How To: Sprinkler Blowout Fundraiser

This isn't for everyone but it may just be for you and your fundraising group.  Offering a sprinkler blowout fundraiser!  Here's how to do it:

Sprinkler Blowout Fundraiser

Difficulty: Hard

Preparation time:  4 weeks

Fundraiser duration: 2 weekends (or more)

Serves: small groups

Startup cost: High

Profit potential: High

What you need:

Marketing Flyers

Time Sheets or other tracking method

Credit card processing (recommended but not necessary)

1-2 experienced adults per team

Ladder

Commercial air compressor (could be rented)

Basic tools (screwdriver, shovel)

Method:

1. Advertise in school and around the community beginning in September and schedule appointments for the first two weekends of October.  Charge a fair market rate depending on how many zones a customer has.  In our area presently the fair price is $35-$45 per small residential system but yours may vary.  Avoid commercial work and focus on neighborhoods unless you have abilities beyond the scope of this post.

2. Schedule and confirm with every customer leaving enough time to stay on schedule even if you have some delays. 

3. Show up on time and complete the work effectively.  Allow children to only do elements of the job that are safe and age appropriate.  Do not let a child operate heavy machinery under any circumstance.

Notes:

1. This fundraiser requires professional experience outside of the scope of this post.

2. There are safety concerns with heavy machinery including emissions, loud noise, moving parts, fire danger.  Please make sure no children are in danger at any time.

PROS: Big money potential for a small group given great need in many parts of the country.

CONS: Seasonal, time intensive and requires equipment and experience.

What does your school PTA look like?

If you were to pick a random parent and ask them what the PTA looks like, what would they say?   What traits would they point out?

Would they say your PTA was...

Well put-together or in dis-array?
Tidy or messy?
Clean or dirty?
Cohesive or scattered?
Easy or difficult?
Simple or complex?
Busy or bored?
visible or invisible?
Focused or blurry?
Effective or ineffective?
Professional or novice?

So, despite your wish to be anonymously working behind the scenes, the contrary is often true. The PTA is a public entity and words like these will be used to describe you. You will find that these descriptions can build you up or be used to tear you down.

So, can you take any steps to change any of these impressions? Can you take a brand new PTA and give it an err of professionalism? Can you simplify your schedule and be more effective?

Once you have a solid well-performing school PTA group, let the world know and change the invisible to the visible.

Hope this helps!

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising which offers elementary school fundraisers and blogs here as well as at the school fundraising PLN blog as well. Thanks for looking and feel free to leave comments!

Announcing TheFundraisingPLN.com - Personal Learning Network for School Fundraising

Please take a look at The Fundraising PLN when you get a chance -  www.thefundraisingpln.com

It's about time elementary school fundraising got some good advice and inspiration.  Please share with your parent group (PTA, PTO, PTSA, PTSO) as well as principals, educators and parents.

Through education, we will change funding in schools!  So, we offer fundraising ideas and advice for your enjoyment. 

Check it out!! www.thefundraisingpln.com

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The Personal Learning Network for School Fundraising is brought to you by Believe Kids Fundraising.  Hope you like it :)

Easy School Fundraisers that Do Not Involve Selling...

There are several different types of folks out there that are involved with the fundraising at their schools, but a few commonalities exist among school principals, administrators and parent groups.

Everyone is searching for the easy money.

Hey, who can blame them? There's no way one can blame a school for wanting to get money the easiest way possible? After all, schools are in the education business, not venture capital. I believe school reform requires budgetary reform and I do not believe schools waste resources as some folks I read about suggest.

I am a fan of schools just cashing checks.

The problem is that nobody has the check to write today. So, schools everywhere are left to wonder what the best way is to raise money for their school.

Anyone researching fundraisers is on the lookout for easy school fundraisers that do not involve selling or just a fundraiser that is easy. They want new and fresh fundraising ideas - they want originality and excitement. They want the approval of parents.

And they want to raise thousands of dollars in just a few weeks.

Now, I suggest a balanced approach where there is one main traditional fundraiser per semester. I believe in putting every possible marketing effort and placing the utmost importance on just this one fundraiser. This will most effectively cover the many thousands of dollars in a few weeks rule above.

Obviously, I have my professional opinions here which could be viewed as a conflict of interest. It's just that I believe a proven traditional product such as a catalog sale, a frozen cookie dough fundraiser or a large school-wide event is the way to go for this main fundraiser.

I accept schools and parent groups desire for something fresh and new and there is plenty of room for other efforts. Which takes me back to balance. If you do a large fundraiser let's say and it's two weeks in duration. There is certainly other opportunities to fundraise throughout the year. I believe it's best to take your chances on new, unique, environmentally or safety driven efforts after the main fundraiser of the year is over. I do recommend fewer fundraisers wherever possible.

Minimize risk

Every PTA, PTO, PTSA and PTSO wants to do their own thing. But perhaps the best way to do that is to fundraise effectively - and do it less. If you take chances and change dramatically on your main fundraising efforts, will the school fail to raise the same amount of money?

