Raising money for schools is tough work. Most of the time our kids are fairly uninspired when it comes to raising money for the school.
But, because we want them to have the best opportunities in their educational pursuits, we feel it is important to help them out.
Maybe you’re on a fundraising committee. Maybe you’re just volunteering for a particular fundraiser campaign. Any way you shake it, you want to raise as much money as possible.
Here are six (6) tips to help you do that:
1) Presales
One of the more popular fundraising opportunities for schools is giving car washes. But, if you’ve ever thrown a car wash, you probably know that it can be difficult to attract on the fly. So, what I’ve tried out is selling the car washes in advance. According to the school administrators, the presales made about twice as much as would have been earned with the on-the-fly approach. This approach for any time of fundraising, like festivals or book fairs.
To make it work, there are a few approaches you can take, or you can implement them all.
– Tell students to sell to their friends, friends’ families, and their own family
– Sell tickets in front of a local business
– Use the school email system to email a notice to parents and teachers.
2) Give Options
Selling tickets to an event doesn’t have to be just in the physical form. As the world becomes more and more digital, more people are inclined to get their tickets online. So, with that in mind, give ticket purchasers the option to get their ticket online. Services like TicketRiver give people in the fundraising game to offer an online box office to people purchasing tickets.
Here’s how to make it work:
– Set up Facebook announcement and event pages with links to the online box office.
– Have parents set up a phone call out system
– Hang fliers and posters around the community
3) Involve the Community
The best example I can think for this one is to let the business community around your school sponsor an event. Theater programs in the country are always looking for fundraising (unfortunately), so you could have a boosters program, and put those people or companies’ names into a program at each event. You could use the program to sell ad space to local businesses.
Here’s how to make it work:
– Include appropriate phrasing in the ads (“proud to support the arts”)
– Solicit donations of food and prizes from local businesses
– Provide age appropriate entertainment for the kids
4) Tie Fundraising to Event
Fundraising with wristbands or raffles is a great way to make money, but linking those to a bigger event means you have a bigger chance at selling more tickets.
I’ve seen organizations that printed event details on their raffle tickets or wristbands, which were different than the actual event tickets. By printing the details of the event on the back of these items, they had an opportunity to sell more tickets.
Here’s how to make it work:
– Advertise both events in a newsletter connected to the organization
– Use Facebook and Twitter for a social media boost
– Encourage students to invite family and friends
5) Create Something Unique
When I lived in Houston, there was a school that had a deal with a local chicken place where they created their own brand of chicken and sold it at their two biggest fundraisers of the year. The chicken was so good that people from all over the area came to get it.
There was another school that jumped on that bandwagon, in a sense, and created their own brand of coffee, in conjunction with a small coffee shop in the area. They sold this year-round at any event or gathering of the community.
Both strategies have been huge successes.
Here’s how to make it work:
– Sell a product that people in your area will want to sponsor
– Create relationships with local businesses to see what’s available out there
– Multiple or year-round fundraisers to help meet goals
6) Don’t Be Afraid to Ask
A lot of times fundraising isn’t necessarily about getting money. Take for instance an arts program. Most of the time they are just looking for supplies that they can’t afford to pay for with their regular budget.
Sites like DonorsChoose are an excellent way to raise money. It’s honest, helpful, and easy to use. And, if you have enough push on social media, you can easily make enough money for your fundraiser.
Here’s how to make it work:
– Find free supplies on Craigslist or other sites
– Sway with other teachers to trade unwanted materials for new items
– Ask for donations or use recyclable or natural objects