Parents Testimonials

An electronic survey was sent out by the PTO in June 2012 to Springdale Park Elementary parents through the school electronic newsletter. The purpose was to gather feedback from parents regarding fundraising in general as well as specific fundraising campaigns that took place during the 2011-2012 school year.

Below are the testimonials from parents who voiced some kind of opposition to the “Fun Run” campaign that is described in our About Us page (campaign which happened INSIDE the classroom).

“Felt that it took up too much classroom time and was unfair in terms of prizes for children who come from homes with less money to support the fundraiser.”

“Boosterthon was way too high pressure for my kids.  They had so much anxiety.  I like the idea of physical fitness related fundraisers, but I just don’t think this was the one.  Whatever message they were trying to teach really didn’t come across to my children.”

“Boosterthon had way too much of an emphasis on the commercial “stuff” that kids earned. How ’bout maybe parents donate a book as an incentive?”

“Boosterthon Fun Run–kids only wanted to win prizes, pestered parents to spend more, more, more!”

“Even though the Boosterthon raised a lot of money, I feel like the children got way to wrapped up in the prizes. They also lost sight of the real purpose it was all about the prize. Although I know the return on investment is really good.”

“I am appalled that the boosterthon company only gives us 50 percent. I hate to think about our families shelling out that kind of cash to them. I would rather write a check to the PTO and have 100 percent benefit the school but no one has asked in a few years.”

“I feel that the teachers pressured the kids (perhaps in an unhealthy way) to get Boosterthon pledges.  While excited, our children seemed to be very anxious about it.  It seemed like it was fun for the kids to some degree, but became frustrating to the parents. I also think that receiving only 50% was very LOW!  (Especially when there was no exchange of goods.)”

“I think that the Boosterthon material is misrepresented– it makes it sound like $35K were raised when in fact Boosterthon took a substantial percent of the proceeds (48%)– I would like to think of a way to replicate the concept but keep the proceeds–“

“We really don’t like the idea of our children ‘earning’ items/rewards/prizes.  It sends the wrong message to them.  The kids should do this for the school or another cause and not for a reward.”

“I felt the boosterthon was a violation of SPARKs message & school initiatives!”

“Always, always, always tell us ahead of time what proportion of the proceeds will be going to SPARK’s need.  Personally, I will never give to a fundraiser that has more than 30% overhead.”

“Concerned that poorer kids would feel bad when their relatives could not afford to support the school (and when their classmates received all manner of prizes). Not sure that this is consistent with “be respectful.” The Boosterthon prizes were plastic junk. Not sure that this is consistent with “be green.” Would support a fun run event in a modified form.”

“Perhaps the most important reason:  pressure should not be placed on children, as part of their school experience, to raise money for any cause.  Any role children take in fundraising should be voluntary and outside of school only, not as part of a captive population.  It was particularly outrageous that children who didn’t donate money to SPARK were required to complete extra homework compared with those who did donate money.”

“Even though it was a very successful fundraiser, I did not like the way the boosterthon made it a competition amongst students to gain pledges by giving out prizes each day.  I thought this created an unfair spirit in the classroom for those who might not be able to raise as much funds as others.”

“I would rather just donate the money directly.  (…) Boosterthon was OK, it seems it could be better if there was a way to do it with less peer pressure on the kids to ‘perform’ in terms of sponsorships gathered (the child sees it as having few sponsorships means no one likes them, and this devalues the child’s self worth).  Maybe there could be a less public way to state which kids achieved what levels, or maybe it could be dropped if there was support for the idea mentioned in item 7 below.”

“I found the Boosterthon to be very aggressively marketed towards the kids and created lots of unnecessary fights and discussions at home with my child – they didn’t get the point of fundraising and were driven by the toys. I would have rather given all the money in check to the school or class on the side vs. the whole effort, running, marketing and brainwashing.”

“Boosterthon pressures kids into raising money.”

“Boosterthon is a for profit company. I think that is ridiculous to use our kids’ efforts to line their pockets …”

“To be honest – (…) Boosterthon felt sleazy and unethical.”

“I was completely disgusted by the whole Boosterthon excess and attempts to intimidate children into raising money with ongoing class events. Fund raising should never be done within the class environment.”

“I did not like the frenzy that the boosterthon created.  My kids were so focused on asking for money and getting the prizes that I’m not even really sure they knew why they were doing the fundraiser in the first place.   I also did not like the fact that such a large percentage went back to the company putting on the event.”

“I do not like high pressure sales tactics used in Boosterthon.”

“Boosterthon was during the school day the others don’t interfere with the days activities at school. Marketing was targeted to students while the others were targeted to parents. Students did not have the option to opt out of event and not have to subject to the daily marketing pitch and to the run. The grass in the filed took a bearting with the event.”

“The fun run was exicitng for the kids, but the high-pressure fundrasing was a bit over the top.”

“I was in the classroom for some of the Boosterthon visits.  Don’t think it was appropriate use of class time, and also can make children who don’t have $$ relatives feel bad when they don’t bring in $.  Too high pressure, not appropriate setting.”

