Fundraisers for Schools: Leveraging Core Differences

Fundraisers for schools share the same goal as a traditional nonprofit fundraising campaign: 

To raise money in order to address a social need. However, the educational setting means that these fundraisers have some fundamental differences that influence what will make a fundraiser successful.

School fundraising differs from traditional fundraisers in three key ways:

• sellers are students,
• fundraising is concentrated; and,
• sales are product-driven.

Understanding how these differences can be considered in your fundraising strategy can be a powerful tool to increase sales and raise more money. Successful Fundraising Strategies that Retain Donors

Sellers are Students

Student sellers are an understated benefit of school fundraising. Since there are potentially hundreds of students willing to get involved in the process, schools have a significantly larger fundraising force than most nonprofits.

Additionally, students are incentivized to participate, with prizes like gadgets and games, or Big Event experiences. “Compensation” for these eager volunteer sellers is covered by the sales they make.

When building your fundraising strategy, consider how you can most efficiently mobilize the largest proportion of students, since the volume of sellers is one of the strongest predictors of fundraising results. Choosing big event prize programs that increase accessibility to rewards is a common way to increase sales volume by taking advantage of the large pool of student sellers.

Fundraising is Concentrated

Nonprofits will often run multi-month fundraising campaigns, with some stretching out their annual giving drives over the course of an entire year. In contrast, school fundraisers are usually 2 weeks at most, putting pressure on students to get out there and sell their goods quickly.

This is a challenging component of school fundraisers, but it is by no means detrimental. Compressed timelines mean concentrated energy.  You can use that to your advantage by:

• Capitalizing on the deadline by energetically presenting the fundraiser and promoting prize opportunities.
• Setting up a brief internal communications campaign to keep students aware of how much longer they have to reach their goals and how the student body is performing as a whole.

It’s much easier to maintain a high level of engagement over a shorter period of time, and your school can see big results if you remain committed to a strategy of consistent encouragement and incentivization over the fundraising period.

Sales are Product Driven

Fundraisers for schools diverge most sharply from traditional nonprofit fundraisers in that they are product-driven. In the philanthropy industry, resource development workers are almost always selling goodwill and little else. In school fundraisers, however, students have the chance to put a tangible and appealing item in the hands of customers in the community.

You can use this difference to your advantage by learning about your audience and selecting a product that meets your school’s price point and fundraising goals.

Choose something that gives students an edge. If it’s nearing the holidays, consider a holiday-themed brochure with gift-wrap and ideal presents.

If you want to go with something with wide appeal, choose a classic product like cookie dough. The selection and offering of a product is a powerful opportunity that many nonprofits wish they had when making asks of donors; think critically about the value of this tool.

When schools remain mindful of these benefits of school fundraising programs, they can chart out a strategy for success that reaches big fundraising goals.

Read More Information.

Why School Fundraisers Want Great Prize Programs

3 Questions School Fundraisers Should Be Asking

Why a Scratch Card Fundraiser Makes Sense in 2020
How to Make School Fundraisers Great Again (2020)
4 Lessons School Fundraisers Teach Kids: Best Tips 2020