How is Boosterthon allowed in Maryland schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be vocal if your school brings in Boosterthon. Refuse to contribute and tell other parents that half of the money goes to an unethical for-profit company. Tell your kids that it's a scam and that there are real ways to raise money for their school but that this isn't one that your family will participate in.

+1

I pulled my kid out of school during boosterthon the second year they did it. I was ignorant about it the first year, then read more about it. The more I read about it, the more horrified I was.

I told the school why I was pulling DC out. We did something "fun" and somewhat educational. I had never pulled my kids out of school before.

That year, I donated $$ to the PTA, and when they called to thank me, I told them that I was happy to write that check if they never do boosterthon ever again. BUT, I was told NOT to donate to the PTA until x months after boosterthon because otherwise, boosterthon would've seen that as part of the "fundraising", and they'd take a chunk of it. Total scam.

Wow that’s just unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate boosterthon. Worst part is kids get gifts according to the amount their parents donated.

Completely agree. At our school Ridgeview Middle they have the boosterthon and the funds raised helped kids pay for the end of year orchestra/band/chorus Hershey park trip. One of my child’s friends raised a lot of money and it helped her get a free ticket to the park (the field trip cost $133), but she raised money way over that like maybe $600-700 dollars from family and friends. It made me wonder if the family and friends knew how much was wasted and given to the fundraiser company. I’m sure if the student had just said I would like $133 for the trip and if you wrote me a check for $133, 100% of it would go to me, they would have gladly don’t this as opposed to giving so much to the fundraiser.
They also had a party for those who raised the most money…sending the wrong message to poor people that they can’t have fun bc they are poor. My child also wanted to raise money, because her friends were doing it,and was angry with me when instead I wrote a direct check to the PTA to help with anyone who needed funds for the trip. The whole company was quite disgusting and in poor taste.

I feel the same way. My child is also at Ridgeview middle school, and I am surprised the PTA even allows this company to do their business at the school. It really makes me question Ridgeview PTA and its members. They really should keep its members better informed of the fraudulent practices of these companies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate boosterthon. Worst part is kids get gifts according to the amount their parents donated.

Completely agree. At our school Ridgeview Middle they have the boosterthon and the funds raised helped kids pay for the end of year orchestra/band/chorus Hershey park trip. One of my child’s friends raised a lot of money and it helped her get a free ticket to the park (the field trip cost $133), but she raised money way over that like maybe $600-700 dollars from family and friends. It made me wonder if the family and friends knew how much was wasted and given to the fundraiser company. I’m sure if the student had just said I would like $133 for the trip and if you wrote me a check for $133, 100% of it would go to me, they would have gladly don’t this as opposed to giving so much to the fundraiser.
They also had a party for those who raised the most money…sending the wrong message to poor people that they can’t have fun bc they are poor. My child also wanted to raise money, because her friends were doing it,and was angry with me when instead I wrote a direct check to the PTA to help with anyone who needed funds for the trip. The whole company was quite disgusting and in poor taste.

I feel the same way. My child is also at Ridgeview middle school, and I am surprised the PTA even allows this company to do their business at the school. It really makes me question Ridgeview PTA and its members. They really should keep its members better informed of the fraudulent practices of these companies.

DP. All these comments about the PTA make me wonder if they are getting some behind the scenes kickbacks from the fundraiser companies bc it’s so obvious the pta continue to accept them with open arms despite knowing they keep a high percentage of the fundraiser funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate boosterthon. Worst part is kids get gifts according to the amount their parents donated.

Completely agree. At our school Ridgeview Middle they have the boosterthon and the funds raised helped kids pay for the end of year orchestra/band/chorus Hershey park trip. One of my child’s friends raised a lot of money and it helped her get a free ticket to the park (the field trip cost $133), but she raised money way over that like maybe $600-700 dollars from family and friends. It made me wonder if the family and friends knew how much was wasted and given to the fundraiser company. I’m sure if the student had just said I would like $133 for the trip and if you wrote me a check for $133, 100% of it would go to me, they would have gladly don’t this as opposed to giving so much to the fundraiser.
They also had a party for those who raised the most money…sending the wrong message to poor people that they can’t have fun bc they are poor. My child also wanted to raise money, because her friends were doing it,and was angry with me when instead I wrote a direct check to the PTA to help with anyone who needed funds for the trip. The whole company was quite disgusting and in poor taste.