“Don’t like that Boosterthon company gets 50% of donations and some kids may have been embarassed if they didn’t raise any money.”

“Boosterthon blatantly exposes the haves and have nots in the classroom. They do not belong in the classroom of any school, anywhere, and furthermore, I found the whole fundraiser disgusting.”

“Boosterthon, appeared to be rank profiteering.”

“Boosterthon should not be allowed on school premises and inside classrooms. We are allowing our childen be be brainwashed for the profit of the fundraising organization.   We were absolutely chocked by their methods. It is unfair for the children who cannot afford to pledge and completely unethical.”

“If I had known that the company got 48% of funds raised, I would have just written a check directly supporting the reading room. Our son won’t participate next year if it’s done again.”

“I disagree with the tactics employed by Boosterthon although I did like the emphasis on fitness/physical activity. Maybe we could do a fun run instead where people can still get pledges but there are no prizes and more than 50% of the money raised goes to SPARK.”

“Neutral. I’d still support it (but) I don’t like that children missed class to do this.”

“The fun run was executed in a totally inappropriate manner.  Tremendous pressure was placed on my child.”

“Boosterthon seemed like it was really for the kids to get a bunch of junk prizes – which my child never even received after earning the money.”

“I do not want the pressure put on my children to raise money.  They came home in tears several days, especially boosterthon.  I feel they are too young to be soliciting money.”

“I don’t like fundraising appeals in the classroom, nor do I like the conflict of interest — our teacher received $$ directly for her classroom as a fraction of how much money her students raised. Do you think this relationship fostered an atmosphere of academic excellence? No, this changed the children from pupils into dollar signs. Furthermore, I believe there is a pretty clear policy that says no appeals for money may occur in classrooms.”

“Against the idea of private businesses advertising aggressively in classroom at a public educational institution and influencing children negatively.”

“Boosterthon was awful. My son was brainwashed regarding the toys and I couldn’t afford enough for him to keep up with the other kids.  There was a ton of crying in our house because of it. Also, because it was right after Jump Rope for Heart, we and our larger family were burnt out.  The run was fine, but toys should be banned.  Also, please keep fundraisers out of the classroom!”

“The boosterthon was a disaster – change it! The boosterthon exploited the Spark kids – never do it again!”

“Boostertjon was great but would prefer they not fund-raise in the classroom. I think that was taking it too aggressive. When my son came home with 4 gifts it just seemed like too much. Overall he had a positive experience just think it could be toned down a bit.”

“Please be sensitive to the predicament of the children and respect the decisions of parents who do not participate in these events.  I found the Boosterthon event especially objectionable.”

“The Boosterthon did very well and we participated but there were a couple times my child woke up in the middle of the night stressed and asking if we had entered his pledges. He was so focused on this the entire time it started to stress his mother and I out that if we didn’t get him some pledges he would be disappointed and sad. I get the returns but is the amount of pressure we put on the kids to much? Profits were fantastic but how much of the total revenue raised did the company who organized it get to keep? I’m sure it was close to our profit margin. How can we grow Spark After Dark? That seems to be the most fun and everyone enjoys.”

“I am not opposed to a Boosterthon-type event but it definitely needs to be reworked with less emphasis on kids rewarded with junk and less time taken from classrooms.”

“Too young for K-1.  didn’t understand the concept.  They just wanted the “prizes”.”

“I think the fact that Boosterthon takes 50% of the profits (profits which are donations that people make to our children and our school) is a rip-off; I know the children enjoyed the day, but the prizes were junk and I know that the 5th grade teachers were very annoyed by the interference Boosterthon caused during learning time.”

“The boosterthon focus on prizes and marketing to children was offensive. I’d rather have a read-a-thon where parents donate $ per each book a child reads. The running and event was fun but the presence of the Boosterthon staff in the class room was not.”

“Have been involved at other schools that flat out ask for donations – specific to particular effort.  For example, rather than having Boosterthon, SPARK itself could set a goal bar, tell students each week how close they are OVERALL (not individually) to the goal bar, have prizes that are awarded to the 1 student from each class who has the most $ raised by an early date, etc.  Have some very cheap awards that everyone in the whole school gets (say on the level of a $2 item) if the $ meets a certain goal by a certain date.  Rather than giving up 50% to Boosterthon.  Rather than interrupting classtime for Boosterthon.  Rather than having children subjected to being embarrassed when they dont’ raise $.  Provide info directly to the parents stating that although over $50k was raised from Boosterthon, only $25k went to SPARK.  I think there are ways to raise $ directly without what was done.  A letter simply explaining the effort involved & $ lost would go a long ways towards getting people to simply write a check.  As would setting up a way to pay via paypal to allow people to request donations – FOR SPECIFIC ITEMS.”

“I feel pretty strongly that for profit entities should not be allowed to appeal for money in the classroom, nor to take any time away from instruction.”

Disclaimer: The views and opinions above are those of some of the parents who responded to the survey. We do not guarantee the accuracy of or endorse the views or opinions in the above quotes.