finleysmaid Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 with the continued pressure on funding we continue to rely on fundraising to pay for extras. However with the introduction of 30 hours we have more working parents who just aren't getting involved (weirdly it seems to me that the less people pay the more they expect for free!) We are going to have to rethink the PTA next year as we have struggled to get things going this year. We have 2 big events which we will still run ....somehow! and we do a couple of cake sales which i reckon we can achieve but i am struggling to find ideas to create the community feel i would like. Does anyone have any easy ideas or suggestions...or should i just give up now and stop attempting this!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 Hi fm - have you ever tried an 'Auction of Promises'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted May 5, 2018 Author Share Posted May 5, 2018 i have done this in the past (many years ago!) I guess my issues with this at the moment would be actually doing the auction....our parents just won't come out unless they have their children with them. I suppose this is due to the fact many of them are quite isolated due to lack of families around (no babysitters) and that they don't speak good English. Many of them would not also offer a 'promise' i feel ...although i could be wrong about this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 8 hours ago, finleysmaid said: i have done this in the past (many years ago!) I guess my issues with this at the moment would be actually doing the auction....our parents just won't come out unless they have their children with them. I suppose this is due to the fact many of them are quite isolated due to lack of families around (no babysitters) and that they don't speak good English. Many of them would not also offer a 'promise' i feel ...although i could be wrong about this Ah - yes, I can see that wouldn't work well Erm......hmmmm........er.........a sponsored something or other? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 Trouble is once some is 'free' it has no value (including us!) Years ago I ran a rainbow group, we used to offer a free Panto trip at Christmas - it was hit or miss as to how many people turned up on day. We started charging 50p (probably £2 in todays value). EVERYBODY would turn up as they would have been out-of-pocket. Not sure why I shared that- but I always think about it with regards to our funding. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouseketeer Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 On 05/05/2018 at 08:18, finleysmaid said: with the continued pressure on funding we continue to rely on fundraising to pay for extras. However with the introduction of 30 hours we have more working parents who just aren't getting involved (weirdly it seems to me that the less people pay the more they expect for free!) Sadly many have a “put the fees up it won’t affect me, I’m alright Jack” attitude now and it doesn’t help that my county have just sent me a heap of funding leaflets to give out with the F word all over them :-( 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 3 hours ago, Mouseketeer said: Sadly many have a “put the fees up it won’t affect me, I’m alright Jack” attitude now and it doesn’t help that my county have just sent me a heap of funding leaflets to give out with the F word all over them :-( We are expected to download and print to off ourselves- then to handout to all parents. Well that's not going to happen! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouseketeer Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 I was suprised to get these in the post, there is rarely any thought to us having to print everything, even the funding forms have every heading box heavily shaded, why? I end up un-shading the boxes and shrinking the brightly coloured county logos. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 Maybe fundraising is a peculiarly English thing to do, i.e. fetes, etc. Maybe give up fundraising and just charge for extras, don't be ashamed to do it! There is that saying, "there's no such thing as a free lunch" and many people these days don't have the time or want to fundraise, they would rather just give you some money if you ask for it rather than work to get it. If it's free it can't possibly be any good, rather pay £££'s for it so it must be good! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted May 6, 2018 Author Share Posted May 6, 2018 Thanks guys! i am indeed coming to the conclusion that i may ask for a PTA amount at the beginning of each term £10 a term would be about right if we included the other 2 events . I agree sunnyday a sponsored event might have worked but i have just done one for another local charity ...we've done this in the past and got £400/£500 in for them...this year !#£100! i only had 7 replies maybe now is the time to ensure that everything is covered by fees and i forget living in the past 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 Oh Finleysmaid that "forget living in the past" sounds so heartfelt - but we must accept changes and if you raised £100 or so rather than £4/500 for a local charity it probably does show that people do indeed give in different ways these days. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mps09 Posted August 26, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2018 It's such a hard thing, I think lots of settings are feeling the same! We do one 'big' event each year - sponsored walk/scavenger hunt ect. This year we made £250 (with more children than ever...) and usually we make between £500-£1000! But we also do lots of 'little' things that actually all add up - we've raised £300+ this year just on these things..... we always 'sell' the ideas, and throw in a few 'this is what your money has helped us buy' type things! Bag2school - get rid of your old clothes, raise, and you get twice as much money if you book 2 collections at a time. Pig - this is a plastic money box and put outside every day - parents but odd change in, then we ask for donations when we've done something special, cooking, visitors in, etc. some parents are really generous, but we work on the basis that those that can afford it will, and those that can't don't... Schemes with commission do well and all add up - Stamptastic, Easyfundraising, Yellow moon Tesco, Waitrose and probably others do community schemes - we were selected