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Original poster

Schools not fundraising for children in need

102 replies

elliejjtiny · 13/11/2020 17:24

Is it just my dc's schools or are lots of schools doing it? This year both my dc's schools have announced that they are not fundraising for children in need this year. Older dc's secondary school is raising money for the local foodbank. Younger dc's primary school is raising money for a local project that is providing lunches for children who get free school meals during the school holidays.

Just wondering if other schools are doing similar? From a selfish point of view I am a bit worried about what will happen if children in need get a lot less money this year as we benefit personally from children in need.

OP posts:
Land0r · 13/11/2020 19:31

The private school I work at had a massive cake sale today. We are a small school (

ILikeBiscuits · 13/11/2020 19:38

Perhaps schools would rather support local charities directly, where they have a clearer idea of where the money is going.

This is an interesting 2018 thread.

CIN also gave money to “ the now disgraced” Kids Company. Daily Mail link, sorry.

H1978 · 13/11/2020 19:45

Dds school had a non uniform day to raise money for the national lifeguard service as support as two previous students at the school drowned in the summer and the organisation doesn’t get any funding.

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StopMakingATitOfUrselfNPissOff · 13/11/2020 19:46

Our school didn’t. It’s our first year so not sure if they usually do.
Nursery also didn’t but I’ve only known them to do it once in 4 years anyway.

wildbarnet · 13/11/2020 19:49

@ItsmineAllmine

I just don't think fundraising is on the agenda like it was pre covid. So many families are impacted by furlough, job losses, etc that it seems a bit insensitive to push for donations for anything just now.
I agree with this I can't believe CIN is on this year when people have no money
Viviennemary · 13/11/2020 19:49

Good. Id rather see a local hospice or food bank get the money. All these filthy rich celebs trying to get us to part with our money while promoting themselves. They make me sick tbh

endofthelinefinally · 13/11/2020 19:50

They give money to some very dubious people. Either they don't bother doing any research or they don't care. IMO it is more about self promotion than anything else.

sunshineandshowers21 · 13/11/2020 19:52

nothing at my eldest’s secondary school. my
youngest’s primary school sent a message on thursday morning asking for children to wear something pudsy or spotty. ridiculously short notice but i managed to get him some pudsy pyjamas in the end.

wonkylegs · 13/11/2020 19:57

Both of ours did CIN although DS1 is self isolating so I sent his contribution to DS2s school

RandomUsernameHere · 13/11/2020 20:19

Ours did Children in Need today, £2 each

Graphista · 13/11/2020 20:29

Totally agree with pps on virtue signalling, hypocrisy - of donors as well as cin themselves etc

but I'm sure they wouldn't make a fuss if a parent couldn't contribute. you're naive and missing the point.

The way too many schools work it is that to participate REQUIRES a donation making it essentially obligatory which a donation should NEVER be, plus the other children notice if a poor kid turns up in uniform on non uniform day and they are often bullied as a result and NOT just on the day either, it can blight a child's whole school experience.

Many children are "off sick" those days at school because their parents can't afford the donation (there's often a minimum amount too and they can be quite high! I remember one year towards end of dds high school career the new head tried to insist on a £5 donation for non uniform days! In a deprived area! Head was from a very well known wealthy local village and totally oblivious to local circumstances - frankly stupid in my opinion! Thankfully there was widespread refusal and when the head basically tried to shame parents at the next social event there was uproar! She ended up apologising in a letter sent out to all families)

@sunshineandshowers21 yes that's also very annoying the short notice some schools give, we had that issue with dds primary, when it reached the point of 2 days notice again many parents complained and said it simply wasn't good enough! People need time to budget, shop and generally prepare 2 days notice for a full time working single mum juggling childcare, running a home and a tight budget as I was at that time is ridiculous! But even the better off Sahm balked at that too as the other issue was the local shops couldn't possibly have the stock in! They need notice too. On this occasion it was to wear something green, I wear green as it suits my colouring but a LOT of people don't (especially where I live as it's a "football colour" and at least half local residents support the other team!) so it was a ludicrous expectation!

