PTO fundraising advice for a newbie

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do school supplies work at your school? If families are supposed to bring stuff in, a lot of families would be interested in just paying a flat amount to have all the supplies provided. If you can buy stuff in bulk and portion it out to the classrooms, that could save families money and raise funds for the PTA.

if it's DC title 1, they cover all school supplies.

That has never been our experience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do school supplies work at your school? If families are supposed to bring stuff in, a lot of families would be interested in just paying a flat amount to have all the supplies provided. If you can buy stuff in bulk and portion it out to the classrooms, that could save families money and raise funds for the PTA.

if it's DC title 1, they cover all school supplies.

That has never been our experience

OP here. That's not the case at our school...parents must buy the supplies. We have been working to get some donated to the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do school supplies work at your school? If families are supposed to bring stuff in, a lot of families would be interested in just paying a flat amount to have all the supplies provided. If you can buy stuff in bulk and portion it out to the classrooms, that could save families money and raise funds for the PTA.

if it's DC title 1, they cover all school supplies.

That has never been our experience

OP here. That's not the case at our school...parents must buy the supplies. We have been working to get some donated to the school.

My kids are at an ES that transitioned from T1 to not while my kids were there and nothing changed w/r/t school supplies, so the everything provided is definitely not a universal experience.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps someone already suggested this, but seek out donations from Harris Teeter, Wegmans, Giant, Safeway, Lidl, etc. Giant and Wegmans now have online applications and you should highlight that the school is title 1. Also, sometimes it helps at our title 1 school to fundraise for a specific event or item, either for cash or food items themselves. Save money by using the tax free status of the school or PTO, and ask pizza places for the school discount.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps someone already suggested this, but seek out donations from Harris Teeter, Wegmans, Giant, Safeway, Lidl, etc. Giant and Wegmans now have online applications and you should highlight that the school is title 1. Also, sometimes it helps at our title 1 school to fundraise for a specific event or item, either for cash or food items themselves. Save money by using the tax free status of the school or PTO, and ask pizza places for the school discount.

adding that you can reach out to me, Natalia, at the HD Cooke PTO at hdcookepto @ gmail.com

[Anonymous]

Our school exclusively fundraises for field trips and startup classroom supplies as it's easy to get parents behind those. Also teacher amazon wishlists for things that crayons, snacks, tissues, etc make it easy for parents to not spend a lot of money but support their classroom.

Maybe the it would be easier to ask the business to donate a gift card to their business and then have a school auction? It may be easier to get that then money from them. Or if it's a restaurant maybe they can sponsor the teacher appreciation lunch rather than using PTO funds for it?

[Anonymous]

You can ask your law firm for un-needed office supplies. We got a whole load of gently used binders, pens, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps someone already suggested this, but seek out donations from Harris Teeter, Wegmans, Giant, Safeway, Lidl, etc. Giant and Wegmans now have online applications and you should highlight that the school is title 1. Also, sometimes it helps at our title 1 school to fundraise for a specific event or item, either for cash or food items themselves. Save money by using the tax free status of the school or PTO, and ask pizza places for the school discount.

adding that you can reach out to me, Natalia, at the HD Cooke PTO at hdcookepto @ gmail.com

OP here! Thank you Natalia!

[Anonymous]

My favorite fundraiser was 'Buy Nothing for XXXXX Elementary School '. Don't waste time with some kind of wrapping paper sale where people over pay for stuff they do not want. Just send a check as you are able.