Fundraisers

[RecoveringKinkoid]

So it begins.

My kid came home with a bunch of shit I'm supposed to sell.

I'm not doing it, needless to say. That's not even a question. However, this is going to be pretty much a constant now, innit?

She wants to sell something, most likely because it got talked about in her class, which is not something I prefer my school taxes to go to. They're supposed to be teaching her how to read, not how to be a damn Amway salesman. I don't want her to feel left out (which I suppose is part of the whole coercive tactic), so I'll let her sell a few things to me so she can say she did it. Unless she forgets about it, upon which no action will be taken.

My kid is not forgetful. So that probably ain't gonna happen.

I will do what I used to do when her daycare used to do fundraisers, which is find out what sort of donation the average parent earns doing this crap, and then just kick some money their way. But it will be a cold damn day indeed in hell the day I start harassing my friends and family to buy shit from me. And then I'm supposed to keep up with money and who bought what and item numbers and page numbers, etc etc.

Ha ha ha. No. It will not happen. Not in this life.

Everytime I see this sort of thing, my spine tightens up. Really, it offends me.

[Lachrymose]

Every year my elementary school would do a candy bar fundraiser. Middle school too, I think.

This was in the mid to late 80s.

I would go door to door to sell them, which makes me cringe now.

The best thing about it was one year I won a 10 pound Hershey bar.

We cut it up and I brought in pieces for the whole class.

[Andara Bledin]

I loved school fundraisers.

Mostly because I was poor as fuck, and because I also knew how to sell the shit out of whatever crap they had available, I got to have a lot of cool stuff that I'd never have had otherwise. In a couple cases, this ended up being actual cash.

This includes trips to Hawaii, Canada, and Washington, DC, though those were specifically through my high school band.

I honestly couldn't give a rat's ass what the other kids did. In fact, I preferred that they not try, so that I didn't have to compete with them.

This would actually be a great opportunity for some parents to teach their kids about how to handle money responsibly. Lord knows, more of them ought to do more than they do.

^-.-^

[anakhouri]

I'm with you Kinkoid, I hate that shit. I am hoping Khan will never have to do it, but if he does, I refuse to bug my friends and family and co-workers about it (though I'm sure the grandparents would buy stuff from him anyway).

I had to do this a couple times when I was younger and unfortunately the prizes were never as good as the ones Andara describes.

Khan will learn how to handle money responsibly (I grew up poor and Husband is the son of an investment banker, so we were well-schooled). But not by selling junk for his school.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

You know, I'm looking at this packet they sent home and I have not the first clue what I'm supposed to do with it.

She wants to sell some stuff, so, okay, I'll buy something from her. If I can figure out how to do that. Seriously, no instructions whatsoever.

I'm going to go in there and say something tomorrow morning.

What really cranks me backwards is that this is for a class of five year olds. They're going to fill this stuff out? Really? Maybe I ought to let her fill it out herself. I mean, WTF?

[fireheart17]

There are ways to fundraise without having to sell stuff.

Walk-a-thons, car washes (OK, that's selling something, but it's selling a SERVICE, not a good), sponsored silence (my Girl Guides group did that once), silent auctions, etc.

In Australia, because we wear uniforms at most schools, a lot of schools do a casual day.

[Mishi]

In Australia, because we wear uniforms at most schools, a lot of schools do a casual day.

And crazy hair days or wear-your-pyjamas days. One of the more staid private schools in our area had a crazy shoelaces day!
To participate, the kids normally make a gold coin donation each ($1-$2)

I'm not looking forward to the selling items fundraisers, but at least we have a lot of family members that adore chocolate. Thankfully, the last fundraiser through Jazzy's kindy was a toy catalogue with decent toys and it was a case of a single note being sent home saying: "We're having a fundraiser, this is what is on offer, please check out the catalogue in the kindy foyer if you're interested. Thanks for your support!"

[Gravekeeper]

I don't remember ever having to sell anything door to door to be honest. We did fundraisers as actual events where we would do something or put on something that people could then pay to attend or purchase things from us on location ( rather than us bugging people by taking it to their house ).

But yeah we'd raise money for our trips, events, for grad/prom, etc.

Fan favourite was the grad auction. You could buy the service of a grade 12 for the day and do whatever you wanted with them or two them ( within reason obviously. But a Hell of a lot of crossdressing occured the day after a grad auction every year ;p). It was pretty funny, as grads didn't just get up on stage and get bidded on. We'd put up a back lit white screen so you couldn't exactly see who it was, then they were allowed to choose their own music and dance routine or whatever while the bidding went on. >.>

We used all the money for our grad ( renting yachts, etc ).

