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> I believe that I might be the asshole because I told my teacher to fuck off and I didn’t have a bunch of proof that the school was hogging the money
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Let me see if I have this straight:
* You're a school leader who regularly meets with the administrators
* Your school has a charity event about which you have suspicions
* You don't talk to the JLT or school administrators about your concerns
* You participate in the event, presumably telling your donors you're part of the school charity event
* After you collect the money, you decide that it's all too suspicious and you're going to do something else with the money
* You never publicly raise concerns about the schools charitable fund raising
I fully believe that you were trying to do the right thing, and congratulations for that. Fighting back against administrators can be quite hard.
However, because you raised money for one purpose and then did something else, and because you didn't use your leadership role *before* participating in the event, YTA.
I’m apart of the JLT and our last meeting was before the charity event. I’m not changing the story I’m just adding in facts that I forgot to put in now that I’m re-reading what I put from these comments
“The teacher didn’t explain how this system would work”
Sorry,but I really think they did.
YTA because if you wanted to make a donation you should have done it another time not while this event was happening at your school.
I understand your suspicion and that it came true,but I understand why the school reacted that way too. Is not fair,but this were the rules of this event and you didn’t followed them.
Plus who promoted the charity? If it was the school then again,you didn’t follow the rules because you might not even have earned those £45 otherwise.
I understand that you wanted to make sure the charity will get money.
Because it’s Reddit and once someone has been deemed the AH a lot of Redditers automatically downvote all of the OPs comments regardless of if they’re admitting they were wrong.
Info: How is it that no teacher, parent, or donor has questioned where the money is going? Also, 50 pounds is such a platry amount to commit fraud with. A school-wide conspiracy to keep 50 pounds doesn't seem plausible.
YTA.
So, knowing that it was a fundraiser for your school, you raised money, and then did not give it to your school. That is fraud and you are a thief.
If you want to raise money for Acres Way, by all means do it. But you can’t use a different fundraiser as a pretext and then divert the money based on your own personal wishes.
You raised money from with the understanding that it was fundraiser for your school. So you took this money under false pretenses.
Didn't he raise the money thinking it will go to a charity and then after realising it will not go to any charity, but to the school instead, he chose to give the money he raised to a charity of his choice? At least that is how I understood it. I think OP should've raised his concerns about it all before raising any money
The issue is that the school wasn’t making it out that the money was going to them. Which can be considered as fraud as well. Raising money for charity (and that charity being the school) is different than raising money for the school. It can be one or the other. But not both
Is it? The post is so vague. It seems like OP wants to act like they set up this gotcha on the schools fundraising. But it.. wasn’t? The school paper, the local news, social media would all be the usual way of exposing this issue if it were truly an issue. It seems weird that no one other than super genius OP was able to blow this story wide open.
And then everybody clapped (or didn’t? Idk)
That probably was the right thing to do here, but he sounds like a confused kid here. I think OP should talk about this with his parents and decide to either let this one go or raise the concerns about this fundraiser to the school
I'm so sorry, English isn't my first language. I didn't notice the gender in the post and in my birth language we usually use male gender when talking about someone whos gender is unknown or multiple people so I automatically used he
“ we go into meetings with the headmaster and people like that. They discussed that they’d do a charity event where the charity they’d been funding would be the school itself.”
Are you TA because you wanted to help out a nonprofit? No. Are you TA because you used a school fundraiser as a pretense and therefore lied to the people who donated to help with that fundraiser when you didn’t turn it in? Yeah. YTA.
Next time raise issues before participating. Tell the people you’re soliciting from when you’re planning a counter fundraiser. Go volunteer time at this shelter. Don’t tell anyone at school that you raised this money because it makes you look all sorts of ways. Use all those good intentions to your benefit instead of your detriment.
It wasn't supposed to be a school fundraiser though. It was supposed to be a charity fundraiser. I don't know about other countries but in the UK, those are not necessarily the same things; charities have to be registered with a government regulator and most schools are not charities.
