Teaching Band

Fundraising - Pancake Breakfast

So, I am in the process of planning for next school year, and one of our biggest events is our annual Fall Concert and Pancake Breakfast.  A few months ago, I wrote about fundraising ideas and guidelines, and I mentioned this one.  This is my favorite fundraiser.  The kids come and play, the families eat pancakes, and we make money - not a bad combination.

There are two sides to this event.  The first is the concert - we will have 10 different ensembles scheduled during the day next year.  Each one will get a 15 minute time slot at various times during the morning. They are lined up based on two factors: 1.  The largest groups get time slots far apart, to keep the crowd under control.  We sold about 1200 tickets last year, and our cafeteria can hold about 350 people comfortably.  2. We try to line them up so the beginning bands and their parents can hear the older groups.  This is for recruiting purposes.. Recruiting is a year-long event.

The other side of this event is the fundraiser.  We are somewhat confident that we can make $15,000 on that Saturday.  We sold 1200 tickets last year with 350 kids enrolled in band.  This year we are close to 500, so ticket sales will be better.  We also do a silent auction, with a goal of $5000.

We sell tickets for $5, and $7 at the door.  The cost to us per ticket is usually less than 75 cents.  The meal includes all-you-can-eat pancakes, plus sausage, juice, and coffee. We order the sausage through the school's food vendor, the juice through a Sam's Club, and the coffee is usually donated.  For the pancake batter, we ask the kids to bring in a box of pancake mix (just add water).  We always have more than enough.

On the day of, we have parents come in shifts to cook pancakes.  Many bring griddles from home, and they all seem to have a good time.  A lot of the parents know each other, and it is a social experience for them. 

The silent auction is handled by the parents.  We are in the process of sending out requests for donations.  We get all kinds of things - gift cards, theme park tickets, sports tickets, memorabilia, etc... 

This is my favorite event for many reasons, but mostly because the kids are going door to door selling things.  They show up, each group plays for fifteen minutes, and we make money.  The whole event is done in one day, and then we can move on.  There are no items to pass out, additional money to collect, or prizes to pass out.  

Let me know if you would like more information, I'd be glad to share order forms, schedules, etc.. Also, let me know if you try it, or if you do it and have suggestions.  I am always looking for new ideas.

Fundraising

Fundraising is probably the part of my job that I like the least - motivating kids to do something that has nothing to do with music, convincing parents to participate, receipting money, handing out orders, etc... All of these things take a significant amount of time away from the classroom.  I remember my first year teaching - the parent group had committed to several fundraisers before I was hired.  Being a new teacher, and not wanting to anger parents, I decided to follow through with the their plans.  What a mistake!

The first fundraiser that year did okay.  We made about $4000 profit.  So, I bought a tuba.  At our next parent meeting I remember a parent asking me, "So, we raised all of that money for an instrument only one kid can use." Now, from a band director's point of view, this is ridiculous, right?  A good tuba makes the band sound better, and helps everyone.  However, this seems like a legitimate concern from a middle school band parent who knows nothing about band.  I continued to run all of these fundraisers, each one did worse and worse, and the last one didn't even break $1000.  Parents were tired of being asked to buy junk and food - wrapping paper, overpriced toys and candles, frozen pizza kits, etc... During all of this, they were also being asked to raise money for other groups - beta club, PTA, etc...

So, after my second year, I decided that I had enough fundraising.  I couldn't take it anymore.  I went to college to teach, not be a fundraiser.  I decided that any fundraiser I did from now on should meet the following criteria:

1.  It should take little or no classroom time.  No more putting charts up in my room, handing out prizes, asking kids what they have sold.  No more, it has to be easier and shouldn't interfere with instruction.

2.  It should involve me as little as possible.  The band program does not serve the director, it serves the kids and families.  I believe very strongly that parents should be actively involved.  If I can't find volunteers to help run fundraising activities, then we won't do them.  This has never been a problem for me - if parents understand why you need the funds, and are given a quality product, they are usually glad to help.  As a parent, I will help with anything that makes my kids happy.

3.  It should raise a significant amount of money.  This is a matter of opinion.  How much is a significant amount?  Is the amount of money worth the time involved.  For example, I will not do a car wash.  Besides the fact that my principal does not like them, you waste an entire day, a dozen or more kids, to make $400. There is also safety and liability concerns here, not worth it.  I do a Pancake Breakfast Concert each year, however, that also takes a Saturday.  The difference is that the kids are performing their fall concert, and we make several thousand dollars.  I plan to blog about that later.

4.  It should be planned well in advance.  This seems like common sense, but I can't tell you the number of times I have seen people, including myself, plan one at the last second to get some money.  This will usually flop.

5. Simpler is better.  Have you ever thought about asking for money?  I have a "Friends of Music" program that raises several thousand dollars each year.  You collect the money, and you are done.  Plus, you are not sending 60% of the money to some fundraising company.  Now - don't just go and say "please send cash!"  There is a right way and wrong way to do this.  I will blog about this later on too.  

6.  Less is more.  A couple of well-planned and well-executed fundraisers are much better than half of a dozen other ones.

I'll be posting good fundraising ideas over the next couple of weeks.  Have one to share? If so, leave it in the comments.

For many reasons I haven't been posting here for a while, I plan to write more regularly now.  If you have suggestions for topics, please let me know!