For Schools with Declining School Fundraising Revenue

Are you having trouble getting participation out of your school fundraising efforts? Are you always considering adding new and exciting school fundraising options to make up for lost money? Does your school always seem to have a hand out for more and more donations?

Today is challenging. Financially, schools have it bad and there's just no denying it. Chances are the school is taking in less and leaning on a PTO, PTA, PTSO or PTSA to raise more money than ever. Raising more in today's economy can be a daunting task.

In the face of declining school fundraising, how will schools manage?

If you are in a PTO, PTA, PTSO or PTSA and your school fundraising efforts are in decline or you just can't offer enough options to raise funds, you've got some choices to make. Here's the facts, you can increase the number of fundraisers or you can do what may seem counter-intuitive and ditch the ones that don't add to your bottom line.

Unfortunately, school funding is a business.

Yes, and generally funding at schools is determined by volunteers. That's not a bad thing necessarily. It just puts some pressure on the PTA, PTO, PTSA or PTSO to think outside the box in order to truly determine what is the right course of action for their school fundraising.

I just ran across a quote and it's fitting:

If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe. -Abraham Lincoln

To me this resonates. School fundraising should be less frequent and more focused. We should spend the majority of our time figuring out how to improve the results of one heavy-hitting fundraiser. This would amount to less time spent fundraising.

The social aspect of school fundraising.

People want interaction and encouragement. The more a school fundraiser becomes an event, the more it will succeed. On the flip side, when things are important, if there is a social component between schools and parents, the parents will rally around a cause.

There is unsurmountable evidence that school fundraising can be effected positively by creating a sense of community. Take the Cupertino Union School District for example. They recently held a fundraising drive to save the jobs of 107 teachers that received pink slips.

They did it raising over 2 million dollars in just a few weeks. link

So then, how can they achieve that when other schools are losing ground? The answer is surprisingly simple. They got people involved and together created a groundswell, a flurry of activity followed that the news media latched on to and further promoted.

To be fair though, there is another element at play. The school set a goal per family of $375 each. By setting such a goal and making it the standard, the majority of the donors contributed this amount. They figured that by giving the amount of $375 they would hit their goal - and they did!

It really is amazing what setting that expectation can do.

So, in the face of declining school fundraising efforts, take your school fundraising seriously and treat it like a business. Look critically at what you are going to offer and when. Plan! Prepare ahead so you don't have to have so many hum drum school fundraising drives. Build excitement around the fundraiser and you will succeed beyond your expectations!