Local PS Band Begging for Money

[AnnaM]

I am not one of those that never buys from fundraisers. Every year I purchase 2 Entertainment Books, some punch cards for local restaurants, popcorn, cookie dough, whatever. I don't have a problem helping these young ones raise money for whatever their "cause" is, but oh my goodness if it doesn't just irritate the...out of me to see the local high school band standing at the doors to Wal-mart begging for donations. Want my money? Work for it. Wash cars, sell baked goods, whatever. In fact they recently did this really neat fundraiser where you could pay to have them come play a song on your front lawn as they marched through the neighborhood. That was an excellent fundraiser idea. But this begging stuff? No, you won't get my money that way.

[Mom-ninja.]

I hate it too.

 

 

I always tell my dh I'm going to put my kids outside Walmart and ask for donations for their school. :lol: So tempting......

[bettyandbob]

Our high school band came door to door last week. I gave them money. I'd rather give them money than get a discount card or coupon book for something I don't use.

 

If I just give them money 100% goes to uniforms and instruments. If I buy a coupon book they only get a portion of what I spend.

 

They gave a list of all the free concerts I can attend. They practice and play well, I can enjoy the music.

[Tap]

LOL I would rather give money directly to a cause than buy some overpriced item.

 

 

I dislike popcorn sales, pepperoni sales and cheap dollar store crap than looks cute in a magazine until you realize it is one inch tall and made of plastic.

 

If I am going to donate to an organization, I would rather it ALL went to the organization instead of splitting it with a chocolate company.

 

Coupon books are decent to buy, but they are now sold Everywhere here, so it is hard for the pint size sellers to compete. Costco, grocery stores, toy stores, daycares.....just about every store in town sells Entertainment books and Chinook books.

[AnnaM]

Our high school band came door to door last week. I gave them money. I'd rather give them money than get a discount card or coupon book for something I don't use.

 

If I just give them money 100% goes to uniforms and instruments. If I buy a coupon book they only get a portion of what I spend.

 

They gave a list of all the free concerts I can attend. They practice and play well, I can enjoy the music.

 

It is the principle of it for me. If you don't want to buy the books you can say no thank you, but here is $5 toward your cause. I just believe that you should be working for your money not begging for it.

[OnTheBrink]

As a dyed-in-the-wool bank geek, I'd give them my week's grocery money if it meant keeping the music program alive.

[kitten18]

LOL I would rather give money directly to a cause than buy some overpriced item.

 

 

I dislike popcorn sales, pepperoni sales and cheap dollar store crap than looks cute in a magazine until you realize it is one inch tall and made of plastic.

 

If I am going to donate to an organization, I would rather it ALL went to the organization instead of splitting it with a chocolate company.

 

Coupon books are decent to buy, but they are now sold Everywhere here, so it is hard for the pint size sellers to compete. Costco, grocery stores, toy stores, daycares.....just about every store in town sells Entertainment books and Chinook books.

:iagree:

[Tap]

It is the principle of it for me. If you don't want to buy the books you can say no thank you, but here is $5 toward your cause. I just believe that you should be working for your money not begging for it.

 

It is work to stand in front of a store. It is fun for the first 30 minutes and then it is torture after that. I think it would be equivalent to 'cold calling' someones house. Blech! :ack2:

 

 

When organizations do fund raising they usually are hitting different avenues. Selling door to door, soliciting organizations for donations, and asking individuals for money....this was likely just one way they were asking for $$.

[Dmmetler]

One of my favorite fundraisers for high school music groups is to offer a group or ensemble performance for a donation. So, you could rent the school Jazz ensemble to come play for your church group or have a string quartet from the orchestra come play for your dinner party. It gave the kids more performing experience, and helped earn money for the program.

 

Having been a school music teacher/director, I'm well aware that the only thing the school district paid was for my salary. Everything else, we had to come up with, either via parents paying directly or via fundraising, and many of the parents couldn't afford to pay directly. It wasn't even a case of fundraising to play at Disney-it was things like needing to fundraise to pay the $100 fee so the kids could go to the district festival at the local high school, or buying new sheet music and books. I became a consultant for a music publisher simply so I could get freebies from them, wrote about 50K in grants in three years, contacted a TON of companies (Pro Mark, I love you-they provided 25 pairs of drumsticks and mallets to my inner city program, and Yamaha was wonderful as well-they provided first year books to my kids for 3 years after we won the VH1 grant), made regular trips to the nearest Naval Base so I could raid their base library (Military bands have large sheet music collections, and are more than willing to allow band directors to check out materials), and so on. I spent FAR more time working on figuring out how to pay for the program than I did actually teaching it, and that was on top of teaching a full-time job.

 

That's why I quit when I became pregnant with DD7-I couldn't see any way I could be a successful band director/music specialist teacher AND a parent. I was utterly shocked when I started teaching in the University Prep department and got scolded for buying STICKERS to put on my beginning applied student's books when they finished a piece-because the music program would provide them for me and didn't expect their faculty to provide materials out of pocket at all!

[Pawz4me]

I'm also one who would MUCH rather give directly to a cause than to buy some over-priced item(s) I don't need for which the school/cause/group will only get a very tiny percentage of the purchase price.

 

My son's cross country coach this year is asking for donations rather than doing a fundraiser. In support of that, he gave the parents facts and figures about how little the team makes from selling stuff once all the dust is settled. It was a ridiculously small percentage of the purchase price of items sold.

[AnnaM]

Don't get me wrong, as much as I despise the system, I want these kids to have access to the enrichment programs such as the school band which is why I support it. I wish that I could redirect my $5k in taxes to them, or the art program or whatever.

