I know if we had to stop fundraising many of our programs would disappear and our school would be greatly affected by the loss of the additional funds we put in every year.
That being said, fundraising shouldn't be the MAIN focus of the parent group and limiting your fundraisers so that your families don't feel overwhelmed is crucial.
Our group has beneficial programs that don't cost a thing, the main one being our classroom volunteer program. The benefits reaped from having the extra help in the classrooms to work with students on basic skills and/or free up the teacher from tasks so that she/he can have more instructional time is tremendous.
If your district is going to be really firm on the "no fundraising", then your group needs to sit down and look at your mission then figure out ways to accomplish your goals without having the families selling. You might be surprised at what you can come up with.
Also, just because they don't want you to do fundraisers, doesn't mean you have to go without funding. If you have some strong and beneficial events and programs, you can apply for grants and seek donations to support those efforts.
We are struggling with our district not allowing fundraising. They use the argument that should not be a focus of parent groups.
However, the reason parent groups are in this is to provide additional resources for art, music, and other experiences that will benefit our students above the funding our districts/schools feel they can allocate to such events. So, fund raising IS a principal part of our work.
