Are you using an online platform to collect your money? When we switched to collecting online we had such a better turnout. I think parents find it way more convenient to just get an email reminder and pay it on their phone. Try FacultyFunds.com . There are no fees for the PTO. The payment processing fee is really cheap and it is put on the parent/staff member (.89 for a 10.00 contribution, 1.49 for a 20.00 contribution- cheaper than any ATM fee) They also take a portion of their processing fee and donate it to education! I know they just donated to a PTO in NJ!
Good luck! It's exhausting and awkward trying to collect money owed
This will not help this time but, we do not place the entire order if full payment is not made with the order. Once this is done, the order is placed and the checks deposited. Usually we have a couple weeks to have the checks clear, go after the ones that did not and last resort, pull the entire order on the day it is delivered. With this method, we still have high sales and only 4 checks came back to me,3 were taken care of already. Good luck collectng the money and I agree, go with the friendly reminder first.
We finished our fall fundraiser last month and still have about 7 parents to collect from. Money was due 10/17. We did send a note home 1 week after the due date and now our Asst. Principal is sending his letter out. This has been very effective and usually states that their children will not be able to participate in future fundraisers. We have about 700 children in our school and usually about 475 participate, so we do not collect the money in advance. We also do a small sale in the spring for the 4th grade camp outing and we do collect the money at product pickup time as we usually have about 80 children selling out of a possible 130. This is due in part to giving the parents a choice to pay $25 or sell 20 items, which totals about $25 in profit. Hope this is helpful.
Thanks for the suggestions. They are all helpful. This is my first time as a fund raiser chair, and we are doing things simply because they have always been done that way. Maybe it is time for an overhaul. The merchandise all goes home and then we collect money. I'm thinking we need to stop that procedure now. We have had trouble collecting money owed in the past and I think that is why policy is now to send nasty reminders. However I personallywould forget my head if not properly attached! I like the idea of sending a friendly reminder so as not to offend, just am not sure how to proceed. If I fail to collect all money owed I have to face the PTO and explain why. I think I will try a friendly approach and then use the rudeness when/if I need it. Thanks for your help all!
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Now comes the nasty letter home reminding parents of their obligations.<hr></blockquote>
Nothing angers me quite like an inappropriate nasty-gram.
I got one recently from the state PTA "reminding" me that we are supposed to remit state dues monthly. For a variety of reasons, some good and some bad, we didn't collect dues money until October. So why didn't we send the state money in September or October -- BECAUSE WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY TO SEND YET! Did they ask? No!
You think I'm bad? You should see the Payables Manager at the office when a vendor gets nasty about an invoice that has already been paid.
Round one should not be in any way a "nasty letter". Instead, write a friendly note indicating that the fund-raiser records don't show that their payment was received, and asking them to look into it. Suggest that they may have forgotten, or it may have been misplaced, and don't downplay the possibility (however remote it really is) that you failed to properly record the receipt. Don't say "you forgot and you must pay", say "somewhere the system has broken down, and we need to get it fixed."
I know that I've been there in almost every permutation. Lord knows I've flat out forgotten to write a check a few times. More than once, my wife and I have responded to such a note by digging through the kids backpacks to see if something was still in there. Once I got called to bring lunch money because the teacher failed to pull a check out of the take-home folder and send it to the cafeteria. Once, a club I belong to deposited a check two days after I mailed it, but the membership dues check in the same envelope never cleared the bank.
Send the nasty letter along later, for the people who really deserve it.
We just finished our thank goodness that I only have 6 boxes to be picked up. We hung a banner
where the children are dropped off to remind parents. "Last Day to Pick up Funraiser"
then put the time & room # on there. as well.
This was the first time and the parents were grateful to be reminded. We do have a marquee and other important information was on there.
