She did not know that I write a blog on this topic of raising money for schools, and I wanted her to speak freely, so I did not mention it.

We got on to this topic while our kids were at swim practice, so we had plenty of time to talk in detail. She mentioned that her daughter’s high school was doing a “test drive a car” fundraiser, very much like what I wrote about yesterday. She said that she really liked this kind of a fundraising event, because it was a very low-level commitment, both time and money-wise.

I should say that this is a very involved mother, who does regularly participate in school events, including fundraisers. Therefore, I took what she had to say with a great deal of seriousness.

Here are some of her opinions on the state of modern fundraising in our schools. See if you share any of these beliefs. My guess is that you probably do.

• She hates it when fundraisers are sprung on parents. No advance warning, no prior announcement. We get the fundraising packet in our kid’s backpack and are expected to work that into our lives. This is inconsiderate to parents who already have a very busy schedule. A little fair warning would be greatly appreciated.

• She also hates it when there’s no clear and specific goal attached to a fundraiser. So many of the fundraisers that come home don’t even have an explanation of why the school is raising money in the first place. She said that if she was going to put a lot of effort into whatever the fundraiser was, she had better be convinced the cause was worthy and necessary for the kids’ educational experience.

• She also gets very upset when there’s no follow-up from the school after a fundraiser. So, she works her tail off selling Christmas wreathes to all her friends and family in order to raise money for some unidentified cause, but she never finds out if they reached the goal, if she was even told what the goal was in the first place!

Overall, she just wishes that schools would have much more of a plan when it comes to fundraising. They know they’re going to have to do it, so why not plan ahead for an entire year? Why not announce way ahead of time, what you’re going to do to raise the money, what the money is going to go toward, and then share the news of how you did with the people who were working so hard for you?

Do you share any of these frustrations with school fundraising? Do you have any of your own? I’d love to hear what you’re thinking. Please share your thoughts in our comment section!

Photo by: Evil Erin

I had two such incidents occur just this morning in my own home with my own kids.

First, one of my sons asked me for $5 on his way out the door to school. Ok, that’s not usually a big deal, but I asked him what he needed it for anyway. “I need it to pay for a pink t-shirt for my (sports) team.”  Then he leaned in toward me and whispered, “You know what pink t-shirts are for, right, dad?”

I stood up straight and replied in a big booming voice, “Why yes, son, a pick t-shirt for sports teams are to support BREAST cancer research.”

He gave me the obligatory “Dad!”

I asked him how long he had known about this, and he just shrugged. Not very long was his message. And I never saw a note or anything come home about how his sports team has chosen to financially support this cause.

Now, I know my son is in middle school (not usually the most reliable bunch), and maybe he was informed about this months ago, but I don’t really think so. The team has only been practicing for a couple of weeks, you see, so I probably would have heard something…

Anyway, I know $5 is not the end of the world, and I do support the cause of breast cancer research, but I think it’s pretty un-thoughtful to ask parents to just cough up some money every time a teacher or a coach gets a wild hair about something.

And if you’ve read any of my past blog posts, you know I feel pretty strongly about keeping money raised by the school (parents) in the school- not to be shipped off to some remote and massive non-profit operation.

The “bullying” part about this is that my son felt he had to donate the money, so he could get the pink shirt and be like everyone else on the team. If he didn’t, he could be the only one not in pink and that could be hurtful, and I don’t want that to happen, so I have to give him the $5.

The second way I felt bullied by fundraising this morning was an email I got from my son’s eighth grade class. I read that there is a pizza kit fundraiser coming up to help pay for special activities for the year.

As you know, if you’ve read this blog, I’m a big supporter of telling parents the fundraising plan for the entire year, but I guess I should have made it clear that the plan should be worthy of fundraising for.

Here’s what my son’s school wants me to go sell pizza to all my friends and family for:

• A trip to a movie theater
• A trip to the ski slope
• A trip to the water park
• A trip to the high ropes course

Are you kidding me? Where’s the trip to the amusement park? To the ice cream shoppe? My daughter would love to go the mall. If I sell more pizza, can she go there, too?

Now, I know that by complaining about this, I become everyone’s scrooge. And really, if they were fundraising for new computers, more technology, more after school clubs, or ANYTHING relating to their academic education, I’d sell pizzas all day long. But not one single item on their list of field trips is going to help my child improve his academic performance. I’m sure they would counter by arguing somehow that these trips are good for building school spirit, working on enhancing relationships, and giving kids who normally don’t go to the ski slope a chance to experience something new. But, come on.  Don’t kid a kidder.

