Our school did Boosterthon last fall and we are gearing up for this fall's event in the next 2 weeks. There are alot of interesting comments on here, most of them false. First of all, Boosterthon does LESS exploiting of children than any other fundraising company out there. The children DO NOT go door to door soliciting donations. PTA bylaws state that it is not encouraged that children go door to door soliciting donations, but no where (atleast in FL) does it say that children cannot participate in school fundraising. I know, I called and asked specifically about this particular comment.
This is the only fundraiser I have seen that the children actually benefit from the fundraiser in any way outside of funding for their school. Let's face it, selling products gives children nothing but the funding necessary for parent associations to fulfill their budgets. With Boosterthon, our students learned communication skills, geography skills, how to work together as a team, how to set goals personally and as a group, the list goes on and on.
As far as teachers not liking the "disruption" of class time, we have nearly 40 teachers and they would ALL disagree with this comment. In fact, our staff loved this program and was sad to see them leave. Our teachers felt that the team member visits enhanced the learning environment of our students. Also, the way Boosterthon operates with their prize giving is immediate positive reinforcement. Our staff loved this aspect of the program and looked forward to the visits from the team members daily.
Concerning the percentage split, I don't see the issue. Sally Foster, Kathryn Beich, Otis Spunkmeier and all the others take MORE than Boosterthon and do 1/100 of the work they do. I can tell you that their expenses are far greater than any other product fundraiser out there and probably all other fundraising companies for that matter. They provided ALL prizes, tshirts, parties, incurred travel expenses, etc. AND, the risk is ALL on them. There is no risk involved for Sally Foster, they just send you a bunch of forms and catalogs, and in the end, after you have done all the work, you send them half. What benefits exactly do our children get from that?
I can assure you that if you were to contact ANYONE at my school they would tell you that they are counting down the days until this company comes back to our campus.
I have a background in raising funds for non profit organizations and I can tell you that I have chaired MANY large scale fundraisers over the last 10 years and there is no possible way I could duplicate what these guys did. They are professionals, the best I have worked with and raised my school an enormous amount of money!
And, they most certainly do not have any kind of religious agenda. I am in a public school and I spent ALL day EVERY day with them. They promoted a lot of positive things, but religion was not one of them.
Ultimately, I think the success of any event at your child's school is going to be determined by the attitude of the parents. If you are looking to find something wrong with an organization, you can usually find something. Boosterthon has a flawless formula for raising schools record funds, a way of bringing the school and community together with enthusiam and motivation and we feel priveleged to be working alongside such a fantastic company again this fall.