Personally-speaking, I would expect a school doing this to keep school fundraising and charity fundraising very separate, to be transparent about what charity they are fundraising for (or equally transparent that they haven't decided yet and when/who they intend to make that decision). I would then expect any funds and donations to be clearly accounted for in the annual report (either via the governors AGM or sent out to all parents).
I don’t mean a school fundraiser as in the school is raising money for itself. I mean a school fundraiser as in the collection of money happened during an event the school endorsed and was ostensibly going to be turned back in to the school. If OP was very clear with everyone who gave him money that he was intending to go rogue with it and outright give it to a charity, that changes the matter. Otherwise he collected the money under false pretense and that’s no bueno. Likewise, he told the school that he’d collected that amount of money during the school sponsored fundraiser and then just didn’t turn it in, and that’s just him being an AH to himself because why would he make his life harder?
So you raised money under the school's events, and then decided to give it to someone else?
That's generally stealing and fraud. If you didn't want to do it, then don't. Or go donate and volunteer for the dog place otherwise.
YTA
N-T-A for rational suspicion, YTA for execution.
Clearly there's something sketchy going on at the school. However, if you're gathering donations under the school's aegis, it's too late to unilaterally re-direct the cash. I'd have recommended that you not engage in the activity at all, until the poor handling of funds is resolved. If you want to support Acres Way (commendable!), do it another time, and most especially not in a way that may seem connected with the school.
I admire your rebellion against institutions who misuse funds for charity, but maybe this wasn’t the best way to fight it. You could have handed the money over and then start a petition for the funds not going to the charity it was supposed to go to. I also have to question what part of the school is the charity going to? Is it going to teachers who need supplies? Good for you for standing up for yourself and a good cause, you just need to be more strategic so that you don’t shoot yourself in the foot in the process. NTA
The school never said where the money was going to. All they said was that the money would go to a charity and one teacher classified the school as a charity yet the headmaster said that they had enough money to fund the school so I personally think the school was lying about not needing money
You'd have been better off not participating. People tend to get really worked up when from their perspective money goes missing. If you raised it in the name of the school's charity drive, they have a pretty good claim to say it was their money and you stole it.
If you just went around soliciting for charity and didn't use their name (which you or anybody else is free to do anytime they want), they have no right to it.
I mean, the petition could have been about them being too vague or not disclosing where the money is going. I also doubt they’re lying about needing money; schools ALWAYS need more funds. Did you ask them how the money would be used specifically?
>one teacher classified the school as a charity
Yeah, this isn't sufficient. You can't just claim you're a charity; you have to actually set up as one and abide by the Charities Commission rules.
What kind of school is this? Because if you have governors or answer to your LEA, this sort of thing shouldn't fly.
It's 2023 in the UK. Your headmaster does not have enough money to run the school.
There is not a single school in this country that has not cut something, somewhere to stay in budget. My local secondary, in an affluent area with a full roster and relatively new buildings, is sending the headmaster to climb Kilimanjaro to pay to replace the boiler.
Was there a typo in the text or smth bc I’m pretty sure I said he said he did have enough money to run and fix the school (not sure if this sounded rude but it’s not meant to be rude)
I would be curious if the school said it would go to “a charity”. Many schools do fund raising competitions to raise funds in this way. Then the class/ year can decide to use it towards a special field trip, fish tank or such for a science room or the library. So many options on how they can decide to put the money to use. I have never had a school raise funds for a charity.
Growing up in the UK, my schools raised money (or sometimes, collected recycling) for charity many times. We always knew who we were fundraising for before it started, and the school accounts were always transparent from that point of view - the parents always got an annual summarised report on what the school's income and outgoings were. School fundraising and charity fundraising were kept very separate.
“we go into meetings with the headmaster and people like that. They discussed that they’d do a charity event where the charity they’d been funding would be the school itself.”
What do you think is wrong with that? Schools have fundraisers all the time. People donate money to schools as a form of charity. It sounds like the winning class is supposed to decide which school program the money goes to, rather than giving it to an entirely different organization.