I’m sure the school would tell me I don’t have to sell the pizzas or pay the opt-out fee, but if I don’t, my kid can’t go with all the other students and that would ostracize him. So, without any input, we are just bullied into selling pizzas or writing a check for play time.

This is flat-out bullying when it comes to fundraising. And, neither example I mentioned is truly benefiting my child’s education.

I strongly implore you, if you’re working in a school as a fundraiser, be smart about what you ask parents to pay for and how you ask them to pay for it. Otherwise, you’re just a bully.

Photo by: Pipe

I will admit, it was taken here in Michigan, where I live. Bottle drives are very popular here, because there is a ten cent deposit paid on every single carbonated beverage bottle or can. Non-profits and schools can really rack up a tidy profit if they’ve got a bunch of students and supporters bringing in big trash bags full of returnables.

However, there are several things that disturbed me about this organization’s effort at fundraising. Let me list a few.

The garbage can looks like it has been run over by a garbage truck a couple of dozen times and then shoved in a corner. What is that?! You are asking people to donate money (in the form of bottles and cans) to your organization, and that’s the best you can do? That’s embarrassing! Would you show up to a golf outing or auction in ripped clothes covered in mud? It’s the same thing! Every time you ask for money, you are making an impression on your audience. What kind of impression do you want to make?

In addition, the collection can is sitting in a corner with dirt surrounding it, a broom (which obviously hasn’t been used) behind it, and an empty watering can left out in front of it. You might as well put up a sign on the wall above it that says, “No, we’re not really interested in you donating to us. Just forget it.”

The thing that bothers me most is that this total fail is that it tells me a lot about what kind of organization this is. If they can walk by something so bad every single day, then there’s got to be all sorts of other problems with their overall fundraising effort. I would not feel comfortable donating any money to them, based on what I saw in their foyer with the bottle collection can debacle. They wouldn’t handle it well, based on how they ask for money

Let this be a lesson. Please, go take a look around your own facility. Is there something that would look very bad to the public and cause them to think this poorly of your organization? If so, fix it immediately! I am absolutely positive it is costing you money and ruining your reputation!

These schools are willing to shell out tens of thousands of dollars to have these shiny plastic and wooden obstacle courses installed on their grounds. In my article, I questioned the wisdom of paying so much for something with limited educational value.

I did allow that physical education, play, and letting off steam are all important parts of an elementary student’s day. Without this physical activity, kids have a harder time learning in the classroom. I know this from my time spent working as a school administrator, a camp director, ropes course instructor, and a father of four children.

However, I also know from experience that children’s play does not require an $80,000 piece of equipment to get these same results.

It seems incredibly misguided to me that a school would invest so much time, energy, and money to raise all this money for something that could be accomplished by some very simple and inexpensive playground equipment like can be found in a Flaghouse or Learning Outlet catalog.

I bring this up today, because I just read about a school that is in the process of raising $85,000 for a new “big toy”. Yes, this is what they actually call it: a “big toy”.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

The playground will cost $85,000 to install, and the school has $40,000 saved toward the project. That leaves $45,000 to be raised this year through fundraisers such as the school’s November book fair, major raffles and Spring Fling.

As school kicks off this fall, Memorial is heading up its first 2011-12 fundraising efforts with the sale of entertainment books for $30, which include discounts to Christmas Tree Shop, Six Flags, TGI Friday’s, Learning Express, Gap and other retailers.

“Every penny that we can raise this year at the school will go toward the playground,” Smith said. “We need all the help we can get from everybody in the community.”

“Every penny?” “We need all the help we can get from everybody in the community.” Really? For a massively overpriced extravagance? You’re going to forego fundraising for everything else your school truly needs during the course of the year, just so you can have the biggest, shiniest, “toy” in your school district?

Are you saying that your school is completely “good” for the year and don’t need new text books, new computers, new interactive white boards, additional field trips, awesome assemblies, teacher trainings, etc? You telling your school families that $85,000 for a “big toy” is a wise use of their hard-earned dollars?

I think this is a terrible idea and it undermines the power of fundraising to provide important but unfunded priorities.

Again, I totally understand how important outside play is for elementary students. However, dedicating “every penny” from at least two years of fundraising, when our schools have so many glaring areas of deficiency, is almost criminal.

Photo by: SMcGarnigle

I know we can’t prevent every act of this particular terror, but we can at least think about what we are doing.

