School Fund Raising

[carmanelectric]

Recently I got a fundraising package from the school. I really dislike these things. You know, the things that a part of the proceeds go to the school and the kids win prizes for their sales. There is rarely anything I am motivated to want, but always feel a sense of obligation to buy something and to help the school and help my kids get prizes.

This year I am subverting this custom. I am sending the school a note stating my feelings and cheque for about the same sum as what I would unhappily purchase. This way they keep 100% of the proceeds of my sales. I don't get stuck with overpriced junk I don't really want. The kids don't bring home the junky prizes that I will have to track down and dispose of in 6 months. I feel that that I making a good stance on this. But I feel kind of shaky, that I might be missing some kind of spirit in it all. Am I being too Ba-Hum-Bug-ish?

[Natalka]

No, that's an okay option to do.

I know the last few years our son had to sell tickets, we just bought them all.

[ninna]

Personally I think that's brilliant. Truth is, we feel obligated as parents to support our children's schools when asked so they know they've got us by the short and curlies.

Unfortunately, I find that some schools are extremely aggressive about the whole fundraising business. Our school is no exception. They solicit monetary donations to the fund right away in September and then the remainder of the year is sprinkled with magazine orders, pizza dough orders, cookie dough orders, hot dogs days etc etc. Then, there's the various "charities" we're asked to support by sending in toonies for this that and the other.

Every single classroom has a smart board so obviously, their campaign is working, but I do also find it tiresome and I get donor fatigue rather quickly. Usually, I support one of the initiatives at the beginning of the year and then say "no" to the rest. Honestly, they'd clean out my wallet if I let myself give in every time and I simply cannot afford to do that!

I don't think you are being grinchy whatsoever. I think you are being strategic and smart and it makes alot of sense.

[snuffaluffagus]

If you're making a donation to the school, you can also ask for a receipt as it's tax deductible . I don't know why schools just don't ask for donations directly instead of fundraising. Parents can save so much money this way and the schools would likely get more $$.

Edited to add: My son goes to a public high school and I make a donation every September. An official tax receipt is mailed to me which I then claim on my income tax returns. For anyone interested, contact your school or school board for more info.

[gracesmommy]

thats a great idea! my dd1 just started JK in september and have already been sent home with 3 fundraiser pkgs and yes, i've already bought a calander, 2 mag subscriptions and a tshirt. and its only october maybe a cheque to the school is a better way to go. thanks for the idea!

[Natalka]

Hm.... schools aren't registered charities, so donations couldn't be used for taxes.

[thriftygranny]

Hm.... schools aren't registered charities, so donations couldn't be used for taxes.

My husband and I donate to the school yearly so we forgo all fundraising. The public schools here have a "foundaton" that is registered and issues a receipt so that you can make your donation to the "Public School Foundation" and the money is allocated back to the school of your choice. I find I can't support most of the ridiculous fundraisers and their causes, depending on how the parent council is spending the money. We do this for my granddaughters school and my son in high school and we specify where we want the money to go, we have made several designation requests depending on what the school needs but usually we make a generous donation that is allocated to Christmas Hampers for the families that need extra help.

[glowworm2k]

I really loathe when I get pressured to donate to any cause and would rather give the school a bit of my time as a volunteer than give them my hard-earned dollars in the form of a magazine subscription or box of chocolates that I don't want. As to the "advanced classrooms" that this junk buys, I went to school in a place where there was one overhead projector for the entire school, where there was no gymnasium, the books for every subject were at least 15 years old (although many were 25 or more years old), there was no library and phys. ed. equipment consisted of a few jumpropes and a soccer ball (we generally were just made to run laps or play tag or simon says, calisthenics version). When I got to high school, there were two computer labs: one had Commodore 64s (this was the mid- to-late-1990s, btw) and the other had pre-pentium speed DOS machines). We also had geography textbooks that had an "East Germany" and "West Germany" and a USSR, and English textbooks that were copyright 1949 (I kid you not; I actually took a picture to prove to my Dad it was as old as him!!). Not to say that all schools should be this way, but I ended up with a Ph.D., so they were obviously doing something right!

Sorry for the tangent.

As to the donations, my Mom used to volunteer at my elementary school when I was small, and I remember at various times having to sort and package tubs of cookie dough, case after case of cookies, flower bulbs, and about a dozen other things that I can no longer remember. We didn't buy most of the stuff as it was a lot of junk food that we weren't allowed to eat in the first place. At first, I was jealous of the kids getting all of the incentive prizes for high sales, but then I got a turn packaging the prizes and realized that they were all worthless $#!7 and I stopped caring so much about it all.

[Granger]

Funny thing: fund raisers such as these are often held by the parent/school council (parent's association is the passe term) rather than the "school" (being the principal/teachers). If you feel strongly I would encourage you to voice your own opinion as a parent at one the meetings. These meetings are open to anyone in the community, you do not have to be a voting member of the association to give your voice.

Interesting discussion. There is usually a newsletter for such fund raisers...an in lieu of fund raising clause could be added.

I personally do not like the inequality fund raising creates. Those who have, can; those who don't, can't AND worse, often inner city schools with a higher population of low SES can't. The "rich" schools get richer and the poor schools get poorer. I hate the cliche, but it is true in many respects.

[Craiger]

We had a little girl come to our door on the second day of school selling a magazine subscription. We like to support the children in our community but can't get something from everyone so what we have started doing is following this guideline...
1- We never buy if it is the parent selling the product, I believe it is a great way for children to develop their social skills and teach them about effectively handling money.
2- Since their are numerous children in our community selling the same thing we buy from the first child that comes to the door, after if their are any other children we just simply say that we have bought from someone else.

We have bought a magazine subscription (I think the cheapest less than $15.00), and we also buy girl guide cookies (the mint ones are to die for!), and cookies at Christmas time as well. Although they are outrageously expensive we don't mind as it goes to a good cause and will help to benefit our children when they go to school.

[kris32]

Yep agreed. There have been a ton of forms this month it is just crazy. Photo forms,fundraising, had to pay for dd trip to pumpkin patch to,book fair and bookorders which i would of liked to order something if the school wasn't sucking so much money out of me i might have. The only thing i have really paid for is pumpkin patch trip and pictures (not going to pass those up!) and i may order some gift bags from dd's fundraisers,she already has quite a bit of signatures, i was amazed she got so many actually. I thought nobody was allowed to go door to door anymore for safety reasons?

A lot of the time i really really wonder where the money is actually going because the library has always had old books, their class trips you usually have to pay for or the place they go sometimes is practically free!!The government also chips in money for supplies.