Asking for Money - Thoughts on Elementary School Fundraising

Elementary school fundraising is tricky.  As the person in charge, certainly you would prefer money just come in without having to ask for it.  Unfortunately, we know how many checks are delivered to the school on a daily basis just because people want to make a donation.

How many checks did your school receive today - Zero?

So, in an effort to better understand elementary school fundraising, let's consider this...

Asking for money is required and the better we are at it, the more money that will come in.  Let's just turn the tables on this awful topic of asking for money and make it more about how well we can extend the needs of our school to the public. 

Think of it as running a campaign where we have to get our message out to the voters or better yet, think of it as a public service announcement that if successful could get kids off drugs, lower incidents of drunk driving or stop cyber-bullying. 

We have a need that is just as important as anything out there! 

In fact, our children's education is a long-term savings in so many ways as we produce curious, respectable, positive and accomplished adults.  In my opinion, the need for an incredible education trumps programs that are designed to respond to our problems in many cases. 

If a society of well-balanced, confident and educated adults is our goal, we should be proud to ask for help getting there!

Don't be afraid to ask!  Education is too important!

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Be On the Lookout for "I'd Rather"

I hear this quite a bit with regards to charitable donations and I'd like to ask for your thoughts.

"I'd Rather"

But first a bit of a story for you.  I remember growing up in Vermont with my two brothers.  One of them absolutely hated playing baseball so he got demoted to center field.  One afternoon he basically fell asleep and a pop-up ball actually landed in his glove without him knowing he had caught it.

He was sleeping standing up and really did not notice that he had caught the ball.  Regardless, he was uninspired by his amazing catch and I knew he was not paying attention. It's just like him to catch a ball when not paying attention.  Anyway, he sat out the next game and stopped playing altogether shortly after.

My brother is a very inventive person and surely was trying to figure out some way to improve the game of baseball and couldn't so he gave up on it.  He has a long history of "I'd Rather's" involving creating things with wood, metal, electronics and computers so that he has a lot of control over fixing things and doing it his way instead of the way they were intended to be used.

But some things are just like the game of baseball.  They are figured out and committed to and basically they are the way they are.  It doesn't make much sense to say "I'd rather play baseball if I could run around the bases backwards".  Naturally, the organized game of baseball has no interest in such a pursuit so you will not be playing anytime soon.

This word "I'd Rather" is quite damaging to school fundraising as well as other charitable giving as well.  It's basically an excuse, a resistance.  It's a little voice inside ones head that tells someone that things are not going the way they want them to.  The immediate response is to resist by suggesting another way to participate.

It leads to folks not taking action because they disagree with the rules of the game. Hold on though.  It's not really the rules of the game that someone is disagreeing with.  It's just a reaction to being approached with something a person doesn't want to deal with.

My brother disliked baseball long before he was basically making amazing plays without even knowing it.  He had a choice to take things upon himself and ultimately gave up on baseball.

When it comes to school fundraising and other generous giving, push through and don't let this crazy feeling of resistance turn an otherwise successful fundraiser into wanting to participate in another way. 

It's the same thing as my baseball analogy above... if a person waits to give to a school or charity under the "I'd Rather" terms, there will be no giving anytime soon.

So, if this is you and you feel this way, push through and when you hear the dreaded "I'd rather" resist it and go with the flow, make your donation and take your tax writeoff.  I promise it feels better than trying to figure out a way to donate under your own terms.

What are your thoughts on charitable giving, fundraisers and the feeling we get telling us to say "I'd Rather".  Please leave your comment below.  Thanks for looking!

Why some school fundraisers are not fundraisers...

I just read a post from greatschools.org that I want to explore with you for a moment:

Five fundraising tactics for savvy schools We look beyond scrip and bake sales in search of the big dollars available to schools.

I think fundraising 'noise' is to prevalent these days.  

I believe that a scattered approach to fundraising is cutting into fundraising profits and the following is my argument away from affiliate programs, contests, online donation drives and the other ideas in the article and towards focused efforts that encourage participation across the board. I believe that when folks consider fundraisers, they need to be consistent, proven ways to raise money.  The following, in my opinion, are not fundraisers:

Facebook ritual - Online contests that spread via social media are just that, contests.  Although some schools benefit from winning, a school can't count on income coming in.  It's not only a long-shot that schools would win in the first place, but it's unlikely that a school can win repeatedly creating any sense of security.  Contests should not be considered fundraisers.

Going for grants -  Grants are nice.  Grants are fundraisers in the purest sense of the word  but because they are not guaranteed, they should not be considered fundraisers. A school that decides to go after grants can end up with nothing.  Therefore, going for grants is not a fundraiser.

Donation matching - Donation matching is awesome.  But here's the thing... In order for it to work, there has to be initial donations.  Donation matching on it's own merit is not a fundraiser. 

Online donations - Well, donation drives are certainly a type of fundraiser.  I can't really argue that point.  When I think of donation drives, I think of something that anyone can do at anytime and for any reason. It does not work the same as traditional fundraising.  

I believe online donations are only as good as the organization hosting them is willing to make them.  I guess what I mean is that although there have been some monumental successes with online donations, the majority of fundraising efforts of this type do not produce large returns.

Sensible shopping - Affilate program's have been around for a while now.  The premise being that for an item you purchase, a small 'commission' is paid out to an organization.  There are fundraising malls comprised entirely of offers that pay these small commissions when purchases are made.  

I think that for the promotion it takes to involve parents, the money raised does not make it worth it.  The argument is that people are already buying these items.  The fact is, it's very likely the participants in an affiliate program fundraiser will not be participating in something else - something that raises significant funds.

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Wow, that's pretty harsh.  It would appear that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  I am passionate about schools respecting their own ability to raise significant funds through traditional fundraising.  Schools need to be able to host at least one heavy-hitting fundraiser without competition that would belittle their efforts.  

In the end, times change and it's fair to say that there will be a day where funding in schools looks quite different than it does today.  Until then, I believe fundraisers should be categorized as such ONLY when the results are guaranteed to raise money when they participate.  Further, I believe that schools need to continually educate themselves as to what works and why.  

Taking chances on risky fundraisers needs to go.  All it really does is make the proven fundraisers less effective.

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising and blogs here regularly.  If you enjoyed this post, you can share it or comment on it below.  Comments both good and bad are humbly accepted. 

Oh, and a note to greatschools.org - I think you are awesome and there's no love lost here.  I am concerned about fundraising becoming an discussion area where nobody knows what to do or why when it comes to school fundraising.  I think fewer fundraisers that are proven is the way to go. 

Thanks so much everyone - until next time!