Boosterthon was much too controversial for our school. PTO's compare Boosterthon to other fundraisers. From that perspective it looks great, more money and less work, for about the same cost. But from the parents point of view it's another story. Instead of selling a product the child is now asking for pledges. Most parents don't like the wrapping paper, candy, etc. but at least there is an exchange of value for money. With Boosterthon your child is simply cold calling friends and family for money.
Word spread at our school that Boosterthon charged 48%+ for their services even before the event began. They do not disclose this on the website or the pledge packet. Then other questions began to arise. Why is there no phone number on thier website? Why are there only "Boosterthon guys" and no girls? What kind of charity work is CTW (the charity wing of Boosterthon mentioned on thier website) doing? What do the character lessons consist of? Who are these men? Have background checks been done on them?
A parent only had to google the word "Boosterthon" to find out that they were knee deep in controversy. This did not reflect well on our PTO. The weeks leading up to the run were nothing more than damage control. The principal and PTO board were swamped with phone calls and emails about Boosterthon, none of them good. Some misinformation was spread, but most of the complaints parents had were valid.
The end result was a fundraiser that did no better than others, and gave the PTO a black eye. Never. Again.
Unforunately all fundraisers will raise controversy. The Boosterthon is a great event. Student enjoy, they learn leadership skills, they discuss bullying, it is wonderful. They spend no more than 5 minutes in the classroom. When they do walk in the classroom they might even go and help a student figure out a math problem and promote the curriculum being taught at the moment.
Their percentage is 48%, which is far less than most organization. For instance Scholastic Book Fairs will only give you 25% profit if you take it as cash.
There are pro's and con's to every fundraiser, but how wonderful is it for these kids to see such enthusiatic people who they look up to, prompting POSITIVE things!
The Jury is still out at our PTA on Boosterthon... Last year was great! Easy Fundraiser for the parents, made as much money as our past fundraisers, and the kids loved it. This year was a whole different story. The Boosterthon boys were not as upbeat this year and just not as "cool" as the ones last year. It was so hot outside, we had students passing out from the heat. The parents and teachers were miserable. People in the neighborhood complained about the noise. Then, the students were not given the incentive prizes they earned. They were given poor substitutes.
And even though, the Boosterthon cut is suppose to be 48%, they also require a $2000 commitment fee, and that 10% of the first collection day's total go directly to the teachers. This amount is taken from the PTA's portion and not Boosterthon's portion. They also talked our fundraiser chair into buying them lunch and paying for additional promotional items such as balloons & water bottles.
So, by the time all was said and done, we anticipate that our PTA will make about $18,000 and Boosterthon will get close to $28,000. And they put a lot of pressure on our pta to write their check at the time the money was being counted instead of waiting until the money had been deposited in our account. Last year, I would have recommended this fundraiser but not this year.
We have embraced Boosterthon for three years now. They are an amazing group of young men who inspire our youth and help us raise monies in a wonderful way! They teach the principles that we want all of our children to understand and make applicable in their lives. They do this with passion and truth. Though the split of monies is questioned by other schools noted in other postings here, the turn key operation of Boosterthon, the energy and tireless efforts of our Boosterthon Team and the prizes they spend "their" monies on for our students is well worth it! Our school of 1000 students highly recommends Boosterthon. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with such a fantastic company!
We have participated with our school for 2 years. After hearing this year that our Boosterthon organization received a 60% profit, by child will not be participating next year. The people who donated money would have much rather sent in checks for 100% of their pledge directly to the PTO/PTA. When I found out that over 1/2 of my pledge went to this company, I was floored. Not only that I was also told that when you sign a contract with this company you are wither not allowed to have any other fundraiser that semester or you are not allowed to have any other "race/5K" type fundraisers that year/semester. Which I find disheartening as I could name 15 or 20 people who would gladly sign up and run a 5K to support a local school.
I think character building and such can be handled by other adults and prizes could be donated or ordered. I do know that my child came home every afternoon almost afraid to go back to school without pledges because they HAD to raise money.
