We have done the wrap up party at our school for several years. Everyone gets to attend, but there are special activities for those who participate and those who meet a specific goal. The "special" activities are set up in a different area so that it is not right there for the other kids to fret over. The kids who qualify receive a bracelet that allows them access to the special areas. This has worked well since we have done this for many years, the kids know they need to take the fundraiser seriously.

BTW: our participation requirement is attainable by EVERY student. Each child receives credit for participation by taking the fundraising information home and sharing it with at least one guardian. The guardian only has to initial that they have seen the information and return the packet to the teacher. No purchase has to be made to receive participation credit. We found that many kids were simply leaving the fundraiser in the backpack and parents never saw it. Once we started this sign-and-return process our sales went up. We also were able to see that every child put some effort into receiving the reward. Honestly, I feel like if they can't do this small bit in two weeks, they don't deserve to attend the party. I am sure there would be extreme cases, but in most situations, this should be attainable by every kid.

This has been an interesting discussion. At our meeting in November, we're planning on going over our fall fundraising efforts and talk about the pros and cons of what we did, and start planning for next year. I'm going to use some of the discussion points on this board to facilitate the conversation. I don't think there's an easy, one-size-fits-all answer to this issue.

This fall, we used a company that our old board locked us into last spring. It is our second year with this company. It was a catalog fundraiser, with various incentives, including a show during the school day for the top sellers (at least it's not just a big party; there actually is an educational message to the show). We also introduced an opt-out program this year, where you could just give a tax-deductible contribution to the parent group instead of participating in the catalog fundraiser (and your child still received certain incentives if you gave a specified amount of money).

While I felt vaguely uncomfortable with the show, we've never had a parent or teacher complain about it. And it's not like 80%, or even 50%, of the kids get to go to it. It was a little under 10% last year (will probably be the same this year). My own daughter didn't get to go, and, quite frankly, she couldn't have cared less. When you have such a small minority going, I honestly don't think there are a bunch of kids running around with hurt feelings. Of course, the flip side of this is that if so many kids don't really care, how effective of an incentive is it??

We put in the opt-out option for a couple of reasons--to test out the waters, because we're toying with the idea of going with donations only next year, and because we were a little worried that with the economy, people would feel better about sending us a few bucks and having us benefit directly than by buying an overpriced item. Also, the principal liked the opt-out idea, but was afraid that going with it 100% would make the lower-income families feel left out, because many of our better sellers are people from low income families who pass the catalog out to friends and co-workers--requires some effort from the parents, but no money out of pocket. (The principal at another local elementary school would not let her parent group do the opt-out at all, because she thought it was unfair to the lower income population. It's interesting to me that two principals have basically the same thought, while some people posting think exactly the opposite--that the catalog sales are unfair to low income populations.) Anyway--out of a school with 1000+ kids, we had fewer than 20 families participate in the opt-out. So....while people can say that they would rather just give money to the school directly, actually getting them to do it is another story all together.

This fundraiser is pretty much the main source of money for our activities during the year. Everything else we do that takes in money is tied into some sort of family activity, and we usually only charge between $1-$3 per person on those things to cover part of the basic costs. Many of our activities are free. I think many parent groups are like us, in that they need one big fundraiser at the beginning of the school year to get things going.

There's some pretty strong language in some of these posts about extorting money from parents and making kids feel bad and how people who promote these fundraisers/incentives are insensitive lunkheads. But people have been doing these catalog fundraisers for decades because they work better than anything else. We sell overpriced stuff because people buy it--basic supply and demand. And some kids really are motivated by the various incentives. Perhaps there could be some more thought given to the incentive programs, but for the reasons daddio posted, it doesn't seem fair to reward everyone when only a few have sold, either. Besides, effectively every kid does get rewarded when the parent group does things like use the money to pay for field trips for everyone, as one common example, or pay for a reading incentive party--stuff like that.

All that said, I'm kind of partial to classroom prizes and the idea of giving raffle tickets to kids who sell to get the really big prizes--so if you have a Wii for a top prize, even the kids who sell one or two items still get a chance at it.

I'm so glad to see this question posted, I have a question and would like to see what you all think. My company actually does discount cards and we're planning to run a program where we involve all of the elementary schools in our district. The idea is to have a fundraiser that's going to help raise money to buy Christmas presents for kids in local foster homes while at the same time raising money for each school.

