We do more than one fundraiser for the year, but our pledge drive at the beginning of the year makes the most money for us. We don't charge membership dues but we ask all families in the school to pledge a certain amount. We are very up front about where the money goes (we have to pay for school expenses to keep the school running). The idea is that if they give at the highest level during the pledge drive they don't have to feel obligated to participate in any other fundraisers. At one of our local schools they raise so much during their pledge drive that they don't do any other fundraisers. Many people would rather just write a big check at the beginning of the year and not have to participate any gift wrap, cookie dough sales, etc.
It might be something to think about at your school.
Our PTO doesn't do "selling" fundraisers. We are a K-5 and don't beleive in sending the kids out to sell stuff. We also have a small budget, so the two go easily hand-in-hand. We do nearly all of the "collection" fundraisers: Boxtops, Milk caps and such.
We do have several "Nights" in the spring. Next month is our Science and Spaghetti Night. We will also have a silent auction at the same time. In April we will be having a Family Game Night which will include a Basket Raffle.
These are the only fundraisers we do and it works well for our school. On the other hand, if we ever needed to fund something big like playground equipment, I hope that we would be able to step up to the plate.
I am a Kindergarten mom, so this is my first year in the PTO. I am attending meetings, but not volunteering too much. I want to wait a year and see how things operate.
I think Serendipity has the right idea. I know I always ask where my money is going before I buy anything. The school my older kids went to they always said "special project" when asked where the money was going. No one ever quite knew what the "special project" was. Ever since I always ask. If it is something I feel is worthwhile I buy a lot of it and give it to relatives as gifts. If nobody answers my questions or gets offended by it I don't buy anything.
dlf also makes some very valid points. I also think it is important that the parents have a grasp on what it costs your group to fund things. Let's face the mass majority of people do not attend PTO meetings and have no idea what it costs you to pay for assemblies, class trips, buying pizza or ice pops for all the kids,etc.
On back to school night we always have our budget for the year given to all the parents. We attach a page that tells the parents what things like class trips cost us. People do not often think about what it costs you to foot the bill for all of your students and giving them this information really makes them aware of how costly it is and why you need to raise all those funds.
I think if you can show parents what their getting for their investments they are much more intested in supporting. For instance--at our last PTO meeting...we ran the list showing everything we've raised (14,000 in the past 100 days of school, not to mention 7,500 in charitable donations that we didn't even count) and of that 14,000 have already put over 10,000 back into the school. Some might call it bragging to the parents, but every single chance I get, I tell them what we are doing with the money and how the children are benefitting directly. I haven't hear anyone complain yet (maybe when we sell pizza in a month) but the parents value that we are not running 2 different morning clubs to enhance their children's learning experience, myriad free programs, social get togethers like dances and skate nights -- I mean frankly we are running out of time on the calendar. Some folks reach burn out and I encourage them to take a break and let others step up...when there aren't any "others" we start making phone calls and folks invariably will come forward.
If you don't show your parents where they're money is going, if their children don't come home RAVING about the PTO award they received, or the variety show they want to play in,,,then folks will get jaundiced. This really is a business and part of this, an important part, is watching for "employee fatigue" and having a good advertising campaign going. Hope this helps...
d
