12 October 2015

WHY Fundraisers 101

It's fall. The air is cooling. The leaves are changing. Cider mills are doing their business. And the fundraiser forms are coming home from school. LOL

There's a wide variety of fundraisers. Popcorn, wrapping paper, nuts, magazines, tickets to this event or that, kids wanting your returnable bottles and cans, or just requests for funds!

Knowing there are frequently better products elsewhere, prizes you can just purchase outright instead of waiting for a raffle, or just things you'd rather do with your money, why should you spend or donate it with schoolkids you may or may not know?
Because they are our future! These kids are learning their way in the world. They're frequently at schools and in classes that need more supplies - technology, playground equipment, more books, art supplies, musical resources - all of these are vital to the classroom and cost more money than the government generally allots to give to the school.


You should buy it/get a raffle ticket/donate cash because these kids had the gumption to come to you and ask. You should contribute to help show them that the world is full of good people and helpers. It might be a raffle ticket for a prize you don't want, or you'd rather buy for yourself than wait for a raffle and hope to win. You should still buy the ticket.
Odds are, the kid may not even know for sure what the prize you could win is, but they know their prize for selling enough tickets, or getting enough donations.

And the prize for all of us? Is a better educated student, a better equipped citizen, someone with hope and ambition left, who will soon populate our world as one of the grown-ups. Let's help them, and ourselves, by setting them off on the right foot, shall we?

10 comments:

DetroitDuchess said...

We just bought some pizza kits ourselves! We have a few opportunities around the office.

Unknown said...

No that I have two kids in elementary and I am helping with the PTO I can tell you that this post is so spot on! My kids are so excited to participate and I guarantee you that the money they are raising is going to a good cause!

Anonymous said...

I try not to ever say no to a child. I can only remember once saying no and the circumstances were so bizarre I would probably do the same today. I love the ease of PayPal that some schools have started and just the straightforward method of asking for money without purchase is fine with me. I love that the school gets every penny.

Bruna Camargo / StyleMile said...

I never ever pass up Girl Scout Cookies. Haha. I don't get a lot of these in my office, because I work with a lot of young people, but I usually tend to help out when I can. These are good reminders, Becki!

Mrs. Weber said...

I agree. They are our future! I do my best to contribute when I can. And if they can take a credit card, they are super golden since I rarely carry cash ;)

Ron Leyba said...

Yay for this. When this kind of fundraising event happen, I always do my share buy buying some and helping them to sell more as well.

Mom Among Chaos said...

I agree, but sometimes it's a pain in the butt for us parents. I wish I could pass.

Unknown said...

As a former President of the PTO, I can tell you, the schools really depend on these fundraisers. It goes to teachers who need something special for their classroom, to pay for students to go on field trips whose parents can't afford it, library books, new playground equipment, and special events for the children that enhance their education but are not afforded by the school budget. We always heard a lot of complaints about having to do them (and they are an inconvenience for parents and the stuff is always over priced). But of all the fundraising done through out the year, the big one was always the fall catalog sales. So thank you to all the parents who supported their children's sales efforts and all the community members who support them.

GeekDad248 said...

It's fun run time at our kid's school and we've made our financial contributions! Now time to get those kids out there running to earn their money!!! Go Go Go!!!

Rachel said...

Fundraisers are so important to schools. Money is tight and schools have to be smart about earning it.