I get a lot of questions about school fundraising – what works best, which fundraiser should we do, how can we do better with our next one, etc.
Well, there isn’t any one answer that applies to all situations, but there are some generalities that do apply.
- Parents need to be motivated
- You can’t fundraise all the time
- You have to make the most out of each opportunity
So, what does that mean you should do?
As I mentioned in a previous post, I always recommend no more than three fundraisers a year with two of them being event oriented.
You motivate your school’s parents by clearly explaining the need for funds, what the money raised will be used for, and why each parent should pitch in and help to improve the school.
In return for pitching in on your one big fundraising product sale, you won’t need to fundraise all the time.
You make the most of your opportunities by adding in additional fundraising activities to your events such as silent auctions, raffles, live auctions, etc.
You also get the most out of fundraising product sale by also offering an alternate product with a high perceived value and a large profit margin such as a two-for-one pizza card. That way, if a customer doesn’t want to buy something from your catalog (or even if they do), you’ve got a great offering to snag some extra profit.
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