One Simple Change That Will Double Your School Fundraiser

Posted by Juan Franco

Going to school used to be all about learning and studies. Today, however, it includes many other activities and “fun” events as well. But these special events and activities cost money. With cuts is school budgets for many schools and school districts the only option they have to pay for these events is for the school to raise the money in some sort of fundraising event.

Many consider fundraising to be sort of like the 3rd rail on a subway system. It can be looked at as something to keep away from at all cost, or it can be seen as the source of power that makes things go. A fundraiser that is well run on the other hand is something that can be a positive experience for everyone involved. From the school staff and teachers to the parents of the students and the community as a whole. If the product is a good one and the incentives are worthwhile, the school fundraiser can be a positive event that is enjoyed by everyone.

Fundraisers that are view negatively are usually ones that are done for just a small segment of the school. For instance, if you are having a school wide fundraiser that most of the money raised is used for the 5th grade field trip, 80% of the school is being left out. Unless something is done to make it worth their while, you’ll have allot of unhappy kids and parents.

Have you ever wondered why some schools, while all else is equal, will have a $50,000 sale and another of the same size has a $20,000 sale? They could even be selling the same product, at the same time and still have that much difference in their sale. The answer to that is really pretty simple. It’s “How” they run the sale that makes all the difference.

A case in point is Fern Bluff Elementary in Round Rock, Texas. For years they had been having $25-$29,000 sales with their 700 students. One year, they made a few changes in only one thing…it wasn’t in what they picked for their fundraiser, that remained the same. All they did was make a change in how they ran their sale and the year after they had a $29,000 sale they had a $68,000 sale. They actually made as much that year as they had sold the year before!

They not only raised more money but they also increased participation of parents and teachers when it came time for delivery. They had always had a problem of finding enough volunteers to help when it came time for delivery. This time they had to turn people away! Nothing like that had ever happened at that school before.

All this came about because they chose to run their sale differently than they had run it before. What they discovered is that by making a change in the why they thought about their fundraiser and by running the sale with this different philosophy in mind, they were able to get more of what they wanted.

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