 

I did a lot of sports growing up so I know what it is like to stand at a store trying to sell something and I also know that they usually don't get a fair cut which is why we usually stuck with car washes and things of that nature. Anyways, I will continue to support where I can, will probably still buy some of the over priced crap and go to the parade fundraiser. :lol:

[Jenny in Florida]

It is the principle of it for me. If you don't want to buy the books you can say no thank you, but here is $5 toward your cause. I just believe that you should be working for your money not begging for it.

 

I agree.

 

I never, ever give to kids just standing in front of stores begging.

 

I also don't buy a lot of the crap sold for fundraisers.

 

However, I am happy to pay for a service. I let the youth group at our church wash my car, for example. And I'm happy to give donations to groups who do benefit events. My son's choir, for example, did a series of events to raise money for their summer tour. Among other things, they did a couple of concerts. I will happily toss some money into a hat for that kind of thing.

 

But, yes, I want to see the kids working for it, not just asking strangers for cash.

[Dobela]

A mom was telling me how her son's ball team stood in front of a WalMart for one weekend with parents and brought in over $3000. After a second weekend, they had over $10,000. I don't know if every group is that successful or not, but that was way more than I expected. They also chose a WM in a fairly well to do area. The first year they did this in desperation after not even coming close to their goal by selling things, having car washes, dog walks, and so on. After the first year, WalMart came first then they found other options tht would bring in what was left as far as need.

 

If, and this is a big if, I have cash on hand, and the kids ask me politely, I will often give to those at WalMart. FOr those goofing off or just yelling, "hey, give us money!" I decline. My favorites are those groups that set up tables and wait quietly and politely.

[gingersmom]

I was just thinking about this as our local high school has started using our sole foodstore as the place they hang out to ask for money.

 

When it is boy scouts selling popcorn I buy the popcorn and sometimes just give them the money. Same with the girl scouts.

 

I am a sucker for lemonade stands-I stop my car whenever I see one and make my kids go buy some drink/cookies (which we always throw out anyways :001_smile:).

 

I live in a fairly well off town and to see kids asking for money when they live in large homes, drive fancy cars, go on expensive vacations, etc. just somehow irks me. I know I'm being judgmental and many other things but its my quirk.

 

I would definitely be more likely to give if they were helping people carry bags to their car or were offering some service.

 

My kids do not even go to the school is my other thing. My daughter did skating which ran over $12,000 year. I never stood outside the foodstore and asked for donations. Her skating team had bake sales at the rink but they didn't walk around with a coffee can asking for handouts.

 

Her private school costs $$$$$$$. I never stood outside and asked for donations.

 

Off my soapbox.

[lailasmum]

Its a shame they weren't busking. I like a good busker. You could pay them for the music you hear then and the effort it takes to play for several hours non stop.

[Carrie12345]

My supermarket lets every single organization imaginable beg at the doors. I give money to those with actual PRODUCT to sell without even bothering to take the product (unless it's GS cookies, lol!) but I don't give a single penny in exchange for the "pleasure" of being able to be asked to give you money.

[Night Elf]

From what I understand, when kids do car washes or sell baked goods, they cannot set prices. Or at least that's the experiences I'm seeing. My ex-husband is a high school orchestra teacher and when he does car washes, they operate on donations. He would get so mad at people getting their car washed, and then saying goodbye without donating even a dollar. The equestrian (sp?) team at the local high school had a baked goods sale in front of Walmart last month. It was all based on donations. I gave them $15 for 2 brownies and a cookie because I was positive people would take alot of the goods and leave very little money. I guess I don't have faith in people. I should ask the girl, a friend of my daughter, how much they made with that sale.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I agree.

 

I never, ever give to kids just standing in front of stores begging.

 

I also don't buy a lot of the crap sold for fundraisers.

 

However, I am happy to pay for a service. I let the youth group at our church wash my car, for example. And I'm happy to give donations to groups who do benefit events. My son's choir, for example, did a series of events to raise money for their summer tour. Among other things, they did a couple of concerts. I will happily toss some money into a hat for that kind of thing.

 

But, yes, I want to see the kids working for it, not just asking strangers for cash.

 

:iagree:

 

It's not just about whether or not the kids have valuable lessons and experiences. It's also about the lessons they are learning along the way. They should learn that it's their responsibility as persons to earn the non-necessities they want.

 

I don't believe begging = working. By definition, it's not.

 

Just because something is tiring or unpleasant doesn't make it worthy of someone else's money or interest. Selling a product or performing a service is marketable.

[wapiti]

Once, back in another state, a boy knocked on the door selling something to support his high school soccer team's trip to Hawaii. No. (I might have laughed while saying no, whereas usually I try to be encouraging.)

[Jenny in Florida]

Once, back in another state, a boy knocked on the door selling something to support his high school soccer team's trip to Hawaii. No. (I might have laughed while saying no, whereas usually I try to be encouraging.)

 

My reaction to this would be to ask why they were going to Hawaii.

 

(Well, if it got that far. I almost never buy from people who come to my door, if I don't know them.)

 

My son's choir went to England for a little over two weeks this summer. While they did do plenty of sightseeing, the primary purpose of the trip was to serve as the resident choir for a week at each of two different cathedrals. It's a big honor to be invited and a fantastic learning experience for singers.

 

Was the soccer team participating in an invitational tournament? Attending an instructional camp? Or just going on vacation? Knowing why they were going would make a huge difference in whether I would donate.