The scoop on fundraising, and how to make it mostly painless

If you are about to have your first experience in the Seattle Public School system, you are on the cusp of discovering the importance of the PTA.  Especially in a time of big budget cuts, parent volunteers and donors are essential to creating an enriched school environment.

At Daniel Bagley, we're darned lucky to have fabulous teachers, staff, parents, and PTA, who contribute their own time towards our great community.  But we also need to raise money ($95,000 this year) to cover costs not funded by the school district, such as:

• $52,500 in staff subsidies (K-1 classroom tutors, nurse salary, math and reading specialists, and special education)
• $7,950 in classroom teaching supplies 
• $7,750 for the “Visiting Artists” program (vocal music and drama)
• $5,000 for field trips
• $3,300 for supplies to the art room, gymnasium and library
• $1,950 for reading supplies
• $1,750 for an Emergency Fund for families in crisis 
• ... and more.

(FYI: 2011/2012 DBE PTA budget is here)

The bulk of this is raised through the all-school Jogathon (Friday September 30, 2011) & major fundraising campaign in early spring, but I want to talk about FREE MONEY programs, which we're hoping will earn us close to $10,000, basically through just keeping grocery receipts and box tops, registering Safeway club cards online, and buying prepaid scrip cards.  

So, no selling gift wrap or tulip bulbs or chocolate bars to your neighbors or office colleagues.  That's good, right?

 The higher the participation in Free Money programs, the more we'll earn, and the less we will have to collect through donations to meet our goals.  That's good, too, right?

Caveat:  I'm the Free Money Program volunteer this year, so let's consider this a PSA.  The fundraising webpage isn't quite updated for the new school year, but here is the gist, so you will understand future announcements in the Buzz or in kidmail (and so you can start saving your receipts & boxtops for the contest this fall).

Year-round Free Money opportunities, starting now:

• Keep all your Greenwood Market and Ballard Market receipts.
• Clip all the little pink Boxtops from participating grocery products (e.g. Cheerios, Pillsbury, Yoplait, Betty Crocker, and many more).
• Clip all the Labels for Education from Campbell's soup labels and other products (e.g.  Goldfish crackers, Post cereals, V-8, and more).
• When you shop online, click through a portal such as eScrip or eBoxtops, that will direct you to the retailer and credit Daniel Bagley with a percentage of the purchase.  Between the two programs, there are thousands of retailers, including Amazon, REI, Target, Shutterfly... it's just one extra step.  

Year-round Free Money opportunities, starting soon:

• Buy prepaid scrip cards from Brooke, our scrip seller this year.  Don't worry, she'll announce when they're available.  If you plan to shop at Amazon (or Amazon Fresh), QFC, PCC, Gap, REI, or many others, buy yourself gift cards in advance, and the retailers will give a percentage - up to 14% for some of them! - back to Daniel Bagley.  

Do it once, then you're done:

• Register your Safeway card # at eScrip.com for year-round cash-back to Bagley, and shop there right now, while there is a 10% back-to-school promotion.
• Register your Safeway, QFC, Albertons and Fred Meyer cards at elabelsforeducation.com

It's all Easy and Free, and every little bit makes our school even better.