An Honest Look at School, Sports, and Church Fundraisers

It seems that anymore you cannot avoid running into a relative's or neighbor's child that is trying to raise funds for something. Most commonly it is school, and the child is selling over-priced magazine subscriptions or expensive candy. Or the youngster is on the sports team and is trying to sell raffle tickets so the team can travel to a game somewhere. Perhaps a local church is hosting a bake sale to raise funds to repair the parsonage.

First, I have to start off the article by saying that I understand that schools, churches, sports teams, etc, need funding. My problem is not with the need to raise money, but the ways in which is it commonly done.

The fundraising technique I happen to dislike the most is when kids stand at a busy intersection or stop light, holding out buckets, so people can drop in loose change or even dollar bills. Come on, if you're going to hold a fundraiser, you can certainly do better than common begging out on the street-which is what this amounts to. We all may as well take up posts on street corners with our hands out; maybe we could pay off our mortgages or earn extra money for groceries with people's spare change. Seriously, there have to be better fundraising ideas than this one.

Another annoying fundraising pet peeve is when an over-zealous parent starts selling to all his/her co-workers on behalf of the child. If you have any kind of relationship with this co-worker, you feel somewhat obligated to purchase the overpriced wrapping paper or note cards or cookie dough they are selling to help their child win the "fundraiser of the year" award.

While I'm at it, I must mention that most fundraising items that are sold are extremely over-priced. Why would I want to buy a roll of wrapping paper from you for $5.00 when I can get a bigger roll at Wal-Mart for less than half the price? Why would I care to purchase an extremely inflated magazine subscription when I can actually get a great deal on magazines on the internet?

It is particularly aggravating when the fundraising faithful sit outside Wal-Mart or the Grocery store and ask you to buy something from them. Most people are in a hurry when they go into these stores. They know what they want (and it's not an overpriced raffle ticket). Guess what? If I am really interested in what you are selling, I will buy it. So please do not waste time asking me (on the way into the store, and on the way out!).

There are a few fundraisers that do not bug me as much. Bake sales are always a good idea because people will always like to eat, and have no problem spending money on good food. Another idea is a rummage sale. People feel as though they are getting bargains at a rummage sale, and they are actually purchasing items they want and will use. So, if you need to raise money, there are ways that are not as high on the "annoyance" factor.