My school fundraiser is better than yours…. No seriously.

Now that we are back in school and things are feeling…. Dare I say it…. Normalish…. We are seeing all the fundraisers for every child we know. My Facebook timeline is flooded with offers to buy popcorn, cookie dough, candles, wrapping paper and ‘gifts’. My email in box is the same story. And I have to say…..I’m struggling with writing those checks! But let me be the first to say, that I know my students and families plastered our school fundraiser all over email and social media too.

In all seriousness though….my school fundraiser is better than yours, and it makes me not want to buy wrapping paper and overpriced tortilla warmers from your gift catalogue.

Let me start by saying that the fact that every school under the sun has to have fundraisers is just a sad testament to how our elected officials feel about education, but that is a blog for another day. The fact that there are hundreds of companies waiting to capitalize on school fundraisers is galling….but there it is…the ultimate scheme to make money on cute little kids: send them around with catalogues of overpriced merchandise that requires sales and then distribution, an organizational fiasco for the coordinator, and then turning over in some cases half of the proceeds to the company…..hard pass for me.

And here is why my school fundraiser is better than yours: 100% of all the money raised comes right back to the school community. Yep.

My school fundraiser is 100% parent organized, 100% parent powered, 100% fun for kids, involves 0% selling overpriced items we don’t need, and embraces the values of our school community: healthy and fun event that promotes community and family engagement. And this my friends is Spanstacle which brought in over $30,000 this year. The premise behind Spabstacle is that is is like a challenge run for kids, think kids tough mudder….minus the mud because I hate mud. 3/4 of a mile of running, jumping, crawling, climbing, agility challenging activities for kids aged 4-12. More pictures here.

This year was the 8th year of this event, but it was started 9 years ago by the PTO parents. Last year due to COVID, we were unable to put on the event. This group of parents, before my time at Sharp Park, were innovators and problem solvers who saw a need to cut out the middle man from school fundraising, stop turning over proceeds from school fundraisers to companies, and found a way to generate funds. Since then, the event has been bigger and better each year and in the 8 years we have done Spabstacle, it has brought in over $130,000, with almost $60,000 between year 7 and 8! We have added new obstacles, changed up the course a little, and provided meaningful volunteer opportunities for families, while keeping kids active and promoting healthy outdoor activities.

At Sharp Park, spabstacle is almost better than Christmas in terms of how much kids look forward to this day! I have kids that tell me everyday leading up to the event how many days it is until Spabstacle. We have parent volunteers on site the night before, and all day the day of, plus all the days leading up to the event….and I LOVE having parents in the building…so this is a huge plus for everyone! The office puts out coffee and muffins for our AM volunteers, we do a pizza and salad lunch for the PM volunteers, and they all get a volunteer commemorative tee shirt! When almost 25% of your parents show up to volunteer, then at least 75% show up to take pictures of their kids when it is their turn to run the course this is an excellent opportunity to get families in the door of the school and engage them in the school community.

The overhead for this fundraiser is minimal, especially compared to many where you have to pay out half or more of your profits to a company. The beauty of this fundraiser is that we re-use many of the obstacles year after year, so there is minimal expense with that. We engage our community with sponsorships, so they advertise their businesses with signs and banners along the course, and then our families support those businesses. Many of the businesses provide their own signage, and many sponsor year after year, so our printing costs are relatively low. We do print collection envelopes and send home printed material for the kids to use in their fundraising efforts. We also provide tee shirts for the adult volunteers, but again, this is for the parents and families so the $500 we spent on 70 shirts for family members stays in the school community. Parents will wear the shirts again at future SPA activities, and out in the community building up the hype year round. We purchase prizes for kids who are the top earners, just like they do with catalogue fundraisers, and we have incentives for the class that brings in the most money. Then of course, the top earner, the kid that brings in the most money gets to throw a pie in my face, Key lime preferably.

So now, instead of buying stuff I don’t need from school fundraisers, I’d rather write the check, cut out the middle man, and put my money where it does the most good….in the PTO accounts that support kids.

A huge shout out to my 21-22 SPA PTO officers Elaine, Faye, Meagan, and Lauren…and to past PTO officers, many of whose children are now high schoolers (some getting getting ready to graduate), for their ingenuity, commitment, passion and commitment to the success of the school and students. The officers of the PTO have the hardest jobs organizing the volunteers, setting up the event course, clean up, storage, managing the money and all the work that takes place behind the scenes to make a successful event. Heartfelt thanks to all the parents that helped with setting up, running the obstacles, providing supervision for the kids, clean up and all the steps in between. This event would not be what it is with out your help and support. Many thanks to Dawn, my right hand (and sometimes my left) in the office, who supports the PTO with the accounting and book keeping, and makes sure that parent breakfasts and lunches are set up and go off with out a hitch….I joke that I am the lady in charge and she is the lady who knows what is going on, but anyone who works in a school knows the school secretary ( she is really more of an assistant) is the key to the school success. Many thanks to the teachers and staff who roll with the HYPE of Spabstacle….we all know that trying to teach is hard enough, but when the kids are excited and hyped up for Spabstacle day, keeping kids focused is a challenge! Thanks to the families and community who made donations and contributed cash and prizes to our fundraiser: truly Believe the Hype at Jackson Public Schools where community comes together, but make no mistake….Sharp Park Academy is where the HYPE starts! #SPAtheHYPEstartshere!