True story.  Yesterday afternoon, there was a knock on my door. My kids were outside playing, so I thought it was just one of them. I went to open the door, but instead of seeing one of my own little rag-a-muffins, there was a young man, maybe 12 years of age, dressed smartly in a blue blazer with his red hair combed severely across his forehead.

“Good afternoon. I am selling items from this catalog for the middle school band.”

I stood there dumbfounded. What was this kid doing? Had I stepped back to 1973? Hadn’t he been told that kids should never sell things door-to-door like this? Especially alone? Didn’t the school remind him of this when they passed out the fundraising materials? Where were his parents?

I managed to tell the kid that I had a son in the band myself, so I wouldn’t be buying anything. I didn’t want to freak him out, so I shut the door.

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But I did call the principal of the school the very next morning to report what had happened. I told him I was deeply concerned. Of course, I said, he must be going against the explicit instructions given by the band and the school not to knock on strangers’ doors. I waited for an affirmative response. However, the other end of the line was quiet.

“I hate fundraising,” was the response I got. Then, the principal admitted to me that he had not thought about that particular danger before. That took a second to register in my brain. What did he just say?

I was BLOWN AWAY! He’s the principal of the freaking school, and he didn’t think that maybe there should be some kind of safety policy when it comes to fundraising outside of the school?

He went on to say that the band runs their own fundraisers, and he isn’t always aware of what is going on with that.

Oh my God.

Here kids, why don’t you play with this bag of broken glass while you walk barefoot through this field of rusty old nails? Go along now… When you’re done, you should just hitchhike home. I’m sure someone will stop to pick you up.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Listen, if you are in ANY WAY involved with a school or a non-profit that asks kids to sell products to raise money, YOU MUST HAVE A POLICY IN PLACE THAT PROHIBITS STUDENTS FROM GOING TO STRANGERS’ DOORS.

My nine year old son asked me why I was so worried about this. So I took him to his bedroom, then I stepped back into the hallway and closed his door. “Knock on it!” I told him. “Like you’re knocking on my door, trying to sell me something.”

He did, and I opened it. He started in on his pretend spiel, and I just reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt. I pulled him easily into the hall and shut the door. “Now you’re dead,” I told him.

He got the point.

Maybe I should have done that to the principal.

Listen, you, as an adult who works with kids, have a responsibility to protect them. I know you can’t think of everything, but please don’t be clueless. Think these things very important things through.

Photo by: Kt Ann

This is one of the most important fundraisers of the year for the cash strapped school and several mothers worked very hard to organize a fun and hopefully successful event. In the middle of the live auction portion of the evening, three fathers, rather than bidding on front row seating privileges for the upcoming 5th grade graduation, disrupted the auction by nearly coming to blows in an unbelievable display of immaturity.

Profanities were exchanged, aggressive postures were adopted against each other, the auction was halted for nearly 20 minutes, the Concord police were called in and the mood of the evening was certainly permanently changed. The focus of the evening was supposed to be on the kids and instead these adults were acting more like playground bullies. Worst of all, it really seemed to impact the success of the auction as bidding after this disruption was significantly lower than in prior years.

I have been involved with fundraising for many years. I have been at events that have served alcohol. The argument has always been: the more someone has to drink, the more he or she will spend at your event.

I have to wonder if this is really the best way to approach a non-profit fundraiser for children.

I’ll preface this by saying, I don’t have any religious problem with consuming alcohol, so please know that this is not underpinning any of my arguments.

Basically, here’s what I think- You and your volunteers work really hard to put on a high quality fundraiser. You spend hours thinking of every possible thing that could go wrong and you come up with contingency plans. The stakes are very high. You need to hit your dollar goal for the school.

With so much on the line and with so much hard work put in by your volunteers, why would you introduce a wild card, such as alcohol? Things can quickly get out of control when alcohol is involved. (Just read the article above…)  I’ve seen it many times, myself, even in non-profit environments. Sure, most times, there isn’t going to be a problem, but there is enough of a chance where I’d say, “let’s not go down that road”.

Another thing: alcoholism is a terrible disease. Kids who have alcoholic parents suffer greatly for years in such a life. As a non-profit organization that serves young people, why would you want to potentially put their parents in a tempting situation where they could embarrass themselves, embarrass their children, or even worse, leave the auction in a drunken state, behind the wheel of their car?

