I would have to agree that it does have it's merits however it is very unlikely that you would cover what you make in a fundraiser. For example if you have a family that truly puts alot of effort into fundraising and the profit you turn from them in one sale is $300.00 if they only gave 20.00 that would be a difference of $280.00 less you make from that one family. Unless there is a way to make EVERY family do it it seems you would come out on the short end . Also it depends on your district/community. Our community is somewhat poor and 20.00 is ALOT of money (yes they probably dont do fundraisers and that is where the family who nets you 300.00 makes a difference) From my school we would have to have 630 families give 20.00 to do what we do fundraising, thing is we only have 270 families. We would have to get 50 bucks from each family to cover that amount, just think about it carefully. If you have a minimum budget it may work but if you have a high budget it may backfire!

It is very hard to " require" families in a public school to donate an amount of money. I know that scouts have tried that here, and they have found that they get SIGNIFICANTLY less money than when they sell product.

Perhaps you could offer that as an " in addition to " the fundraiser!

I don't think you will have a big response, IMHO. Our group tried that some years ago--and at the last minute they had to throw together a big auction or we would have nothing. Your group may be different but unless you REQUIRE everyone(which you probably can't do), people are not good about ponying up money at a simple request. Just my experience (but you may have better luck)
SHC

Our PTO tried that the first year, not very successfully (we made about $300). Keep in mind that if you have 750 students, you probably only have about 400 families. At least that is the case with us, but we are a K-8 school. I would make sure that that type of fundraiser is something that the parents in the school would go for, although I supposed if it is unsuccessfull you can always do another fundraiser later.

Have any of your schools ever tried the "send in $20.00 per family and we won't fundraise this year" method? I am curious to see if this works. I am thinking of sending out a questionnaire to the parents later in the year. We have 750 kids. I am thinking of $20 per family. Even if 400 people sent in, it would be $8000.00 with no effort or lost mechandise.