Public School door to door fundraisers...

[MiniBlondes]

Ugh. I guess it hadn't occurred to me that we would STILL have to deal with this. My daughters have a friend in the neighborhood that attends public school. This afternoon the little girl knocked on the door with her teenage brother. They both had fundraisers in hand. :( We are in a tight spot right now, and we really cannot afford this. But for some reason the mother of this family thinks that we are 'poor' anyway. So I felt completely pressured to buy something. As they were leaving, I said, "I can't do this every time guys." And the little girl said, "We have more, be ready, we'll be back!!!"

 

:cursing::banghead:

 

Do you ever have the public school fundraiser issue? How do you handle this?

[Jean in Newcastle]

So what if they think you're poor?

 

Say, "Not this time." or just don't answer the door.

 

ETA - I didn't mean this to sound as brusque as it might sound.

[MiniBlondes]

Had I known they were wielding fundraisers, I definitely WOULD NOT have answered. :lol:

 

This lady is crazy as a loon anyway... but that's a whole other post. From now on my response will be, "I'm not buying what you're selling!!"

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I smile and say, "No, thank you."

 

Girl Scout cookies, Boy Scout popcorn, ps second grade trash bags, lightbulbs made by disabled persons...it's all a polite, "No, thank you." Our charity money is planned for the year, and our "Spontaneous Benevolence" fund goes toward people in need of food, clothing, or shelter.

 

I have no guilt about this.

 

I wish everybody well. I want the public schools, scouting organizations, and local charities to do well. But I know how much money my husband makes, and I know where my priorities lie.

[Jen500]

I just say "No thanks, and good luck".

The schools here aren't allowed to send kids door to door for fundraising anymore.

[GoVanGogh]

Do you ever have the public school fundraiser issue? How do you handle this?

Thankfully, our friends and close neighbors know that we homeschool and pay for our child's own education out of own pocket. They have never asked us to buy from their fundraisers. We still get a lot of kids we don't know knock on our door and our standard answer is, "Thank you, but we already support the school district via our property taxes."

[redsquirrel]

I generally tell people I don't know very well that I only give to activities that my own kids are involved in. That is true, I have ballet and theater fundraisers to tend.

 

But, I also have some friends that I will always give some $$ because they are especially close, and they give to my kids activities as well. But, those are good family friends, not just neighbors. I am happy to give what I can to folks that are like family.

 

I think you are off the hook for the rest of the year with the neighbors. Now you have the perfect opportunity to say "I am done for the year, kids. I already bought from you once." If they argue (!) just say "I said I am done for the year, see you later!" and close the door.

[MariannNOVA]

I politely say, 'no thank you.'

[GoVanGogh]

Girl Scout cookies, Boy Scout popcorn, ps second grade trash bags, lightbulbs made by disabled persons...it's all a polite, "No, thank you." Our charity money is planned for the year, and our "Spontaneous Benevolence" fund goes toward people in need of food, clothing, or shelter.

 

I have no guilt about this.

:iagree:

I quit spending any money in that fashion several years ago and have no guilt.

We are very generous with the charities and organizations that we support. That is all planned out in advance when we look over finances for the year.

I also don't attend sales parties. I have enough possessions as it is; I don't need another purse, pie pan or overpriced wicker basket.

[MooCow]

My DD is in a public school, (for their AWESOME band program), and her school does quite a few of them....this current school year she HAD to sell one for band, then when school actually started, there was one for the school. She told her teachers: "I just sold to everyone I know for marching band. I'm not selling anything else."

 

We usually will buy from the kids who live in our neighborhood, but lately, it's getting a little much. But, that's a whole other story. :banghead:

[snowbeltmom]

 

Do you ever have the public school fundraiser issue? How do you handle this?

 

We get the kids coming around to raise money for the school sport teams. I politely tell them that we are not interested.

 

We once received a letter from a high school kid that lived a few streets away from us (we have never met him) informing us that he had been selected to attend a very well-regarded summer program. He went on to inform us in his letter that the program was very expensive and he would not be able to attend unless his neighbor's donated to this very worthwhile cause. I have no idea if any neighbors funded his People to People expedition, but I sure didn't.

[KnitWit]

I say "No, Thank You".

 

I just realized that I must have done this consistently because the neighbor kids haven't come to my door in YEARS. :lol:

[Starr]

Since the year the 5th grade took the money they raised to go to the movies in town I've just said, "No, thank you." :D

[vettechmomof2]

I just say no, not this time.

