I just read an article about a California elementary school auction that was ruined by three men who had too much alcohol to drink and started to argue and fight with each other. Here’s an excerpt from the post:

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. continue reading

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I read an article today on the PennLive.com website about a high school in Pennsylvania that is putting on their annual musical. This year, they have chosen to perform “Seussical”, from the famous Dr. Seuss.

“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. continue reading

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In previous blog posts here at TopSchoolFundraisers, I have recommended, quite strongly, that you, as a school fundraiser, are smart about what you are raising money for.

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 continue reading

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I subscribe to “Google Alerts” for the topic of school fundraising. Anytime Google picks up on a new blog article, news item, or website update that involves school fundraising, I get a link sent to me in my email. It’s an excellent and easy way to stay up on everything that’s going on in the world of school fundraising.

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? continue reading

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Recently, I was browsing various news articles about school fundraising and I saw this headline:

“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. continue reading

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