Schools Serve - the National School Food Drive.

Tim Sullivan, Founder of PTO Today asked for help getting the word out on his new non-profit School Serve which is a national school food drive organization.



Please take a look at it when you get a chance: School Food Drive

Top 3 Reasons a Donation Drive Doesn't Raise as Much as a Traditional Fundraiser?

So the question is, can a donation drive raise as much as a traditional fundraiser? Anything is possible. Having said that, the majority of the time the answer will be 'Heck no! A donation drive can't raise as much. Not even close.'

There are 3 main reasons for this:

1) There are no options - you can give $20, $50 or $100 or none - that's about it.

2) There is no reach - monetary donations are really requested just from parents.

3) There is no direct trade - customers get nothing tangible in exchange.

In essence there is a smaller buyer pool, less choices and less incentive to purchase over traditional fundraisers.

So, without getting into too much detail, whatever amount is raised is going to be half as much as would be raised with a traditional fundraiser if that. For reasons I won't go into detail about this translates into a lower participation which is the enemy of a successful fundraiser. The fewer people participating means the less successful the campaign is.

Regardless of the type of fundraisers held, judging success based solely on dollars raised may not be the best way to go. It's about galvanizing a community and organizing fundraisers that more and more people will take part in - repeatedly.

A donation drive may be good for instance once at the very beginning of the school year perhaps but not several times over the course of a school year. Repeating a donation fundraiser would likely lead to fewer and fewer participants. The implications are far reaching because burned out parents will likely not attend other school activities and events.

Remember, when choosing a fundraiser, choose something remarkable, make it memorable, don't do it too often! Design fundraisers so that parents will want to take part in it and it will be a success!

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If you would like to hear more about this topic, please leave a comment for me. I wrote quite a bit more on the subject that I decided was getting a bit too intense for my blog today so I cut it. My hope is that over time, schools will host fewer, more heavy-hitting fundraisers and participation will increase. If a school is going to host a donation drive, my advice would be to make it impactful and special so that it includes as many people as possible. Thanks for looking!

How to Hold a Coin Drive for Haiti

With the devastation that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, many people are asking themselves, “how can I help?” This biggest way to help right now is to give monetary donations to a trusted organization who will use the money to help those affected by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

Holding a coin fundraiser is one way that schools can help the people of Haiti get the medical attention and food that they need. The coins collected will add up quickly to big dollars that will make a big impact.

Follow these guidelines to holding a successful coin fundraiser:

1. Promote your fundraiser by sending a letter home to parents. To make the letter more compelling, have a student at the school write the letter. Put the details in a newsletter and on your website. Also, announce the fundraiser over the P.A. announcements so all of the students know it is happening.

2. Make the coin fundraiser a friendly competition by dividing the school up by classes. Each class will have there own box or jar. The object is to see what class can raise the most. Reward the class with the most money raised with a treat of some kind. Ice cream with the principal is always a great reward! Maybe the school could make a special donation on behalf of that class for their hard work?

3. One week is a good timeline for how long your coin fundraiser should last. This will give the kids plenty of time to collect coins, but won’t be too long so the kids will lose interest.

4. An idea to promote the last day of the coin fundraiser is to hold a bake sale for students (if allowed). This will encourage any final donations, and will also profit a few extra bucks to send to Haiti.

5. Make sure to send the money raised to a trusted organization where the money will go straight into the Haitian people. Without making any particular endorsement, www.redcross.org or www.convoyofhope.org would be an example of an organization that will use your money for food, medical supplies and clothing.