School Fundraisers that Flop, Pt. II - The Laws of Supply and Demand

Schools are being challenged this year more than ever and what's happening out there is very sad indeed. Take a look at the Alum Rock Union School District music program. They just hosted a fundraiser only to have just a few dozen attendees - no doubt a crowd comprised mostly of the parents of musicians.

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Here's the story:
Schools try fundraisers to save music, sports, small classes
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Now, I feel pretty bad that a music program has to spin their wheels like this. I also think that music and art are not 'extra' and believe they should be funded along with the three R's but that's a story for another day.

Here's some sound fundraising advice - Think things through.

In order to really evaluate the potential success or failure of your fundraiser, you've got to dis-associate yourself from your love of what you do. Go ahead, pull back, release your passion, relax your posture a bit and look objectively at what is going on. If you have an expert or a way to reach an expert you should consult them before the event is planned if you can. Back to our current example.

Today, two things are happening:

1) The climate of fundraising in schools is resistant - meaning that people are more likely to resist your fundraising efforts than support them.

2) A concert or whatever fundraiser you offer is in essence, a commodity (in this case entertainment) and there is a value associated with it. What this means is that your event is subject to the laws of supply and demand.

So, Unless your event is mandatory, you are not going to gain attendance simply because of an obligation to your fundraising event. In fact, if you look at the example above, the band concert most likely was attended by folks that felt obligated. I'm guessing that not many came out because of the entertainment (I feel bad saying that, but the event needed to be more special in order to draw a crowd).

Secondly, your event has a retail value. In order to price the tickets, I believe two things are true. You want to price the tickets low enough to pack the auditorium but you want to maximize your returns as well.

Ask yourself what a going rate price is for a similar event. Ask yourself what you would pay to see just the activity and take the fundraiser aspect of it out of your mind. There are not many tickets that are $20 out there for bands that do not have some fame. That turns out to be $40 per couple and that's a lot for a school function. Unfortunately, I know that many similar concerts are free or maybe just a few dollars and many in the summer are outdoors as well.

In order to stay competitive, a lower ticket would have increased ticket sales and then something else could have been introduced to increase revenue such as concession sales, some sort of vendor rental, art sale, auction, drawing or raffle.

A theme of some sort could have been introduced to attract a targeted audience in larger numbers. Instead of just folks that love Jazz, perhaps having a children's song set would have been enough to market to parents of younger children. I'm not saying this is what they should have done, just an illustration of some way to make the event draw other than a concert by a band. This is a concert - for kids - by a band and that has more appeal. Come up with your own ideas here though because I am really just making that up and have no idea if that would draw folks out or not but I do believe there is a way to add a more targeted audience to nearly everything and gain participation.

So, in the end, think things through, make every effort to make your events special and memorable and consider that when hosting a fundraiser, you are subject to laws of supply and demand.

Unfortunately, today's school budgets are creating quite a supply of fundraisers so you have to create that demand by making it special!

Best of luck out there!

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising with headquarters in Englewood, CO. I blog about school fundraising here on www.fundraising-advice.com and can be reached on twitter - twitter.com/BelieveKids

If you enjoy the content here on my blog, please take a moment to forward on the link or comment here. Thanks for looking!

Some Fundraisers are Not Meant to Be... Fundraiser Safety and other hints...

Fundraising is commonplace in schools and as such so are reports of problems. Poorly run fundraisers can cause safety issues and put students and faculty in compromising positions.

This week I read about an event fundraiser gone wrong when up to 1,500 teens turned a sleepover fundraiser into a street party.

Read 'Rowdiness shuts down all-night fundraiser' here - bit.ly/ai2qFN

Events at school should never be rowdy, scary or unsafe. This reminds me of a similarly bad story that surfaced in March where sexual misconduct was accused in a duct tape fundraiser gone wrong.

Read 'Taking the fun out of fundraising' here - http://bit.ly/cJteGx

Stories like this remind me that we all have our expertise. We should naturally rely on experts for consultation but there is not always the means or desire to do so. In the end, I believe it's OK to venture into unknown waters occasionally but with that comes personal responsibility.

When we attempt things that are new or big or a bit questionable, we need to take the time to answer the 'what if' questions.

• What if the students gather outside instead of inside during the fundraiser?
• What if the students have to duct tape over my private parts?

We need to ask these questions so we have answers to these questions BEFORE the event because in most instances, there are very quick answers to how to deal with these situations:

If you are hosting an event with a lot of possible attendees, it is your responsibility to have a security plan and work out the flow of people through the event - rain or shine. Folks that put on concerts, carnivals or other events have emergency plans and your event is no different.

If you are hosting a duct tape fundraiser, it is your responsibility to cover private parts with cardboard so the sexual component is removed from the equation. I really feel that not addressing this issue almost entraps the children into naughtiness and jokes because to keep someone suspended by tape, you have to put tape on them to hold them to the wall. They do need tape just about everywhere to stick. Here's a naughty analogy for you: If you leave your kids are in a hotel room alone, they will find the sex movie trailers and watch 'em. It's not really the hotel's fault if you catch my drift.

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Important hint: Don't entrap anyone! If there is a chance, some sort of issue such as underage drinking, stealing money, vandalism or other crime will be enticing enough to be at your event, take precautions! Don't invite the problems to occur! Have a plan for the fundraising money at all times, let everyone know drinking will not be tolerated etc. Like they say, 'an ounce of prevention...'


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Ok, sorry about this one. It's a bit more intense than usual. As with all my posts, if you find the information valuable, please forward a link to http://www.believejay.blogspot.com to your friends. I can be found on twitter as well - twitter.com/BelieveJay

Until next time, ask those 'what if' questions so your event stays on the up and up!

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising and blogs here at http://www.fundraising-advice.com

Believe Kids is a nationwide gift and wrap catalog fundraising company offering the very best elementary school fundraising program in existence today.

Thanks for looking!