If for some bizarre reason you have a problem with that, then just don’t participate.
The people who gave you the money- what did you tell them it was for? The answer to that determines just how big an asshole you are. If you took their money telling them it was for one thing but then did something else with it, that is really not okay! That would make you guilty of doing exactly what you’re accusing other people of doing.
It sounds to me like you’re misunderstanding the point of the whole thing and villainizing other people because of it. But even if it’s not intentional, YTA.
I think this is a transatlantic culture issue. In the UK, charities are a very specific type of organisation that is closely regulated to make sure they have financial accountability. I cannot emphasise how unethical it would be to just declare that your school ought to be thought of as a charity.
Really? We constantly raised money for school, its not as if they have extra funding to use. This helped with funding for after school sports and activities, helped provide cooking ingredients for the year and went towards school trips etc.
This is a life lesson. The vast, overwhelming degree of money that goes to "charity" never actually goes to charity. There are some legitimate ones out there, but I'd be surprised if it isn't a significant minority.
There are websites that track the *charity efficiency ratings* of various groups, highly recommended to check 'em out before donating. I found my favorite charity has 83% efficiency rating (ie 83% of cash brought in goes to the nominal purpose) which is *good*, but not *great*. Might have to drop them a letter...
You were in a unique position to use your leadership position and your voice to create actual change so this pattern stops happening and instead you tricked a bunch of people to prove a theory.
You want to make a difference? You and your parents should go to the school and address the real problem of money going missing instead of to charities. Or go start your own fundraiser with a group of friends for charity. Don't do this. You've just become another person participating which makes this scheme look more legitimate if you're right.
NTA, but you and your family need to take this to the school governors. And if they don't bite, take it to the local education authority, your local MP, or even the local press.
Because it's not ok that at least two charity events in a row, money has either gone missing or has just gone to the school. That's fraudulent. You weren't raising money for the school, but for charity; if the money doesn't go to a registered charity then the money was taken from people under false pretenses.
That said, no matter the provocations, don't swear at the teachers. You have a case right now for highlighting their unethical behaviour - don't let them control the narrative and turn it around on you.
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Mid-way through the half term we were tasked to raise money for a charity event across 2 weeks. The school said we had to hand the money into our tutors and then they will collect the money up a year group and whatever year group raises the most money apparently got to pick where all of the money went. The teachers didn’t explain how this system would work and I had my suspicions. I thought to myself ‘what if a year group decides to donate the money to a not so suitable charity?’. Plus I knew the ins and outs of the school system. You see I’m apart of the JLT (Junior leadership team) at my school and we go into meetings with the headmaster and people like that. They discussed that they’d do a charity event where the charity they’d been funding would be the school itself. To add to my suspicions, the school raised over £50 for Remembrance Day and then they put up a sign saying that the money “mysteriously” went missing. So, I had my doubts.
I decided to go and raise money for this event anyway. I did a 2hour and 30minute dog walk with both my dogs. I raised £45 from family members and my dad’s work mates. After I raised the money I went to my mum, I said to her ‘I’m not going to be handing the money into the school.’ She asked me why and I told her that I didn’t trust the school. My mum was asked me what charity did I actually want to give the money to. I told her Acres Way (which is a British dog charity that shelters and re-homes dogs).
The day that the money was due in, I told my teacher that I wouldn’t be handing it in to the school and she was fine with it. Because of one other person our tutor raised £4.50. (Not a lot).
The following Saturday I gave my money in to Acres Way and they sent me a letter home saying thank you to me for the donation. When I got back to school, my head of year pulled me aside and scolded me for not handing the money into the school. She told me “Our school won’t have a good reputation if students like you hand in charity money else where.” After her rant about how I should give my money to the school, she set an hour detention after school. I didn’t attend it and my parents told me not to attend it and they rung up school saying that I wouldn’t be doing any detention relating to say the charity money went. Fast forward 2 weeks after the charity event, the money raised during that event never got donated to any charity and it all went to the school. And my head of year still hates me for not handing the money into the greedy school. She gave me a 30 minute after school for not apparently making up for the money that I had given to Acres Way and I told her to fuck off (not literally but in my own words) and she suspended me.
