Are you willing to donate to your children's school's organizations, even if the school is pushy about it?

I did when my kids were in school, I do for the neighbors’ kids, I am an absolute supporter of these programs.

I am to an extent. But when the local foundation sent letters in the high school packet stating “the expected contribution is $860 per child” (not per family) I just stopped flat out because it was more than I could afford.

Yes, as @zenvelo says, to an extent.
In general I am not a fan of soliciting and guilt tripping people to contribute and for those families who cannot afford it, making the child feel embarrassed because they could not contribute. Having your child sell chocolate bars is one thing, what @zenvelo mentions is quite another. I think schools need to host fundraisers like carnivals, cake auctions, car washes etc. and not put children and families on the spot to sell/donate, under pressure. I , personally, do not like being approached for any sort of solicitations whether that is a school thing or being invited to a Tupperware party, gah…I loathe those kinds of get togethers. haha

Our schools are properly funded by the government here, so I don’t get pressured in that way. There are the odd local sports club that comes and asks for our cans and bottles for the deposit refund, which is almost doing us a favour, by taking them to the store, and then they get to keep the refund of the deposit. Sometimes they sell things like candy or scratchies, I only buy the candy if the kids are friends. I’ll give the kids the deposit bottles if I have them tidied and in handy bags to hand over.

The do a collection every Christmas for a charity. Every child is sent home with an envelope that explains where the money it going to that year and we seal the envelope with what ever we feel appropriate.

As for the request on our donated time and homebaked goods, it happens pretty much only on the 17th of May. We can opt out, which I do every year, almost. We just say we are spending the day in the city and we don’t participate in the local school activities.

I was involved in a marching band/glee club before we moved. My son was a junior member and they found out I could sew, so I got roped into making costumes. When I turned in my first costume, the decided they could give me more challenging and harder ideas to pull off. I think I moved away just in time. The upcoming show as going to be based on The Muppets.

Interesting responses. I was never “guilt tripped”, and suggestions for totals were never made. Maybe our school system just does it differently.

No.

I especially resented having to explain to my five year old why I couldn’t donate to the things.

I think during the four months he attended public school we were solicited for “small donations” about twenty times, and that’s not counting the $5 per week the teacher begged for to fund snack time (which was invariably apple juice and candy gummies).

I’d probably set an amount.

At the beginning of every school year, my daughter’s school sends home raffle tickets to all parents. They request a $25 donation for the tickets, and if you want to sell more, of course you can. If you don’t want the tickets, they request you send them back with your name on them, presumably so they can keep track of who donated and who did not.