By JULIE BICK (NYT) 1244 words
Published: October 23, 2005

IF it's fall, it must be school fund-raising season. You may have already received an enthusiastic phone call or e-mail message -- or maybe two or three -- from the child of a relative, neighbor or co-worker, offering to sell you cookie dough, gift wrap or magazines to help a school. Surely, you will feel supportive (or guilty) enough to help.

''In the old days, you could get by with a candy sale,'' said Stanley Jaskot, principal of Meridian Elementary School in Kent, Wash. ''Now schools have kids out selling wrapping paper, collecting box tops, soup labels. Parents are running book fairs, car washes, you name it.''

Sharon Hernandez, whose children attend the Cedar Hill School, an elementary school in Basking Ridge, N.J., said: ''The outcry to keep taxes low has really hit our school budget. Our school parent-teacher organizations now have to take on the burden of funding basics -- like library books.''

To fill the gap, schools may have multiple fund-raisers throughout the year. Lake Harriet Community School in Minneapolis, for example, raises $90,000 in nine separate campaigns, from carnivals to coffee sales and read-a-thons. But Stacey Eidsvold, the head of fund-raising at Lake Harriet, said she planned to survey parents to find out if they and their friends would rather donate directly by check, or perhaps would prefer fewer but larger fund-raisers because the current ones took so much time.

Companies that provide products for fund-raisers often suggest that schools conduct fewer campaigns with higher financial goals, and offer to help the schools reach them. Of the more than 1,000 fund-raising companies in the United States, most are small family-owned businesses, but a dozen or so are large corporations with national sales forces.

The Association of Fund-Raising Distributors and Suppliers, a trade association in Atlanta, says that fund-raising companies sell $3.2 billion worth of products a year to schools, and that nearly half the income from the sales is typically kept by the schools. The total does not take into account other school fund-raising efforts like auctions and bake sales.

Fund-raising companies offer a variety of products for schools to sell, from scented candles to cheesecakes to wristbands. Some companies' Web sites offer step-by-step advice on running the campaigns, including tips on how to respond to people who say no. Large companies may also send a representative to help a school's volunteers run the campaign.

Maureen Atherton, a sales representative at Sally Foster, a supplier of confections, wrapping paper and other items, covers 100 schools in the Seattle area, which earn up to $60,000 each by selling items from the company's catalog. She recently kicked off a campaign at Lowell Elementary School in Seattle with a ''Sally Rally'' school assembly, complete with a gift-wrapped teacher.

Ms. Atherton told the students that the money they raised could help the school buy things like new playground equipment. She also made them promise not to sell door-to-door without their parents. But the children seemed most excited about the DVD player that they could win if they sold more than 175 items.

Ms. Atherton also apologized that ''Sally Foster couldn't be here herself today.'' Ms. Foster sold her company 13 years ago to Entertainment Publications, a Troy, Mich.-based unit of IAC/InterActiveCorp, run by Barry Diller.

Fund-raising campaigns are not all rallies and prizes. Competition can be fierce. In Minneapolis, Lake Harriet starts its campaign as early as possible, in order to get a jump on other local schools selling the same products.

With product sales, volunteer hours can easily run into the hundreds. At Lowell Elementary in Seattle, Carla Tachau Lawrence, who is leading a fall campaign that is nearly completed, says she has spent 150 hours, and her team an additional 75, stapling and distributing forms, tallying orders and checks, entering data into a computer and distributing products to students. Ms. Tachau Lawrence, a lawyer, said she did not mind volunteering the time because she enjoyed working with students, parents and teachers.

But school fund-raising may be becoming a little easier and less time-consuming, thanks to the Internet.

Steve Bernier, a representative of QSP, a large fund-raising company that is a division of the Reader's Digest Association, said: ''For schools, Web ordering is easier, faster, and safer than going door to door. Families can fund-raise nationally to relatives and friends, instead of just the neighborhood, and they don't have to deliver the product themselves.''

Using the Internet means that volunteers can save time by not having to handle money or products. On the other hand, companies providing the products may keep the e-mail and home addresses of buyers to solicit them later.

Sharon McHugh, national sales manager of Innisbrook, a big privately held fund-raising company based in Greensboro, N.C., said that management had been surprised by the volume of sales from Internet orders. ''And it keeps increasing,'' she said.

Even if the Internet makes the work easier, some parents are bypassing product sales to donate directly to schools.

Dave Norgard, the chief executive of a small software development company and the father of two young children in St. Paul, prefers to write a check. ''If the idea is to get money into the public school, that's the most efficient way to go,'' he said. Another parent, Betsy Edwards, executive director of a nonprofit organization in Seattle that supports national parks, said that most of her friends preferred writing checks, too. That way, ''100 percent of the donation goes to the school,'' she said, ''and as a working parent, I would rather spend time with my kids than selling magazines.''

Parents may also be uneasy because they don't want relatives or co-workers to feel obligated to buy products. Whatever form the requests take, however, school fund-raising efforts are often successful.

Ruth Bernstein of Short Hills, N.J., happily supports the schools that her 10 grandchildren attend across the country. Sometimes she sends donations, or, in the case of four of those grandchildren, buys identical chocolates from them. Recently, a granddaughter's school offered grandparents the chance to buy books for the library; each book would be inscribed with a dedication to the grandchild. ''Who could turn that down?'' Ms. Bernstein asked.

QUICK READ

Fund-raising for an elementary or secondary school can be a daunting, time-consuming task. Here is some advice from parents who volunteer for these campaigns and from companies that supply the products.

CONDUCT a few large fund-raisers throughout the year rather than many small ones. That way, parents won't be inundated with requests.

EXPLAIN the financial goals clearly. Tell parents how the money will be used and when the fund-raiser begins and ends.

GIVE parents the option to donate money directly to the school. They may prefer that to buying products for which the school may gain 50 percent or less of the gross proceeds.

GO to local merchants and businesses for help and search the Web for grant applications.
 

Photo: Nick Lutenco, front, and other students at Lowell Elementary in Seattle sell gift wrap for their school. (Photo by Kevin P. Casey for The New York Times)