Benefits of Healthy Fundraising

School fundraising has been a staple in our schools for decades. Gift-wrapping and candy fundraisers were the extent of the offering available for fundraisers. Over the past decade, school fundraising has exploded into a multi-billion dollar industry that offers hundreds, in not thousands of different products and services available for fundraising purposes, many if which include food products. Many of these products are low in nutritional value and provide an unhealthy environment in our schools. Yet, these are long-standing proven fundraisers that raise a lot of crucial funds for our schools. Here lies the dilemma. What are schools to do? We believe the answer is to create a balance of non-food related fundraising programs and food fundraising programs that are high in nutritional value.

The Connecticut State Department of Education (http://www.state.ct.us/sde/) does a wonderful write up below on the benefits of healthy fundraising

Healthy Kids Learn Better: Research clearly demonstrates that good nutrition is linked to better behavior and academic performance. To provide the best possible learning environment for children, schools must also provide an environment that supports healthy behaviors.

Provides Consistent Messages: Fundraising with healthy foods and non-food items demonstrates a school commitment to promoting healthy behaviors. It supports the classroom lessons students are learning about health, instead of contradicting them.

Promotes a Healthy School Environment: Students need to receive consistent, reliable health information and ample opportunity to use it. Finding healthy alternatives to fundraising is an important part of providing a healthy school environment.

Additional Resources:

Association of Fundraising Distributors & Suppliers

California Project Lean

National PTA