, and there’s a difference!)
We are trying to do things like “party books” that are fun ways to raise money – I just don’t understand why some people “can’t afford” a donation to the school, but are happy to pay $300 to bid on laser skincare at the auction, or will pay $90 to go to a wine tasting event as a date night (and pay for a babysitter).
The tricky thing is finding “what works” for your school. Our school’s budget was slashed another $55k this year. We don’t even have a PE teacher anymore. Not even part time. I’d rather write a check – but frankly, I could pay for my son to be in soccer, T-ball, swim lessons, chess, and music lessons – all for less than the amount we donate to the school every year.
Diane says
Wait a minute Mavis! I just read one of your old posts and you bought dozens and dozens of canned good so your son’s class could win the school contest! You even bought some for the competing class by mistake and had to go get more!
Mavis Butterfield says
That was a food drive…. totally different than buying useless overpriced junk. 😉 Good memory though. Ha!
Kimberly says
Most of the stuff schools sell is stuff I don’t want in my home, although I won’t say no to a Worlds Finest Chocolate bar – i loved those and they were a lot more straight forward than these catalogs of low quality “stuff” that will just clutter up my home. I”ve noticed the boy scouts are following the same trend sadly, a table full of random snack foods outside the grocery where we usually see girl scouts trying anything to see what people will buy
CathyB says
I agree. I usually like to just give some money. My kids are like me and do not enjoy selling things, so I never force them to. I do remember, however, the most successful fundraiser that our band ever had in high school. We sold exotic-flavored suckers, which were only about 50 cents each. Of course, almost every single sucker was sold to another kid at the high school. Or often the band member would consume all their own suckers and end up having to buy them themselves. The band could never seem to keep enough suckers in stock. It was one of the few fundraisers where demand exceeded supply. Kids were doing “sucker deals” in the hallways between classes; and swapping multiple suckers for one in-demand flavor. I imagine the accounting for that fundraiser was a nightmare for some poor mom! We never did that fundraiser again. I suspect the high school teachers put the kabosh on it reoccurring.
Ruth A Stiles says
You are absolutely right! Fundraisers are such a hassle and not much of the “funds” go to the school. I know there is a school around here that did an apple fundraiser. It supported the local community small businesses while provided a smart and healthy alternative to processed cookie dough and overpriced chocolate!
Thanks for sharing!
Practical Parsimony says
I hated those fundraisers where I had to buy something! However, my children were gung ho after their assembly and teachers encouraged them and told what they could win if their class sold the most. I had no chance to complain ahead, just afterward. I just went with it and bought things several years afterwards because people bought from my children. There was on school around here just a few years ago who sold apples, boxes of expensive apples. I did not buy those! I would buy slightly over market price, but not five times. A $2 apple is above what is conscionable. Since I buy quarter rolls of wrapping paper, I would not buy that, either.
Randi says
My friend’s daughter’s orchestra is going to New York to play Carnegie Hall (cool!). They are doing a gently used textile fundraiser. They are asking for old clothes, shoes, and yes even rags. Some of the items are repurposed into rugs or even re-used as rags. Some items are cleaned and sent to third world countries. The kids are paid for the textiles by the pound. I love the repurposing of these items that may otherwise end up in landfills (or languishing in my closet!).
One such fundraiser is : http://clothesforthecausefundraising.com/
AaltjeT says
I would support taxes being raised to support the schools and their programs rather than having to rely on fund-raisers. Organizing, setting up, supervising such activities takes valuable time away from teachers that needs to be spent educating the children. Teachers have little enough time for instructional purposes with all the testing and other paperwork, duties, etc. imposed on them.
Karen says
Our PTA just started the World’s Finest Chocolate bar fundraiser. Um, did they not see that Halloween is this week? I will have more than enough candy in the house and I am certainly not signing up to sell chocolate bars. On top of that, those chocolate bars have gotten awfully small. They used to have whole almonds in them and now they have tiny almond pieces. I would rather have paid $2 for the bigger bar. There used to be 30 in a box when I was a kid and now there is 60. As for the PTA, I don’t feel ours does a great job. After giving tons of money last year and not seeing much done for the kids, I decided anything I do this year will be strictly for the classroom and not the PTA. So I didn’t pay the $10 to join the PTA this year. Usually I sign up about 10 of my family members but this year. I am on strike. Well, that is my two cents…. maybe five. 🙂
Michelle says
Our school sells flats of flowers in the spring (!), movie tickets,and Shop with Scrip. Last year, we had one fundraiser a month at our elementary school in some way, shape or form. The scrip program is where people can buy a gift certificate to big box stores at face value, then the school receives 1-5% of the value. The thought is that people need to eat and buy gasoline, and may want gift cards for other stores. I do like when the teachers sign up for the Donors Choose program to request specific materials (tambourines for music class, chapter books for the classroom, drills for shop class, etc.). Our schools’ PTOs are not 501c3, so it’s nice to make a donation, know what the money will be buying and get a tax benefit. Some of the area restaurants have an ‘eat out’ fundraiser, where x% of monies raised on a particular night during a particular time (usually a Tu/W from 5-7p, so slower times for the restaurant) go to the organization. Our previous school did those a lot, and the principal/teachers would bus the tables or deliver the food to tables (these were mostly fast food/self-service type restaurants). Not sure if those raised a lot of money, but they were fun nights out.
