Fundraising Issues...

[IraJason]

Originally Posted by Athleticgirl389

Heck, go play paintball ya know. Get a paintball gun (not an expensive one) and have people pay to take a couple shots at ya. I know it's a hit in Wildwood at the Boardwalk haha. Just a thought. Paintball is always fun =)

We've decided to go a little more high tech then paintball... One of the things we plan to do for this year is a team Laser Tag trip. But that's more of a team building activity for us to do a bit later in the year. We did it this year after IRI and it was awesome.

We also make rubber wristbands that say "Dawgma 1712" on them. We usually give them away as promotional things, and we still have hundreds in bags I think.

Originally Posted by JGjedi10

Our school has the same rule and is cutting back on soda and sweets this year. Our team sells Pizza and Candy AFTER school. Not only does this feed the sports teams but also the students exiting the building.

The pizza thing actually really sounds interesting, I'd really like to hear more about that. Unfortunately, the rules apply to all fundraisers on school property, no matter what the time. It really affects me for a class fundraiser where we are having a dance... we can't sell any sodas or candy, so we'll wind up selling water and pretzels for that.

One of the things that I forgot to mention about sponors is that according to our district, no club or sport can wear the logos of companies that give money. It's allowed that we can put company names and logos on the robot and on banners in our pit area, but not on our team shirts. But in that regard, we have a system in place to honor those who help us financially and with other services. The problem is (and this is another strange policy) all donor forms must be pre-approved by the school district if they are to be placed in a school district account, and any donations over a certain amount must have a request to donate money form filled out. I made one as build season was coming up last year, but due to the political process, it has yet to be approved by our school district's budget committee. So at the moment, even though we already have the system in place to have sponsors and donors, we have no real way to recieve large donations until either the form is passed, or the booster club I'm helping create along with parents and teachers starts itself up.

But enough about my problems... Thanks everyone so far who responded. It's really great to see what you all think.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by IraJason

So at the moment, even though we already have the system in place to have sponsors and donors, we have no real way to recieve large donations until either the form is passed, or the booster club I'm helping create along with parents and teachers starts itself up.

The booster club that you've mentioned. Is it taking a little while to form and if yes, do you know that reason?

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

theres this thing Ive heard about, where you have these people come and take your principle away, and they lock him in a room behind bars, and take his photo

then everyone in the school has to pay money to get him back.

Whats it called again....... uhmm....... oh yeah: Kidnapping!

(ok, I got nothing! but Im thinking about it)

Actually, Ken, you're not that far off from some fundraisers I've read of (not for FIRST) in the past. In essence, you find some willing teachers and a willing member of the local law enforcement (School resource officers seem to be common, so give that a shot) to "arrest" them and put them in a jail in a courtyard/cafeteria/whatever for the day. (The teachers know this in advance for sub purposes.) The students then have to donate bail money to the cause du jour to get their teachers out.

Of course, you'd want to make sure you've got a pretty popular teacher; I know I had a few in my younger days that I would let stay in the jail!

[IraJason]

Originally Posted by Jane

The booster club that you've mentioned. Is it taking a little while to form and if yes, do you know that reason?

Well, the idea for the booster club came about after build season, and really started to go into effect after Regionals. At that point, it had been a few months since I created the donor form I mentioned before, and no word had been heard about its progress. The main issue at that point was getting parents to run the thing, because our team is actually part of a larger club that has over 100 total members, which alone is a lot to deal with for our staff advisors.

As of right now, I believe we have a few parents who are seriously considering running the booster club. Once they get signed on, we'll work with them to figure out how to organize it and obtain non-profit status (already been worked out), and get other parents involved (We're planning on asking for everyone's parent email addresses during our first meeting). From there, we can implement our sponsorship and community fundraising ideas. I'm hoping that by the end of this year, we will at least have a fully functioning booster club that will be organized enough to handle money from sponsorships.

[JaneYoung]

Excellent.
I'm going to sound like KathieK but ask one of the parents to sign up with NEMO. It would be helpful to all of you to have that support. I wish you and the team the very best with this.
Jane

[wendymom]

Exploding Bacon does a little different kind of car wash. On Wednesdays we get out of school 2 hours before the teachers can leave. We do a detail service. For 30 bucks, 50 for vans, I (I'm the mom) pick up the keys to the cars and bring them around the back of the school. We wash, vacuum, armour all, windex,spray it with good smelly stuff and clean the wheels. Then we repark the car and deliver the keys back to the teacher. Thats one more errand they don't have to do. If you have enough people helping you can kick out 5 to 10 cars a day.
You even start having regular customers after a while.

[X-Istence]

At my school to raise funds we sold Cheesecakes. It was a huge success. Besides that we did not do much as our school district gave us a ton of money as well as the company that sponsored us.

This year all stuff that has as it's main ingredient sugar is going to be banned from the school cafeteria, that includes soda and whatnot, however clubs, fundraisers and others are exempt from the policy, as under NJ law it only applies to the cafeteria and the food they cater, so we have a school store that will be selling all kinds of candy (Skittles, Mints, Twix, Kit Kat, everything).

[KenWittlief]

This is a side note, but I find it interesting that schools are banning soda? Diet soda has no sugar or corn syrup, its just flavored filtered water.

And having enough fluids in your system is important for good health. In spite of all the urban myths and old wives tales, there is absolutely nothing wrong with drinking diet pop (unless you are getting wired from too much caffeen).

[amos229]

The caffiene is also one of the issues according to the new laws. Our school is inducing similar rules in the caffateria this year.

[Richard Wallace]

Seems we've made some progress since the dark days of the 1980's, when ketchup was counted as a vegetable in school lunch planning.

[wheeler]

One idea that we are getting ready to use is a local business discount card. You can have up to 20 business offer a year long coupon for card holders. If you purchase 1000 cards to sell the profit is $9 per card if you sell them for $10. We are looking into food and other retail stores to participate. There is no cost to the business except the honoring of the stated discount. If you want more info PM me.

[gail]

I've often thought of doing a "walk" where people pledge for each mile or half mile you do. If your whole team did it and you made the walk long enough you could raise some decent money.

[Athleticgirl389]

Originally Posted by IraJason

We also make rubber wristbands that say "Dawgma 1712" on them. We usually give them away as promotional things, and we still have hundreds in bags I think.

We thought of that idea. The thing is, our school cares too much about the marching band and football team, which do similar things. The field hockey team did something, and the parents were concerned that if we made bands, we wouldn't be able to get far with them, outside the parents and students in robotics. But the idea is sooo awesome!!! I'd love to have one of your Dawgma 1712 bands to add to my band collection haha.

[jakk]

Our team does car washes. Lots of them. 8 hours in the hot sun is fun! We also have an annual chicken sale that equals to about 2 car washes. We don't sell candy because all of our sports teams/clubs/band alread sells that.

[Andrew Blair]

Originally Posted by Richard

Seems we've made some progress since the dark days of the 1980's, when ketchup was counted as a vegetable in school lunch planning.

Not too far, I think our school's cafeteria service still honors nachos and cheese as an acceptable lunch choice, and 90% of the food contains processed cheese food. But now we have to eat baked fries...