How do you handle them. We have not participated in any yet...so I am not sure if this is something I want to deal with.

Dawn

Mom to Samantha, Jeremy, Paige and Christian

Born 12/12/03 @ 31w 2d



http://lovinglifewithquads.blogspot.com

They're a lot of effort. And sometimes a pain. But, if you want your school to be the best and have some extra cash to make that happen, they're worth it.

I'm an involved parent. I want all the perks that our school can benefit from, so from that standpoint, fundraisers are a good thing.

Not saying I love them, though.

There's a part of me that agrees with the mentality of: let's just put some extra cash in the pot and forget the work of fundraisers. But, that can be hard, too.

We just had a coupon book fundraiser and the suggested amount of books to sell per child was 6. So, it was 18 for us and that was a lot of work. And no sooner did we turn all of those orders in, that a Sally Foster fundraiser was sent home!

So. Yeah. I'm a newbie to elementary school life, so I'm just goin' with the flow, trying to be a hard working involved parent who will help out.

Lisa

I def. feel the same way...however...I don't believe in going door to door and I guess that is where the problem is for me. Our family is just not big enough, and they are scattered all over the country, which makes fund raisers hard.

I guess my question really should have been, do you "assign" members of your family to each child or do you just ask people to order things, and then divide it among all the order forms??

Dawn

Mom to Samantha, Jeremy, Paige and Christian

Born 12/12/03 @ 31w 2d



http://lovinglifewithquads.blogspot.com

Oh, no. Definitely not door to door. In fact, our school encourages the opposite; trusted neighbors, friends, co-workers.

The coupon book we sold had options for people out of state, so that was helpful to families like you, but it's still totally hard to get people.

When I sold the coupon books, I tried to divide them up and give each kid credit. So, if one of my kids "sold" 5 books and the other kid "sold" 4, I couldn't care less! As long as they got some credit, that's all that mattered.

And you've reminded me. I have to buy some overpriced piece of junk from Sally Foster now. So, I better get off the computer.

Lisa

The onlyl thing I've ever had a child sell to neighbors is Girl Scout cookies - because they are $3.25/box.

I am completely against schools having more than one fundraiser per year in which kids are expected to sell things. To the poster that sold coupon books and is now selling something else - I think that is ridiculous and I think your school needs to explore other fundraising options.

To the OP, we are in Catholic school now but my oldest went to public school through 4th grade. There is never enough money to do what schools need to do, that is why fundraisers are necessary - some schools handle them better than others.

Generally speaking, we donate a set amount of money to the cause, whether it be the school, swim team, football team or whatever. Our position is that everyone has organizations to which they need to donate so we are not comfortable asking others to give money to our school, etc. We decide how much we are willing to donate and give it as a flat donation. If necessary we'd divide it among our children but at our school everything is based on family - not per child.

That said, there are great fundraisers out there to which I would be willing to invite folks. We've done breakfast at Applebee's, Barnes & Noble bookstores offer fundraising nights as do many restaurants. These are great fun because kids get to see their friends, the principal, teachers, etc. out to dinner. People need to eat and many eat out so it doesn't feel so imposing to try and coordinate a dinner. Many restaurants offer 15%-20% of the money made from anyone turning in a form for your organization.

With multiple kids it becomes difficult to earn enough for any of them to win prizes but that's never been a big issue for my kids.

Marie

Edited to add: If your financial situation precludes you from donating don't feel badly about it. You might consider donating time to the cause instead - most schools need volunteers almost as badly as they need money.

I do not participate in them and I am the secretary of the PTA. We only get 50 percent of what we sell and the rest goes to the vendor or agent. Instead, I write a check and donate the cash at the beginning of the year for my kids. I donated $200 this year and our latest fundraiser only brought in $1000 after all was said and done. I think most parents would prefer to just hand the money over than deal with the hassle. I may suggest it.

I do the same as "Celesta". My kids are in 3rd Grade now and I am so over trying to get equal orders for each kid. We don't have a lot of family around and I will only go to a couple of neighbors. Everyone else I know has kids of their own so why would I ask them when they have their own fundraisers?

To me they are a huge PITA! I would rather write a check knowing 100% of that is going to the school.




Terri~
12/21/01 at 33 weeks

I no longer deal with find raisers. If I have the money when they come up, I donate $20 per kid. That's the same as selling $40 worth of overpriced junk. If I don't have the money, I don't give any. It is a good cause, but so is my family not going into debt.

Kari S.

Mom to BBB 21, 18, 14
BBG 9/25/01

Hillyt mom to
Ian 12
Ella, Holly, Jilly 7
Hadley 4

I HATE them!! I get it if the school NEEDS $$, but our school district gets 4000 of my 10000 tax bill, 400+ in registration fees, and my 10 PTA fee. Last year they did probably 10 things that helped them with "funds". (carnival food, art tiles, t-shirt sales, newsletter ads, gift-wrap, read-ins, ect)

I was annoyed when I got a letter rquesting each of my kids raise X, or I donate $50 per kid. This PTA (which I am on the board of) carried over a balance in excess of 15,000 from last year. Nope, I pay enough for my free public education....

