The Economy and Fundraising
October 6th, 2008 by tsullivanHow’s your fall fundraiser going? This Lancaster (PA) feature takes a critical look at some early-return fundraising struggles for area schools. My take on the current situation included in the piece.
Will just add a bit to my quotes that made the piece: think one big challenge will be what groups will do if these lower returns continue. There will be great tempation to run another big fundraiser or two. Trouble with that, though, is that more groups than ever will start to suffer from over-fundraising-itis.
I’d rather adjust the budget down if we have to (or work even harder on our one biggy) than lose parents for the long-term by fundraising them to death.
How are your returns so far this year? And what are you doing about it?
October 7th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Hi! It’s not good! We do a big catalogue fundraiser (wrapping paper, magazines, chocolates, and gift items all in one) and we are finishing up the counting and our take will be close to $4000 less than other years…I absolutely feel that all the talk about the economy kept many people from selling and buying.
(Also, this year’s pto inherited this fundraiser - it was already contracted by the former board, and it has been done for several years…so perhaps families are also tired of the same thing over and over again…PLUS: last year’s treasurer embezzled $16,000, so MANY fundraisers were done in the spring to make up for it - so families may just still be tired and perhaps they were alienated!?! it feels like a triple whammy of circumstances!
Regardless, we are just going to adjust what we’re able to give to the teachers. We are going to encourage the Box Tops campaign, ShopRite is having their card sign-up now to earn credits toward products, we have a book fair coming up (which mostly profits in books and a little cash), a ‘Holiday Store’ in December, and we’re going to sell spirit wear soon.
So there’s lots going on that’ll soften the blow….we’ve already had a movie night and between selling bottled water (most of which I got donated from a local distributor) and raffles the whole eventonly cost us $20 - So 200 people enjoyed a night out with free popcorn and Fruitabu (thank you PTO Today for the samples!!!!!), we did get the one time license for $75…and in the end our expenses were mostly covered and it only cost us $20! Yankee ingenuity! It’s just going to take a little more creativity from now on.
We were also incredibly fortunate to have won a $2000 arts grant from Target! We requested it to bring CT Opera’s “Opera Express” to our school…and we’re a big school so we have to do 3 shows….we couldn’t do it without the Target grant. So we have that to look forward to in January! There are planty of grants out there, and most of them are pretty straight forward, so that’s another avenue that can be pursued, but now I’ve given the hint away!
Thanks!
October 8th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Same here. We wrapped up our gift catalog fundraiser last month and our take home profit is $5000 less than our spring gift catalog!! Granted they were from the same company, but this is only the 2nd school wide fundraiser ever at our school since there was no PTO in existance before the last year. I do attribute it to the economy.
October 14th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Same here is Spencerport NY - we did kathryn beich (gift wrap, etc..) We usually raise $10,000 - this year we raised $5000.
We didn’t do a “kick off” assembly because we had complaints last year. I went into each classroom and spoke with the children for a few minutes.
We need to rethink our fundraisers - do more, do less or change it up.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
We are trying to focus small fundraisers that cost less and are more consistant, like monthly Popcorn Friday and concessions. We are struggling to not raise prices as cost go up and are finding that we sell more when we charge less, so we have been able to make about the same amount of money. We are trying to change our big fundraisers to kid lead and involved events, word of mouth goes farther then 30 posters put up or letters sent home to parents. And our biggest change this year is to try to go 90% paperless, using our new website, blanket emails, & auto dialer system to get the word out about events rather then papers that 9 times out of 10 was being left in lockers.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:05 am
It’s the same here in Illinois. Every fall we do a brochure fundraiser and this years profits are down by several thousand dollars. We have also been doing a lot of other fundraiser to raise money for new technology. We need some simple ideas to keep everyone from getting “fundraisered out”.
October 18th, 2008 at 12:56 am
We have the same problem, our fall fundraiser did better than expected because we assumed 50% less than last year. We also inherited it and it has been around for some time. We did about $1,000 less than last year. I think we were saved by two huge orders around $700 each.
I think the problem is not just the economy but the mood of our country. We are in a frugal mode and many of the items in the catalogues are over-priced, luxury, or plain expensive junk. We can get the same stuff at any discount store.. so we do.
I really believe that a direct fund drive might be the way to go instead of catalogue fundraisers for a while. I think the saturation of these events has finally hit. Think about it, if we just asked for say $10.00 per child.. our school that’s about $6,000! If we are a 501(c) parents could deduct it. Some employers do matching donations. With fundraisers, if a parent spends $10 on an item, we’re lucky if we get $3 or $4, and the parent has spend $20-$30 to GIVE a $10 donation.
