Fundraising Philosophies

When the topic of fundraising comes up there are a series of things that pop into my mind as a Catholic school principal. I remember my youth and recall that, as a student at St. Theresa Catholic School, I was hitting the streets with some regularity to sell candy, packets of seeds, Christmas cards, wrapping paper, raffle tickets, etc. I also flash back to the fundraising activities that I have inherited when I’ve been principal of other schools. Additionally, I think about the fundraising activities going on in other non-public schools that I am aware of.
As a parish school – and a relatively young one at that – fundraising will be part of our lives for the foreseeable future. Even with the income from tuition/fees and the cash subsidy from the parish, the school’s budget requires the income from fundraising to provide an appropriate educational setting to achieve our ministerial and educational goals. Fundraising is a given for our situation.

The next thing that comes to mind for me is that fundraising is an adult responsibility – not a student responsibility. While it is true that scouts sell cookies and popcorn and cheerleaders sell temporary tattoos now and again – we do not implement any mandatory school-wide student fundraising activities. We don’t have an annual magazine drive. We don’t have an annual “World’s Finest Chocolate” sale. We don’t send students out to sell Christmas wrapping paper and ribbon. We don’t implement school-wide sales programs that establish a per student minimum net profit. Many schools do.

We do raise funds in a variety of ways that are focused on adults doing work – not students doing work. The annual Dinner/Auction is the biggest fund-raising activity that the PTO sponsors. The sale of Scrip gift cards is emerging as a major fundraising activity. Both of these activities are adult focused and aimed at a target population beyond just parents of students in the school. Additional fundraising activities of many sorts are implemented – e.g., sale of school decals, sale of the annual Christmas ornament, the recent wreath sale – and these are, again, adult responsibilities. As the school evolves and grows, additional fundraising activities will be implemented. Plans are being made for a sale of spring bedding plants by the flat. That activity will be an adult responsibility and will be aimed at the whole parish, not just parents of students.

As the years go by our school will continue fundraising activities – to fund short term and long term projects; to establish an endowment fund; to establish a scholarship fund; etc. I am hopeful that throughout those years students can continue to be involved in service activities – but not fundraising activities.