This isn't really for me to dictate because schools have a wide range of fundraising efforts. So, here I pose the all important question to you...

What fundraising efforts that do not involve selling are not only easy but raising significant funds? I'm very curious if there are any fundraisers out there that fit the bill.

If you would, please comment below or hit me up on twitter - twitter.com/believekids

I would be very interested in your feedback.

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More elementary school fundraising resources at the School Fundraising PLN

Joining the PTA, PTO or other Elementary School Parent Group

I just had a thought that I wanted to share. If you're enjoying the summer with your child and you're heading into an elementary school in a few weeks, perhaps you want to consider volunteering for your elementary school PTO, PTO, PTSA or PTSO.

Being a volunteer for your school in general is a great way to stay connected with your child and his or her progress throughout the year. You can volunteer inside your student's class as well which is really a hoot! It's amazing to see how your child performs inside a live classroom.

But the PTA, PTO or other volunteer group at your school is really valuable. The groups speak on behalf of students and organize events and activities as well as running school fundraisers in many cases which are critical to a school today. PTA, PTO or other parent groups are also responsible for things like arranging scholarships, purchasing technology, hosting teacher appreciation events and much more!

We believe volunteerism is an important aspect of parenting and think you'll find it to be rewarding as well. Here is the pta.org article on Why join the PTA?

School Fundraisers that Flop! How to Avoid Fundrasing Efforts that Don't Perform..

Have you been involved with a failed endeavor?

Have you thrown a great party only to be disappointed at the turnout? Have you had a garage sale only to make just a few dollars? Have you wasted your money on a purchase of a product that you didn't particularly want or need? As a child did you play an instrument or sport that you didn't excel at and your interest just fizzled? Have you thrown away perfectly good food because it sat too long unopened?

Yes, we've pretty much all done a number of these things. All these examples, even though they are quite varied, all have a common thread:

We've all done things that don't quite turn out.

So, as a school administrator, PTA or PTO member, coach or group leader, you're responsible for offering fundraisers for your group. But it's not as easy as it seems. It is actually quite easy to take on school fundraising efforts that flop!

After all, you've got to manage the interests of students, parents, administrators and the community. You've got to educate or have fun or make money depending on a particular goal. You've also got to consider ego and politics and manage volunteers. The thing is, you can't make everyone happy and you and your group needs to arrive at a goal that is best for the group, not every special interest in that group.

What's more is that everyone tends to complain about what is working and demand things that are new and different. It's hard to make everyone happy!

OMG! How do you do it?

How do you go about hosting effective fundraising efforts without creating confusion, a burden for parents or too much work for the PTA, PTO or parent volunteers?

• Have a goal!

Simplify the process by discussing amongst the group what the motive is. If it's the most money you can raise in a short amount of time, air it out. If it's to entertain kids or educate parents on safety or to create a re-occuring event or consistent income stream, you're better off knowing what your main objective is before you go much further.

You may want to draw a diagram that estimates the financial reward of the activities the group is considering and see how many fundraisers you will actually need to reach your goal. If your goal is to have one fundraiser per semester, then work within that constraint to make that one fundraiser the best it can be!

• Keep it simple!

The overall goal is to create a sense of community and inclusion amongst parents. Your calling here is to not overwhelm parents or the community with offers or requests. If parents at the school feel hit up for money too often, they will rebel and skip out on fundraisers. I've noticed this quite a bit as schools try to do more and more to make up for missing money. It backfires and schools get less support overall including volunteer hours in the classroom as a result. Consider balance here and keep it simple!

• Consider your reputation!

Yes, you are likely a group of volunteers. No, you don't have to be organized as one. Keep your reputation intact by picking simple projects and then working hard to support each individual area of that simple project. Try to avoid picking complicated endeavors unless you are positive you can tackle each individual action area with excellence.

• The devil's in the details!

Once you have decided on one primary goal or mission, work out the details. If, for instance, your goal is to have an amazingly effective fall gift catalog, calendar and organize your thoughts around marketing that particular fundraiser to the students, parents, faculty and community. Make sure you have areas of promotion covered. You will want to create copy for the newsletter and principal's email list for example. These two areas just mentioned could improve your fundraiser substantially so don't get to the end of the fundraiser and think to yourself, boy I really should have mentioned the fundraiser in the school newsletter.

So, to wrap this thing up, let me just say that I believe PTA's, PTO's and other groups have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. Schools really need a simple parent group that can handle just a few things with excellence.

School fundraising is one of those things a parent group can excel at. If a parent group can maximize revenue on just a few fundraisers that work and not take huge chances on fundraisers that will flop, everyone wins!

Have a plan, keep it simple, consider your reputation, calendar your promotions and pay close attention to the details. Consulting a professional is also a good idea but you can read a lot of information online these days that will give you helpful hints.

If you have a simple fundraiser and you get the word out effectively you will have a streamlined and effective process that will create fundraising successes over and over again.

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising. I encourage comments of any kind here on my blog and I can also be reached via twitter - twitter.com/BelieveKids Thanks so much for looking and if you found the information valueable, please forward on a link to a friend!