Charities and fundraisers drive me a bit nuts these days though as they're exempt from the Do Not Call list...and they call a lot.

[AdminAssistant]

I never had to do any selling for school, although I was a Brownie and sold a lot of Girl Scout cookies to family members. Other fundraisers were things like car washes, bake sales, that kind of thing.

[Cymberleah]

Speaking as friends and family, I do try to get something from the fundraisers that get brought into work. Well, one, I have a small workplace so there's no inundation of requests, but two, I do believe in trying to support schools, and if I have to buy an overpriced bucket of cookie dough, well, I'm game.

Just so you don't get the impression that everyone hates being bothered by requests! I know that being put in a position where you are forced to ask people to pay up so your kid doesn't feel left out is annoying.

[blas87]

I get it from every angle at work.

Take that statement as you will.

Seriously, there are so many women I work with who sell Avon, Mary Kay, Scentsy, Lia Sofia, tupperware, bakeware, whatthefuckever.

Then there's the candy bars to raise money for cancer.

Then there's the parents of girl scouts.

Then there's the parents whose kid is trying to make money selling.....crap. Christmas decorations. Whatever.

It's annoying.

This is why my Avon lady is someone I don't even know and have never seen. This is why my Mary Kay lady is one of my friends, who just gives me catalogues and asks that I give her orders by x date.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

So get this. After scouring all the stuff that came with the packet, and then staring in amazement at the blanks on the envelope that were evidently supposed to be filled in but weren't, I decided I really needed to at least find out how it's supposed to go. The envelope has blanks for "date orders are due" "make check out to" "when merchandise will arrive" etc. None of these blanks are filled in.

I have a single order form for something like four catalogs. Nothing denotes what catalog people are ordering from. I have no idea if I'm supposed to collect money or not. I have no idea how to calculate tax, or even if I'm supposed to.

No clue.

So I call the office yesterday and ask if there is was supposed to be instruction sheets enclosed. I ask how much money they expect to get from each family for this (because my plan is to simply give them a straight donation). I also ask about the PTO, because I am interested in getting involved with that.

They said they'd have the PTO call me. I said cool.

It's ten twenty in the evening here as of this posting. I think it's safe to say for all purposes, it's already tomorrow. So we're going on Day Two of no calls, info, or answers.

I predict this is not going to be a terribly successful fundraiser. I also am seeing why maybe there's not all that much parental support for the PTO.

[Andara Bledin]

Yegods, what a clusterfuck.

All of the fundraising crap I ever dealt with while attending school (starting in like 5th grade) was stuff that I could understand, and was all properly filled out beforehand.

Yeah, like you, I don't foresee them raising much with this fundraiser.

Funny thing with the talk of car washes and such, none of the schools or groups I was ever a member of ever did that. I know some groups in my high school held things like that, but the closest I ever got was the ball toss booth at the annual fair that the band ran.

^-.-^

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Yeah, I was in the marching band, and we sold fruit around Christmastime and had car washes. It went towards uniforms, various gear, travel, etc. But other than that, we didn't do general school fundraisers that I recall.

I realize times are tight, and I sure don't mind kicking money the school's way (in fact, I am currently trying, unsuccessfully, to find a way to give them some money.).

But I'm not really willing to take this sort of horseshit on. It's not my thing and I just am not willing to do it, beyond letting my kid sell a few things to us or the grandparents if she wants to. But handing this shit to me with no info and then dragging their feet about answering my questions is not the greatest way to garner support.

[bainsidhe]

Did I read that right? Fundraiser for daycare?! Aren't you you paying them for service? Oh. Hell. No.

My niece just started kindergarten and I've been hit up by mommy to review the brochures online. I live 1000 miles away "But you can order online!" my sister chirped. Hmmm okay. $10 for 7 oz of chocolate and $8 shipping. Nope. Nuh uh. Just tell me how much niece's school would get if I bought that damn chocolate and I'll send a check. Screw buying more crap I don't need. Talk about expensive for useless crap.

I hate hate hate how everything is a fundraiser nowadays. A coworker's grandson had a fundraiser in preschool. Preschool dammit! And you're screwed if you're in high school and are in multiple clubs. Band, German club, 4-H, Girl scouts, Church group, plus you're a junior who has to sell stuff for prom. I don't know how my mom stayed sane with 4 kids and 20 different fundraisers a year.