Fundraising Fatigue?

I've been the Co-Chair of my local primary school PTA for 4 years now and in that time the PTA has gone from strength to strength. 

I've tracked down missing ice-cream vans, detached £1 coins super-glued to reply forms in the wee hours of the morning, tried to work out who exactly the Christmas card design with no name in a school of over 400 belongs to, harangued people to buy tickets via Facebook and spent hours costing juice cartons at every available retailer in the Greater Manchester area. 

I've written minutes and annual reports, contributed to newsletters (late almost every week it should be added), designed leaflets, taken photos and flexed my event management muscles. 

I've laughed, I've cried and I've also needed the odd glass of vino to calm down. But overall it's been an incredible experience. 

I've made new friends and become a part of the school community. And all this whilst looking after a young baby/toddler. In fact, I was almost 8 months pregnant when I volunteered and can clearly remember running home from my first Christmas fair with leaky boobs to feed the 6 week old! (Too much info?)

In the time that I've been involved with the PTA, the committee have experienced births, deaths, marriages, illness and hospital stays. We've looked after each others kids when things don't quite go to plan. We've shed a tear or two, offered shoulders to cry on and visits to the pub when a shoulder just isn't enough. We've drunk copious amounts of coffee and spent hours crafting, crocheting, cutting and glueing.

And it's not just the committee. We're fortunate to have a dedicated bunch of volunteers willing to run stalls, sell coffee, set up events, fold raffle tickets and anything else we can set our mind to! 

Just not as many volunteers as we would like...but that's a different issue!

Last year we hit the £10k target for the first time and I was over the moon. We've funded iPads and books, cooking and sporting equipment, activities and trips, music projects and much much more. 

All of a sudden the hard work seemed worthwhile! 

But then reality hit. 

We'd have to do it all again next year!

I had 'Fundraising Fatigue'. 

Why can't someone else do it? Does anyone really care? What's the point? Another bake sale? Aaaaaaaaaah!

A few of us felt stuck in a rut. New fundraising ideas were rejected at meetings and we felt we were rehashing the same ideas over and over again. A case of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it!'

The consensus was to 'Keep Calm and Carry on' (the cliches are coming thick and fast at the moment!) and so we did. We arranged the fairs and the bake sales and the Christmas cards and the Mother's Day gifts and the Father's Day gifts... and we're on track to smash the £10k mark again this year.

Was I simply stuck in a rut or is it time to move on? It's hard to know and at least I've got until September to mull it over.

What is certain is that our school PTA is an incredible organisation supported not only by the committee, but by parents, staff and pupils. So I'm dedicating this blog post to all my PTA friends, past and present. To those that listen to me moan on a daily basis and to those that are always available via Facebook Messsenger. To those that apologise for not being able to do more and to those who do whatever they can.

Will I continue in role? Possibly... Probably... 

Depends whether the school and parents still want me. Or whether a slightly hormonal, heavily pregnant, over-eager mum turns up to the AGM. See you there!