Someone could wind up dead as a result of your auction. I know that car accidents can happen anytime, but when someone drinks and drives the chances for devastation greatly increase. Do you want that to come back on your school, just because the bids might be a little higher at your auction?

Lastly, when I was a younger man, I worked as a bartender and as a waiter in a restaurant that served alcohol. We were trained on how to handle people who got out of control after too many drinks. Additionally, if it got really bad, we had staff who could handle an ugly situation.

Is your non-profit volunteer staff ready to break up a drunken fight? Are they ready to take the keys away from someone who just seems a little tipsy? Can they make that judgment? Should they even have to?

Again, I’m not attacking alcohol as something evil, until itself. In the right situation, alcohol is fine. The point I’m trying to make is that when schools and fundraisers come together, alcohol in any form should be absent.

Photo by: tr8_traitdesigns

“Seussical” was a long-time property on Broadway. But it has now become available for high schools to produce.

However, there are a number of differences between “Seussical” and other high school musicals done in the past. The most important difference that I read about was the price tag. Schools have to pay royalty fees when they put on a play or musical. For many shows in previous years, these royalties ran between $10,000 and $15,000.

“Seussical” however comes in at a shocking $30,000!

To cover this enormous cost increase, the music department has decided to run a series of fundraisers, in addition to a hike in the ticket prices, and selling pages and pages of ads in the program. The fundraisers include events like spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts, and singing telegrams from cast members in costume.

Supporters of the musical defend their decision to chose a production that is double the cost of previous shows.

According to the article on PennLive.com, director Charles Masters explains that “Students are more talented today and are more professional, dedicated and hard-working when it comes to the musical. They are aspiring to levels of excellence that forces you to continually raise the bar.

Students today are familiar with Broadway shows and have high expectations for themselves. The pit is playing the same score as on Broadway, and the leads are singing the same songs.”

Ok, does anyone else have a problem with this?

I have children, as well. I want them to have the best, just like every other parent. However, do we really need extra fundraisers thrown at us, just because the kids and their teacher want to do something fancy? Even though the level of special effects on Broadway has gotten more elaborate and more expensive, does that mean that our local high schools have to follow suit? Will high schools try to book SpiderMan next year and pay $100,000 in royalties to U2?

I have always been solidly against spontaneous and “elective” fundraising. Paying an extra $15,000 just to do a modern Broadway play is irresponsible when so many other educational programs are in financial jeopardy.

What concerns me is the attitude that whenever a school runs into something they want but can’t pay for, they just say “Let’s have a fundraiser!”. Like it’s no big deal. “Let’s raise ticket prices!” “Let’s sell more ads to local businesses and let’s charge more for each ad!”  There doesn’t seem to be any kind of critical thinking involved in these decisions.

It also doesn’t seem as if there is a master fundraising plan, district wide. I wonder how many different school groups sell ads in some kind of program. Let’s see: there’s the school play/musical, every sports team, yearbook, and I’ve even seen ads sold in the school district’s calendar. Doesn’t anyone think this has got to be hard on our small business owners?

So, what’s my point, other than to rant against out of control fundraisers?

Well, if you are involved in school fundraising, does your school have a master plan that you stick to?

Is there a pervasive attitude that makes fundraising “no big deal”? If there is, it seems to me that you have a case of the tail wagging the dog on your hands.

What do you think? Am I over-reacting? Please share your thoughts in our comment section. I’d love to read your opinion!

Photo by: Montemayor M

I have even gone so far as to suggest that you conduct a survey of the teaching staff, the administration, and the parents before you ever think of actually starting a new fundraising campaign.

The reason for this survey would be to make sure that everyone, or at least a majority of the people, are on board with what you’re trying to raise money for. If you don’t have “buy-in” from the people who are supposed to be writing the checks, the following will happen:

• Your fundraiser will fail to raise the money you need
• You, as a fundraising volunteer or employee, will look dumb for putting out a half-baked idea
• You’ll get parents all riled up and risk losing their support for future fundraisers
• You’ll make the school look like it’s out of step with the wishes of the families

Well, all of this hoopla is currently going on at an elementary school I just read about. According to Amy, a blogger at the Cincinnati branch of the MomsLikeMe.com blog site, her child’s school just sent home the details of a catalog fundraiser that would raise money to put a Nintendo Wii video game system in every first and second grade classroom in the school.

Amy is asking the same questions that many parents at the school are posing to the school administration, namely:

“Why not use the resources for additional textbooks or library books? for an educational fieldtrip? to help the teachers with the things they need in their rooms that might otherwise come out of their pockets?”

