Fundraising: A Necessary Evil

As I prepare to depart for Charleston to go to convention, I think about the vendors that will be displaying their various services and items. More than a quarter of the vendors there will be offering fundraising services. There will be pizza kits, cookie doughs, and fruit of all sorts and people just dying to help you and your band make more money (That's what they will say of course). There are all kinds of ways to make money for the band. I have participated in fruit sales, Coca-Cola product sales, frozen cheesecake sales, and yes even onion sales. These are some of the most productive fundraisers in that they are fairly quick and involve a minimum of actual time to organize. I am lucky to have some band boosters that are willing to count money and item orders for me. I DO NOT TOUCH ANY FUNDRAISING MONEY...EVER! I highly recommend that no band director ever does either. This is one of the major things that a band booster club can do for any band director. Of course there are other ways to fundraise rather than selling some sort of product. There are car washes. They are fun and cheap but are very labor extensive and really don't make much money at all for the amount of time that goes into them. There are brochure sales. I always felt bad about charging people $10 for a box of candy that really would only cost $1.50 at a drug store and it tastes bad too. I even know of some bands that just simply send out a mailing to the whole community and ask for donations. This is a great one. Nothing to count or deliver. It is rather labor extensive to get together though but hey the donations are tax deducible and at least people know where there money is going.

On thing is for sure, band is an expensive activity. So we will continue to fundraise. Below are the approximate costs of just some of the things we do:

1 Tuba =$3500

1 colorguard show flag = $40.00 X 11 colorguard members = $440.00 X 3 show flags = $1320.00 for one competition show (poles not included)

1 marching baritone = $1500

Food for one meal for 100 member band = $300

2 Charter buses for one day to a BOA event=$2000

One case of field lining paint (last about 1 week) = $50

One insane band director yelling at you in 100 degree weather to not move when bugs are biting you, sweat is rolling in your eyes, and you are seeing spots = Priceless