This works in some areas. I hate to say it but being in an affluent area seems to help a ton. You can always try it. You could do what PBS does - say if we reach $X goal, we will have no other fundraisers this year. That way you don't look flakey if you have to something to supplement it. I think it takes a few years to get this off the ground.
I really like the matching funds from local businesses angle too that some people have used; that way every dollar I give means $2 for the school instead of vice versa.
I think you would get a number of businesses interested in the school sponsor card. They pay a ton to get coupons out there. It's win/win for them.
Would you participate? That's the first question I ask when I think about a new fundraiser. I personally might have trouble parting with $150 for my three children but I'm sure their are some parents out there that would do it.
I think this is a great idea and it's definately worthy of investigating. We have considered, several times, enclosing a note with the catalogs suggesting they could instead just make a donation to the PTO. We haven't done it because a few members are afraid the $5-10 they would donate would be considerably less than they could have raised by selling. We do have a couple families that took it upon themselves to not participate and just make donations.
Over the past year I have been digging around in different web sites regarding this ever-so-popular subject... How to do away with catelogs. I have several options on my plate but here is one I'd love feedback on that I sort of concocted by pulling together different ideas. My goal is to create a win-win for everone and convert our parents from sales folks into sponsors & consumers where all of the cash goes to the school (less some minor printing overhead). This should save lots of time for everyone. Time seems to be our biggest currency these days. Here are the highlights...
1) We promote: "This is in lieu of the catelog and cookie dough sales".
2)We stress: "here are our important goals for the year"
3) We request: Please sponsor your child by donating $40 PER Kid (or maybe we'll ask for $50).
4) We reward the first people who sign up:
Folks seem to like something in return. We have about 70 remaining TShirts from last year (paid for) that could be for the first 70 sign ons.
5) We give something back to everyone: We have printed up "School Sponsor Card 2005". Identify and comit a handful of local businesses to offer a discount to card holders whenever the card is shown. For example Sonic Burger or Outback might be willing to allow a 10% discount whenever card is shown.
Some schools call this general approach (minus the cards) the "no sweat fundraising". Has anyone out there in pto/pta land ever done this. What kind of success? How many participated? How much did you request?
