School Fundraisers that Flop! How to Avoid Fundrasing Efforts that Don't Perform..

Have you been involved with a failed endeavor?

Have you thrown a great party only to be disappointed at the turnout? Have you had a garage sale only to make just a few dollars? Have you wasted your money on a purchase of a product that you didn't particularly want or need? As a child did you play an instrument or sport that you didn't excel at and your interest just fizzled? Have you thrown away perfectly good food because it sat too long unopened?

Yes, we've pretty much all done a number of these things. All these examples, even though they are quite varied, all have a common thread:

We've all done things that don't quite turn out.

So, as a school administrator, PTA or PTO member, coach or group leader, you're responsible for offering fundraisers for your group. But it's not as easy as it seems. It is actually quite easy to take on school fundraising efforts that flop!

After all, you've got to manage the interests of students, parents, administrators and the community. You've got to educate or have fun or make money depending on a particular goal. You've also got to consider ego and politics and manage volunteers. The thing is, you can't make everyone happy and you and your group needs to arrive at a goal that is best for the group, not every special interest in that group.

What's more is that everyone tends to complain about what is working and demand things that are new and different. It's hard to make everyone happy!

OMG! How do you do it?

How do you go about hosting effective fundraising efforts without creating confusion, a burden for parents or too much work for the PTA, PTO or parent volunteers?

• Have a goal!

Simplify the process by discussing amongst the group what the motive is. If it's the most money you can raise in a short amount of time, air it out. If it's to entertain kids or educate parents on safety or to create a re-occuring event or consistent income stream, you're better off knowing what your main objective is before you go much further.

You may want to draw a diagram that estimates the financial reward of the activities the group is considering and see how many fundraisers you will actually need to reach your goal. If your goal is to have one fundraiser per semester, then work within that constraint to make that one fundraiser the best it can be!

• Keep it simple!

The overall goal is to create a sense of community and inclusion amongst parents. Your calling here is to not overwhelm parents or the community with offers or requests. If parents at the school feel hit up for money too often, they will rebel and skip out on fundraisers. I've noticed this quite a bit as schools try to do more and more to make up for missing money. It backfires and schools get less support overall including volunteer hours in the classroom as a result. Consider balance here and keep it simple!

• Consider your reputation!

Yes, you are likely a group of volunteers. No, you don't have to be organized as one. Keep your reputation intact by picking simple projects and then working hard to support each individual area of that simple project. Try to avoid picking complicated endeavors unless you are positive you can tackle each individual action area with excellence.

• The devil's in the details!

Once you have decided on one primary goal or mission, work out the details. If, for instance, your goal is to have an amazingly effective fall gift catalog, calendar and organize your thoughts around marketing that particular fundraiser to the students, parents, faculty and community. Make sure you have areas of promotion covered. You will want to create copy for the newsletter and principal's email list for example. These two areas just mentioned could improve your fundraiser substantially so don't get to the end of the fundraiser and think to yourself, boy I really should have mentioned the fundraiser in the school newsletter.

So, to wrap this thing up, let me just say that I believe PTA's, PTO's and other groups have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. Schools really need a simple parent group that can handle just a few things with excellence.

School fundraising is one of those things a parent group can excel at. If a parent group can maximize revenue on just a few fundraisers that work and not take huge chances on fundraisers that will flop, everyone wins!

Have a plan, keep it simple, consider your reputation, calendar your promotions and pay close attention to the details. Consulting a professional is also a good idea but you can read a lot of information online these days that will give you helpful hints.

If you have a simple fundraiser and you get the word out effectively you will have a streamlined and effective process that will create fundraising successes over and over again.

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising. I encourage comments of any kind here on my blog and I can also be reached via twitter - twitter.com/BelieveKids Thanks so much for looking and if you found the information valueable, please forward on a link to a friend!