Vent -- the endless fundraisers

[IdentityCrisisMama]

I'm a new parent to a public school kid. I'm relatively happy with our parent participatory elementary school but am getting more and more irritated by all the fund raisers. The ones for the school are bad enough and then there are weekly things for non-profits that the school wants to support. Seriously, in the last two months we've had a food drive, pennies for leukemia, jump rope for heart, 2 Schoolastic events, several dinners, e-script stuff, a candy sale, a art work printed on crap sale, school photos, Girl Scouts, an e-waste recycling. And that's just what I can remember sitting here at the computer.

Does anyone else feel this way? Is our school just over the top? Would you write something to the school? Am I just a grinch? TAO...

[almama]

I don't think you are a grinch

I'm new to ps too and am feeling overwhelmed by the fundraising, and it is at least half, if not more, of what you are talking about. Donor fatigue? Wanting to do more with my kids' education than bring a checkbook?

I have no solutions for you and probably wouldn't say anything myself. . . .

[34me]

I have said something to each of my kids school about the endless fundraisers - it's pretty ridiculous. What works for us - if the fundraiser is in support of a non profit I believe in I support it, at least in a small way. Otherwise I write a check for an amount we can afford and give it directly to the PTO and tell them not to send anything more home, thank you very much. We continue to save our milk caps from the dairy because they will give the school $.05 per cap and we are drining it anyway, same for box tops otherwise - I'm done. I have three kids in three different schools.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Thanks. I think that what gets me is that I'm kind of a "do gooder" in some ways and these endless FACELESS fundraisers are making me roll my eyes at a freaking food drive, yk? It just feels so against my nature to be such a grouch when I know they're just trying to do a good thing. It just seems to be spread so thin. I want my kid to feel like the community support that she CHOOSES to do has an impact and the way our school operates doesn't offer that at all.

Then there's all the profit for other companies that are involved in the fundraisers for the school. I hate that the school wants us to go to (our equivalent of) Chuckie Cheeze because, if I go on a particular night, they'll give our school 10%. I'd MUCH rather just give our school a dollar than have to spend one second in Chuckie Cheeze. Ah. Then there's the stupid art prints and Schoolastic selling my kid Barbie books at lunch. It's so sad.

Then there's the issue like 34me talked about. Shouldn't we all kind of be doing the most that we can already? Yes, I know I'm not...belive me we have a few extras we could cut out to give away...but this whole idea that everyone just has $5 here and there all the time is kind of bugging me.

And, I have PMS. ; - )

[CarrieMF]

Our school doesn't do alot of fundraisers.

They do the MS read-a-thon, there is no pressure to collect pledges or anything. the school as a whole does read more during March.

The teachers put a team in the Relay for Life, there is 1 blurb in the newsletter about it but nobody is expected to donate if they don't want to.

In Dec you can bring food in to go to the food bank & at the christmas concert they ask for $ donations for the food bank. Neither of these are required & nobody would know if you didn't do it.

They collect pennies for the United Way, again not required & we'll see what happens if we do get rid of the penny as money.

The scholastic book orders come home once a month, there is a bookfair in September.

Other than that there is a hot lunch once a month, concessions twice a year(track and field & Family Fun Day). Once every 1-2 months there is a bake sale, the funds go to the Friendship club or parent group.

[EFmom]

Our school also has a few million fundraisers a month. Mostly, it's the PTA who does all of it, not the school.

I don't do any of the fundraisers, most of which involve overpriced crap. Corporate American can sell it's own overpriced crap and they aren't going to do it on the backs of my children.

We write the PTA a good sized check in the beginning of the year and figure we are done. Dh tried to become active in the PTA, and suggested that they do a direct appeal. The PTA ladies looked at him like he had three heads. It became obvious to him that they are a group with too much time on their hands, who actually enjoy peddling frozen pies.

Occasionally, they'll but a spot on the fundraiser literature about just giving a donation, and we make a point to do that, in addition to our upfront donation, and write a note saying we appreciate the opportunity to just donate without the other nonsense.

[Tinkerszs]

A little blurb on where the money goes:

Jump Rope For Heart - - charity

Art crud - - money goes directly to the art teacher

Pies - - money to the school for things like playground equipment

Book Fairs - - money to the library

Book Orders - - bonus points so teachers can buy books for the classroom

Wrapping paper - - money to the school

Food Drive - - charity

I hate them too. Both as a teacher and a parent and I rarely participate because I can't afford it.

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by EFmom

Dh tried to become active in the PTA, and suggested that they do a direct appeal. The PTA ladies looked at him like he had three heads. It became obvious to him that they are a group with too much time on their hands, who actually enjoy peddling frozen pies.