Graphista · 13/11/2020 20:30

Argh! What is going on with the bolding function?!

but I'm sure they wouldn't make a fuss if a parent couldn't contribute

you're naive and missing the point.

To clarify that paragraph

formerbabe · 13/11/2020 20:32

My dc school didn't do it this year, normally they do.

In all honesty, I'd much prefer money from mufti days or cake sales to go directly back into the school rather than charities

loutypips · 13/11/2020 20:37

DD's school doesn't raise money for anything but themselves. Which makes them seem really money grabbing, and means parents are less likely to donate due to the constant begging letters.

Squirrelly1 · 13/11/2020 20:40

Our primary did a virtual bake off competition (suggested donation £1.00) and a wear sporty clothing day today (again £1.00 donation). Donations were made through just giving, I was pretty surprised when I logged in to donate, that they were already up to £1400 and many of the donations were £10.00 plus! I donated what I could anonymously. Would have preferred this to go to local charities.

WhoopsSomethingWentWrong · 13/11/2020 20:44

Our school usually do but didn’t this year. I’m a governor so I know that the reason it was decided that we wouldn’t do anything is because they’ve had so many parents contacting them privately saying they’re struggling financially/emotionally/practically due to the situation that they didn’t want to add further pressure.

Blossomhill4 · 13/11/2020 20:47

My DS school wanted donations but the children wore there uniform as normal.
@ItsmineAllmine I agree with you charity starts at home.

kowari · 13/11/2020 20:50

Our school has a non uniform day but as it was a PE day DS just went in games kit, he didn't see the point of just wearing his own tshirt with games shorts. Donation was online. I didn't donate, will be spending the £1.50 on our local foodbank instead.

kowari · 13/11/2020 20:55

Graphista DS mostly has blues and greys, and I think one long sleeved red tshirt. He just goes in the closest colour, for green then blue will do!

TitianaTitsling · 13/11/2020 21:12

@graphista West Coast Scotland by any chance re the blue/green Wink?
Also not fond of the virtue signalling, judgyness of CiN, I much prefer local charities.

whiteroseredrose · 13/11/2020 21:19

DD's school did nothing this year. It was a surprise to see it when I turned on the TV..

MsAwesomeDragon · 13/11/2020 21:26

Dd's school still did children in need. They say up a just giving page rather than the usual all bring a pound in for non uniform. That's great, but the standard default amounts to choose from were £10, £20, £30. Is there an option to choose the suggested amounts when setting up a just giving page?

They did raise more than 5 times the amount they normally do. And the staff and pupils were doing "sponsored" stuff throughout the day. My dd chose the easiest option of a sponsored walk around the playground. She did 30 laps of the playground in half an hour.

MsAwesomeDragon · 13/11/2020 21:30

My school never support CIN. The school council vote on 3 charities to support each year, generally one local, one national and one global. This year we've got 2 local ones and an international one. So we're supporting the local food bank (which quite a few of our kids will benefit from), a local mental health charity (again, quite a few of our kids and their families will benefit from this) and an international health charity working in refugee camps (our kids won't benefit directly from this one, but they felt very strongly that it was what they wanted to support).

Clymene · 13/11/2020 21:33

None of these organisations should exist - CIN, Comic Relief, sports relief. We have developed a culture in the U.K. where services which are provided by the state in other countries are paid for by charitable donations. So much cash is soaked up in administration and marketing in these bloated organisations.

And no CIN grants are guaranteed. They give for a max 3 year term iirc.

Graphista · 13/11/2020 21:40

He just goes in the closest colour, for green then blue will do!

Haha - my next comment will show that wouldn't work here!

"West Coast Scotland by any chance re the blue/green ?" Yep...how'd you know? 

Yes wearing blue when meant to wear green would NOT work here and would cause all sorts of shenanigans!

I forget which charity it was (I'm thinking an environmental one?) but school also said "no footie tops" and the kids/families who initially thought "that's fine I've plenty of green in the form of footie kit" were then like "ffs that means we have to shell out too"

Where I am there are whole pubs, restaurants, cafes etc where you'd be risking a battering if you wore the wrong one of those in them! Certainly in the form of footie tops anyway. Very tribal.

@MsAwesomeDragon that sounds a good policy to me