[mellifera33]

But for some reason the mother of this family thinks that we are 'poor' anyway. So I felt completely pressured to buy something.

 

Hmm...this actually seems like an easy out to me. "No thanks, it's not in the budget right now."

[Ali in OR]

I can't do all of them, but I don't mind supporting neighbor kids who sell things I might be interested in. I'll buy a couple of boxes of girl scout cookies, a Christmas wreath for the front door delivered by a ski team member, or wrapping paper because it's good quality and I need some anyway. I have no problem saying no to random things I won't use or to kids I don't know. And I usually don't answer the door if it's dusk or later, if it's an adult male, or if I just don't want to deal with it.

[Roadrunner]

That's annoying.

 

I write a check for the PS my kids are attending in the beginning of the year. My kids, my responsibility, not my neighbor's. I don't know, maybe it's cultural, but I find kids going door to door in poor taste.

[Word Nerd]

Just say no! My kids go to PS, and I only participate in one or two fundraisers every year. I do support sporting event food sales, the PTO fall carnival, and other things that directly benefit the school and utilize local businesses for supplies. I'd rather donate needed items directly to the school or my kids' teachers (and I do), not sell carp for some outside company that's going to give a fraction of the money to the school.

Edited August 30, 2012 by WordGirl

[nono]

Part of salesmanship is learning how to handle "no." Better for a 9 year old to find out at 9 that it is not the career for him/her. Or, alternately to find out he/she does like it. However, if everyone just said "yes" a child might think sales is a cakewalk, which it is not.

 

Consider it your civic duty to say NO if you can't afford/don't want things. You'll be educating the neighbor kids. :)

[dirty ethel rackham]

When it was something we could use (like renewing a subscription to a magazine we already get), we would get things. Most other things, "sorry, but I can't do that right now. Good luck, though!"

[8circles]

I smile and say, "No, thank you."

 

Girl Scout cookies, Boy Scout popcorn, ps second grade trash bags, lightbulbs made by disabled persons...it's all a polite, "No, thank you." Our charity money is planned for the year, and our "Spontaneous Benevolence" fund goes toward people in need of food, clothing, or shelter.

 

I have no guilt about this.

 

I wish everybody well. I want the public schools, scouting organizations, and local charities to do well. But I know how much money my husband makes, and I know where my priorities lie.

 

This. Even though sometimes my kids are the sellers. Some can buy, some can't. Some want to buy, some don't. Don't feel bad about which camp you're in.

[Lisbeth]

That's annoying.

 

I write a check for the PS my kids are attending in the beginning of the year. My kids, my responsibility, not my neighbor's. I don't know, maybe it's cultural, but I find kids going door to door in poor taste.

 

I agree. Poor taste.

[twinmami01]

I got that knock at my door today and I sure wish I had not answered the door. I normally don't but for some crazy reason I did. Hubby agreed to 2 pizza discount cards. $20 poorer and we'll probably never use them.

[justLisa]

I hate the door to door. I don't want my kids doing that, and I don't buy stuff. I just say no thanks and good luck

[TranquilMind]

Ugh. I guess it hadn't occurred to me that we would STILL have to deal with this. My daughters have a friend in the neighborhood that attends public school. This afternoon the little girl knocked on the door with her teenage brother. They both had fundraisers in hand. :( We are in a tight spot right now, and we really cannot afford this. But for some reason the mother of this family thinks that we are 'poor' anyway. So I felt completely pressured to buy something. As they were leaving, I said, "I can't do this every time guys." And the little girl said, "We have more, be ready, we'll be back!!!"

 

:cursing::banghead:

 

Do you ever have the public school fundraiser issue? How do you handle this?

Why did you open the door? I never open my door, ever, unless someone has been invited.

 

If they saw you in the driveway or something, I guess you couldn't avoid them, but you don't ever need to feel pressured to buy anything at all.

[justamouse]

I tell them to hit the bricks. Seriously.

 

I pay an exorbitant amt of property tax, I know parents who are buying 3-500 dollars worth of supplies for their classrooms. Enough. Freaking enough. There is a recession going on and parents cannot keep being tapped.

 

Hit. The. Bricks.

 

This is why I refused to ever let my kids sell stuff. Ever. I will give you a donation, but I will not go guilting parents into buying something.

