Our budget includes $20 per meeting for beverages and treats, but after 4 meetings, no one has turned in any receipts. We do not use door prizes, but would probably use donated items or merchandise leftover from our fundraiser.
Regarding your budget short-fall - I would think Hospitality would be one of the first categories to be cut since it doesn't directly affect the kids.
Sorry to hear about your situation. Do you have any insight into why your fundraiser came up so short. Would love to learn from your experience.
Our fundraiser chair got items donated for all our events. We have had haircut certificates, massages, oil changes, dry cleaning, free dinners at several restaurants, etc. I found some stuff on clearance 75% off, and maybe spent $30, but that's been it. Our Family Fun events food and prizes have all been donated. I have purchased some cookies, drinks and veggie trays for my programs, but again, spent less than $20 for each.
You should first try to get donations. I'm sure there are many local businesses who would love to donate. Its free advertising for them. You just tell them you'll put up a banner/poster board with a big thanks on it.
We used to provide cookies and coffee, and no one seemed to eat anything so we stopped! We keep our meetings under 1 hour so people can get out of there and get home to their families. As far as a fundraiser, we just had a school contest to design new tshirts and jackets...the result is a fun new design and they are selling like crazy!
Does your parent group purchase door prizes, cookies and misc. for the meetings from the budget? We have a line item for hospitality. In the past parents would bake a batch of cookies but never turn in the receipt to be reimbursed. We also just used left over fund raising products for door prizes. This new executive board is purchasing these items, submitting the receipts and being reimbursed. This would not be such a hot topic if it were not for are fall fund raiser doing so badly. Right now we have a short fall of $5,500. At the next meeting we will discuss "restructuring" the budget. Personally I would rather see funds spent on the kids more than on the adults. Any feedback? PS I am still open to good suggestions for a spring fund raiser.