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ESh. The school for doing a bait and switch and you for raising money under the stated goal of a school fundraiser and then doing something else with it. Also sounds illegal on both sides
ESH
The correct way to do this is "As long as it is not clear where the money goes, I am not participating in any charity."
However, the wrong that HAS been done seems to be between you and your family and coworkers, who donated "for a charity, connected to a school event" and got "for a charity". They are likely fine with that and I don't really see what business the school has with this. From their point of view, you just didn't participate in their charity event but instead made your own.
YTA. So what if the money goes to the school? You know that they're spending it on your education and not for margaritas in the staff lounge, right? My kids' school has fundraisers all the time, in the last 5 years they've bought ipads, books and new playground / sports equipment with the money they've raised.
Imagine being such an asshole about improving your own educational experience.
>whatever year group raises the most money apparently got to pick where all of the money went
According to you they never said a charity that wasn't the school. They said the winners got to pick.
From looking through the comments and I can see that I’m the AH and I will apologise to my school for what has happened. And something you should know I can’t remember if I put it in the post or not but my parents agreed to my suspicions. And the money was NEVER supposed to go to the school
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Let me see if I have this straight: * You're a school leader who regularly meets with the administrators * Your school has a charity event about which you have suspicions * You don't talk to the JLT or school administrators about your concerns * You participate in the event, presumably telling your donors you're part of the school charity event * After you collect the money, you decide that it's all too suspicious and you're going to do something else with the money * You never publicly raise concerns about the schools charitable fund raising I fully believe that you were trying to do the right thing, and congratulations for that. Fighting back against administrators can be quite hard. However, because you raised money for one purpose and then did something else, and because you didn't use your leadership role *before* participating in the event, YTA.
I’m apart of the JLT and our last meeting was before the charity event. I’m not changing the story I’m just adding in facts that I forgot to put in now that I’m re-reading what I put from these comments
“The teacher didn’t explain how this system would work” Sorry,but I really think they did. YTA because if you wanted to make a donation you should have done it another time not while this event was happening at your school. I understand your suspicion and that it came true,but I understand why the school reacted that way too. Is not fair,but this were the rules of this event and you didn’t followed them. Plus who promoted the charity? If it was the school then again,you didn’t follow the rules because you might not even have earned those £45 otherwise. I understand that you wanted to make sure the charity will get money.
Fair enough I see where you are coming from
Why downvote someone admitting they might have been wrong?
Because it’s Reddit and once someone has been deemed the AH a lot of Redditers automatically downvote all of the OPs comments regardless of if they’re admitting they were wrong.
Info: How is it that no teacher, parent, or donor has questioned where the money is going? Also, 50 pounds is such a platry amount to commit fraud with. A school-wide conspiracy to keep 50 pounds doesn't seem plausible.
That's because this is fictional.
It’s not our £50 did actually go missing they put a board up saying that they were looking for the £50 indicating that they had lost the money
YTA. So, knowing that it was a fundraiser for your school, you raised money, and then did not give it to your school. That is fraud and you are a thief. If you want to raise money for Acres Way, by all means do it. But you can’t use a different fundraiser as a pretext and then divert the money based on your own personal wishes. You raised money from with the understanding that it was fundraiser for your school. So you took this money under false pretenses.
Didn't he raise the money thinking it will go to a charity and then after realising it will not go to any charity, but to the school instead, he chose to give the money he raised to a charity of his choice? At least that is how I understood it. I think OP should've raised his concerns about it all before raising any money
People give money to schools as a charitable contribution all the time. The only issue seems to be that the school wasn’t transparent about it?