My idea on the incentive is to make it so that whichever school sells the most cards would get a Pizza/Magic Party. I sort of felt bad at first, I know that all of the kids will work hard but we can't afford to do a part for every school. Do you think the idea of doing the party for the highest-selling school is ok?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Roddy

Congratulations on your successes LD. You should feel very proud of the assistance you've offered your group. I wouldn't lump those of us who disagree with incentives as complainers and non-doers however. Many if not most of us work hard to ensure our schools are successful. We are just not choosing the path you have to promote success. Our group is also very successful in supporting our classrooms, over 17k last year in direct contributions through Adopt a Classroom and number 3 in the nation with our support using that particular program. We did not offer incentives, were amazing 'doers' and seemed to still make it all come together.
Good luck with your future fun raisers. The school is benefitting from your support.

d

Hello Everyone,
I have read all of the previous posts regarding this topic and my response will certainly not agree with alot of you.

I have just wrapped up our schools first Walk-A-Thon. Our school has 200 students, prek through 8th grade. I ran a very organized, ambitious fundraiser (goal was $7000.00), had approx. 1/2 the students and their parents attend, and raised a little over $14,000.00! How did I do it? By asking people to join in the fun, offering incentives (Yes, I did and they responded), asking of their time and showing them how much fun and how successful a Walk-A-Thon can be.

Biggest problem you ask? Parents with BAD ATTITUDES...yes, Im saying it. First off, the money should not be coming out of the parents own pockets, it should be coming from friends, neighbors, Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts & Uncles, bosses, co-workrs, in return your child shows his appreciation by walking a certain distance or time. Not only does it foster fellowship with other parents, students, neighbors, but it teaches your child that nothing is for free, that if you work for something, you will get rewarded, a math lesson all rolled into one, preparing them for real life, etc. etc. The list goes on.

I completely agree with DadHelper...he was right on! Now, I have a huge problem with Michelle/SeaShells73, can't imagine you will be the head of PTO and Fundraising Chair for long with that attitude. What are you teaching the children, protest and not participate? I'd say about 50 parents tried that little protest with this Walk-A-Thon, parents who know better, and guess what? While they were expecting this to fail, no one was more surprised than they when they found out how fun all the other studenst and families had, getting into the spirit and excitement of it all, and the students knowing that they were the reason for the success. Forgot to mention, we chose for the money to go directly back into the classrooms, teachers choosing what they would like to purchase. Each is receiving $1000.00, most are purchasing new technology, which previously had not been in the budget.

The most successful students were the ones who are not well off, you can tell by their pledge sheet writing, how many pledges they received, and by the change floating around the bottom of the envelope. They worked hard for those prizes. Yes, some parents do have alot of money, would you criticize them for being generous and your child reaping the benefits of that? Let's face it...parents who complain are putting their own road blocks and personal problems on these fundraisers, my motto is, "Once a complainer, always a complainer". My other motto is also, "Do not cater to the complainers of the world, cater to the doers". And boy did it work! I had over 50 parents jump on the "To Do" list, without being asked. Not that made my year! Good luck to all of you, should you need more specific help, please contact me.
LovinDisney4

Some of the responses to my post are expected. I respect each and every opinion; as you too, are a true volunteer.

Regardless if you agree or disagree, the bottom line is this. Our school district is financially strapped for cash and we need to do what we do to maintain our $50k budget for our school each and every year. We are not handed anything by the district and we are depended upon to get those "extras" that are needed each school year. Not once, do we hear a complaint about it. If they cannot sell, they cannot sell. For us to keep up doing what we do, provide those attendance incentives, provide educational assemblies, host our excellent six Family Nights a year (for free), have our free skating parties, provide funds for class trips, etc.; this has to happen. In an area of our city that generally gets ignored, we do very well and the parents do not complain about it at all.

What works at one school does not necessarily work at another. We tried the donation thing twice and it did not work too well. We had to eliminate several events and incentive programs because of a lack of funds. That was unacceptable. The parents rather do the catalog sale. There are many factors that go into this issue and obviously, we all live in different areas; which dictates what will work and what will not. With everything we do for our 1100+ students; they really love us for our hard work. Every kid in school receives something from our parent group each school year; so nobody is ever left out. With that said, do not feel sorry for our kids. Feel sorry for those students who have no parent group in their school.