Jan Kuester says
I like the fresh fruit fundraisers the best…when the fruit is local or regional, that is. There is one fundraiser that we do which nets the PTA/Cheerleaders or whoever is doing the fundraiser a huge profit-$5 per candle sold and the candles are GREEN, wonderful and long lasting. Lots better than cheesy dishtowels, yukky chocolate bars, or frozen cookie dough. 🙂
Sandra says
The two main high schools in our district each have one major fundraiser — holiday arts and crafts fairs. One school has theirs on the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the other high school has theirs on the first weekend in December. Each fair is different. One is more high-quality crafts, and the other tends to more expensive art. Both fairs charge the vendors for booth rental and the visitors pay a $3 – $5 entrance fee. Both fairs screen vendors for quality product and to make sure there is not too much of the same kind of thing. (There are vendor waiting lists — these are money-making shows for vendors.) School clubs put in labor for advertising, set up, tear down, vendor services (they get free coffee and a lounge). The kids also have food booths that sell all kinds of things, like pizza, gyros, crepes, sundaes… Clubs keep the money for the food booths. The rest of the money above costs goes to the ASB, which uses it for dances, extracurricular activities, spirit day, etc. This kind of fundraiser is a lot of work, but I find it fun. (I used to manage trade shows, so I guess it is in my DNA.) I also attend both fairs, as I like one more for the crafts and the other usually has better food.
sheila says
I’ve already seen 3 fundraiser flyers sent home so far this year. My daughter is in Kindergarten. KINDERGARTEN! They even sent them last year when she was in preschool. REALLY? I seriously consider homeschooling every time I see a new one.
Mavis says
Fundraisers in preschool? Seriously?
sheila says
Yeah that was my reaction, too. Don’t know why they even bothered sending them home with the kids. It would have been more efficient to mail directly to the parents since we all know it’s the parents that would be doing all the work anyway! Half the fundraiser packet never made it home. 🙂
CathyB says
We just went to a fundraiser for a local charter school. They somehow partnered with a local bar/grill style restaurant that has a stage and set up a time frame that was late afternoon/early evening. The kids and teachers signed up for short periods to entertain on the stage (music, poetry, etc.). This restaurant usually charges a cover charge to get in, but during that time period the charge was a donation that all went to the school. I don’t know how much they raised, but it seemed like a clever idea and a way for the business to get lots of people during a normally quite time of day.
Mavis says
I love that idea!
Kare says
I still have wrapping paper from my kids fund raisers 18 years ago. It was expensive but good quality. I hated when the kids sold chocolate bars because I ate most of them. Now when kids come selling those I buy one and let them have it. I love seeing the look on their face.
Mavis says
I’m a sucker for those chocolate bars!!
Jen says
We do a local coupon book, some candles and a night at Barnes and noble…
Elise says
Our PTO has a budget of $275,000 for 530 K-5 students this year. Again, this pays for Music, Art and PE (and science, which I forgot about – it’s a small line item in the teacher’s classroom support budget of $1700/year that covers all classroom supplies, science and field trips). We try to earn about most of that money through pledge, but there are a lot of other creative fundraisers that we participate in throughout the year.
We have monthly “restaurant nights” where a neighborhood restaurant will donate back about 20% of their receipts from school families from that weeknight (usually Wednesday or Thursday night). That’s generally $100-$300 a month. We also have an AMAZING local grocery store that gives out scan cards to the schools, and then if you scan your card at check-out, they donate a % of your purchase to the school. This is usually $1,500 a month! Just to OUR school. We also have just signed up for Amazon Smile. We try to capture “money left on the table” and make it easy and transparent to families by partnering with these businesses. target also donates back to the school of your choice if you use a Red Card.
Any other opportunities out there? I like the comedy night idea, but I think it’s better suited for older kids 😉 K-5 “comedy” can be somewhat tragic…
Lisa Millar says
One of our local primary schools has the good fortune to be responsible for the gate takings at the local show.
They organise about 25 adults and kids to man each gate and collect the entry fees.
They then get a percentage of the total takings which, each year, is about $1000.
They have other fund raisers too… but finding one that dips into the general communities pockets and not just the parents pockets is a tricky thing.
I don’t even have kids, but it seems like there is always some kind of fund raiser on the go!