This research focuses on the social pressures experienced by parents at schools identified as middle class across southern California. The literature review of school finances, the LCFF, funding levels, and studies stretches all the way back to the Coleman report. Within this vast body of prior research remained a void in the data. This missing component is related to social pressures surrounding fundraising and schools' dependency on donations when the student population is not eligible for supplemental or concentrated funding as part of the LCFF. Due to the lack of prior research, grounded theory became the most logical methodology for this study. As such, the investigation was broken into four iterations, starting with a survey administered at 14 PTA/PTSA meetings across southern California connected to schools that had less than 30% of their student population eligible for free or reduced lunch. From there, interviews were conducted resulting in a rich data set that was analyzed, producing five themes with respect to the social pressures connected to donation requests. Philanthropic Evolution, Pressures of the Process, Money Affects Decision Making, Relationships Matter, and Student Opportunities Affected were the five thematic patterns that evolved. Parents described how the pressures affected their decisions with respect to donations and where those pressures derived from. All participants indicated a heavy link between donations made and the opportunities for their own child as a result. Unfortunately, situations where the pressures were too much, producing negative results, also came to light, as participants described a pay-to-play scenario and situations of favoritism toward larger donors. In the end, this study unearthed several important details that any leader of a team, group, organization, or school should consider before sending out the next round of donation requests. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]