I say we cut out the middle man (the fundraisers) who are getting 50% or likely more of the money. No more selling, delivering, shipping, returns, order forms, deadlines, and on. Parents can put a little change bank together if they want.
If we decided just to do the fund-drive instead of inundating them with catalogues full of stuff we don’t need or really want I think it shows respect for parents time and values their money. I say give $10 for a child and let the parents buy what they need with the savings in NOT having to buy fundraiser stuff.
Also, we want to do event fundraising. We love all the events that we sent away for in PTO today! I think if we stick to these, and have creative direct money drives we could still afford to give the normal funds to our teachers. If we had “50 cents day”and asked every child to bring in 50 cents.. we would earn $300. Imagine if we did this twice a month.. most parents would not find this a problem in their budget and many kids would be able to find the 50 cents just laying around their homes.
Either way, I think parents are speaking loud and clear that catalogue fundraisers are NOT the greatest thing anymore.
October 21st, 2008 at 7:26 pm
We were fortunate that our gift wrap fundraiser made only slightly less than last year. We did, however, bring in more from Membership Drive by asking for direct donations.
We are not going to do more fundraising this year (does Spirit Wear count?). We are going to focus on activities we can hold that will break even. We are going to communicate to families that we are sensitive that this is a tough time and will not be doing a Dinner Dance like we have in previous years. We have built a school garden with the successful fundraiser.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:46 pm
We actually had a great fall fundraiser. We changed it from a wrapping paper sales to a Walk-a-Thon and went from $10,000 to $24,000. We had been doing wrappiing paper for 10+ years and our parents/community needed a change. Just making a change created a lot of excitement. We also made the entire week a Wellnes Week and involved the entire school (music classes, art class, PE classes, an assembly, etc.).
However..we are just starting to plan our spring fundraiser (silent auction/dinner party) and have decided to scale back from our initial budget (decreasing it by about $7,000). That is primarily due to the economic climate - we don’t anticipate receiving many quality items from our local businesses and donations from families. We are trying to encourage people to donate time & talent items (baked goods for 6 months, car washes, cake decorating classes, etc.). It will be interesting to see how that turns out.
Otherwise, we are not reducing or increasing the number of fundraisers. We have a solid, balanced calendar of events and feel like people will participate as much as they can. There is a huge push for technology in our district and we are trying to help our school make some larger purchases.
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:00 am
We actually came out the same as last year, although we were concerned we would not. We raised $20,000 in a school with 750 students, about half or which are free or reduced lunch. We do a direct-give campaign - no selling - 100% goes to the program. Approx 300 families participated. Since we are the Eagles, We call our campaign, “The Eagle’s Nest Egg”. This was our 4th year doing it and we revised it this year. This year we added an email campaign and online donations through Network for Good. I think this added about $2500 to what we raised, and I don’t think we would have reached our goal without it. We also created a big nest on the wall outside the cafeteria and added eggs with the kid’s names on them as they turned in their donations. The eggs were big, and easy to read, and different colors based on the level of giving. There were so many they ended up all down the hall, covering the walls. The kids loved finding their name and the recognition on the wall encouraged more to participate. We also had a fabulous donation of prizes from local businesses. We purchased some prizes, and together with our printing expenses, etc. we kept our costs at 10%. I highly encourage the direct-give fundraiser. Parents will give what they can afford, even if it is only $5-$10, and we don’t have to buy a bunch of stuff we don’t need. The kids still get motivated and rewarded with prizes. We are doing a free Movie Night since we met our goal. We also added a slide show about what the PTA does and why we need the money - seeing the visual presentation helped a lot of students understand why we were doing the fundraiser.
Lastly, we started a new email communications this year using Constant Contact. Over 500 parents are on our email list and we use this to communicate more information, more often. Parents are told when we purchase classroom supplies, books, etc. Before, no one really knew the specifics of what happened to the funds unless they attended our meetings. Now, more families feel connected to the school and have a sense of pride about what their donation is doing for the school.
We have our Book Fair and Art By Me Sales coming up. We are glad that we lowered our expectations for these on our budget because we do expect these to come in lower than last year. It is one thing to give $10 and know it is being used for your kids. It is another to spend twice that on an item you really do not need given the state of the economy. Our “plan” is to increase attendance at the Book Fair through some lunch and breakfast options that allow parents to have a special meal with their child and then tour the Book Fair. We will see soon. Good Luck to all!
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:46 am
We only have one major fundraiser our FunRun/Walk. We raised $ 5000.00 less than last year. We are know looking at additional fundraisers that are not your typical, candy sales, wrapping paper, etc. We are going to do a Mom-Mom sale in the spring. Going to our resturants and seeing if they have a dine for donate programs. Bagel sales, Election day goodies sale, etc. If we think outside the box we may come up with additional fundraisers that are family and event based and everyone has great time. One of our schools in the area is doing a Road Rally (adults only) with a raffle. We are thinking of doing this for next year.
