Magnolia - the school fund donation I referred to in my earlier post is optional, so if you weren't in a position to pay it, then you wouldn't have to.
I think the problem with a lot of school fund-raising is that people very rarely review the relative success of different methods, and just keep churning out the same thing again and again, year after year.
Another Mum and I have recently joined the committee of our PTA andhave made a number of unpopular, but effective changes . She is an ex-accountant, so now we review the commercial success of every event and produce a ranked summary at the end of the school year - it's certainly made everyone sit up and take notice!
We've also changed the way we do certain things, so for example the school produced something (let's say it was a tea towel - I don't want to be too specific!)which had input from all the children. They tried to sell it at the gates and the christmas fair. Response was poor and stocks were high. So we argued the case for sending one out in book bags to all parents, with a 'thought you'd like to see it, but no obligation, return it if you don't want it...' note.
We sold hundreds. Had one half-hearted complaint about 'pressure-selling' and lots of people saying what a good idea, as they never have money at the gate, are too hassled etc. And only a tiny % were 'lost' i.e. not returned/ not paid.
Although I don't agree with all her comments (!) Xenia is right to some extent. If all the resource and effort in PTAs was better managed by expert fundraisers it would be much more effective, AND not have to constantly rely on the same parents forking out via fairs, raffles, cake stalls etc but also get support from the wider community.