Lifting Band Boosters’ Fund-Raising Skills

Laurie Mendoza never wondered how she would find the time to be a high school band booster. She just knew that, along with working 40 hours a week and caring for her family, she would make the booster group a top priority.

“Without parental involvement in the school band, I just don’t know how the programs would survive,” said Mendoza, president of the band boosters at Western High School in Anaheim. “The boosters hold fund-raisers to get things that are needed for the band. Fund-raisers are definitely a necessity.”

Money was the major focus of Saturday’s 18th annual Pageantry, Pep and Performing Arts Booster Workshop, held at Western High.

More than 100 schools were invited to send delegates to the daylong session to hear fund-raising experts and corporate representatives, who discussed grants available to school organizations.

“School bands can teach commitment, leadership, teamwork, how to take orders and how to make critical judgments,” said Alex DeLaO, a former high school band director who is now a professional fund-raiser. “Studies have even shown that kids who take music test higher and can do better in school than those who don’t take music.

“When kids are involved in music, they begin to be empowered and gain a self-confidence that they just won’t get in a math class,” DeLaO said. “And there’s no getting around that fund-raising is an important aspect of school programs.

“But it is very important that you do not over-fund-raise your kids because, when you do, you’re actually over-fund-raising the kids’ parents. They are the ones who end up taking on a major portion of the responsibilities.”

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Mendoza understands that. “The school bands are getting less and less money, and we’re expected to put in more and more money,” she said. “But at the same time, we can’t be doing fund-raisers constantly. The kids and the parents get tired. And people also get tired of being asked to buy something every time they turn around.”

An alternative, the boosters learned, is to seek corporate sponsors. Two dozen representatives of local companies were on hand Saturday to talk about grants and other resources available to school bands.

They also set up displays of products and services that groups can sell to raise money.

Mendoza said funds are always in short supply.

“I do see how things might be improving somewhat in the next few years in terms of budgets and money being allocated for school bands,” she said. “The band program at Western High School will require $55,000 this year for such things as salaries, field shows, equipment and uniforms. The school only gives us $1,000. So, you can see that we have a long, long way to go.”

Saturday’s workshop was coordinated by Harvey Berish, publisher of World of Pageantry. The monthly newsletter, based in Anaheim, focuses on band and drill team events and products.