My boys elementary school moved away from fundraisers. After polling the parents, there was very strong support to just donate money instead. The request was $100 per family for the school and $50 per classroom. The requests have gone up since it was instituted more than 5 years ago. It is voluntary.

The money raised goes for school programs. The district cut our music and art many years ago. So the Parent-teacher group pays for one full-time music and art teacher. With this, each student gets 1/2 a year of music and art 1x per week. Otherwise, there would be nothing. It pays for copy machines, paper, classroom donations, school-wide activities, etc. Everything the district used to pay for but no longer does.

The junior high asks for $200 per family. Many teachers also ask for $15 per child for workbooks. At the high school level, it's the same. Lots of classroom donations. I wrote more than 40 checks at back to school time to the schools, not including a few $5 cash donations here or there.

I refuse to by magazines, chocolates, wrapping paper, etc. And my children are students, not salesman.

Sharon
13 year old b/b/b + 17 year old son

Our district gives us a choice. Donate money or opt for the fundraiser.
I personally despise fundraisers and have only participated in one or two before I gave up. What really ticks me off is that they fire the kids up by showing them all of the prizes that they could be awarded if the sell a certain amount. The dollar amount for those top prizes were ridiculous.
However, I am a sucker for buying things from fundraisers for other kids. Anytime someone in the neighborhood knocks on my door, I'll buy one or two items.

"Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to, but it takes action, perseverance, and facing your fears."-- Gillian Anderson

Do they make you do one or the other? I don't see how they can, unless it's not a public school.

Telling me I have to do one or the other is a sure way to get me to do neither. I would make up for it by donating stuff or money directly to my kids' classrooms.

Kari S.

Mom to BBB 21, 18, 14
BBG 9/25/01

I agree!!! I feel like I pay enough in taxes that there should not be a "have to" involved with fundraisers.

We have decided not to participate in fundraisers. It's just too much! I volunteer at the school when ever they ask me, I will supply what ever they ask me to and I will bake like a crazy person, but I just can't get excited about doing fundraisers.

Dawn

Mom to Samantha, Jeremy, Paige and Christian

Born 12/12/03 @ 31w 2d



http://lovinglifewithquads.blogspot.com

Exactly! Having to try to sell stuff X's 4 is a real challenge. There are enough stresses involved with raising multiples as it is. When mine were younger, chaperoning field trips kept me hopping. They were fun though and a good chance to bond with other parents
But those days are gone for me The kids are old enough now that they don't require parent chaperone's and my 16yo would be mortified if a would chaperone a dance

"Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to, but it takes action, perseverance, and facing your fears."-- Gillian Anderson

Nope. It's truly voluntarily! Some parents choose to donate their time, some contribute directly to their kids classrooms. And if families choose not to donate the district doesn't have a problem with that at all.
It would have irked me too had it been mandatory. There were times in which we didn't contribute for various reasons.

"Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to, but it takes action, perseverance, and facing your fears."-- Gillian Anderson

I refuse to do them unless it's for Girl or Boy Scouts. Our school is ALWAYS sending home stuff to sell- wrapping paper, cookie dough, pizza. it's junk and who can afford it now? The only time I broke my rule was last month. I have 2 5th graders going on a 3 day 3 night school trip and the more crappy cookie dough we sold the less the trip costs. Our school district charged the maximum amount of taxes it can and I send in all my box tops so I'm not selling crap to folks that dont' know if they will still have a house to live in next month. That's just my opinion.

Korrie~
^i^B/G/G 24 w 3d,1/17/00
B 10/31/01
B 1/27/03

<a href="http://lilypie.com"><img src="" alt="Lilypie Kids birthday Ticker" border="0" /></a>

Our school raises money by selling bbq plates, raffles, and an annual Fall Festival. We don't sell any stuff that you have to order from catalogs.

My church has every member sell 10 raffle tickets every year. It's easier for us to buy all the tickets ourselves, lol . . . . we've yet to win anything.

Gloria

I've gotten away with not doing them so far. This past one (cookie dough) I thought DD might make me do it but it was forgotten about quickly and before we knew it, it was too late. I had thought I might make them sell together and share the prize(s), or just go to the dollar store and get each of them the cheezy lowest prize.

Then again, I do want them to have some sense of community. But it really bugs me that the kids are used to sell all that over-priced stuff.

DS did join cub scouts and was gung ho about selling popcorn. They only gave us 6 to sell so not real hi-pressure. Since he wanted to I did go out with him and sold to grandparents. Aunts/uncles lucked out because we ran out and I didn't want the hassle of getting more.

Andi
g/b/g
7 yo triplets in 1st gr.