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I'm on the PTA board of our elementary school and now I completely understand the need for the fundraisers. We need them because we provide most if not all of the office supplies for the front office, we also pay for the supplies for the nurse. We also supply every teacher in the school with $100 to $200 per year for extras that they would normally pay out of pocket for. We put on several events for the kids and families throughout the year, and money is needed for these. And much more.
We just finished a fundraiser and we raised a bit over $3000 for the school, so fundraisers are a necessary evil these days. A few years ago the PTA raised enough money to purchase new playground equipment for the school and without fundraising this wouldn't have been possible.
Fundraisers weren't frustrating at all when it mostly amounted to high school marching band members selling candy bars to pay for transportation to a regional competition and the like, but I think it's a sign of a tremendous problem in education funding when kindergarteners are being sent out to hawk wrapping paper and magazines to raise money for front office supplies and/or public school employee's salaries.
Last edited by randomparent; 10-11-2012 at 02:56 PM..
I prefer the ones that just ask for donations. I'd so much rather just give directly to the organization than buy useless junk where very little of the proceeds actually go to the group.
Though, the one "selling" fundraiser my kids have done that I actually like is gas cards. Since I buy gas anyway, I might as well buy it in the form of a card and have some of the proceeds go to their sports team, club, etc.
Child Labor? - maybe in the smallest technical definition ...... however, for all intents and purposes absolutely not
I had to do a lot of these growing up - I was in a rural community and it wasn't exactly wealthy
In order to have boy scouts we would do all sorts of fund raising activities - these were usually more focused on community services.
For little league we went door to door with a catalog of merchandise - all of it was pretty decent and at a fair price. One year I sold enough stuff I was able to pick out a prize for myself, a nice swiss army knife
The local kiwanis club sponsored the youth basketball so no fundraising needed - but it was community supported by the adults in the club and their fundraising.
I was in a vocal ensemble and we pretty much asked for donations (tag sale - pretty much accept any donation for a tag that says I support the vocal ensemble)
For Latin Club our big thing was a pizza sale - we would get some of the materials donated and some we would buy in bulk - basically we would solicit sales, use those #s to order materials and then meet at the school cafeteria on a saturday morning and assemble pizza - cheese & peperoni only ....... they were $5 a piece and you could freeze them if you wanted ...... tasted good as well .... we sold a ton of these
We had a lot of regional latin club events that these sales helped fund and I was able to get some money for a trip to Italy due to these sales
Our school also had a school store that would be sponsored by a yearly class that had basic supplies and concessions at sporting events were the same ...... I could work concessions at the football game and earn money to be used for yearbook, class trip, etc.
These fundraisers really allowed us to do things that a school of our means traditionally wouldn't be able to do, as a kid it tought me to work for thigns I desired and helped foster a sense of community
A far cry from having kids to quit school to go work in a factory or even the modern day cases that we had in our school with the farm kids bookending their day with hours of farm labor
When my kids were in school, I had an absolute rule. Absolutely no fundraising. That goes both ways. She buys absolutely nothing being sold by the school or other students, and she sells or contributes absolutely nothing to raise funds for the school or any school-associated organizations. This goes for all third-party sales or fundraising in which the school acts as an intermediary. I made it a point to communicate this rule to the school administration, so they would know that it was MY rule, not the kids just being rebellious of non-cooperative.
Child Labor? - maybe in the smallest technical definition ...... however, for all intents and purposes absolutely not
I had to do a lot of these growing up - I was in a rural community and it wasn't exactly wealthy
In order to have boy scouts we would do all sorts of fund raising activities - these were usually more focused on community services.
For little league we went door to door with a catalog of merchandise - all of it was pretty decent and at a fair price. One year I sold enough stuff I was able to pick out a prize for myself, a nice swiss army knife
The local kiwanis club sponsored the youth basketball so no fundraising needed - but it was community supported by the adults in the club and their fundraising.
I was in a vocal ensemble and we pretty much asked for donations (tag sale - pretty much accept any donation for a tag that says I support the vocal ensemble)
For Latin Club our big thing was a pizza sale - we would get some of the materials donated and some we would buy in bulk - basically we would solicit sales, use those #s to order materials and then meet at the school cafeteria on a saturday morning and assemble pizza - cheese & peperoni only ....... they were $5 a piece and you could freeze them if you wanted ...... tasted good as well .... we sold a ton of these
We had a lot of regional latin club events that these sales helped fund and I was able to get some money for a trip to Italy due to these sales
Our school also had a school store that would be sponsored by a yearly class that had basic supplies and concessions at sporting events were the same ...... I could work concessions at the football game and earn money to be used for yearbook, class trip, etc.
