Are you finding fund raising a problem?

Eenymeeny

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who struggles with donating and trying to keep to a limited budget.
Thanks for some good ideas, particularly silly socks day. I'm sure that most families could manage that! Nice to see that some schools and organisations are taking budget restrictions into account.
A Bring and Buy Sale could be an annual event, giving people time to make things at their own leisure, maybe teaching children crafts along the way?
I was trying to remember how we used to fund raise for Guides etc. when we were kids. Silver paper collections were one thing and I think that ring pulls from soft drink cans were another. Can anyone tell me if this is still viable or are there any other schemes available? I'm thinking that I've heard of ink cartridges, surely a lot of those could be collected in schools? I seem to remember saving foreign stamps from any pen friend letters too. (Now I'm really showing my age...:o)
The Bake Off Sale did expect parents to help the kids make the cakes and then buy some back. I'm told that there were some very professional results which made a lot of kids feel ashamed of their entries which isn't ideal.:(

Bigjenny

How about a collection for old mobile phones.

This site seems to collect them and printer cartridges, I'm sure there are others.

http://www.collect4school.co.uk/book_a_collection.php

tessie_bear

this subjecy makes my blood boil...last year at youngests school i did consider sending in my pin number so they could just help themselves out of my account...this year i have taken the stance that they can whistle and have joined in with nowt

i like to choose the charity i donate to...shelter mainly and have grown tired of the school choosing on my behalf

kathrynha

tessie_bear wrote: »

i like to choose the charity i donate to...shelter mainly and have grown tired of the school choosing on my behalf

Also if you donate yourself the charity will be able to claim gift aid.
I pick which charities to send my daughter with a £1 for, but still send her dressed down/in the right colour, and when the school puts the total raised in the next newsletter it is obvious I aren't the only one

GreenQueen

Thing I find most annoying is the amount of notice we get.

Earlier this term we had a note home for the cake sale on Friday - note came home on Tuesday! Have had similar for costume days, which doesn't give you time to find anything if you work full time.

GQ

Spendless

I used to struggle with this in the days that both my kids were in Primary school and I didn't work. It wasn't the amount of any individual event for me but that they were always so clustered together. Eventually I worked out that the key times to be asked were:
September when kids first started back
Christmas
Easter

Then I started planning and budgeting accordingly. Now mine are at Secondary this fund raising doesn't happen so frequently, though the overall costs are dearer (uniform, dinners, transport, stationery)

Jolinar

GreenQueen wrote: »

Thing I find most annoying is the amount of notice we get.

Earlier this term we had a note home for the cake sale on Friday - note came home on Tuesday! Have had similar for costume days, which doesn't give you time to find anything if you work full time.

GQ

That's quite a lot of notice compared to our place, we get told the day before when it's wear *insert item you don't possess* day. I just feign ignorance now if things don't suit my budget or timescale, bah humbug!

thriftwizard

Even when the school gave notice, my kids often didn't! I will always remember DS1 announcing he had to be a Roman General - tomorrow... Exit one bed sheet, two belts, my sandals, a roll of tinfoil, some of the bay tree and a can of gold spray. Which we might well not have had, and he'd have been stuffed; 24-hour opening hadn't yet hit deepest darkest Dorset. The school had sent the letter back with him a week beforehand; he just hadn't handed it to me. I took to interrogating them all every evening to make sure I wasn't missing anything, in the end!

oldhaggis

When my kids were at Primary School in the 90s every single term there was a jumble sale, then a fireworks event with stalls in November, followed by a Christmas Fair with raffle in December and a Summer Fair with raffle in June. Donations were required for all these events and every child was given a book of raffle tickets to bring home. They also ran a 200 club which I declined to join. On top of that we had the various non uniform days for outside charities which necessitated fancy dress and the payment of £1.

At one stage the school sent out a letter requesting a donation of £6 per child to upgrade their computer room. This was in DS's final term and DD had three more years to go, so I sent in what I thought was appropriate to our situation. On talking to another mum with kids the same age as mine, I discovered that she had sent in exactly the same, so I didn’t feel so bad. I thought it was a real cheek, especially as not all families were able to afford this. One lady I knew had 5 children at the school (£30 would be a considerable amount to find nowadays let alone in the late 90s).

I was so glad when my kids went to secondary school. They only had one fair a year, plus the usual national charity non uniform events. They had a lovely system where each person donated around 20p once a fortnight at house assembly to support a third world youngster in education. There was no pressure if you couldn’t afford it and people just put their loose change into a pot.

Eenymeeny

There are some good ideas and coping strategies there, thanks everyone.
Thriftwizard, I was once told by the Headmaster to turn our kids upside down and shake them hard to see if a letter fell out of their blazer pockets! I think that he'd met the problem before...
It's nice to see that some people refuse to feel 'obliged' to join in, I always felt that I had to find the money from somewhere.
Budgeting for 'events' is a good idea too, if you know the routine from having an older child attending the same school.
I also find that it's certain times of the year that we are expected to feel guilty or have more disposable income, not just in schools but as one poster mentioned, supermarkets, churches etc. When you're hard up it seems to be every way you turn!
I also like to choose my charities and find that I am getting quite affronted when collecting boxes are shaken in my face! I do find though I'm getting a lot better at saying no...