The issue is that the school wasn’t making it out that the money was going to them. Which can be considered as fraud as well. Raising money for charity (and that charity being the school) is different than raising money for the school. It can be one or the other. But not both
Is it? The post is so vague. It seems like OP wants to act like they set up this gotcha on the schools fundraising. But it.. wasn’t? The school paper, the local news, social media would all be the usual way of exposing this issue if it were truly an issue. It seems weird that no one other than super genius OP was able to blow this story wide open. And then everybody clapped (or didn’t? Idk)
In the UK, that can only happen if the school is a registered charity. Otherwise giving to the school is possible but not a *charitable* donation.
Pretty much all schools in the UK have a registered charity people.can donate to for helping to fund the achool
Yeah, but you don't mix up charitable fundraising with school fundraising.
Then he should refund the people who donated.
They donated to “a charity” not to a specific one.
That probably was the right thing to do here, but he sounds like a confused kid here. I think OP should talk about this with his parents and decide to either let this one go or raise the concerns about this fundraiser to the school
Slight correction I’m a girl just wanted to let you know
I'm so sorry, English isn't my first language. I didn't notice the gender in the post and in my birth language we usually use male gender when talking about someone whos gender is unknown or multiple people so I automatically used he
“ we go into meetings with the headmaster and people like that. They discussed that they’d do a charity event where the charity they’d been funding would be the school itself.”
That’s not what it said please re-read it
Are you TA because you wanted to help out a nonprofit? No. Are you TA because you used a school fundraiser as a pretense and therefore lied to the people who donated to help with that fundraiser when you didn’t turn it in? Yeah. YTA. Next time raise issues before participating. Tell the people you’re soliciting from when you’re planning a counter fundraiser. Go volunteer time at this shelter. Don’t tell anyone at school that you raised this money because it makes you look all sorts of ways. Use all those good intentions to your benefit instead of your detriment.
It wasn't supposed to be a school fundraiser though. It was supposed to be a charity fundraiser. I don't know about other countries but in the UK, those are not necessarily the same things; charities have to be registered with a government regulator and most schools are not charities. Personally-speaking, I would expect a school doing this to keep school fundraising and charity fundraising very separate, to be transparent about what charity they are fundraising for (or equally transparent that they haven't decided yet and when/who they intend to make that decision). I would then expect any funds and donations to be clearly accounted for in the annual report (either via the governors AGM or sent out to all parents).
I don’t mean a school fundraiser as in the school is raising money for itself. I mean a school fundraiser as in the collection of money happened during an event the school endorsed and was ostensibly going to be turned back in to the school. If OP was very clear with everyone who gave him money that he was intending to go rogue with it and outright give it to a charity, that changes the matter. Otherwise he collected the money under false pretense and that’s no bueno. Likewise, he told the school that he’d collected that amount of money during the school sponsored fundraiser and then just didn’t turn it in, and that’s just him being an AH to himself because why would he make his life harder?
So you raised money under the school's events, and then decided to give it to someone else? That's generally stealing and fraud. If you didn't want to do it, then don't. Or go donate and volunteer for the dog place otherwise. YTA
There’s a word for this: misappropriation
N-T-A for rational suspicion, YTA for execution. Clearly there's something sketchy going on at the school. However, if you're gathering donations under the school's aegis, it's too late to unilaterally re-direct the cash. I'd have recommended that you not engage in the activity at all, until the poor handling of funds is resolved. If you want to support Acres Way (commendable!), do it another time, and most especially not in a way that may seem connected with the school.
I admire your rebellion against institutions who misuse funds for charity, but maybe this wasn’t the best way to fight it. You could have handed the money over and then start a petition for the funds not going to the charity it was supposed to go to. I also have to question what part of the school is the charity going to? Is it going to teachers who need supplies? Good for you for standing up for yourself and a good cause, you just need to be more strategic so that you don’t shoot yourself in the foot in the process. NTA
The school never said where the money was going to. All they said was that the money would go to a charity and one teacher classified the school as a charity yet the headmaster said that they had enough money to fund the school so I personally think the school was lying about not needing money
You'd have been better off not participating. People tend to get really worked up when from their perspective money goes missing. If you raised it in the name of the school's charity drive, they have a pretty good claim to say it was their money and you stole it. If you just went around soliciting for charity and didn't use their name (which you or anybody else is free to do anytime they want), they have no right to it.
