Few things annoy me more than when the kids have school fundraisers and more money goes to the fundraising company than to the actual school.
Actually, that doesn’t annoy me so much.
It really just pisses me off.
So do the fundraisers where people are asked to buy 3 square feet of wrapping paper for $19.
AND SO DO THE FUNDRAISERS WHERE YOUR KIDS ARE BRIBED WITH SHITTY PLASTIC PRIZES.
Oh, those shitty prizes REALLY piss me off.
I’ve been vocal about my hatred of these fundraisers.
I’m probably more outspoken about them than the average person because when you have five kids in three different schools and there are multiple fundraisers at some of those schools and a $30 taco boat is one of the items for sale in the ridiculously overpriced catalog of stupid garbage to buy, that’s where the line is crossed.
So when a friend asked me to be on the fundraising committee for Number 6 and 7’s school, I felt obliged to say yes.
Because, if you can believe it, there is one thing that is EVEN MORE annoying than overpriced, plastic tchotchke-pushing fundraisers that raise more money for the fundraising company than for your actual school —
PEOPLE WHO COMPLAIN ABOUT THINGS AND THEN DO NOTHING TO HELP MAKE CHANGE.
THAT is really fucking annoying.
So I joined the fundraising committee and we had our second meeting last week.
We are running the fundraiser ourselves so 100% of the money collected goes to our school.
We decided on a color run for the kids.
At our most recent meeting we made a ton of progress and had a lot of the details hammered out.
We were all pretty excited.
And then we got a letter from the school district’s medical director letting us know we can’t do a color run due to health and safety concerns (mostly for kids with asthma and allergies).
This means we are back to the drawing board as far as what exactly we are going to do for the fundraiser.
We’d like it to be something fun and active and outside.
So while we are brainstorming, I thought, why not ask the Not Your Average Mom community?
Maybe your kids’ schools have done a really cool fundraising activity?
This is for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students. And it will be in May when the weather is (hopefully) warmer.
Our middle school does a walkathon, and we need to do something different than that.
If you have any suggestions or any experience with activities that have been successful with your schools, things you didn’t mind so much as a fundraiser or things your kids really, truly enjoyed, I’d love to hear them.
Please leave a comment either here or on the Facebook post with any helpful ideas you might have!
And remember, if there is stuff happening in your life that you aren’t happy about, you can complain about it (which doesn’t do anything other than make you even more angry).
Or, you can be an integral part of coming up with a solution.
Sure, coming up with a solution takes energy. And time.
But so does complaining.
And at the end of the complaining day, you are left angry, frustrated, and you still have the problem.
So I’m sticking with Option A.
And I’d love any help along the way!
With 4 kiddos in three different schools I feel your pain on the fundraising! The elementary school does a fun run which is run by a company and the kids have to collect money based on how manylaps they run or just get a flat fee. I feel like that cut off for laps is 32.
It is very similar to a swim-a-thon but you would have to put a cap on the laps. They break the kids up by grades so the whole school is not running at once.
PS I hate the stupid prizes they bribe the kids with to participate!
One elementary school in town does a fun run doing laps around the playground during the school day. Kids have a t shirt and teachers or PTO volunteers check off a square on the back of their shirt for every lap.
Our school just goes for a check writing campaign. Every kid who brings in a check (of any amount) goes in to a drawing for a prize. The principal and vice principal generously volunteer their time and will do things like take the winner and two friends to a movie and out to ice cream or something.
Only thing that comes close to 100% profits is the raffle calendars that sports teams do. Prize money is donated by local sponsors so all proceeds go to teams.
We do a winter carnival type event with a basket raffle – we get donations for raffle prizes, all the classes have a theme and make a basket (participation is not mandatory). We have pizza and drinks/bake sale in cafeteria, a cake walk (all cakes donated by families – single layer cakes that kids usually decorate with every possible candy), a huge basket raffle in the library and games in the hallways. It’s crowded and chaotic but is a huge event for our school. Tickets are good for raffle or for games and are $1/each or $5 for 6 tickets. A local pizza place sells us the pizzas at cost. The games do have cheap plastic prizes which you hate 🙂. It was this past Friday night, we had 130+ baskets almost all were over $100 value, maybe were well above that), and we typically raise 10-12k at a preschool-2nd grade school with ~450 students.