My mom tried to suggest something similar when my youngest sister was in elementary school (and schools have even ramped up fundraising since then, or so it seems), and got a similar reaction. She looked into it and found that she was one of TWO parents on the PTA who were from both-parents-working families, and that there were ZERO one-parent families represented. All this stuff was being doled out by people with WAY more spare time (and money, incidentally) than the average family at that school. I guess they were just incredulous that the average parent was not participating beyond the occasional cursory purchase of a frozen pizza, pie, etc... they imagined dutiful parents (mothers, in their minds) phoning up relatives and friends, getting them to purchase their wares. She had to explain that after a day of work, shuttling kids to various sports/activities, dinner, and homework, the last thing she (and my father, and us kids for that matter) wanted to do was phone her equally harried friends and peddle crap. One woman actually said, "Why not just do it during the day?" My mom, who actually worked at that school at that time, said "Well, if you'd rather I call my friends instead of working with your kids..." because it just never occurred to her that some people had to work during the day.

I really think some people just find these things enjoyable. I'm so happy that the school I work at doesn't do fundraisers beyond what the students choose to do themselves (they'll make pizzas and sell them, which is quite lucrative as there is no restaurant in the village, or occasionally make and sell beaded earrings or other crafts).

[annethcz]

YES! I feel the same way. My kids have been in school for a couple of months after being homeschooled, and I'm already sick of all of the fundraising. I added up all of the fundraisers and other school costs for this month (April), and the total was over $200! Between mandatory "donations", raffle tickets, the school carnival, school T-shirts, school pictures, field trip fees, book orders and other donations, I feel so tapped out.

I hate feeling like the bad mom because I didn't budget $50 this month to buy school Tshirts and I definitely didn't budget $120 to buy mediocre picture packages. I feel like I'm letting my kids down. Under normal circumstances, I have no problem saying no to my kids when they ask for toys or other non-essentials. But with the school expenses, I'm constantly having to say no, and then my kids are missing out on things that their classmates have. I mean, how embarrassing for kids to have to bring their school pictures back to school and tell their teachers that their parents didn't want any pictures of them!

My kids' school doesn't have a PTA, but they do have a volunteers who coordinate events and fundraising. I've gone to meetings and some of the volunteers do strike me as the type of people who really enjoy organizing fundraisers and calling local businesses for donations and that sort of thing.

I think that next year I will write a check at the beginning of the year and be done with it. I'll also be sure to budget AT LEAST $50/ month towards school expenses (for field trips and material fees).

[supervee]

I realized a while ago that not everyone participates in these fundraisers. Some families don't participate in anything AT ALL--they don't even bring one box of Kleenex at the beginning of the year. That certainly gave me a different viewpoint with keeping up with each and every request. Now, I find out (ask) how much money is expected to be raised. I divide the total expected by the total number of families that could participate, and that is what we give/raise/buy. For things like photos and now Scholastic, the answer is just generally no.

Yes, it seems a bit stingy, but it does make decision-making very quick and easy, and also we don't have to give/raise/buy as much as I would naturally.

[Petronella]

Oh my God, I know! DD's new school, thankfully, does not have much of that, but at her old one...oy, it was constant "Sell cookie dough!" "Sell cards!" "Buy pizza!" You end up feeling like a total ogre if you don't participate because you think that selling door-to-door is not fun.

(It felt good to get that out)

[cosmos]

Thankfully our school avoids any crap sales that benefit corporations, but I have to say that people are generally pretty tight with handing over a check.

I am on the fundraising comittee for our school (and we have put together some fun community events) but when we tried a direct appeal so the few people who normally do the fundraising could take a break from it, it was a failure. The only folks who gave were the ones on the committee.

I am also a Girl Scout leader and I tell you- people sell that junk like crappy candy and cookies and magazine subscriptions no problem, but we asked for $10 in snack money from each parent and I think one parent has paid so far (this is money we ALREADY spent) and we have asked 3 times in about 6 weeks for it.

Sorry to hijack :

Fundraising is insane yet necessary. Programs do not run themselves.

[philomom]

We don't let it phase us at all. Just pick one or two that are the least objectionable and stick to them. No need to do them all.

Honestly, the Sally Foster wrapping paper thing goes straight to my recyclable bins.

[mommy68]

I only had my kids in a public school one year. The year they were in public school there were tons of fundraisers. I didn't participate in them all. If it was a fundraiser where they were selling gift wrap paper or books then I simply wouldn't participate. I never did anything where it involved getting other people to buy stuff, even family. I didn't ask anyone. I would donate things like box tops since we ate from foods they were accepting box tops from. But I wouldn't go out of my way to spend money for things I don't want or need. Plus, being a homeschooler, now that I know how many tax dollars are put towards each child in a public school in most states ($5-$7K per child) I know that my tax money isn't being used wisely in the first place so I'm not giving them anymore.

If my kids come home with a Scholastic book order form and want books on the form then we go to Amazon or ebay and find comparable books or the same books much cheaper and buy them there and they end up getting the books sooner AND for less money.

I knew one woman some years ago that had a DD & DS in school and she went to the PTA and told them she was going to opt out and for them to never send any fundraising information home with either of her children ever again and they never did. This was back in the early 90's and I feel it was extreme but she got her point across. Those kids are both in their 20's now.