I feel the same way. My child is also at Ridgeview middle school, and I am surprised the PTA even allows this company to do their business at the school. It really makes me question Ridgeview PTA and its members. They really should keep its members better informed of the fraudulent practices of these companies.

DP. All these comments about the PTA make me wonder if they are getting some behind the scenes kickbacks from the fundraiser companies bc it’s so obvious the pta continue to accept them with open arms despite knowing they keep a high percentage of the fundraiser funds.

When I served in an ES PTA board, we looked at previous years’ fundraiser data for when we did boosterthon and when we did not. We generally found that we raised $60k during boosterthon and kept about half for the PTA, $30k. In other years, we struggled to get $20k raised in all events. We shared this information and made a campaign promise that if we could raise $25k in direct drives, we would never do another boosterthon.

[Anonymous]

I think the issue is simply that running a fundraiser in house takes lots more volunteer effort to match the bells and whistles of an outsourced fundraiser. Often a basic donation fundraiser does not raise as much as an outsourced fundraiser even accounting for the money paid the fundraising company. To run an in house fundraiser with the prizes, assemblies, communication, reminders, money collection ease of an outsourced fundraiser is really really really volunteer heavy and lots of PTAs do not have the volunteers. I know Ridgeview struggles hard to get PTa volunteers so for them I see why they would outsource. It is a relatively high FARMS school that still tries to offer all students extracurricular things like the orchestra trip. So it needs money. But with minimal volunteers no way could they run a comparable fundraiser in house. I have run an in house fundraiser that used prizes, educational assemblies, loads of communication, money collection etc… and it was like a full time job. After I left that school it was outsourced so super easy to run and made even with the cut taken out by the fundraising company, more money.

[Anonymous]

It is because the poorer areas steal our school money we have to do this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue is simply that running a fundraiser in house takes lots more volunteer effort to match the bells and whistles of an outsourced fundraiser. Often a basic donation fundraiser does not raise as much as an outsourced fundraiser even accounting for the money paid the fundraising company. To run an in house fundraiser with the prizes, assemblies, communication, reminders, money collection ease of an outsourced fundraiser is really really really volunteer heavy and lots of PTAs do not have the volunteers. I know Ridgeview struggles hard to get PTa volunteers so for them I see why they would outsource. It is a relatively high FARMS school that still tries to offer all students extracurricular things like the orchestra trip. So it needs money. But with minimal volunteers no way could they run a comparable fundraiser in house. I have run an in house fundraiser that used prizes, educational assemblies, loads of communication, money collection etc… and it was like a full time job. After I left that school it was outsourced so super easy to run and made even with the cut taken out by the fundraising company, more money.

One of the problems I have with Boosterthon is how much of the donation they take. Your friends and family are donating to your child; they are thinking most of it will go to your child's school. But, in actuality, less than half goes to the school.

If you tell the donor up front how much is actually going to the school, I doubt many would donate that much. They aren't interested in enriching a company; they want to help your child.

That makes it a scam.

Then there's the party and prizes for those who raise the most. It becomes a "you win if you are rich" game. Then there's the amount of time that is taken away from academics with all the rah rah boosters.

[Anonymous]

One of the problems I have with Boosterthon is how much of the donation they take. Your friends and family are donating to your child; they are thinking most of it will go to your child's school. But, in actuality, less than half goes to the school.

This. It is highly unethical for fundraisers to take a percentage of what's raised. They could and should charge a fee that is variable based on the number of kids or classrooms at the school. So then the PTA knows up front that they are paying $10K or $12K or whatever for Boosterthon staff time & crappy prizes -- and what you raise beyond that, you keep.