Amy’s blog post received much interest and many comments. This one was typical of the responses,

“I personally would not support this fundraiser. Furthermore, I would return the information to the school with a note attached expressing my dislike.” (From TheMeanMom)

As if this weren’t enough damage, it seems that this school has also committed another cardinal sin, according to my rules for smart school fundraising. Amy writes that,

“I think I was even more bothered by this particular fundraiser because it was not only expensive (insanely so!), but is in direct competition with “Market Day”, which is a big form of PTA sponsored fundraising that our schools have been involved with for years and years.”

So, not only did the school fail to get parental input on what they would be raising money for, they started competing against themselves by using a rival catalog seller. This could definitely hinder other fundraisers at the school in the immediate future. I know, personally, that I would only give to one catalog sale if two came at me, one right after another. This is really poor planning.

So, the moral of this cautionary tale is to always make sure you are plugged into the wants and needs of the people you are asking to donate to your cause. A second moral would be to not step on the toes of other well-established fundraisers, unless you have a very good reason for doing so.

This whole situation just seems to me that the school, or the fundraising arm of the school, did a very poor job in long-range planning. I hope that you take this advice to heart.

Photo by: SecondPrint Productions

These articles actually come in from all over the world, so after reading these news items, or at least scanning them, on a daily basis, I’ve believe that I have gained a bird’s eye perspective on this topic. I can see what’s going on across state lines and across international boundaries, as reported by the local media. I can watch trends develop and opinions change. It’s kind of like flying over a traffic jam in a helicopter. I can see where the crash is up ahead, while the drivers stuck behind a half-a-mile of cars on the highway can’t.

With this perspective, I can report that there’s something that has been going on for a long time that really drives me crazy and that I feel hurts schools in their fundraising efforts. I’ve written about it before, but nobody seems to be picking up on this besides me. I don’t hear anyone else complaining about it, although I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why not.

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Here, I just grabbed a handful of headlines found in the School Fundraising Google Alert emails I get each day. I didn’t have to scour the Internet for them. I could have easily added dozens more to this list, just like them. They just popped into my inbox- over and over again. See if you can find a common theme to these stories.

Slidell Relay for Life supporters dogged about fundraising

Fundraiser Tonight For Narberth Woman Fighting Cancer

High School Insider: Knoxville does its part for ‘Coaches vs. Cancer’

Student fundraisers bettering third-world schools

Empty Bowls fundraiser at Saline High School Thursday will benefit Food Gatherers

Gelinas Junior High Raises Thousands for Children’s Hospital

1-800-GET-THIN Proudly Supports JDRF Kids Walk to Cure Diabetes

“Pennies for Patients” going on at Robertsdale Elementary School

Ok, did you spot the trend?

Large non-profits like Food Gatherers, The United Way, Children’s Hospitals, and anything “…For a Cure” are just BOMBARDING our schools with fundraising campaigns harder than a fifth grade class vs. a group of kindergartners in game of dodge-ball.

I know that these causes are worthwhile. I know that it’s important to teach kids lessons about being generous and charitable. But, come on! Our schools need the money, too!

I am so sick and tired of reading about schools that complain parents aren’t kicking in enough when the schools are hosting fundraisers for non-school groups!

Listen up school fundraising-people-in-charge, parents only have so much time and money to give- period. There is a limit on both. If you push that limit, you are going to lose your support. Then your students lose.

So, you had better be smart about what you are fundraising for. I suggest that you stick to taking care of your own house. I don’t care who you are or how wealthy a neighborhood you come from, there are things that your school could use to enhance the educational experience of your children. Focus on that.

The larger groups like American Heart, St. Jude’s, and the United Way will be just fine. Let them find other places and other methods to raise their money. They should leave the schools alone to take care of themselves.

If this were just once or twice, I wouldn’t make a big deal about it. But, as I’ve mentioned, I read about this practice going on everyday in every state in our country.

This has got to stop!

Photo by: Arenamontanus

“School Resorts To Over The Phone Fundraising”

Now, my immediate reaction to this headline was that something bad had happened. A fundraiser had failed and now the school has to “resort” to raising money by phone.

I even checked the dictionary to make sure the word “resort” had that kind of negative connotation I was imagining. And, indeed, old Merriam-Webster said that the definition of “resort” is “to have recourse”.  Sort of like having a “Plan B”.