by our local Waitrose and received £260! Story sacks - easy to make from donations, charity shops, etc. When I first introduced these, I charged £1 a week per sack... this was great, children often nagged parents ;-) but it really added up - now I charge £10 for the whole year - but every family gets a 'freebie' so they can see what they include. We also run a 'bedtime story' sessions - parents and children come back in pyjamas, blankets, pillow, snuggle down for stories - don't need a babysitter, really good fun and something a bit different - donations taken, we made £30 the first time - but then you need staff willing to come back after hours! It all adds up, and sometimes feels a hard slog... but worth it especially when you realise how much has been made :-) Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mps09 Posted August 26, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2018 On 05/05/2018 at 19:08, louby loo said: Trouble is once some is 'free' it has no value (including us!) Years ago I ran a rainbow group, we used to offer a free Panto trip at Christmas - it was hit or miss as to how many people turned up on day. We started charging 50p (probably £2 in todays value). EVERYBODY would turn up as they would have been out-of-pocket. Not sure why I shared that- but I always think about it with regards to our funding. Oh my! this is sooooo true!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted September 9, 2020 Author Share Posted September 9, 2020 So with all the social distance issues our fundraising is going to be seriously threatened this year, one of our local garden centres has already cancelled their C events !! . Has anyone thought about some ideas for this year that might work??? Ouir parents may struggle with money at the moment so maybe i need to think outside the box! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 (edited) Gosh tricky one Fm,. It crossed my mind that it has to be something the parents need rather than want (nothing too frivolous during these times). So some thing as easy as doing a meat raffle or or other baskets of goods that people need and are happy to gamble a few £'s weekly or monthly to win. It's a lot of admin I suppose - and maybe not enough reward for your needs. or running one of those 100 club things - or maybe you aren't allowed to gamble gamble🐼 Edited September 9, 2020 by Panders 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted September 10, 2020 Author Share Posted September 10, 2020 9 hours ago, Panders said: Gosh tricky one Fm,. It crossed my mind that it has to be something the parents need rather than want (nothing too frivolous during these times). So some thing as easy as doing a meat raffle or or other baskets of goods that people need and are happy to gamble a few £'s weekly or monthly to win. It's a lot of admin I suppose - and maybe not enough reward for your needs. or running one of those 100 club things - or maybe you aren't allowed to gamble gamble🐼 yes i can see this working as we could send photos of prizes. (we are allowed to gamble ...we have a licence!) we need to raise about £3000 in a year to pay for addition resources. a consequence of serious underfunding in the industry ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 That is a lot of money - definitely a community effort needed, or sponsorship deal, oh Fm I hope something comes along Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 9 hours ago, finleysmaid said: yes i can see this working as we could send photos of prizes. (we are allowed to gamble ...we have a licence!) we need to raise about £3000 in a year to pay for addition resources. a consequence of serious underfunding in the industry ! Do you have a local Round Table/Rotary Club that will help? (or whatever those type things are called nowadays) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted September 11, 2020 Author Share Posted September 11, 2020 Yes and we have quite close connections, they tend to offer us a service rather than money but they can be really helpful. The lions club offer a dragons den type system fr bids !!!! might have to do that this year🤪 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFCCCC Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 We make about £250 on our annual clothes collection. It is easy as it doesn't cost parents anything and all they have to do is bring in a bag of old unwanted clothes/shoes/bedding etc. and to be honest, most of them are glad to get rid of them and bringing them to us when they re coming to nursery anyway is much easier than going to the charity shop. We just send them a couple of reminders by text and put some signs up and then remind them all verbally the last day before collection. The collection date is pre-arranged and they just turn up - take it all away and then send us a cheque - simples! Staff bring theirs in too. https://bag2school.com/ The other way we raise funds is dress-down Friday - staff pay £1 to come in non-uniform on a Friday (if they want to obviously). We get about £250 per year from that too. In the past, we have held coffee and cake day for parents - as you say, they are too busy to get involved but if we set up a coffee stall in reception in the morning (we buy paper cups with lids and have an urn set up) and get the cook to make a couple of home made cakes, they will buy a coffee and cake to take to work with them - at £2 a go, its cheaper than Starbucks/Pret et al. and for a much better cause (and many buy extra cake to take for their work colleagues) We also put a couple of tables in the dining area if they don't work and want to buy, then stay and chat with each other (after dropping children off). Other than that, we have saved money by asking parents to do some jobs for us e.g. weeding, putting shelves up, making cushions/tablecloths/aprons/dolls clothes. Its always worth asking in a newsletter if anyone has any skills we can use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted September 14, 2020 Author Share Posted September 14, 2020 thanks GFCCCC these are great but i was wondering if cake sales and clothes collections would be possible at the moment. We are being so careful and yet i've still had to send 3 children for tests today. (not sure the staff paying to come in non uniform will get me far ...we only have 5 of us and one of them doesn't wear uniform!😂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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