These fundraisers really allowed us to do things that a school of our means traditionally wouldn't be able to do, as a kid it tought me to work for thigns I desired and helped foster a sense of community
A far cry from having kids to quit school to go work in a factory or even the modern day cases that we had in our school with the farm kids bookending their day with hours of farm labor
You know, I really question the point in bold. Kids, even of high school age, don't really understand what fund-raising is all about. In many cases, the parents take the order form to work and sell the stuff there. Plus, most of these sales are sales of overpriced stuff, and the real beneficiary is the fund-raising company.
For example, just today at church, the youth director was pushing the sale of something called "Butter Braids", basically a breakfast pastry that you bake. The cost is $12, of which the youth group keeps $5! The company pockets the other $7, minus the cost of the ingredients whick is probably about $2 max. It's the same with Girl Scout cookies. My daughter's troop stopped emphasizing them, since the troop only got ~40c per box, out of ~$2. (This was some years ago.) Ditto for all the gift wrap, candy, yada, yada. I don't understand why the yearbook can't just be paid for. My kids' school did sell ads for the YB, but no one had to work the concession stand to subsidize it. As I said, I am fine with fundraisers where the kids actually do something to raise the funds, such as babysit, wash cars and the like. Othewise, I'd just as soon write out a check.
To add, one day a neighbor heard a kid call a woman who didn't want to order something from him a b*tch!
You know, I really question the point in bold. Kids, even of high school age, don't really understand what fund-raising is all about. In many cases, the parents take the order form to work and sell the stuff there. Plus, most of these sales are sales of overpriced stuff, and the real beneficiary is the fund-raising company.
For example, just today at church, the youth director was pushing the sale of something called "Butter Braids", basically a breakfast pastry that you bake. The cost is $12, of which the youth group keeps $5! The company pockets the other $7, minus the cost of the ingredients whick is probably about $2 max. It's the same with Girl Scout cookies. My daughter's troop stopped emphasizing them, since the troop only got ~40c per box, out of ~$2. (This was some years ago.) Ditto for all the gift wrap, candy, yada, yada. I don't understand why the yearbook can't just be paid for. My kids' school did sell ads for the YB, but no one had to work the concession stand to subsidize it. As I said, I am fine with fundraisers where the kids actually do something to raise the funds, such as babysit, wash cars and the like. Othewise, I'd just as soon write out a check.
To add, one day a neighbor heard a kid call a woman who didn't want to order something from him a b*tch!
I dislike the school fundraisers, but I want to point out that Girl Scouts actually attempts to have the girls involved. They are supposed to be learning goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. It is up to the leaders to promote this. After the youngest ages, daisies and brownies, the girls are supposed to do the sales on their own although they also can ask relatives. Parents are also NOT supposed to sell at work though some do.
While the troop gets only a small portion of the sales, the local council gets more. The girls in our troop vote on how to spend the proceeds and the council provides a lot of events that are funded with their portion of the money.
Yes, I realize that the council gets some of the money as well, but GS gives out awards for the most boxes sold and you know most of these kids could not have sold that many boxes themselves. Their parents are doing it. It helps if the parent works for a big company that has few other GS parents.
It bugs me as well to have kids hawking stuff for their school fundraisers at church.
I'm on the PTA board of our elementary school and now I completely understand the need for the fundraisers. We need them because we provide most if not all of the office supplies for the front office, we also pay for the supplies for the nurse. We also supply every teacher in the school with $100 to $200 per year for extras that they would normally pay out of pocket for. We put on several events for the kids and families throughout the year, and money is needed for these. And much more.
We just finished a fundraiser and we raised a bit over $3000 for the school, so fundraisers are a necessary evil these days. A few years ago the PTA raised enough money to purchase new playground equipment for the school and without fundraising this wouldn't have been possible.
Yep, I'd have to just say "welcome to a capitalist society"
The U.S. is different than other countries. Money matters.
My child also received bribes from the teacher to participate and would feel left out of the rubber ducks if he didn't. I remember being amazed that a little rubber duck the size of a pencil eraser held that much importance. But yes, that was his reward for running around door to door amongst the competition from his school. lol Funny how nicely those bribes work on the young. We teach competition early. lol
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