School donations

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Do you get hit up for everything for your kids? I mean we just had a walkathon and the suggested donation per family was $150. Then all these other donations and fundraises by the PTSA. No didn't give cash. I do a lot of volunteer work at the school and I'm not giving more.

Plus donating for teacher day, staff day, by grade, etc. Plus birthday books, etc.

Is this the new norm? Do you get hit up for everything and anything your kids participate in?

[creditcardfree]

I mean we just had a walkathon and the suggested donation per family was $150.

Whoa! That is a pricey donation request. I've never seen anything that high.

Schools, particularly elementary, are notorious for fundraising. We have plenty of ways we are asked to donate for my daughter's marching band. Time (volunteering) definitely counts.

[HundredK]

I don't have kids and personally dislike everyone asking for money. That said, I always make sure that whatever money I do donate is tax deductible. If they're having a raffle, I offer to donate dollars to the organization instead (raffle tickets are not deductible). Walkathons and all that garbage, at least typically the amount you pay is to a charitable organization and deductible. So yeah, it's super annoying, I just try and make sure I can deduct some of what I get roped into contributing to.

I noticed on the other thread, you asked whether parents at private schools are asked the same thing. I actually have been to 4 auctions for a very wealthy private school (part of a business thing for me), and it's astounding what the parents pay on top of their tuition. I'd say the average auction purchase of each family on those nights was around $75,000. And then in addition to that, they had a special section at the end where they asked people to donate extra just for the hell of it, and almost all of the parents donated an additional $25k at least (some much more). So yes, I think even rich families have to budget for all these asks. It's all relative, right?

[msomnipotent]

This subject is a sore spot for me. Our taxes were raised, the school fees were raised, and the lunch fee was raised. Then we have to add in gym uniforms, instruments, PTA fee, party donation, and extra curricular fees (like if she wanted to join the track team). We got a newsletter stating the school district has a budget surplus of almost 2 mil, so I don't feel bad at all by saying no to the gift wrap/popcorn/magazine fundraiser, the market day, or the spirit wear drive. My daughter really wanted to sell the candy bars for band, which was a 2 box minimum, so it was a $120 commitment. Then we get another newsletter stating, "Oops, we didn't add the state funding, so that will be a 6 mil surplus if the state actually pays up". I get a flyer the next day for the first dinner night fundraiser of the year. My daughter asked for $10 to try out for the school play yesterday. I thought she was scamming me, but you have to pay an activity fee to be in the play. From my experience, they have fundraisers at least once a month, plus extra fees, and then special fund raisers when there is a disaster or whatnot. I think I have paid almost $50 in field trip dues so far, and she has only been in school 2 months!

I am hoping they don't expect gifts for all of her teachers, because she has 8 of them this year, plus the bus driver. I don't mind giving the bus driver a little something for Christmas and the end of the year because my daughter can drive both of us crazy with her forgetfulness. Ok, rant over!

[Sallyr70]

[QUOTE=HundredK;439810]I don't have kids and personally dislike everyone asking for money.

Me too! It's just too much. It's pretty rare when I give to fundraisers anymore. I'd rather donate my money to charities that I've researched and are helping those truly in need. I'm really glad I don't have my own kids and have to pay all the fees to participate and then be asked to donate more or sell overpriced junk.

[disneysteve]

Our daughter is past this age but yes, there were always fundraisers, candy sales, jump rope for heart, walkathons, whatever. Sometimes we would participate, sometimes we wouldn't.

What we often did when they were selling horrendously overpriced products that we didn't want or need is we just made a cash donation. We'd send in $5 or $10 with a note explaining that we didn't want the product but we were happy to support the cause.

As for the $150 donation, that's insane. Nobody but my wife and I get to decide how much we are going to contribute to anything.

[DaveInPgh]

We have had some fundraisers but have never received any pressure to participate. The entertainment type book I created a thread about is one of them. Bought one for ourselves and another for a Christmas gift.

Various $1 donation type of fundraising, which I honestly don't put much thought into. My child tells me about it, I pull a $1 out of my wallet and move on.

[Petunia 100]

At one point, we home schooled. During this time, I discussed this topic with someone, and they said to me: "Would you go door to door selling something in order to raise money for your home school expenses?" I said "Of course not." I mean, what a ridiculous idea, right? Asking my neighbors to pay towards our microscope or next field trip or whatever. Then the person said "How is it any different when a school is asking?" Well, they stumped me. How was it any different?

From that point on, I stopped participating in school fundraising.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Petunia you've given me something to think about.

[Fishindude77]

Don't have kids in school anymore but occasionally get hit up by kids of family, coworkers, etc. Fundraisers for anything school related; trips, athletic equipment, school supplies, etc. offend me, considering that approx. 70% of our property tax bills are going towards the school systems. Seems to me the schools would have more than adequate money to do just about anything they want if they would quit expanding facilities and adding staff.

[MonkeyMama]

I think the extra stuff is worse for younger grades, and depends how much people go along. I know for a couple of years we were asked to contribute to birthday gifts for teachers but never contributed to that. I don't think that really caught on.

Since we volunteered so much time, I can't say we were ever big on contributing cash.

As to the actual fundraising though, my kids' K-8 school was very good about only doing fundraisers that 100% benefit the school. They maybe fell below 100% at times, but they *never* sold anything that wasn't donated or provided by teachers/parents.

My youngest child started another school and they already had a candy sale this year. I told my kids I will never participate in those and told them precisely why. I don't want to give money to the candy company. I want to give money to the school. I also would not ask for anyone else to contribute to my kids' education.

We are okay with donating cash to our kids' schools because both are excellent and we have benefited personally, very much. We do that, but that's of our own accord and the cash donations 100% go to the school. (& there is more to it. The K-8 school was a brand new school that was under-funded and the money was managed very well, so that contributed to us wanting to help financially. I need to get a feel for the new art school. What does their budget look like and how are they managing their money? As an older and more established school, rated top in the region, I expect they are financially rewarded by the government. BUT, they provide a heck of a lot that other schools don't have to. I'll contribute generously as long as they appear to be managing their finances well. These are both charter schools, so more like a private school experience with tax dollars. My eldest will attend a regular public high school next year. Will have to evaluate that, but at face value I don't see why we would contribute money to the school).