Julie, You could try using a company that offers its product/catalog over the internet. Go to www.fiestafundraising.com
( Tim, This Is NOT An Attempt To Advertise... I Swear!!!...lol...) and look at how their brochure/catalog works online. Fiesta doesn't do areas out of AZ, but it does give you an idea of how it works. You could also call the owner (Steve Kirk) and ask for referrals for your area. I don't know if he can help you there, but he might be able to point you in the right direction.
You said it when you said 'some areas can support', because ours can't. My son attends an elementary/junior high school of less than 500. The community we live in is out in the country. No stores...just school in the country. And as far as the pto goes, they are a great group of ladies and are really nice and do know their stuff. But 3 'sales' fundraisers already is alot. Plus there are more to come after Christmas, I'm sure. Oh, I take that back, 4 sales...we had magazine sales also for those that don't live close by.
WE currently do the BoxTops. And I think they are still doing the ink cartridges.
And as far as running for pto officer, I think I would enjoy that, but... I am also a fundraising Consultant (Hard to believe w/ my rambling about ALL of the sales HEE HEE) and I would be afraid they would think I am just doing it so I could run my sales w/ my company. And that would not be it at all. I just want to support my childrens school the best way possible.
Thanks for your point of view and ideas! I just want to be involved in my son's school and this is just my 3rd year of being a school parent and my 2nd year as a ptso member! So any ideas I might could bring up at the next ptso meetings are greatly appreciative.
You have to remember that each area, like its residents, is different. Some areas can only support one or two fundraisers a year, while others can support 3 or 4. We have tried the Jog-a-Thon and it simply didn't work here. Cookie Dough, on the the other hand, works like a charm (and no, we aren't a bunch of old, fat, farts...lol).
Talk to your group about no-brainer fundraising like GM BoxTops, Campbells Soup, ink cartridges, local grocery store kickbacks, etc. These no-brainers can rake in some substantial dough when kept up with.
When I first joined our PTO, I felt like you and told the powers that be that MY checkbook needed to cover more than fundraisers, that I had to pay bills with that money too...lol... If all else fails, run for Fundraising Chairman or an Officer Position and change the way it is handled.
Our school does one fundraiser, a jog-a-thon and we bill it as "Our one and only fundraiser" IT is extremely successful. It's also nice not to be nickeled and dimed to death especially since we get it from Cub Scouts, Sports and every other program that needs money.
In PTA we have the 3-1 policy. 3 non fundraisers for every one fundraisers. There should be activities so that your group doesn't look like they always have their hands out.
It is good to have the teachers on board because they are the ones in the position to get the word out via the kids. Ask the president if she would allow you to make a presentation to the teachers on behalf of your group, perhaps during one of their meetings (talk to the principal about that after you talk to your President) and try to drum up some enthusiasm. Be prepared to follow through with the planning. It's great to have good ideas but if it takes a lot of work you need to be able to get it started and carry it thru. It may have been shot down because it seemed like a lot of work to possibly over-worked volunteers. Every school has their own method of doing things. I often wonder why so many choose to do cookie dough, gift wrap etc when ours is so successful but who knows!
So what if your teachers don't want to help. Ours do nothing with fundraising. If you have a good group of parents that want to get together and try a festival, go ahead and try it. Do you need the teachers to participate? Maybe if they see how much fun you're all having, they want to join in the fun of the evening, they just may not want to be part of the planning.
Our elementary has a policy of only two sales-type fundraisers per year, so one is held in Fall and one in Spring.
We still get solicitations sprinkled in for book fair, the Scholastic book order forms, pictures, yearbooks, etec. - but not pure fundraisers.
In middle school, it's an endless stream of one thing after another as every campus group as well as the school itself is trying to raise funds for their projects.
