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SCHOOL COUNCIL> Fundraising Introduction

Jump to: 2011-2012 Fundraising Survey Results

Fundraising isn't what it used to be...

Fundraising by public school councils isn’t what it used to be. Once upon a time, councils used to raise money for the icing on the cake - things like special class trips and extra sports equipment. Today, with budgets cut to the bone, councils are trying to raise money for the cake, too.

Fundraising has become increasingly important to the quality of our children’s education.

The Garden Avenue P.S. School Council has taken a long, hard look at how and why we are fundraising. Before we could address fundraising, though, we needed to understand how the school is currently funded.

How the School is funded…

In very general terms, the school is funded as follows:

The Toronto District School Board directly pays all teacher, caretaker, and administrative salaries. In addition, the Board pays the Hydro and heating bills and for major repairs, such as those to the roof and boiler. The caretakers receive a separate budget to cover all maintenance and housekeeping supplies.

The School receives a budget allocation annually from the Board to pay for everything else: All teaching materials, textbooks, all office and classroom supplies, any overtime pay, furniture, window and floor coverings, all minor maintenance, office equipment, telephone costs, field trips, gym and music equipment, etc.

From the allocated budget, the teachers traditionally receive a $200 allotment three times a year, at the beginning, mid year, and in May. This money goes towards the purchase of all consumables (paper, workbooks, pencils, art/craft supplies etc.) and teaching aids.

Building a Fundraising Action Plan…

Once we understood how the school is funded, we came to two conclusions. First, that we would commit to ongoing lobbying efforts with the current government and the Board, calling for a return to adequate school funding. Second, the School Council should make sure we are using our fundraising dollars as wisely as possible. We started our assessment of fundraising by trying to answer the following questions:

What are we trying to achieve through fundraising?
Who should have a voice in how we spend fundraising dollars?
What shouldn’t we do while fundraising?

Two documents were written to answer these questions. The Code of Ethics for Fundraising discusses the types of fundraising activities we consider acceptable and how these activities are to be carried out. The Fundraising Strategy (pdf) outlines how we are going to manage the Council’s fundraising activities. Fundraising policy is always open to review, and concerns about policy can be discussed with the School Council Executive. Copies of both these documents are available to you through the School Council and as a pdf file below.

The Code of Ethics for Fundraising (pdf)

Guidelines for Canvassing and Fundraising by Children and Parents/Guardians (pdf)


Download FREE!

How Much We Raise Through Fundraising…

The Garden Avenue P.S. School Council has been raising from about $15,000 to $20,000 annually. A small amount of money raised is kept in a contingency fund.

How Should We Spend the Money?

One of the most important parts of planning fundraising is knowing exactly what we are fundraising for. There are literally thousands of things we could do with our limited funds to enhance and expand our children’s education. The key to spending our funds wisely is to have a priority list for spending the money we raise – a list that reflects the ideas, goals and priorities of the whole school community.

Each year we distribute a survey asking for your family’s input concerning how we spend our fundraising dollars.

2011-2012 Fundraising Survey Results
 (in order of priority)
1. Money for teachers to enhance classroom activities
2. Literacy (library resources, author visits, etc.)
3. Arts
4. Class Trips
5. Music
6. Math & Science
7. Technology
8. Character Development
9. Sports
10. Food Garden
11. Playground/outdoor play
12. Community Events
13. Social & Ecological Justice (category inserted by parent)
If you are interested in more detailed results, please contact Tanya Kakei.

At the same time, we ask the teachers and staff to prioritize their needs and wishes as well.

Once we have input from all interested parties, the Council, consulting with our principal and a teacher representative, decides on a fundraising priority list for the year. The Council strives to balance the priorities of all segments of the community in making its decisions. Once these decisions have been made, we then publish a list of our fundraising goals for the school year.

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