Band Candles

Opinion

I’m going to admit something to you that no one really knows. I was a trombone player in the band in high school. Please pause and let that shocker sink in.

At Katy High School in west Houston, we had a very good music program, probably on par with Central High’s program. And we were always raising money by selling these Christmas candles we lovingly called “band candles.” Some middleman bought an inventory of four or five candle designs, or vases with a candle inside made in China, and sold them to bands all over Houston with triple keystone markup. Our band would make 20-50% commission by sending us kids door-to-door begging people who could care less about owning a band candle, but wanted to support the local kids like me.

Now that I’m older, I hate it when my kids come home asking me to buy cookie dough or popcorn “to support the drama team,” for example. That’s because I know that of the hyper-inflated price of the cookie dough, the drama team is only going to clear 20-50% of the sale, and cookie dough is cheap at Sam’s if I really wanted any in the first place.

If I wanted to show my support for the school band or drama team, I’d rather write them a check and let them keep 100% of it and not make the middleman cookie dough vendor rich, and later I’ll still have to donate more money to the drama team, or band, anyway as a parent.

Non-profit organizations should look inside themselves for fundraising opportunities. My high school band’s core competency was its performances. We didn’t charge admission like we should have. What parent wouldn’t gladly donate $5 for a seat to watch a bunch of 17-year-olds lay down Karel Husa’s Music for Prague, 1968, a symphonic piece glorifying the rebellion against Communist oppression during the Czech uprising of 1968 (the rebellion was crushed by Soviet tanks and airpower, leaving the Czechs enslaved for another 21 years until the Berlin Wall was torn down).

What is my message? If you’re a teacher running an extracurricular organization for our kids, ask for money directly, or find innovative ways to sell what you already do to raise money. Don’t try to sell me band candles. I don’t want them, you don’t want to sell them, and you’d make more money just asking for donations!