A recent survey showed that parents receive a staggering 17.5 communications per week about their kids' activities, on average. That's multiple emails, texts, or flyers every single day. Some of them can be quickly read (or even ignored), but many of them require some action to be taken.
It's Pajama Day! It's Teacher Appreciation Week! It's Dress Up like a Book Character Day! It's 'Asynchronous Learning Day' and your children will be home with you all day! Each of these can feel overwhelming, but there are few handouts coming home that strike more dread into the heart of parents than when it's time for schools to execute their multi-annual fundraisers.
One mom recently braced herself for the worst when her child brought home a sheet of paper announcing the school's next fundraiser. But the options on the flyer took her totally by surprise.
On Reddit, the mom posted a picture of the unique fundraising request, which was officially named "The No-Fuss Un Fundraiser."
"What's an 'Un Fundraiser?' you might ask. Well, funds are still being raised for the school, but in this instance parents are offered a guilt-free option if they don't want to participate in the bake sale, don't want their children to hawk cheap crap from a catalog, or don't want to participate in any Walkathon-type activities.
The handout explains: "Our no-fuss 'un-fundraiser' is the only fundraiser where 100% of the profits go toward the PTO budget. ... You may choose to participate in lieu of, or in addition to any of the other fundraisers we will be doing throughout the school year."
Direct contribution amounts are then listed, with each amount corresponding to a certain privilege.
Parents could give $15 to proclaim, "I would rather not bake anything or shop for cupcakes this year, thanks."
Fifty dollars proudly announces, "I do not wish to peddle products to my family and friends from catalogs, magazines or brochures, I do not want to buy candles or wrapping paper this year."
A blank amount for parents to fill in states, "I am making this donation to express my appreciation for NOT having to clip, buy, sell, or peddle anything this school year, except filling out this form."
See the whole, hilariously tongue-in-cheek fundraising form here:
Tens of thousands of exhausted parents chimed in to express their appreciation for the school's no-fuss approach.
Not only are parents burnt out and overwhelmed by constant communication and the pressure to be hyper-involved in every aspect of their children's lives, traditional school fundraisers have proved to be problematic in a number of ways.
Kids growing up in the '80s and '90s surely remember the catalog fundraisers, selling chocolate bars, wrapping paper, frozen pizzas, flavored popcorn, whatever the school could get their hands on. Top-sellers were promised flashy prizes like TVs, gaming systems, and more. (Gen X and Millennial kids definitely remember those school assemblies where the slimy catalog reps would get the kids to go feral over the possibility of winning a Sega.)
The problems were and are numerous. Schools only get to keep a certain percentage of the revenue when well-meaning relatives and neighbors buy these products, making them far less effective than straight-up donations. It also puts families in extremely uncomfortable positions where they have to hassle their network of friends and coworkers to buy stuff they don't need; in some cases, kids even go door to door selling!
Fundraisers are traditionally heavily weighted toward kids with wealthier families who can afford to buy a bunch of junk so their kids can rise up the leaderboard and win cool prizes. The funds might be good for the school, but they make almost everyone else feel less-than.
And of course there's the massive, headachy time commitment from parents who have to get involved in these programs. The "No Fuss Un Fundraiser" is such a great concept that eliminates all or most of these challenges.
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A few social media users chimed in:
"My kids' school did this. I gladly gave $100 and I knew that every dime went to the PTO and none of it went to scammy fundraising companies that peddle shoddy crap so bad that we were embarrassed to show the catalogs to the grandparents.
"This is great! I'm glad schools are finally getting the message. When my son had a fundraiser for his school we didn't want him going door-to-door asking people to buy stuff so we wrote a check and sent it to the school with the catalog. This is a much nicer way to handle fundraisers!"
"I would fill this out so fast"
"Enclosed is a check for $400. Which is $100 for each school year. Leave me alone for four years," one user joked.
There are other, more creative fundraiser ideas going around, too:
Schools are underfunded, but there's got to be a better way to raise funds than selling junk from catalogs. Photo by CDC on Unsplash
"One thing I think my school did right was that our fundraisers were never junk. We sold trash bags in the fall when everyone would be raking up leaves, and flowers in the spring when everyone would be landscaping their spring gardens. My high school sold raffle tickets. But the prize was genius: everyone who sold 10 received a pair of sweatpants that they were allowed to wear all winter. I went to an all girls catholic high school where the primary uniform bottom was a plaid skirt—real cute until it started snowing and you had to walk between buildings every period. So The Pants™ were a coveted privilege."
"Our school is selling 'acts of kindness' where the kids are supposed to do nice things for family/neighbors for the donation. It’s honor system and a good way to teach charity to kids I think (or just no pressure donate if you don’t care)."
Public schools are severely underfunded, there's no question about that. Just look at how many teachers have to buy school supplies with their own money. But making kids go door-to-door selling chocolate bars is not the way.
Direct donation-style fundraisers are gaining popularity in recent years, and all the tired parents, the grandparents who have no need for poor-quality wrapping paper, and all the neighbors who just want to be left alone are grateful for it.
“It's taken a weight off my shoulders, having multiple kids in different schools,” the mom told Newsweek. “I'm thrilled I don't need to cook for 2 bake sales now. ... I would continue to donate like this every year they do this kind of fundraiser."