When to Hold an Elementary School Fundraiser - 3 helpful hints

Yes, schools are taking longer to decide on their fundraisers and yes, they are tempted to move the start dates back as well. Hopefully, this article will shed some light on why it's a good idea to start your elementary school fundraiser early in the year.

Let's quickly get on the same page here :) If your elementary school holds a main fundraiser each semester and smaller secondary fundraisers mixed throughout the year, this article is for you.

____________________________

When to Hold an Elementary School Fundraiser - 3 helpful hints

It's very tempting these days to feel like school should get well underway before hitting parents up with school fundraising efforts. It's also quite understandable to want to work your way into fundraising over time as well. Easing into it does seem like a pleasant way to approach the school year.

The reality is, starting earlier will allow you to host fewer fundraisers throughout the year and will lead to fundraising success! It's really amazing what just a bit of tweaking can do when it comes to your school fundraiser timing!

Here's the real deal.

If you have a heavy hitting fundraiser that you know works for you (meaning that it has a high per student average sale and high participation) such as a fall catalog or a cookie dough fundraiser, you will want to move that fundraiser to the start of the semester and market it more than your other fundraisers.

We suggest you run your main fundraiser on the second or third week of school.

By moving this main fundraiser up you gain 3 specific benefits:

1) By presenting your biggest grossing fundraiser first, you make it a priority with parents. You can also market it more effectively and earlier! If you make it a priority, parents will too!

2) There is less competition early in the year. Individual groups in the school are not hosting fundraisers and there is less fundraising going on by charitable organizations or groups such as the boy or girl scout. This means there are less fundraising efforts vying for parents attention.

3) Parents do experience 'fundraising fatigue' these days. If you present your highest performing fundraiser first, you let the programs and systems surrounding that fundraiser to work for you to maximize revenue! Schools that host a number of fundraisers create a situation where parents can skip one or two. If that one is the high-grossing heavy hitter such as the frozen cookie dough sale or a fall catalog sale, the school will have less overall fundraising success.

Yes, these days are a bit challenging. Successful fundraising takes some thought in order to raise the maximum dollars without burning out parents. Hopefully this post will help you remember to start your main fall fundraiser as early as you can to avoid less revenue!

Thanks for looking and please share if you like what you see here.

____________________________

Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising, the leader in top-dollar elementary school fundraising.

If you don't already host one big fundraiser per semester, you'll want to consider a top-dollar raising fundraising effort and put all your efforts behind it. For more information on how to go about that, feel free to contact one of our experts anytime. Our consultation is always free. Check this fall fundraising catalog or cookie dough fundraiser out. Regardless of who you work with, these fundraisers, along with school-wide events are the school-wide winners!

If you enjoy the content here, please leave comments or find Believe on twitter - twitter.com/believekids