Question (rant) on Fundraisers

[Nika]

I hate fundraisers. I don't think they teach kids any valuable money skills. I equate them to begging - "We have a need, so please pay for it or be branded a jerk. We will pretend we are selling you something, for the side benefit of you ending up with more crap and a lot of the money going to the manufacturer of the item needlessly." It is an inefficient form of begging that manufacturers take advantage of. My child is 5, so I have not encountered this yet, we are just asked to contribute... Items for every holiday/event, money for TA that has not yet showed up to our son's class!

If they ask them to sell, I will say no.

[riverwed070707]

Agree with most of the others. DD started getting packets sent home for fundraisers in PRESCHOOL with goals that each student was expected to meet, which at that age is asking the parents to do it. This is a public school. We also get them from gymnastics, soccer, etc and she's only 7 now. Sucks because they put pressure on the kids to perform (ie pizza parties for the best class, individual rewards for the top sellers, et) and I don't feel comfortable participating so DD feels left out.

I especially hate the extracurricular ones - generally feel that if you put your kid in organized sports/clubs that you should be able to afford to do so or at the very least not make fundraising a requirement.

[phantom]

I don't have a problem with fundraisers for extra-circulars and trips. It strikes me as a good way to let students do things that cost more money without excluding parents who don't have the means to pay for for such things. As long as the kids are mostly earning money for themselves rather than for a big company, I like fundraising. I like car washes, working the concession stand at football games, and selling hoagies that kids construct themselves and sell for reasonable prices. My husband loves the hoagie sale that the high school's music program does to pay for their band and chorus trips. A few times a year, he gets a phone call from a young neighbor asking if he wants her to bring us food in a week, and he's always happy to say yes. He thinks there's something magical about food that calls him and then shows up at our door.

The idea of a school asking a kid to fundraise just for being a student sounds insane to me. I'm pretty sure school districts in my area don't do it, and I think I would flip if they did. I pay over $5000/year in school district property taxes. I don't think it's right to send the neighbor kids knocking on my door for more, and I wouldn't want to send my own kid out to ask the neighbors for more when she gets to that age.

[Bob B.]

I like car washes, working the concession stand at football games, and selling hoagies that kids construct themselves and sell for reasonable prices.

I have absolutely no problem with these types of fund raisers.

[MonkeyMama]

Interesting responses.

I thought my personal experience might be a sign of the times, but it sounds like it more just reflects our community. (I honestly didn't know all those "Selling stuff" fundraisers were still going on strong).

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

One of our magnet schools is selling a coupon book for $20. The coupons seem to be the same ones that are delivered free weekly by US mail.

[Like2Plan]

Is my family alone? I'd love to hear what the SA community has to say about this.

My perception is this is big business, not charity. These large companies whose product is being sold are making a profit by marketing their product using the sweet cherub faces of our young children. I object to the schools using strong arm tactics (such as--we are looking for 100% participation). In fact, I object to the schools using their name to sell these products.

I also agree with Fishindude77 and phantom in that car washes and so on are different in my opinion.

[amastewa93]

I think that fundraising is a necessary part of public education (if you want your child to get the best experience from it). Those extracurricular activities that will make them shine on college applications come at a cost and, because school is a requirement, they can't charge you to go, but charging students "admission" to public school will really be the only way to do away with fundraisers. If they want to do extracurricular activities, they also need to put in the work to participate.

[Like2Plan]

If they want to do extracurricular activities, they also need to put in the work to participate.

In grade school? In kindergarten? Fund raising starts at kindergarten here.
We do have extracurricular activities in our community at the grade school level, but they are not funded by the school district.

[amastewa93]

In the schools that I went to, in grade school, we had to pay for our extracurriculars. While we may have not had to fundraise, we were still responsible to provide some funding.