Candy bars, caramel corn, baked goods, plants, cookies, magazines and specialty cheeses. If during the school year you hear a knock on your door, it’s entirely possible that you’ll find a student waiting outside, hawking one of these to raise money for school activities.
For some parents, that can lead to “fundraiser fatigue” — and the need to continually mobilize for new projects can take a lot of time.
“I hear it all the time — geez, not another one,” said Michelle Daniel, 45, who lives on Wausau’s east side.
With five boys, ranging in age from 8 to 18, and all of them involved in sports and extracurricular activities, it’s inevitable that Daniel and her family sometimes feel stretched a bit thin.
“There are some times I would rather say, ‘Tell me how much you need and I’ll write you a check,’” Daniel said.
That’s not because the family is so wealthy that they wouldn’t notice it, she said. It’s because of the time and effort that fundraising takes.
But with school budgets stretched tighter than ever, the fundraising burden on families and groups such as parent-teacher organizations is only likely to increase.
In 2005, the Association of Fund-Raising Distributors & Suppliers found that product fundraising nationwide accounted for $1.7 billion in school and youth group funding, with 83 percent of that money going to schools and school groups including PTOs. The survey also found that eight out of 10 respondents and nine out of 10 parents had bought something to support a school fundraiser.
At Wausau’s Riverview Elementary School, a “no fundraiser fundraiser” was in effect for several years, as parents were asked to donate money in lieu of fundraising efforts. Riverview Parent-Teacher Organization President Tara Parks said that approach worked well for a few years, but this year the group had to return to traditional fundraising efforts.
“The success of the no-fundraiser fundraiser had gone down drastically,” Parks said.
And she said the efforts fund important services, including supplies for teachers and for the computer lab, and money for a fifth-grade end-of-school-year trip.
“Sometimes fundraising gets a stigma,” Parks said. “When I was (a student) in band, I paid for trips to Washington, D.C., and New York by selling pizzas and magazines. Without fundraisers, I wouldn’t have gotten to go.”
Still, Parks said she had heard complaints from parents about the efforts being undertaken. At the same time, from the school district’s side, the need for fundraising has only grown.
In a nationwide survey in 2007, the National Association of Elementary School Principals found that 94 percent of school administrators rely on fundraisers to supplement district, state and federal money they receive.
It is easier to raise money when “you know what you’re fundraising for and can express that to people,” Daniel said. If the fundraiser money is going to new football helmets or wrestling mats, she said, that makes it easier for people to say yes than if it’s to be used for more general purposes.
While many parents approach coworkers and family members, some have few alternatives to canvassing neighbors.
“We have no family in town, so a lot of it is door-to-door,” Daniel said. “It ends up being a lot of the same neighborhood. … I buy from all the neighborhood kids also, because I know that they’re also buying from my kids.”
Ultimately, for Daniel as for most parents, the efforts are worthwhile.
“The benefits outweigh the negatives of fundraising,” Daniel said, citing statistics showing that kids involved in extracurricular activities do better in school. “We do what we have to do to keep the programs.”