I’m on the PTO at my oldest’s school here in CT. We do a fundraiser that’s been incredibly popular and while we don’t get 100% of the proceeds, we do get about 90%. It’s called Raise Craze. It’s fundraising through acts of kindness. Instead of having the kids sell stuff they ask friends and family for pledges and in return the do acts of kindness in the community. It’s an amazing program. Our tiny school raised about $10k in 2 weeks.
I definitely want to hear more about this one.
We have done awesome with basket raffles but it is A LOT of work by typically a few people to get the donations.
Read a thon – and this is great and wont get cancelled if covid shuts your school down. 99 pledges is a platform that can help with online contributions to get far away relatives to donate and they are now supposedly free and dont take fees like go fund me.
Penny wars
Could you do your run just minus the color part? Maybe have each class wear the same color shirt. Not as fun but might appease the administration.
While raise craze has good intentions it teaches kids to solicit for money by sending emails and doing kindness acts for rewards. My kids didn’t participate because we talk about how we are kind because it’s the right thing to do and not to be bribed with raffles and prizes. The reward for being kind is putting smiles on others faces and knowing you are a good person. Not for a reward
When my kids were young they had a plant sale. With delivery in May this is perfect planting time and you can got mom/grandma a plant for Mother’s Day.
I’ve sponsored plenty of kids for running/swimming laps usually done in February for “Heart Health”.
My sister said she just wants the school to tell her how much they need for each kid and she’ll write the check so she doesn’t have to deal with funky fundraisers
I was part of a school carnival type event where groups of kids got together to create game booths — things like cake walks, ring tosses, and such. It was a deal where each game was a ticket or two and the proceeds from the tickets and concessions went to the school. It was fun and the kids got to come up with the booths and whatnot. I don’t remember exactly how it was run, but from the kid’s perspective it was a good time.
We did what we called a Spring Fling. The teachers created booths and the kids bought tickets to participate. We allowed two teachers to have a booth together. Teachers asked parents for donations for the booth and also to help work it.. Everyone had a great time. Dads club made hotdogs and had chips and drinks for sale. Those were donated.
Life fitness events! So I work a cancer fundraiser where we have a Pilates & yoga master class. 1 hour 15 minutes for each. 15 min break with coffee and cookies for sale. Easy. Indoor Cycling Marathon. Build teams, ride for 1 hour/person. 4 hour marathon. More work, but great fun!
A fun run without the color powder. Glow run. Easy mud run.
Unless it’s the running the medical folks denied. Can’t some kids walk? Skip? Hop?
My school held “An Evening on the Lawn” at the school with great success. The school chorus sang, the art teacher set up framed student work for parents to peruse and buy, snacks and drinks were sold, there were a few carnival type games, contests and raffles, kids played on the playground, parents brought chairs and hung out talking. It was very informal but it brought the community together and raised money at the same time.
The school my girls go to does a fun run/fun day. All the grades rotate between an obstacle course, zumba, water play, and games at the basketball court. A local zumba instructor donates their time to do the zumba class and some fire fighters come and help with the obstacle course. The families donate money and prizes and if you donate a certain amount of money you are then eligible to have your name in a drawing for the prizes. The kids love it, and all the money donated goes directly to the school.
We have done potato and maple syrup fundraisers… provided by local producers. And… poinsettias before Christmas and Mothers day hanging baskets provided by a local greenhouse. I love these ones. Supporting local and schools with things I would buy anyway. Win. Win.
Our elementary school has a “party donation”. These can be kid parties or adult parties that are donated with 100% of the proceeds going back to the school. Our family has done Rocket Stompers in the park, Flashlight tag in the park for kids. Other families have done cooking themed parties for kids. We hosted an appetizer, wine and desserts evening (that one was popular and brought in lots of $$) – we did this one many years in a row. Others hosted margarita parties, girl scout cookie and wine pairings. The parties made a lot of money and created a lot of community spirit.
Would you be able to do a color run where instead of throwing the powdered, which can trigger the kids asthma, having water guns with colored water the volunteers can squirt.
What about asking local businesses to donate goods/service and then auction off baskets. We are successful with this in both the pre school and elementary school and people are usually willing to bid pretty well if you get things like a month of free gymnastics for kids