Looking for Funds for Your School? Don’t Forget the Grandparents
Looking for Funds for Your School? Don’t Forget the Grandparents
A friend of mind is very involved in her daughters’ elementary school. If she’s not serving as the classroom teacher’s aide she’s going to a meeting of the PTO. Like most PTO groups they are always raising funds for this or that. Recently, she asked me for my advice E20-515 on a good way to raise funds for the school. Without hesitation I told her not to do what they always do…ask the kids’ parents for more money.
From the moment parents of elementary age kids become involved in their kids’ schools they are bombarded with requests for everything from money to sitting in the dunking booth at the annual carnival. Those who have been there know exactly what I am talking about. And you also know that it wears you down and that isn’t good for the parents or the schools. So, that’s why I suggested to my friend that she give parents a break. Give them a little breather from the cookie sales and the ribbon sales and the magazine sales…and look elsewhere for the support you need. But, where, she asked. I told her, think “grand”, as in grandparents. Think about it. Who loves the children just as much as their parents (maybe even more)? Who can you count on to show up for special events? Who’s there for the children when the parents cannot be? That’s right, the grandparents.
Grandparents, for some odd reason, are always there in the background, some more so than others, but they are rarely called upon to help in the schools or to open their wallets. And that is a big mistake because those wallets are not under the same pressures as wallets being stretched to the max by parents. Grandparents’ wallets have a lot more discretionary dollars. And, here’s the kicker, they not only love to help, but they are ready, willing and able to help. They just need to be asked.
Grandparents are typically in pretty good shape financially, have fewer financial obligations and are hungry to be involved in the education of their grandchildren.
I told my friend, her first step should be to collect the names and contact info for all the students’ grandparents. Once she had that information, invite all the grandparents to a get together at the school where the PTO and the principal could welcome them and give them an update on how the school functions, the challenges faced and ways for them to lend their support. And I told my friend not to be afraid to think BIG. Grandparents are often in a far better position financially and time E20-018 wise than the parents. And they are eager to part with both when it benefits their grandchildren…they just need a little nudge and direction. Once that happens, you will have some new friends to call upon when there is a need. And that’s a good thing to have today.
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