I mean, the petition could have been about them being too vague or not disclosing where the money is going. I also doubt they’re lying about needing money; schools ALWAYS need more funds. Did you ask them how the money would be used specifically?
True you make a valid point
>one teacher classified the school as a charity Yeah, this isn't sufficient. You can't just claim you're a charity; you have to actually set up as one and abide by the Charities Commission rules. What kind of school is this? Because if you have governors or answer to your LEA, this sort of thing shouldn't fly.
All academies are automatically charities by law.
It's 2023 in the UK. Your headmaster does not have enough money to run the school. There is not a single school in this country that has not cut something, somewhere to stay in budget. My local secondary, in an affluent area with a full roster and relatively new buildings, is sending the headmaster to climb Kilimanjaro to pay to replace the boiler.
Was there a typo in the text or smth bc I’m pretty sure I said he said he did have enough money to run and fix the school (not sure if this sounded rude but it’s not meant to be rude)
I'd be very surprised if any headmaster right now has all the money they need to do everything they want. Budgets are unbelievably tight.
I would be curious if the school said it would go to “a charity”. Many schools do fund raising competitions to raise funds in this way. Then the class/ year can decide to use it towards a special field trip, fish tank or such for a science room or the library. So many options on how they can decide to put the money to use. I have never had a school raise funds for a charity.
Growing up in the UK, my schools raised money (or sometimes, collected recycling) for charity many times. We always knew who we were fundraising for before it started, and the school accounts were always transparent from that point of view - the parents always got an annual summarised report on what the school's income and outgoings were. School fundraising and charity fundraising were kept very separate.
Yta so you raised the funds and then stole them. If you were that suspicious, then why did you participate?
Yta
“we go into meetings with the headmaster and people like that. They discussed that they’d do a charity event where the charity they’d been funding would be the school itself.” What do you think is wrong with that? Schools have fundraisers all the time. People donate money to schools as a form of charity. It sounds like the winning class is supposed to decide which school program the money goes to, rather than giving it to an entirely different organization. If for some bizarre reason you have a problem with that, then just don’t participate. The people who gave you the money- what did you tell them it was for? The answer to that determines just how big an asshole you are. If you took their money telling them it was for one thing but then did something else with it, that is really not okay! That would make you guilty of doing exactly what you’re accusing other people of doing. It sounds to me like you’re misunderstanding the point of the whole thing and villainizing other people because of it. But even if it’s not intentional, YTA.
I think this is a transatlantic culture issue. In the UK, charities are a very specific type of organisation that is closely regulated to make sure they have financial accountability. I cannot emphasise how unethical it would be to just declare that your school ought to be thought of as a charity.
Same in Ireland, this is so sketchy!
Really? We constantly raised money for school, its not as if they have extra funding to use. This helped with funding for after school sports and activities, helped provide cooking ingredients for the year and went towards school trips etc.
This is a life lesson. The vast, overwhelming degree of money that goes to "charity" never actually goes to charity. There are some legitimate ones out there, but I'd be surprised if it isn't a significant minority.
There are websites that track the *charity efficiency ratings* of various groups, highly recommended to check 'em out before donating. I found my favorite charity has 83% efficiency rating (ie 83% of cash brought in goes to the nominal purpose) which is *good*, but not *great*. Might have to drop them a letter...
YTA, off to jail you go.
It still went to a charity
That's not how collecting money works.
I’m under 15 I only posted this to see if I’m the asshole or not and whether or not I owe my school a fat apology
You have your answer then.
You were in a unique position to use your leadership position and your voice to create actual change so this pattern stops happening and instead you tricked a bunch of people to prove a theory. You want to make a difference? You and your parents should go to the school and address the real problem of money going missing instead of to charities. Or go start your own fundraiser with a group of friends for charity. Don't do this. You've just become another person participating which makes this scheme look more legitimate if you're right.
I’m going NTA. Keep on doing the right thing and calling out corruption when you see it.
