Money is a significant pressure for all families, but especially for those involved in clubs and sports. From trips to camps, there are a multitude of events that happen outside of school for all extracurriculars. These events are typically expensive and some of that responsibility lies on the students and staff. Fundraising is an important means of making money for all students, but the stress that follows with it can be critical.
In order to participate or start a fundraiser, club advisors have to go through a specific process to gain approval.
“Teachers or Club Advisors fill out a fundraising form with their requested dates and an explanation of the fundraiser. We have a few rules to follow: fundraisers can last for up to 2 weeks and we can only have 2 fundraisers running at one time. I try to make sure that fundraisers are different so there isn’t any “competition” between clubs,” Fundraising chair, Mrs. Schaeff, said.
The fundraiser process is significant because it controls and regulates all charity events at the school. Fundraisers are meant to help students and staff support their programs and extracurricular activities. Fundraising allows for clubs and sports to fund opportunities that they would not get the chance to participate in without it. While the responsibility of doing the fundraising typically falls on the students, the pressure of creating fundraisers falls on the teachers or staff in charge of the clubs.
“The Fraser staff works hard to help support the various fundraisers in the building,” Mrs. Schaeff said.
Teachers are the ones who have to find, create, manage, and oversee fundraisers. Without the help of teachers and advisors, fundraisers would never happen. Fundraisers are significant for funding and fueling opportunities that are not able to be funded by the school. The determination of club advisors to make its members have access to experiences that they would not be able to participate in otherwise. Connected to the importance of staff involvement, student participation is just as significant.
“[Student participation is] critical! A lot of clubs depend on fundraisers to go on field trips, run activities, and/or participate in competitions,” Mrs. Schaeff said.
For a lot of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars it is dependent on the students to make up the money to participate in activities if there is no fundraising. Sports specifically can have a multitude of opportunities that can be expensive without fundraising. One example would be the dance team. Dance team went to the national dance team competition in Florida this past year. Their reliance on fundraising was significant.
“The school gives us 30 bucks per dancer per year which got put towards our hip-hop shoes. And we still had to pay around 80 bucks because they were expensive,” dance team member, Leah Woods, said.
The school’s personal funding was not enough to cover the expenses dance team had. Their trip to nationals was paid through fundraising and the member’s parents.
“We should be worried about our grades and perfecting our dances, but we have to worry about how we have to pay for dance. And we have no social life because we’re either dancing or worrying about how we’re going to pay for it,” Woods said.
The stress of money on people in clubs is a significant problem. People want to participate in activities but can be unaware of the financial costs that come with them. In general, the financial stress that can come from clubs with things like big trips or events can be limit people in their ability to participate. However, this is not the story for all extracurriculars.
“DECA members only have to pay $100 to go to the state and national championships. Hotel room, activities, flights, and everything are all covered. People only had to bring spending money. This year’s trip was to Orlando and last year’s trip was to California,” DECA member, Scarlett Gervasone, said.
DECA members have to pay only $100 for state and national championships compared to the dance team members who had to pay for the entirety of their trips. For DECA, fundraising was not even their main source of funds.
“The only fundraising we did this year was for muscular dystrophy not for trips,” Gervasone said.
The pressure on students for funding their extracurriculars vary from every club, sport, or activity. The difference in how every club fund their activities has a direct impact on student involvement. Another example of a club that relies heavily on fundraising and student participation is band. They do a multitude of fundraisers every year. Marching band alone has band camp which comes out of the student’s pockets and the regular school band does a trip every year which also costs a significant amount of money. Without fundraising, all students have to pay for things like band camp and the yearly trip. Because of that, there are fundraisers that the band director, Mr. Rodgers, implements throughout the year so kids can have the opportunities to participate in the trips and events.
Fundraising is stressful but vital to ensure the participation of all students in their respective extracurriculars. Sometimes things can be expensive and costly which ropes in students and their families to pay extensive amounts of money. Fundraising is a way to lighten the financial load for all students that want to engage in activities they want to.