I hope everyone has a great year.
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:20 am
Donations? Be careful!
We ran our annual magazine drive and earned about half last year’s profit. One thing we added this year was the opportunity for parents to simply send in a donation if they did not wish to buy a magazine and it bombed! We had six parents out if 1600 opt for the donation. I think it just gave them an out. We are going to try a membership drive but we want to give the parents :something” of tangible value for their membership investment. We are developing a special membership card with discounts from our business partners. We have a great group of businesses that have all agreed to offer “10% off” when a parent shows their card. Bottom line is.. I feel everyone expects something in return for any cash donation. Unfortunately simply supporting our efforts to make the school a better place for their child is not enough.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
We are only allowed to hold 2 fund raisers each year. Last year we held our 2nd Annual Golf Tournament and we saw a decline in players because of cost and the economy at that time. We also saw a decline in sponsors, so this year we went another way. We sold discount coupon books that were custom made to our local area. We sold over 400 books at $20 each with a 50% profit. That was more then we made the year before with the golf tournament. I feel people are looking for something thwey can use in return for their “investment”. This was just the ticket. We will also hold our 2nd Annual Walk A Thon this year, and although we can onlu do this with the PE classes we did raise $1300 last year and believe we will raise more this year. Both of these fund raisers are the “biggest Bang for the buck” when it comes to time and energy. Since we are a middle school and there are other school held fund raisers the PTO can only do these 2 fund raisers but hopefulyy this year we can raise more then last year even with the economy as it is since the fund raiser we are holding do not cost us a lot in “prize money”. Most of the Walk A Thin prizes are donated and the coupon books make enough to cover the prize money and still give you a good return.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I am with the Community Relations Committee in our school that is in charge of the communication, family events, tracking volunteer hours, getting volunteers, recognizing volunteers, etc. We do fundraising three times a year and then the PTA also does one catalog fundraiser, then we have our art teacher that does fundraising where the kids make a picture and then they sell products to her the pictures placed on the item that is ordered, then at the end of the years we do a Springfest which is a small carnival the PTA puts on, and our 6th graders do a fundraiser to go on an end of the year field trip, and also two silent auctions.
We do and all you can eat pancake breakfast from Applebee’s the kids love volunteering as they get to serve, clean up, and ask for orders and well as parents. These Breakfast are done in themes, we had a Halloween breakfast where the kids could dress up in their costumes, the next one will be Christmas where the kids will eat breakfast with Santa and get to take their pictures if they want to, and the next one will be St. Patrick’s day (which will be our small breakfast, which we may eliminate) these are the most fun fundraisers and everyone seems to enjoy them and not mind paying $5 or $7 a ticket per person as it is cheaper then a regular fund raiser we also sell raffle tickets for three baskets for a $1 each so it does not seem you are nickel and diming everyone’s pockets. These funds go towards family nights and volunteer recognition dinners we have every year for those that earn their required hours or above. It this is something different and even though we don’t make thousands of dollars from one breakfast (as we are a small school of 300 families it is just enough for what we need it for) we did make around $500.00 to $700.00 for each event last year and so far around $700 this fall.
The PTA does the catalog fundraisers and they say their funds were down this year do to the economy as well, but personally I am tired of the same old things but they use the proceeds to accommodate the school needs of the classrooms and the students, Authors festival week where authors are invited into the school to share their newest books and to get kids excited about reading and writing their own novels, They also do two silent auctions - one a wine tasting event which tickets are priced very high in the $30-50 range and one at our Springfest event which is free.
The art teachers fundraisers are to help raise funds for art supplies and to be able to enter exhibits with the students art work if they would like, and culture events with in the school. This fundraiser I am not sure how much it gets or if funds are down.
I think we are getting way to much fundraising at our school and would like to see it dwindle down as people don’t have the money, do to lost jobs or cutting back on the spending as they don’t know what lies ahead and the rising costs every item sold does not help matters either. I think in all turn every fundraiser will start seeing that more and more people will not be participating and we need to come up with a way to work together and only do one to two fundraisers for the whole school year for every event if possible with out over charging for items or tickets, even if it means cutting back on our spending as well which in turn will hopefully have a better out come in the future
November 18th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Checkout your the neighborhood burger king and ask them about “cashola” nights. Your school will get 20% (before tax, ask them, not particularly sure about where they base the 20%) of the sales during the scheduled time. so, you’ll just have to advertise it and remind parents to go to burger king during the set days.
I heard that some McDonald’s do something similar too. Just call them.
Also, find a FEW avon ladies in your area and ask them about fundraising. Your school’s commission will depend on what the Avon rep is willing to share.
good luck!