Are School Fundraisers a Scam?

As is the case in most of the United States, school is back in full swing. The morning routine consists of a hurried breakfasts, rushing to the bus stop, or impatient parents honking and swearing as they wait in a sea of cars and buses to drop the little ones off at school. In my home, after the kids come home we go through their daily planners and check up on what and how they are doing. Just a couple weeks ago we were going through the normal routine, looked at the paperwork, and what did we find?

The first fundraiser of the year! My wife's eyes glittered with joy as she loves the items in the fundraisers, but I am completely anti-fundraiser. Only two weeks into the school year and there is already a campaign underway to raise money for the school? Why is that? Why do we spend $10,000 per student with tax payer money, in my area, and still find it necessary to endure at least 5 or 6 organized fundraisers per year?

Most parents will take their child's fundraiser to work in an attempt to increase sales, and to get that prize. Many workplaces are banning this practice.

The fundraiser we first received was for the Entertainment Book. A book that gives you many options and discounts on things around your community. After looking over their website, I found that they are involved in most of the candy and Christmas fundraisers in this area as well. Needless to say, this seems like an organized effort to use our children as free "salesmen" and to profit from their hard work under the guise of raising funds for a good cause.

The following are excerpts from this particular website: Entertainment

Entertainment Publications offers the Entertainment Book and Sally Foster fundraising programs during the prime fundraising season of August through December.

Many of our schools need extra funding throughout the entire school year. Is it "prime" season for the schools, or for the corporation?

Our Entertainment fundraisers have free prize programs to motivate and reward students for their efforts.

our local representative will support you during every phase of your fundraiser, including helping you with a motivational kick-off program to get students excited about selling.

Free prize programs to reward students for their hard work? I thought the ultimate goal is to raise money for the schools programs. They even go as far as to help you get them "motivated about selling"! I may be wrong, but it seems to me that this is nothing more than a way to teach sales tactics, and entice them with free goodies. What kid would refuse that?

Let's also not forget that these fundraisers must be prepaid. The schools do not get the option to pay for the items out of the profits, but must be paid for in advance. This leaves the schools in a horrible position if they do not meet certain goals. Some schools have had to pay the fundraising corporation in the end. If that is even a possibility, why chance it? Smaller, community-based fundraisers may yield smaller profits, but there is no chance that grandma is going to charge you fees if you don't sell enough of her famous apple pies.

The Entertainment Book was just the website of one major school fundrasing corporation. There are many more, but I encourage you to look in your local area, see what your schools are doing and check them out. It can't hurt any.

Next, we have to look at the actual quality of the products that are being sold in these fundraisers. No one can argue that most of the chocolates and cookie doughs are not tasty, but are they safe? Some fundraising items have been recalled because they had "foreign items" in it. Some items were recalled since they were unsafe to eat do to contamination. Some items were even recalled because they may contain lead.

Now lets look at the numbers. Our first example, Entertainment Book, states that over the last 5 years, 48,000 schools participated in their fundraisers. They also state that they raised $450,000,000 in those 5 years.(This includes Canada and Puerto Rico. So the actual amount is less) The average number of students in an American school is 598. (This figure is the average of the elementary, middle and high schools in 2000. Sorry, couldn't find a more current stat)

$450,000,000 divided by 48,000 schools = $9,375 divided by 598 average students = $15.68.

$15.68 is raised per student by these fundraisers......IN 5 years! $3.14 a year! Can we even fathom such a waste of time, energy and resources as a school fundraiser? Wouldn't it not be more cost effective and beneficial to simply have the parents write a check? I know that some people are poor, but if they can afford a couple packs of smokes, they can afford to help their children's schools.

It is not my intention to sway people's opinions. I am only trying to convey the idea that we may be padding the pockets of corporations and ceo's, not the PTA's or schools organizations that really need financial help. It seems to me that fundrasing should be the job of the local communities, but instead we have involved big business. Who really profits from the hard work of parents and children who only seek to contribute to the school? If parents, local business and the community as a whole is not willing to get involved, is this the only option the schools have?

