We do 2 'major' fundraisers each year. We have a carnival and an auction. We also do schoolpop, target and recycling throughout the year. This year we raised over 500.00 per student! The parents love that they are not fundraised to death, and the two events we do have are alot of fun. We may add one more large event this year. These events also promote a sense of community within the school!
The number of fundraisers held per year is of interest to me and I am gaining alot of knowledge from reading all your posts. Most fundraising programs will recommend doing two big fundraisers per year with one on-going that is less "intrusive" to parents - like a web based program or the "script" type program you were mentioning.
More than that tends to "oversaturate" and can actually reduce sales. Reading your posts seems to confirm this idea as well and I appreciate the input.Thanks.
Good luck fundraising to all! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Thanks for all the responses. I was just speaking to someone re: script. How did you introduce it to your parents? Are they participating. Aren't they nervous they may not use it all up?
We have 2 book fairs but the second one is a buy one get one free so there is no funds generated from this one. Our other book fair is not for cash either and it all goes towards books for teachers or library. The school is a middle school and it has 1 fund raiser with a Nestle company which can be seen at www.kathrynbeich.com
We have had HUGE success with this and it maybe because it is a middle school. The last 2 years we made 25k+ and have 800 students. 60% participation. It is nice not to do other "fundraisers" and just do activities with nominal fees during the rest off the year. Parents have so many other groups from sports, church, clubs etc that it is one big competition.
This is my 2nd year as PTO Pres. and last year we done 4 funraisers (3 before Christmas and 1 after) and found this was too much! This year we sold spirit cards in August, QSP in November and Cookie Dough in February. These 3 brought in 15,000 with 450 students. We also sold longsleeve T-shirts and yearbooks at no profit to PTO! We also do SCRIP year-round and try to tell our parents that if they wish to stop all the fundraising to start buying SCRIP. I'm sold on this fundraiser because the school is making a profit on everyone's normal purchases and your not having to go door to door and buying items you really don't want to buy! Good Luck! [img]tongue.gif[/img]
I come from a small school 400 kids. We do one gift wrap fundraiser in the fall and one candle one in the spring. We usually make enough money so we can only do fun family events for the rest of the fundraisers. ( Carnival, craft nights, and holiday shops.)
