PTA donations

[BerryBad]

If your PTA had JustGiving page for donations, would you think that's a bit grabby, or is it a reasonable suggestion for parents who may be can't attend some of the school events?

Trying to raise money for the PTA and I know all parents aren't able to (or don't want to) attend the events or don't have time etc ... but don't want to seem grabby or pushy. Interested to hear thoughts on this, as the headteacher doesn't like the idea.

I would quite happily donate an annual sum if it meant no PTA people trying to guilt me into staying up til the small hours baking cupcakes on a work night or taking the morning off work to attend a PTA coffee morning. Fine for people who have the time but I don’t.
I also think there should be a short list of things the PTA/school want to raise money for, and you can choose which to donate to.

The other thing is, I wish Baker Ross did gift vouchers or had a scheme where parents could donate so that teachers had their own little pot to use for class activities.

Our PTA are fab but I would much rather hand over £100 or more at the start of the year rather than another email on Thursday night asking for cake to be sent in on Friday for sale on Saturday. I swear they get less for said cake than I spend on ingredients sometimes!

Delurking and stickystick and any one else
Feel free to write a cheque out to the PTA with a cover note saying "herewith a donation in lieu of any cake making / buying or other random events for the academic year". I would imagine they'll bite your hand off.

My oldest school asks for £100 voluntary donation every year and keeps reminding through the year. Makes me feel pretty shit as I can't afford it. I do send her in with a pound here and there for events but really can't afford that amount.

teentimestwo if I believed that would happen, I’d do it like a shot. But it wouldn’t - the emails would keep coming. For example, we are told that if we don’t have time to work at the school fair (held on a working weekday) then we can donate a wedge to the school fair to “sponsor” an activity instead. But if you DO donate, the emails asking you to work at the fair don’t stop coming. They don’t have the technical capability to distinguish between people who donate and people who don’t.

Have a look at LocalGiving.org

Our events website has a donation button. In 2 years, only £40 has been donated despite several families saying they'd rather pay £50 a year than attend events.

So, 'rather pay £50 a year than attend events' in an abstract sort of way...?

I'm guessing they probably didn't attend the events, either?

I swear they get less for said cake than I spend on ingredients sometimes!

This is true. But because it’s usually for a ‘community’ event to be enjoyed by all, you can’t fleece people on cake costs. And it doesn’t matter to the PTA what you spe t on ingredients - what matters is how much they make from free donations of cake. Make Rice Krispie cakes instead if you’re cosy conscious.

But if you DO donate, the emails asking you to work at the fair don’t stop coming. They don’t have the technical capability to distinguish between people who donate and people who don’t.

And if you DO sign up to volunteer you still get the emails too. So what? You can ignore them knowing you’re covered and you’ve done your bit. You still get the bloody self-assessment tax reminders from HMRC too, regardless of whether you’ve already filed...

noSquirrels

nor do I want to be waylaid in a death grip at drop off and asked what mid afternoon cake sale slot or school fair stall I will be signing up for.

Gotcha, stickystick. You want them to shut up and ideally not exist.

Fuck me, being on the PTA is try a thankless thankless task.

I would find that very annoying and be difficult when some parents might not be able to make a donation

I agree with PP that I'd prefer a monthly donation than having to bake cupcakes (that raise about £1.50 between them) for bake sails. A justgiving page is fine for something specific but I can't imagine most people will donate for general funds.

I just donated to my PTA and they were not set up for this at all. I had to actively seek advice on how to even do this! I was prompted by an end of year whip round starting for the teachers with a ridiculous ‘suggested’ amount. I’m not enamoured with the teaching staff so decided to do this instead AND the school will get the gift aid.

nosquirrels if you want to talk about thankless tasks, try being a single parent working full time. The PTA at our school is almost entirely populated with people from two parent families who work not at all (or part time at a push). It’s lovely that they all get together for coffee mornings and cake sales but it would be nice if some of them recognised that not everyone has the luxury of school day idleness or free evening childcare. It would be unacceptable to pressurise a parent into donating cash they couldn’t afford, so why pressurise me into donating time I can’t afford?

Does your school do the schools lottery?

No we don't do the schools lottery, haven't heard of it. Will look into it.

Our PTA is the opposite stickystick, all of the 'members' work full-time, although yes they're not single parents so I imagine it would be harder to contribute if that were the case. As everyone works, the meetings are in the evenings.

It is hard to contribute time that everyone has so little of, hence why trying to find another way for people to help in addition to the events, if they so wish.

Thanks for all the contributions, it's given me lots to think about!

Stickystick our PTA is run by working people who have evening meetings, and includes more than one single parent family. Each member has taken time out of work to organise and run events on multiple occasions. IME it's also the families of those running the PTA that contribute the most financially either by donating items for free, not claiming all their expenses or just the fact that they fully support every single event. Without the people who can be bothered to put time into the PTA the school would lose out on much needed resources that all the school's children benefit from and the fun they have at the events organised.

The schools lottery brings in a very welcome regularly trickle to our small primary with next to no work.