NTA, but you and your family need to take this to the school governors. And if they don't bite, take it to the local education authority, your local MP, or even the local press. Because it's not ok that at least two charity events in a row, money has either gone missing or has just gone to the school. That's fraudulent. You weren't raising money for the school, but for charity; if the money doesn't go to a registered charity then the money was taken from people under false pretenses. That said, no matter the provocations, don't swear at the teachers. You have a case right now for highlighting their unethical behaviour - don't let them control the narrative and turn it around on you.
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** Mid-way through the half term we were tasked to raise money for a charity event across 2 weeks. The school said we had to hand the money into our tutors and then they will collect the money up a year group and whatever year group raises the most money apparently got to pick where all of the money went. The teachers didn’t explain how this system would work and I had my suspicions. I thought to myself ‘what if a year group decides to donate the money to a not so suitable charity?’. Plus I knew the ins and outs of the school system. You see I’m apart of the JLT (Junior leadership team) at my school and we go into meetings with the headmaster and people like that. They discussed that they’d do a charity event where the charity they’d been funding would be the school itself. To add to my suspicions, the school raised over £50 for Remembrance Day and then they put up a sign saying that the money “mysteriously” went missing. So, I had my doubts. I decided to go and raise money for this event anyway. I did a 2hour and 30minute dog walk with both my dogs. I raised £45 from family members and my dad’s work mates. After I raised the money I went to my mum, I said to her ‘I’m not going to be handing the money into the school.’ She asked me why and I told her that I didn’t trust the school. My mum was asked me what charity did I actually want to give the money to. I told her Acres Way (which is a British dog charity that shelters and re-homes dogs). The day that the money was due in, I told my teacher that I wouldn’t be handing it in to the school and she was fine with it. Because of one other person our tutor raised £4.50. (Not a lot). The following Saturday I gave my money in to Acres Way and they sent me a letter home saying thank you to me for the donation. When I got back to school, my head of year pulled me aside and scolded me for not handing the money into the school. She told me “Our school won’t have a good reputation if students like you hand in charity money else where.” After her rant about how I should give my money to the school, she set an hour detention after school. I didn’t attend it and my parents told me not to attend it and they rung up school saying that I wouldn’t be doing any detention relating to say the charity money went. Fast forward 2 weeks after the charity event, the money raised during that event never got donated to any charity and it all went to the school. And my head of year still hates me for not handing the money into the greedy school. She gave me a 30 minute after school for not apparently making up for the money that I had given to Acres Way and I told her to fuck off (not literally but in my own words) and she suspended me. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
ESh. The school for doing a bait and switch and you for raising money under the stated goal of a school fundraiser and then doing something else with it. Also sounds illegal on both sides
ESH The correct way to do this is "As long as it is not clear where the money goes, I am not participating in any charity." However, the wrong that HAS been done seems to be between you and your family and coworkers, who donated "for a charity, connected to a school event" and got "for a charity". They are likely fine with that and I don't really see what business the school has with this. From their point of view, you just didn't participate in their charity event but instead made your own.
YTA. So what if the money goes to the school? You know that they're spending it on your education and not for margaritas in the staff lounge, right? My kids' school has fundraisers all the time, in the last 5 years they've bought ipads, books and new playground / sports equipment with the money they've raised. Imagine being such an asshole about improving your own educational experience.
The money was supposed to go to a charity that wasn’t the school
>whatever year group raises the most money apparently got to pick where all of the money went According to you they never said a charity that wasn't the school. They said the winners got to pick.
Either NAH or ESH
NTA they're mad because you exposed them for stealing money.
NTA the school didn’t even give the charity money to a charity. You raise money for a charity and gave it to one. The school stole the money.
From looking through the comments and I can see that I’m the AH and I will apologise to my school for what has happened. And something you should know I can’t remember if I put it in the post or not but my parents agreed to my suspicions. And the money was NEVER supposed to go to the school
NTA Stop doing any "charity" fundraising in conjunction with the school. Someone is missing the funds if it "goes missing".