FAYETTEVILLE : Schools’ fundraising taking a hit
Posted on Monday, November 3, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — Members of the Fayetteville High School marching band have spent the last few months memorizing the notes to “Let’s Get Crazy” by 1980 s glam-metal band Quiet Riot.
In a few weeks, the band hopes to play the song at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, performing for an estimated live television audience of 50 million in an event second only to the Super Bowl in U. S. viewers.
Along the New York City parade route, 3. 5 million people — a crowd more than 50 times the population of the students ’ hometown — will hear the band live.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” band Director Barry Harper said. “Being in New York City is a huge deal for a musician, even if they aren’t performing.”
But getting there requires more than hours of rehearsing.
Before the 220 band members and sponsors can load charter buses for the cross-country trip, they must raise $ 450, 000 — about three times the median home cost in Fayetteville, according to the U. S. Census Bureau.
The fundraising goal includes $ 1, 200 for each student and $ 150, 000 cash donations.
While the amount may seem daunting, it is possible, band booster Linda Scogin said.
In 2006, the 200-member band collected funds to march in the Tournament of Roses parade, and boosters collected $ 97, 000 cash from more than 180 donors.
But times have changed and school fundraising efforts — large and small — are falling short of their goals.
At the Fayetteville band’s fundraising deadline of 3 p. m. Friday, students were short $ 38, 000 in their personal accounts, Harper said.
Boosters received contributions from just 60 donors — a third of previous years — totaling $ 13, 000, Scogin said. Businesses that contributed large donations for previous trips are now laying off employees, she said.
In a last-minute effort to scrape together funds to transport instruments and uniforms and buy matching jackets for the students, boosters revised their corporate fundraising goal from $ 150, 000 to $ 46, 000 Friday, a goal that still seemed out of reach, Scogin said.
NEW STRATEGIES Heightened economic uncertainty has forced parent and student fundraising groups to try new strategies to raise cash and re-evaluate their fundraising goals. In the band’s case, parents hope to give students great memories, the chance to see a Broadway show and a reward for reaching the goal of being selected to perform in the parade. In the case of some other Northwest Arkansas districts, the stakes are much higher. Parents in Greenland and Decatur, under state control because of financial mismanagement, are scraping together dollars in hopes of staving off forced annexation into a neighboring district. At the end of this school year, the Arkansas Board of Education will examine the districts’ financial progress, and it may provide them one more year to seek financial solvency.
Meanwhile, residents of the tiny towns are holding chili suppers, car washes and pie auctions in an effort to pay off outstanding debts.
“Four hundred fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money,” Paula Schoonover, a Greenland fundraiser, said in reaction to the Fayetteville band’s goal.
In August, Greenland parents set out to raise $ 650, 000 by December. That number had been reduced to $ 100, 000 by the summer, a goal that still seems daunting at times. Last week, the group was about halfway to its goal, but the town’s residents were starting to slow down in their giving.
“I think it’s wonderful when people stop wanting the state or the government to fund their programs and take it back into their own hands,” Schoonover said. “Whether it’s for activities or survival, it’s more meaningful when people do it themselves.”
Ginny Kurrus, president of the Arkansas Parent-Teacher Association, said families are more willing to pay for services and experiences than typical fundraisers, like selling candy bars and wrapping paper, that have a high overhead cost.
“I think we all just need to be cognizant of how families are being impacted in this environment, but most of the families want to support the schools if they can,” she said. “Rather than always selling something, we explore other options for fundraising.”
The national PTA bought a license for the movie Kung Fu Panda, allowing schools to show it to raise money.
Other schools, like Greenland, focus on services such as washing cars and raking lawns.
“People can’t spend money on things like candy and cookie dough when they need to buy groceries,” Schoonover said. Fayetteville students completed projects with little overhead cost, picking up trash on Dickson Street after Bikes, Blues and Barbecue; accepting pledges for a March-a-thon; and parking cars at Arkansas Razorbacks games. “We have found that most people would rather see 100 percent of their money go to help the band rather than buying something they don’t really need and only helping 50 percent,” Harper said.
NEW GOALS Despite focused strategies, some fundraising groups are still failing to meet their goals, forcing parents and students to re-evaluate how much money they ask for.
“We know it’s tight for everybody,” Kurrus said. “Small businesses have been hit sometimes as hard as families. Everybody’s tightening their belts and we probably should, too.”
Decatur interim Superintendent LeRoy Ortman, anticipating donor fatigue, urged patrons to approve a restructuring of the district’s debt rather than relying solely on voluntary community support for school programs.
Fayetteville band boosters canceled plans to buy a second trailer to ship instruments and to spend thousands of dollars painting a truck donated by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which will be used to ship uniforms to New York.
Alan Wilbourn, a Fayetteville School District spokesman, said organizations can’t seek funding for trips without the approval of a building principal and the district’s administration. A trip to Cancun, Mexico, was denied a few years ago because “the educational value wasn’t there,” Wilbourn said.
“There are only so many people you can hit up (for money ),” he said. “For the band to be in the Macy’s parade is a huge opportunity.”
The 10 Macy’s parade bands, selected from more than 350 applicants, met in New York in October, Harper said. None of them were near their fundraising targets.
“It’s a problem for people all over the country,” he said.
Parade spokesman Orlando Veras said the group announced bands 18 months in advance to allow ample time for fundraising.
Groups selected range from a high school in Southern California to a group of Florida adults fueled by fond memories of their high school experiences, called the “Greater Saint Petersburg Area Awesome Original Second Time Arounders Marching Band.”
While some groups stay just for the parade, others work through touring companies to tour the city, Veras said. Fayetteville students plan to stay four nights, see two live shows and visit the Statue of Liberty, but those plans may be curtailed if their fundraising goals fall short. The experience of performing in New York is worth the high cost of the trip, Veras said. “If you’re a member of a marching band, you can’t get any better than performing in this parade,” Veras said. “We would really hope that the community would get behind them.” Short on funds, the band plans to hold several last-minute fundraisers, parking cars and raffling tickets for a seven-day cruise. What will happen if students and parents can’t raise the remaining dollars necessary for the trip ? “I don’t even want to think of that,” Harper said.
To contact this reporter: eblad@arkansasonline. com
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