Administrative Procedure 5135.1 - Fundraising

I. Purpose

To provide direction to school principals in the area of fundraising, or the process of collecting voluntary contributions of money or other resources.

II. Policy

The Prince George‘s County Board of Education (Board) supports fundraising projects that are carefully and purposely planned to be an extension of the student’s total educational program. (Policy 5135)

III. Definitions

Sponsor/coordinator – staff member who is responsible for requesting and coordinating the fundraisers.
Student leader – a student who is the class president or the SGA president

IV. Procedures

The following procedures must be followed when raising funds at the local school level.
1. The school principal will advise staff, students, and the community through teacher bulletins, parent newsletters, and other forms of communication of the need for fundraising and other appropriate information that would assist staff, students, and the community in understanding the finances involved.
2. The standard in-house Fundraiser Authorization form (Attachment 1) will be used to request authorization to proceed with a fundraising activity when the fundraising activity is sponsored by anyone other than the school principal.
3. The approved Fundraiser Authorization form must be returned with the contract, if any, to be signed by the school principal. A yearly calendar should be maintained to establish the priority of school needs and control the number of fundraisers.
  1. Refer to Administrative Procedure 5135.2, Principal’s Contracting Authority, for established monetary limits for contracts that may be approved and executed by a school principal.
4. The principal or fundraising coordinator/sponsor shall communicate the fundraising to the parents/guardians via a letter on the schools’ letterhead, e-mail, newsletter, the Schools website or QR code for each fundraising activity or event. Separate accounting must be maintained for each fundraiser in the same fashion as all other accounts within the school’s activity fund since accordance with the Accounting Procedures Manual for Student Activities Funds.
5. The fundraiser coordinator/sponsor is responsible for completing the Fundraiser Completion Report. The unit cost and mark-up of any items sold for profit for fundraising activities of the school will be available in each school for staff and parent inspection. (See Fundraiser Completion Report, Attachment 2)
6. At the end of each school year, the school’s financial secretary shall prepare a report summarizing all fundraising activities concluded during the year. This information will be available for review by parents and any other interested members of the community. The report will specifically state the net amount of funds retained as profit from such activities. (See Annual Fundraising Summary, Attachment 3)
7. When students sell items outside the school, information to introduce the fundraiser, either on school letterhead, QR code, an official email from the Principal, or Fundraising Sponsor shall be disseminated to the student body. If the parents do not desire to have their children participate, those parents have the option to decline participation.
8. Examples of Fundraisers
  1. Examples of allowable fundraisers include, but are not limited to:
    1. Dances and Social Events;
    2. Booster Club Fundraising;
    3. Yearbooks;
    4. Concessions/Snack Sales/ Candy Sales;
    5. Spirit Wear/Spirit Packs;
    6. Student Pictures;
    7. Box Tops for Education;
    8. School Stores;
    9. Restaurant Nights;
    10. Store Rewards;
    11. Book Fairs;
    12. Clothing Recycling Bins;
    13. Amazon Smile;
    14. Pamphlet/online fundraisers, such as:
      1. Joe Corbi;
      2. Market Day;
      3. Honey Baked Ham;
    15. Donations-Based/ Online Fundraisers;
      1. MySchool Bucks;
      2. Snap-Raise;
      3. Share-A-Thon;
      4. Donors Choose;
      5. Boosterathon;
      6. 99 Pledges;
      7. Store.com;
      8. Bubble Run;
      9. FunRun;
      10. Read-A-Thon
  2. Examples of prohibited fundraisers include, but are not limited to:
    1. Personal financial service platforms, such as:
      1. CashApp;
      2. Paypal;
      3. Venmo;
      4. Zelle;
      5. GoFund Me;
    2. Gambling, lotteries, games of chance, bingo, pools, raffles;
    3. Charging for “dress-down” days;
    4. Events to raise funds for political and lobbying activities; and
    5. Activities that pose a significant safety risk.
  3. If a principal has questions or concerns about a proposed fundraising activity or event, they should contact Accounting and Financial Reporting, Student Activity Fund Specialist.
9. In accordance with recommendations by student leaders, school principals should consider the following when evaluating a proposed fundraising activity or event:
  1. Does it maintain or permit a high degree of student involvement in fundraising and related decision-making?
  2. Does it avoid unexplained arbitrary decisions in local fundraising?
10. School principals are encouraged to meet and share ideas concerning successful fundraising activities with the student body and parents.

V. Monitoring and Compliance

The Principal is responsible for the implementation of this administrative procedure and for reviewing with their staff.
The Principal is responsible for reviewing the Fundraiser Authorization form and the Fundraiser Completion Report to ensure that the fundraising process requirements have been completed.

VI. Related Procedures

VII. Maintenance and Update of These Procedures

The Financial Services Department is responsible for updating this administrative procedure as needed.

VIII. Cancellations and Supersedures

This Administrative Procedure cancels and supersedes Administrative Procedure 5135.1, dated January 22, 2016.