Fabulous Financials

BabyGirl plays the flute in her high school band and today was the first fundraiser of the year. From 9am to 7pm, the kids had a full day of door to door solicitation, food, fun, and games. Officially referred to as TAG DAY.

She’s been a band member since 4th grade and we’d never heard of such a thing. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no stranger to fundraisers. Shoot, I’ve sold enough candles, Christmas wreaths, cookie dough, flowers, and candy to feed a small country for a week. But TAG DAY? Nope, this was a whole new experience. I was told it is one of the largest, most successful fundraising events of the year. Umm, ok…I’m thinking a few thousand dollars. Hmph! With nearly 100 students, it’s needless to say this event required precise planning, coordination, and support from ALL parents.

The day began with a meet n’ greet of the band members within the local neighborhood. This was a small group of approx. 18-20 students and each local group was assigned to a lead band parent. The lead parent was responsible for assigning the target area, route, and schedule for solicitation. This parent also volunteered to open his/her home to the local group for bathroom breaks and lunch.

By 10am, the group disbursed into several smaller groups of 4-5 students who were then assigned to a supporting band parent. The supporting parents were responsible for escorting each group on their solicitation route, carrying water bottles for the students, and keeping them on schedule. Several other supporting parents were assigned various tasks in preparation of lunch and games.

For two hours, the students went door to door promoting their school band and requesting donations. Some kept to the script, some got creative with skits and/or poster boards, while others just passed out donation envelopes.

At noon, the students took a break for lunch where the lead band parent served Panera Bread sandwiches and unlimited drinks/snacks. The kids also had time to socialize, tell jokes, play games, and share stories about some of the weird families they encountered throughout the day. Comedy. LOL

After lunch, the students were encouraged to get into different groups of 4-5 and continue the solicitations in new territory. Some supporting parents stayed behind to clean up while others escorted students. This continued for a few more hours until the entire planned route had been covered.

Completely exhausted, the students returned to the lead band parent’s house for pizza and drinks. They counted their money and were awarded small gift card prizes. After dinner, the entire group of 18-20 was then taken to the band director’s house for an ice cream social. There, they met up with other groups from the school district. For the first time this year, the entire band (marching, orchestra, concert, and jazz) came together in support of one band and one goal.

While the students ate ice cream, socialized and played games, the assigned parents combined and counted all the money collected by the students…our children. At the end of the evening, the final count (excluding envelopes disbursed for mail-in donations) for the TAG DAY fundraiser was:

$16,592.00

If history repeats itself, they expect to receive another $5-8k by mail. Close to $25,000. Wow! I’m told this was their most successful TAG DAY ever. The students cheered and reminisced about the end of year trip they were able to take last year due to successful fundraisers.

On our way home, BabyGirl couldn’t stop talking about her day. At one point, she turned to me and said “ma, that was the most fun I’ve ever had with a band.”

Hmm…have I told you how much I love this school? :-)

~*~*~*~*~*~
Work to achieve, not to acquire.
And as always, BE FABULOUS!