The article itself, although very short, didn’t help to lessen the tone of desperation. Here is the text in its entirety.

A recent spending freeze at the Santa Barbara School District is already having an impact in the classroom.

Parents of students at Santa Barbara Jr. High are trying to raise money for programs the district can no longer afford.

Parents and Principal John Becchio will gather Tuesday night to call as many parents as they can. They’ll be asking for money.

PTSA members say budget cuts are starting to impact students in the classroom. So, they stepped up their fundraising efforts to make ends meet.

Only 85 words. And some of these 85 words struck me: “… are trying to raise…”, “Parents and Principal will gather Tuesday night to call as many parents as they can.”

Oh, boy.  This does not sound good.

Obviously, I don’t blame the school for trying to raise much-needed revenue. I’m glad they are addressing the need. However, whenever I’ve been part of planning a fundraiser, we’ve always managed to muster a little more enthusiasm and put together more of a plan than what this article is suggesting.

So, as I read this and thought about it a little bit, I knew I had to write about it.

Obviously, I can’t know for sure what the mood around this particular school is. Maybe it’s just a lousy press release, and the school really does have enthusiasm and a solid plan. But, as I said, all I know for certain, is what I read in this short article.

Given that, I’m going to list all of the things I can think of that could go terrible wrong with a phone-a-thon fundraiser that’s been put together at the last minute, as a last “resort”. I’d love to hear any suggestions that you might have, as well. Just leave them in our comment section!

Eight things that could go horribly wrong:

1. This could come off as poorly planned and haphazard in execution. According to this article, the phone-a-thon is planned for Tuesday, which I’m guessing would be right away. And with the overtones that this attempt is something that has to be “resorted” to, I smell a rush job. And rush jobs never turn out well. Lots of room for mistakes.

2. With so little time to prepare, the volunteer phone staff would probably receive very little training. So, they would have little opportunity to work on a high-quality script. As a result, each person could have a different spin on what the school’s message actually is. I’m reminded of the children’s game “Operator” inwhich a message is whispered along a line of people, and the original message is completely changed around by the time it reaches the end of the line. For a fundraiser, this could be BIG TROUBLE.

3. This one is going to make me sound mean, but if you are scrambling to put together a last minute phone-a-thon, you’re invariably going to wind up with volunteers who have absolutely no business making phone calls to other human beings. And if you get one of these folks on your call team, you are likely going to end up causing more harm than good. I don’t think the families at home who get called by one of these nuts will appreciate it.  You know what I mean.

4. Another risk you take with having an untrained staff, is that asking people for money is not an easy thing. It takes preparation, experience, tact, sensitivity, patience, enthusiasm, and empathy. You can offend someone pretty easily if you say the wrong thing when asking for a donation. By holding the phone-a-thon “this coming Tuesday” there’s probably not the time to get the staff who have all these qualities. There is a real possibility that some of your potential donors will be offended, even unintentionally,  during this phone fundraiser.

5. I’ve participated in phone-a-thons before, and one thing that is very difficult to do well is keep good records of who’s been called, whether you got through to the person, if you had to leave a message, if there was just no answer at all, if the number has been disconnected, and so forth. With a whole team of people making dozens of calls at the same time, there is a huge risk of totally making a mess of all these notes. It’s highly likely that all kinds of errors will be made. And, of course, errors like these, make the folks placing the calls in the first place look stupid.

6. The next problem is that millions of people in this country do not like getting unsolicited phone calls at home in the evening. That’s why there is a national “Do Not Call” list. I understand that these calls being made are for their children’s school, but it’s still a call that can interrupt a family’s evening. Therefore, there will be a percentage of the school’s call list that will be angry.

7. Building on this last point, I think that the results from a phone-a-thon could be negatively skewed because so many people have caller ID functions on their phones. It would be very easy for them to just not pick up the phone and not return the call.

8. A possible unintended side effect of a last minute phone-a-thon is that all of the possible anger coming from the people being called, the overall disorganization of a haphazardly planned event, and the general ineffectiveness of the method could actually turn the volunteer callers off of volunteering in general. You could lose some really devoted helpers because they had such a terrible experience working the phone-a-thon. Be careful.

Conclusion

Did I forget anything? Can you think of any other ways a phone-a-thon of last resort could go wrong for this school? I certainly hope none of what I wrote above comes to pass and that this school makes all the money they need. My only goal with writing this article was to point out that fundraisers need to be well-planned and thought-out. Let me know what you think!

Photo by: Trace Meek