[Anonymous]

More schools should use SchoolFundr…
https://www.schoolfundr.org/

Schools keep 100% of the money raised.
(Less payment processing fees)

There are some local MCPS schools that have raised several thousand dollars using SchoolFundr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate boosterthon. Worst part is kids get gifts according to the amount their parents donated.

Completely agree. At our school Ridgeview Middle they have the boosterthon and the funds raised helped kids pay for the end of year orchestra/band/chorus Hershey park trip. One of my child’s friends raised a lot of money and it helped her get a free ticket to the park (the field trip cost $133), but she raised money way over that like maybe $600-700 dollars from family and friends. It made me wonder if the family and friends knew how much was wasted and given to the fundraiser company. I’m sure if the student had just said I would like $133 for the trip and if you wrote me a check for $133, 100% of it would go to me, they would have gladly don’t this as opposed to giving so much to the fundraiser.
They also had a party for those who raised the most money…sending the wrong message to poor people that they can’t have fun bc they are poor. My child also wanted to raise money, because her friends were doing it,and was angry with me when instead I wrote a direct check to the PTA to help with anyone who needed funds for the trip. The whole company was quite disgusting and in poor taste.

I feel the same way. My child is also at Ridgeview middle school, and I am surprised the PTA even allows this company to do their business at the school. It really makes me question Ridgeview PTA and its members. They really should keep its members better informed of the fraudulent practices of these companies.

DP. All these comments about the PTA make me wonder if they are getting some behind the scenes kickbacks from the fundraiser companies bc it’s so obvious the pta continue to accept them with open arms despite knowing they keep a high percentage of the fundraiser funds.

When I served in an ES PTA board, we looked at previous years’ fundraiser data for when we did boosterthon and when we did not. We generally found that we raised $60k during boosterthon and kept about half for the PTA, $30k. In other years, we struggled to get $20k raised in all events. We shared this information and made a campaign promise that if we could raise $25k in direct drives, we would never do another boosterthon.

And this is why PTAs choose Boosterthon. It consistently outperforms other fundraisers. Most people don't donate directly, and other fundraisers don't generate as much $$ for the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:already a thread on this:
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/533223.page

but yea, it sucks. we are boycotting it. some have complained to mccpta but they don't think it's a problem. just boycott it.

But I don't like that people are not made aware. What did MCCPTA say?

I got no response. Someone else stated on this forum that they did get a response, which was "we don't see a problem with it".

I am the poster from the other thread who contacted the MCCPTA about this a few years ago. It's possible things may have changed now, so it's worth writing again, I suppose. The exact response I got was as follows:

"MCCPTA does not have a policy on what fundraisers are selected by the local PTAs or how they are conducted. Each local, however, does need the approval and follows the guidance of their Principal. From personal experience, I believe it is common practice of certain fundraising companies to come in to the school for "pep rallies" to encourage students to participate. You may wish to express your concern regarding this activity to your local PTA and/or school Principal.

Insanity that their legal department doesn't review the contracts. We won't do any booster a thon because they now ask for your friends and families contact info. Who knows what they do with that information, how they store it or sell it , etc. I would also think if you won't allow a parent to go read the class without child protection training that you wouldn't allow some felon who could only get a job shilling for a fundraising company to roam around the halls, but that's just me.

Regards -
Frances Frost
MCCPTA President"

[Anonymous]

Insanity that their legal department doesn't review the contracts. We won't do any booster a thon because they now ask for your friends and families contact info. Who knows what they do with that information, how they store it or sell it , etc. I would also think if you won't allow a parent to go read the class without child protection training that you wouldn't allow some felon who could only get a job shilling for a fundraising company to roam around the halls, but that's just me.

[Anonymous]

boosterthon is back at our school. Absolutely hate it...

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t bother me bc the kids love it. What does bother me is the company takes half the money raised, to the tune of 48%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t bother me bc the kids love it. What does bother me is the company takes half the money raised, to the tune of 48%.

I donated $200 per kid last year. My DD came home crying because her best friend got more toys because her parents donated more. What a lesson to teach the kids.