If you have school-aged children (or even children in pre-school), be prepared for an onslaught of fundraisers coming in to your home this year. From $15 rolls of wrapping paper to $25 tubs of cookie dough, the items for sale are not cheap. And the fundraising companies and schools are making it harder than ever to opt out or get away without paying a small fortune during the year. With diligent use of our resources, we can buy an entire week’s worth of groceries for the cost of one overpriced frozen dinner option.
We have a policy at home that we don’t sell any of the fundraiser items to friends, family or neighbors. We don’t think it is a good lesson to teach our children to ask people to buy something every few weeks or to pay for overpriced goods. The problem comes when they hold prize rallies and get the kids all pumped up over winning a single peanut butter cup or a set of erasers for selling products totaling into the hundreds of dollars. Sometimes, kids are left out if they don’t sell, such as when the class has a pizza party for anyone who has participated.
Here are some tips on how to get through it all without guilt and while still helping the school.
Ask if you can make a donation directly to the school instead. You’ll spend less money and give the school more profit. Be aware that sending a check may still leave your child out of the “participation” party or prizes.
Offer to fundraise with your time. Find out what the fundraised money will be used for and see if there is a way you and or your family can help with the project.
If you must buy something, try to make it a practical purchase and help someone else at the same time, such as donating that magazine subscription to the library, a community organization or a shelter.
Participate in voluntary projects that don’t require product purchases, such as collecting box tops and labels. Look into new opportunities for the school, such as recycling paper (our school gets money for each pound) or aluminum.
Sit down with your kids and allocate a budget for fundraising throughout the year. Let them choose what you purchase with that budget. Once the money has been allocated, there are no more purchases.
How do you make school fundraisers a bit more frugal?
Click here for more articles by Mary Ann Romans.
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