[Twigs]

Part of salesmanship is learning how to handle "no." Better for a 9 year old to find out at 9 that it is not the career for him/her. Or, alternately to find out he/she does like it. However, if everyone just said "yes" a child might think sales is a cakewalk, which it is not.

 

Consider it your civic duty to say NO if you can't afford/don't want things. You'll be educating the neighbor kids. :)

 

:iagree:

 

Remember, "no" is a complete sentence.

[G5052]

We don't get very many at all, but I decided just to turn them all down to be consistent. I don't see any reason to support school-related fundraising. I do buy popcorn from the boy scouts and cookies from the girl scouts though.

[Firestar Academy]

I can't do all of them, but I don't mind supporting neighbor kids who sell things I might be interested in. I'll buy a couple of boxes of girl scout cookies, a Christmas wreath for the front door delivered by a ski team member, or wrapping paper because it's good quality and I need some anyway. I have no problem saying no to random things I won't use or to kids I don't know. And I usually don't answer the door if it's dusk or later, if it's an adult male, or if I just don't want to deal with it.

 

:iagree:

 

Part of salesmanship is learning how to handle "no." Better for a 9 year old to find out at 9 that it is not the career for him/her. Or, alternately to find out he/she does like it. However, if everyone just said "yes" a child might think sales is a cakewalk, which it is not.

 

Consider it your civic duty to say NO if you can't afford/don't want things. You'll be educating the neighbor kids. :)

 

:iagree:

 

 

When it was something we could use (like renewing a subscription to a magazine we already get), we would get things. Most other things, "sorry, but I can't do that right now. Good luck, though!"

 

:iagree:

 

all of these. and my kids sell stuff; gs cookies, pasta, candles, magazines, candy, the list goes on. I appreciate that most of them are at the same time. The girls can lay out all the paperwork at once. I make my kids ask, and they know how to handle the 'no's'; that's life. I feel it is important to know how to ask for something so later they will know how to ask for a raise or ask for a discount on a used car:D

 

I also expect my friends kids to ask me to buy stuff. for the same reason. If i want it, i buy it. If not, I say, not this time, but please come back again. I might buy next time.

 

Robin in NJ

[Shawna in North CA]

We are small town business owners and are hit up all. the. time. (Well, not so much anymore)

 

Cheerleading camp

Ski team

Band trip

Senior Trip

Ballet production

...you name it.

 

My husband says "no" on principle. One, he feels that if our state handled its finances better, wasted less, fired a whole bunch of Ed Department bureaucrats with 6 figure salaries, then schools would have plenty of money to educate.

 

Second, he feels that fundraising for joy-trips perpetuates the entitlement syndrome that we see so prevelantly in kids and parents alike.

 

Alternately, he has a standing offer to hire teens for yard work if they need to earn money. He coached HS baseball for many years, and regularly offered his players manual labor in order to earn money for travel games, new cleats, etc.

 

In many years, he had about 2 takers. Most never responded. Some claimed they didn't have time to work. One kid...I joke not...had his FATHER come and shovel dirt in his stead. It was truly amazing.

 

I'm sure our thinking comes from the fact that both of us were raised in lower-middle class families, and if we couldn't afford to do something, we didn't do it. Neither dh or I participated in ski team, or ballet classes, and we actually turned out all right depite it.

[MiniBlondes]

Oh, see. Now if it were Girl Scout Cookies, I'd have had NO problem with that. I'd have bought 100 boxes. :lol:

 

But a $19 bucket of cookie dough? :confused: I will never ever EVER use that junk.

[MiniBlondes]

Why did you open the door? I never open my door, ever, unless someone has been invited.

 

If they saw you in the driveway or something, I guess you couldn't avoid them, but you don't ever need to feel pressured to buy anything at all.

 

Because these kids and my kids play every night. They knocked on the door about the standard 'door knocking' time.

[MiniBlondes]

That's annoying.

 

I write a check for the PS my kids are attending in the beginning of the year. My kids, my responsibility, not my neighbor's. I don't know, maybe it's cultural, but I find kids going door to door in poor taste.

 

Well that was my thought. When my kids were in PS, I never passed around fundraisers. We usually just didn't do them. I pay taxes. I can't help it if the government doesn't fund you appropriately.

