Putting pressure on my dcs to raise money

[twinsufficient]

My 3 dcs all go to the same musical theatre group. They are in the process of raising money in order to fund their next show and their teacher has told them that every student needs to raise £70 in 2 weeks. This is obviously £210 for my three which seems a lot seeing as they would be asking the same family and friends for donations. Our family-run company has already paid £100 for an advert in the show's programme and £500 last year but apparently this "doesn't count". The teacher has also said she'll be disappointed with any student who doesn't raise the full £70. AIBU?

Tellher your dissapointed to ask for your £500 refund and retraction of advert and£100 refund.

Fund raising? Yes. Minimum amiunts expected? No chance!

Tell her, in writing, how disappointed you are in her, extorting money from your children.

How much are the fees each term for your dc's to attend this theatre group?

If it's a small locally run one in a hall for a few pounds each week then they probably need the money to put on the show - not the right way to go about it though.

If it is a big one (similar to Stagecoach etc) and you pay a lot of money then they are taking the proverbial.

Yanbu

Clubs should never stipulate a minimum amount for fundraising. Children can't help their family circumstances, parents may be unable or unwilling to contribute. Not everyone has extended family to contribute. Some parents are unable or unwilling to take children to extra events like bag packing or bake sales. It's never the child's fault, and often not the parents fault either (work, lack of transport, clashes with other plans etc).

I pay £75 every 5 weeks for fees plus £15/compulsory tshirt for each child. Also rehearsals are £3/rehearsal/student so all adds up

£75 every 5 weeks... is that £75 for each child? And £3 each for every class/rehearsal on top of that?

Hmmm.

Raising £70 per family might (just) be do-able, but you have three kids. Surely they don't expect 3 x £70???

No it's £75 in total every 5 weeks but when they also do Brownies and gymnastics it gets expensive.

This is wrong on all accounts. It's one thing charging people for tickets to watch, or a fixed hire charge for costumes, and another dictating how much each person has to raise. I organise lots of fundraisers with my dance students - some students and parents contribute a lot or every time, others some of the time and some never come to fundraising events or donate. All the students still benefit from the fundraising one way or another, and we would never exclude a student for not being able to contribute. I can't believe there are groups out there that do this!

I'd ask for the generous money you have already given them, back. Then hand her £70 for all three of your children for fundraising and then see how she feels about limits. What a twat.