RobinD ~
My last school has done direct solicitation fundraising for three years now. The first year we exceeded our goal. Parents said, "Yippee, no selling. Here's my donation!" The second year, we
just barely made our goal thanks to a big, last minute donation (yours truly) that brought us right to the goal. The third year I was not part of the PTO but heard through the grapevine that they struggled and still didn't make goal.
I don't have a copy of the letters, notices and such to share. I can tell you that what we did was communicate our goal amount and then the average donation amount per student it would take to reach that goal. Some parents sent in the exact amount, some less, some more.
The first year every student who returned a signed form (with our without a donation) received a reward. The second year we said if our goal was met then every student would get a reward. The third year there was no reward as it was clear that it was little incentive and it was all on the parents to do the work anyway.
I believe this type of fundraiser can work but it certainly isn't the easy way out. It takes a dedicated committee, lots of communication and something (theme, new prizes, etc) to keep it fresh every year.