The Pros and Cons of School Fundraising
January 31, 2012 at 10:14 am
by familycircle
Guest blogger Alina Tugend on school fundraising.
As the mother of a high-schooler and middle-schooler, I’ve now gone through, oh, let’s see, about a dozen years (more if you count pre-school!) of bake sales and car-wash fundraisers and stuffing tubs of frozen cookie dough I don’t particularly want into my freezer to support our schools.
Don’t get me wrong. The public schools my two boys attend in our New York suburb are terrific and I’m happy to support them. But like every parent I know, I’m tired of being hit up for money. And it’s only getting worse. When the economy tanked a few years ago, even solid school systems like ours were hit. Suddenly emails were flying around the community begging families to help raise the tens of thousands of dollars needed to keep some of our sports teams going.
While interviewing experts and parents for my article in this month’s issue of Family Circle I found myself constantly nodding in agreement. Yes, all public schools are facing a funding crisis. Yes, private money is needed. But there’s a real danger that goes along with that. Corporate donors can certainly help out, but at what cost? Our children are already slammed with so many commercial messages outside of school – do we want to bring that kind of advertising into schools as well? And how will sponsorship influence what schools buy?
Private money from parents also comes with a price. Will a family that gives big to a sports team or drama club have undue influence when it comes to their child’s spot on that team or in the school play? Won’t such fundraising inevitable exacerbate the already large gap between wealthier and less affluent school districts as richer communities can give far more than poorer ones?
And finally how much time do we want teachers and administrators, already overburdened, to devote to fundraising activities?
But fundraising won’t go away. There are ways to develop programs that do it in the best and fairest way possible. One example is set up a non-profit schools’ foundation for the entire district, so many raised is equitably distributed among the schools. Another is to do bigger but fewer fundraisers over the year, so parents don’t feel they are being hit up at every turn. And schools need to make sure they have strict guidelines in place about who they will take money from and how it will be used.
As all administrators told me, no one likes fundraising, but it’s a necessary evil. The focus in the future should be to do it the best way we can.
What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Alina Tugend’s book, Better by Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong (Riverhead) is out in paperback this month. She also writes the biweekly ShortCuts column for the New York Times and the parenting column for Worth Magazine. Alina lives in New York with her husband and two teenage boys.
Win Field Trips for your Favorite School 
First, I believe that we pay suffient taxes to cover the expenses for our children’s educations if administrators would stuff less in their pockets. Second, I’d prefer to donate cash directly. And, as for the grandma with the “duck” issue. We offer our children a special toy at the store INSTEAD of doing the fundraisers put on at their schools. They are quite happy to comply with this approach and it saves us money. HOWEVER, we also generously give art and classroom supplies to their teachers throughout the year.
Good thing there a private schools!
I was in the same position as others, getting frustrated with putting in alot of effort/time doing a fundraiser, and only getting a few $100, or thinking that getting 40-50% return on selling a product was good UNTIL I found The Go Card (www.thegocard.com). Not only did this fundraiser make us the MOST money than any other (we made 86%!!!), it was easy to manage, easy to sell, helped our local businesses AND helped families budgets for an entire year! I am confident that we will not go back to the cookie dough, popcorn, candles, etc. when there is a product like The Go Card !! Highly recommend it to others looking for an easy fundraiser, and easy to sell…..
It’s a sad fact that our states no longer provide the financial support that our schools need. So, fundraisers are a necessary evil. However, some schools have crossed the boundaries of good taste.
Our school also participates in fundraisers that ‘reward’ some children who sell more than others. I find that very sad and against what would seem to be the better judgement of adults. No matter how you explain it away, you’re left with very hurt feelings.
With that said, I recently organized a Father Daughter Dance at our small elementary school. It was a huge hit! I found a great DJ, who volunteered his time, and bought decorations at the local dollar store. I rounded up some parents to help decorate and supervise the event. We charged $10 per family, but offered free ‘vouchers’ to families that are struggling financially (discreetly, of course). We raised $650 for our school with a two hour event. Not bad for a school of 200 kids!
I learned last year when my granddaughter started kindergarten of a fundraising practice that I find completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, many of our local schools use the same company/model. While the company and parents group that organizes the fundraising insist that it is completely voluntary, I disagree. They effectively force participation by awarding weekly prizes (cheap plastic ducks or frogs that the kids collect on lanyards) based on how many items the child sold. I believe in contributing to our schools and would happily give cash (where the school gets 100%) instead of ordering extremely overpriced merchandise, I cannot. BECAUSE you only get a duck if you sell a certain number of items during a set timeframe. This Grandma sure isn’t going to tell her 5 year old ‘no ducks.’ Then to make things even worse, they have special events DURING SCHOOL HOURS that only those who sold enough items get to attend. This year it was some kind of performance by a BMX stunt bike rider. The kids whose parents could not afford to buy the requisite number of items, or chose not to for some reason, are excluded. I wrote to the parent’s club and the school principal last year to protest, but nothing changed.