A friend of mine recently had a question regarding the ethics of fundraising. She owns a dance studio and for a while now, parents have been raising money (through community car washes, bake saels, etc.) for their children to pay for competition fees, costumes, etc. The problem is, they use the name of the studio, implying that the money goes directly to the studio and they also use the studio facilities for the actual fundraising. (The studio is not a non-prorfit.) In addition, the owner is responsible for handling the money raised and getting it to the parents. She receives no compensation or fee for any of this. Is it correct that the parents are misleading donors by presenting the fundraiser as benefiting the dance studio while it is directly benefiting their children? Should the owner receive at least a fee for helping administer the money?
