Danielle Westerlund, another hockey mom, said much of the fund-raising duties fall on the parents. They often place the calls soliciting relatives or end up bringing the box of $1 candy bars to work.

Both women said they recognized the good done with fund-raising dollars, even if it can be tiring to raise them.

Lisa Haman, vice president of the Hoover Elementary PTA, said she was aware of the dangers of “burnout” — both for those raising the funds and the donors.

“Last year I had four different fund-raisers through the year,” Haman said. “This year I’m going to narrow it down to two.”

“You’ve got to be sensitive to the community. There’s a lot of us out there fund raising.”

Profits vary

The Association of Fund-Raising Distributors and Suppliers, based in Atlanta and representing more than 650 fund-raising companies, reported about $1.9 billion was netted by schools and other groups fund raising in 2002. (Efforts to get updated figures from an association representative were unsuccessful.)

Most sales were made by elementary schools, according to the association.

Roosevelt Elementary PTO fund-raising chairwoman Jeanne Fitterer said companies visit the PTO throughout the school year to pitch their fund-raising products.

PTOs are looking for products that will be easy to sell and provide a high return, but they have other concerns, too. They must choose between offering a magazine full of items or selling just a few things, for instance.

“At Roosevelt, we wanted to be as simple as possible,” Fitterer said.

This fall, Roosevelt students sold tubs of frozen cookie dough — eight flavors, priced $11 to $13 each.

Typically, Fitterer said, the school will keep 35 to 40 percent of the profit on a sale. But some fund-raisers offer more.

Franklin Elementary PTO President Vicki Peterson said their PTO keeps 50 percent of the profit from sales of Katherine Beich candy bars.

Peterson said last fall students sold $31,950 worth of candy bars at $1 each. The school kept about $15,000 after accounting for unsold candy bars.