Just wanted to add another perspective to this issue. If each student could donate $5 each, here is what the numbers would be. Keep in mind that the number of students per school (598) is a national average.

598 X $5 = $2990

$2990 X 48,000 (number of schools that participated in the Entertainment fundrasing program) = $143,520,000

$143,520,000 X 5 years = $717,600,000

Of course, not all of the schools may have participated in the fundraisers each year, but this shows the power of just $5.

In a word- yes.
It's a shell game.

CAFR's show this. A CAFR is an acronym for Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Every year every governmental institution must make one. You can find them at your city halls, state capitals, county seats, and public schools. ETC.

Check out my thread with a video about them. It's a very long, very dry video. It's tough to watch, it really is. It's worth it though. At one point we even had the guy who made the video create an account and talk on the thread.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Please, watch this or at least read through the thread.

Total scam.

I don't know how it is with schools these days, but when I went (86 to 98), the schools only got 10% of the money earned through the fundraisers. I wouldn't be surprised to learn it hasn't changed that much from then.

reply to post by Mr Headshot


Very interesting angle! I will have to look through the info and try to tie the two issues together in a more palatable way.

Thanks again....

reply to post by tebyen


We graduated the same year, and I can tell you that it has not changed. The only change may be the frequency of the fundraisers. There are many more now than there ever was.

Even when the schools do profit, most of the money is at the whim of the PTA. I think that more pointed, smaller fundraisers can be used to fund certain programs. That way there is less political motivation to dictate where the money goes.

Another great school scam locally is the "dress code"
Although school uniforms have been deemed unconstitutional here, the local policy is to enforce it.
Mind you, this only applies to ELEMENTARY school. Not middle, nor high school.
The school uniforms (last year) were either a certain color polo shirt, or a cheap t-shirt that had the schools logo silkscreened on it. This year, they have done away with the polo shirt being an alternative. These shirts, fortunately, are sold by the participating school for $8 to $12 each.
It's boggling that my kids wear $30 shoes, $15 shorts, and a $2 (face value) shirt to school. We send them out to play in better shirts than they have to wear to school.
I'm sure there is a reason, aside from making money, that is desired from this code enforced only up to FOURTH GRADE. I don't know what it might be though - just ranting mostly. But it's still a scam, and as for the other fund raisers we've been hit with at least two so far.

reply to post by sykickvision


I have mixed feelings about the uniform issue. On one hand, I do not like the fact that the school profits in some way from it, since it's required. On the other hand, I thinks it would take away from much of the peer-pressure issues within high schools. How people dress, style and similar distractions could be hung out to dry, allowing education to take much of a higher role in school.

Lord knows our children, and some of us, could benefit from that.

I can say firmly that here in England, it's most definitely not a scam. I've taken part in many school charity events and the look on those faces when we give our donations...tells us exactly that. I do agree though it is slightly being exploited. Our school here..the headmaster takes 10% out of what we raise. Unacceptable. To be honest, there are many other unacceptable things that the school does for financial gain e.g. food from the canteen. There is no other place for students to go, therefore they charge ridiculous prices.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by BlackPoison94


So is it ok to let corporations, or the headmaster, profit from the hard work of these students.....just because of the look on someones face? Imagine what looks you would get if every student brought $5 and gave it to the cause or needy program. I would be willing to bet that much more money could be raised that way, rather than a fundraiser.

reply to post by sheepslayer247


I know that when the school board made my (then) principal the lead of my high school, that the school board had no idea what they were doing. The guy was eventually fired because they found out he was taking tens of thousands from the fund to pay for stupid things like expensive trees right outside the school gates and also using it for personal expense like his botox injections.

reply to post by ohsnaptruth



Not surprised. These are the reasons why I think that fundraisers need to be smaller and all funds go directly to the program in need, not into the schools general fund.