[4ofus]

I hold out for my kid's close friends or my close friend's kids (did ya get that?) :). The kids I only see at fundraiser time are out of luck. It really only comes to about 2-4 kids/year. I also will only buy one thing, one time a year. So if you sold me a coupon book at the beginning of the year, I won't buy cookies from you at gs cookie time. I have no shame in saying "Thanks, but no thanks. Good luck." I also won't buy at all something I have absolutely no use for or think is rediculously overpriced. Sorry.

 

I don't think of children's fundraisers as a social obligation although I do think that is kind of the feeling that is being fostered.

 

Our school community (PTO) has gone a step (or ten!) farther & now are hosting benefits & galas with exhorbant ticket prices. They are adult-only events & the exhorbant ticket prices are "suggested". Many families are selecting one of the donor options to have their names printed on the invites, etc. It.is.unbelievable. (We're talking $500 donations for 4 tix) Obviously all families can't do this. I'd guess some are doing it that shouldn't, simply based on the sheer number of families doing it. It's creating a major line of demarcation between the haves & have-nots that has not previously been exploited. I just received an inivite to a meeting at a neighborhood pool to "discuss how we ALL can help our neighborhood elementary school, even those who don't have children that attend are invited & encouraged to attend & donate. It takes us ALL to improve our children's education.".....smh

 

 

 

Does anyone have dilemmas like this about tipping? I'd be interested to see a thread about that too. At the risk of sounding horrible (really, I'm not), I constantly struggle with tipping~do I, how much, even if, etc...new thread? or not that interesting?

[Forget-Me-Not]

I just kindly say "No thanks! Good luck!" I hate fundraising, it was something I was SO glad to say good-bye to when we left PS, and they are rarely selling anything I want. I think I finally tossed the cookie dough I bought after 2 years. . . it was exorbitantly priced and gross (not to mention that the label on the box said it could stay at room temp for 48 hours. That freaked me out).

[Hot Lava Mama]

"No thanks. We already give money to my kids' school." True! I have to pay for EVERYTHING for my kids!

Hot Lava Mama

[jujsky]

The only thing I'll buy is the discount cards some of the sports teams sell. They're $20 and good for the year. They give you discounts/free stuff at several restaurants we frequent, so it more than pays for itself. Other than that, I usually say no to fundraisers.

[Chris in VA]

I tell them to hit the bricks. Seriously.

 

I pay an exorbitant amt of property tax, I know parents who are buying 3-500 dollars worth of supplies for their classrooms. Enough. Freaking enough. There is a recession going on and parents cannot keep being tapped.

 

Hit. The. Bricks.

 

This is why I refused to ever let my kids sell stuff. Ever. I will give you a donation, but I will not go guilting parents into buying something.

 

:iagree: (but I say no thanks)

 

It just burns me up that the public school administrators (the BIG WIGS, not necessarily the principals, but those higher up) CANNOT budget correctly. Part of it is the textbook industry, part is utter crap waste, and part of it is I-don't-know-what. They are NOT GETTING MY KID TO SHILL FOR THEM. Why on earth should we? Perhaps if we paid superintendents less we could use the money to fund more music/arts/pe uniforms/field trip busses...

 

I can't tell you how angry it all makes me.

[CourtneyBrooke]

Living in a neighborhood with a ton of children, we get these all the time! My husband's much nicer than I am and always gives in. I tend to lean towards not buying things, unless it's a $3 sub - saves me cooking that night.

 

What I want to know is if we can set up a fundraiser for our homeschool: "would you give us $5 so we can take gymnastics lessons?" or for our field trip to the local museum? Really, why should we pay for their school activities without asking them to do the same for us?

[Jennifer3141]

I just say, "No thanks!" and shut the door.

[ThisIsTheDay]

Do you ever have the public school fundraiser issue? How do you handle this?

 

"Gosh, no, I'm sorry, but thanks for checking!" I don't buckle to pressure like that; it doesn't bother me to say no.

[KrissiK]

I don't mind if it's $1 for a candy bar or a raffle and I know the kid. But these fundraisers are expensive. I paid $16 for a stinkin' bucket of cookie dough last year. It was a girl in our church and she's the only one I buy from. Ever.

[Myeightkiddies]

Next time just say, "No, thank you!" Remember that the schools get very little of the money. You are really supporting the fund-raising company. It encourages children to go door-to-door (even if the school tells them to get their parents to do it). If people stop buying from the fundraisers, the schools will quit doing it. They'll find other means such as carnivals, bake sales, car washes, etc. People like those better than overpriced junk.