to withdraw my offer to fundraise...

[TheLaminator]

Ive always been happy to help out with fundraising & have enjoyed being involved and organising charity events for local & international organisations. I worked for a charity before I had children but havnt done much since then, apart from the odd donation etc. So, when I asked at my sons nursery (he started sept) what their christmas plans were I was jumped on with a sponser form for the nursery staff who are doing a Santa Dash. They are also selling for £1 little bags of reindeer food(mixed seeds) in a nice bag with a lovely little poem about the spirit of christmas. All very nice, so I offerd to help sell somereindeer food` & try and get as many sponsors as i could for the santa dash.
My creative juices get going and I started thinking I could combine an event I have planned for before christmas with some extra fundraising for the nursery.

Yesterday when dropping off my son, one of the staff asked me how i was doing selling the food/sponsors (nothing yet, still in bag in the hall!) she then went on to say that they were hoping to raise £800 to have their rocking horse fixed.
Now, this is the bit were Im not sure if im being U, but £800 to fix a rocking horse!!! Its a lovely old rocking horse, dont get me wrong, but for lots of reasons, I think this would be miss-spent money. For starters its really high, non of the children can use it without supervision. It seems like sentimental spending, yes of course it would be lovely if it had a shiney new mane and a paint job, but that money could go alot further. If the rocking horse wasnt there, the kids probably wouldnt be bothered after a while, its the adults who would be all upset about it. Im sure the kids would be more miffed if there were no A&C materials?
To add to that, (which should probably be a whole thread on its own), there is only one (overflowing) nappy bin in the disabled loo - for the whole community centre that the nursery is within & I discoverd the other day that this only gets emptied once a month, after mentioning the stench to staff, they said it was too expensive to have it collected more often. HHmmmm?
Surely running cost should come before non essential work?

So, im not really sure wether I can be bothered to do more than sponsor them myself & sell a few bags & pass the rest back. Dont wont to come across rude, should I say why I cant do more? Im aware that i will probably be invited along to fundraising meetings if I open my trap, I really dont wont to get involved on that level, our son is only there til June.?

£800 to mend a rocking horse?

That can't be right, surely? They could buy an actual pony for that.

Suggest that they put the rocking horse on eBay to raise money for more appropriate play equipment?

If they don't agree then sell the reindeer food - ywbu not to do that, but forget trying to gather more sponsors for them.

Don't they have some kind of committeee who agree what the money being raised will be spent on? I think if you offered to fund-raise without being sure what you were fundraising for, it may not be reasonable to then start specifying that you are only prepared to fundraise for certain things.
FWIW, I agree with you completely that £800 to mend a rocking horse is bonkers!

lol at buy a real pony! I was down in west Wales recently and the local Spar shop had 2 Shetland ponies advertised for sale @ £50 each! Jack Russell puppies, on the other hand, were £120

Yes, i thought they would probably make more money selling it or auctioning it off.
I would LOVE to have puppies and a real pony at nursery!! you could get a few of each for £800. can you imagine the noise & the mess!!!

You`re right Bugsy, should have checked really!

My df has made rocking horses. I'm assuming you're talking about the wooden Victorian style ones. It will cost that sort of money to repair. That's not too bad a price if it's really run down. They're about £2000 new, but repairing will actually involve replacing a lot of the expensive bits on the horse, as well as a master craftsman to mend any chips etc.

The saddle will be a proper leather saddle, and brass stirrups exactly as made for a real pony. It takes my df a very long time to make the horse, carving it out of blocks of wood, and produces what is a heirloom piece.

I'm not sure you're right in the the children won't be bothered. At dd2's hospital there used to be a very delapidated horse there and if there were two children waiting... there would often be a queue for it despite other lovely toys. When it eventually got retired there were regular cries of dismay.

Did you think they were raising funds for general running costs when you agreed to help? They should be clearer when asking for help and you probably should have asked.

I think I'd ask how the decision was arrived at. They may have considered other things and there may be good reasons why they didn't choose them (e.g. perhaps complex contractual arrangements between nursey and community centre?). If not, I think you could say that you don't feel the rocking horse is the best thing for the children so not something you can get as motivated about as art materials etc. At this point, you might be able to offer that as your reason for limited selling, rather than getting drawn into the committee.

DeWe Whilst I understand that for a really nice wooden (perhaps antique) rocking horse it would be expensive to fix but nice to have done, I don't think that spending £800 repairing one for a busy nursery is really necessary.

A real leather saddle and brass stirrups are completely unnecessary.

my nursery had a big old rocking horse that i used to love, 25 years later and i still remember it

Is this a commercial nursery run as a business? If so Ywbvu to give them anything at all in sponsorship.

It it is a charity and genuinely run as charitable concern then that's different.

YANBU to think the money could be better spent. Children wear things out. How often will £800 need forking out for this rocking horse? Especially if basic health & safety re the nappy bins is not being met.

Its a community run (voluntery) centre, I would not use or sponsor a commercial nursery Katie :)

I think i`ll be fighting a wave of sentmentality if i suggest the funding go else were, but should definately take the nappie bin up with centre management as a diffenrnt issue.

Money earned through fundraising shouldn't be used for running costs. Parents should be encouraged to take nappies home with them.

The playgroup my DSs went to had a rocking horse. No-one was ever allowed on it - too high, too many sharp bits. Would be a waste of £800. Come up with some alternative proposals for what the nursery might find more useful. But don't spend it on nappy bins.