Ok, I’ll be the DC…the “Designated Curmudgeon”.
You’re all thinking it, it’s just that nobody wants to say it. Stop the madness with all of these fundraisers!
When I was a kid (Geezer alert. yes, I just turned 40, so that qualifies me to start any diatribe I want with “When I Was a Kid….”), I remember a few fund raisers that were around. I had to sell candy bars for little league. That was a given. I was never a scout, but I was also aware of Boy Scouts selling firewood and Girl Scouts selling cookies. First of all, it was all Door-To-Door, and we were on our own. Occasionally, my mom would remind me I had fundraising to do, and if i didn’t move fast enough, she would unplug the TV and kick me out the door. I hated it. I hated knocking on peoples doors and giving my little shpeel. BUT, it was for MY team, and if I didn’t get the funds, then…well, I don’t know would happen, I just did. At the end of the day, because my folks “snacked” on my candies, I usually “sold” them all, but I had to do it. There were not legions of kids lined up with e Desgnated Parent camped out front of every grocery store, to accost you as you came out. I will also add that I did “Trick Or Treating” on my own, I was not chauferred into the “good” neighborhoods by my dad. We’ll define “Good Neighborhood” as the one with the really long driveways that give out full-size candy bars. But that’s another blog for another day. In about 10 months. Count on it.
The little league candy bars and the scouts were about “it”. We did not have to raise money for schools, especially private schools, where we are already paying tuition. We did not need to raise money to send Johnny to band camp, or Europe, or to feed children from Transykstan, or for teacher appreciation week, or for Soccer, or for Baseball. We also did not send letters to distant friends and relatives (who also have kids doing the same thing) asking if they want to buy a coupon book from Des Moines, magazines, etc. We just didn’t.
Why, then, in the 21st century, can I count on the following:
* A small tribe of uniformed children out front of every grocery store on weekends when it is above 40 degrees outside? I should note that when it is colder, the children are replaced by Homeless Vets, Keep Kids Off Drugs, Save Amy, Neuter Stray Dogs, and so on.
* At LEAST three pieces of Junk Mail, asking for money
* Scouts being DRIVEN door to door selling mulch, firewood, whatever
* Three or four order forms that PARENTS bring to work trying to sell their kids cookies
* A weekly solicitation from each school that I have a child enrolled in (public and private) asking for participation in a fundraiser of some kind. Eat here, 10% goes to us. Buy these books, 5% goes to us. Come volunteer your time so we can make money selling school photos. You get the idea.
* Routine phone calls (charities are exempt from Do Not Call lists) asking for money. The Policemen’s Auxiliary, Fire and Rescue, Save The Whales, Stop Bush, Stop Obama, Everyone Goes to Hell If You Don’t Send Money……
* Annual emails from kids whose parents haven’t emailed or called in YEARS, asking me to buy books to benefit their school.
* Don’t get me started on the people wearing the orange vests holding buckets at intersections.
I think now is an appropriate time to say that I DO believe that almost all of these charities are worthwhile. I value what the scouts bring to the community and to our youth. I value volunteer Fire and Rescue (I’m one of them). I value youth sports. I throw around charities, and make up names of charities somewhat in jest, and tongue in cheek, but there are not many charities that are out there that I would say are NOT worthwhile. All serve a very important purpose. Except maybe the intersection people. Jury’s still out on that one.
I also get that times are tight. The economy stinks. I certainly don’t have any more money now than I did in 2005. I get that people are maybe not as ‘giving’ as they used to be. But come on.
For some reason, we now need to pay for PUBLIC High School Athletics. And Music. In California, they don’t even have Sports and music in some schools. Had to be cut from the budget. I think it’s only a matter of time before our kids have to pay to ride the school bus. Kids in our county have to pay $250 for an annual parking pass on campus.
There is a need for this fundraising, and the source of the problem is somewhere else…like where did all the money go that we USED to have? Again, another blog for another day.
The bottom line is this (and, based on other conversations I have had, I am not alone): Stop The Madness. Stop inundating us with fundraisers. Whereas, before, I used to look through some fundraising materials, and at worse they were uninteresting. Now, they are somewhere between “Nuisance” and “Offensive”. I don’t like the feelings I have towards the scouts when I see them mobbed at the grocery store. If you come knock on my door, and make some effort, you might get something. You are not an extension of Safeway. In fact, I have stopped patronizing stores that allow outdoor solicitation. Don’t bring your kid’s cookie form to me to sign up. Have them do it. Part of is supposed to be about teaching character, right? If you’re a private school, raise tuition. I already pay a monthly fee, and I bring snack 3x a month, and pay an annual “supply fee”. Just raise the rates $10 a month, and call it even. If you’re a public school, I don’t know what to tell you. The money used to be there. If the politicians aren’t spending money the right way, vote for somebody else.
I have regular charities that I give both my time and my money too. I am sympathetic to your cause, but the market is flooded.
