Connecting Schools With Great Fundraising Ideas.

Many of our regular readers may realize that we at Top School Fundraisers have an excellent relationship with the folks over at eFundraising. From time to time, we write reviews and post news items from them, so that you can keep current on the latest ideas, developments, and products.

For instance, we shared their great news that eFundraising has increased the percentage the non-profits get to keep from their fundraisers. This is great news and should definitely help you make your decision about what kind of fundraisers to choose for your school.

Now, we have the opportunity to introduce you to the eFundraising team, by way of YouTube! Their creative team put together a terrific “behind-the-scenes” video that gives viewers a great insight into this company. I particularly like the part when the customer service lady is eating a cookie while talking on the telephone! I guess their cookies are just to delicious to put down!

The video is short- only three and a half minutes, and it will really give you a good insight into who you will be doing business with. It’s well worth the click.

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Besides actually baking the cakes and cookies, one of the time consuming things about bake sale fundraisers is designing and creating the bake sale flyers. So today we have some samples for you to download and use.

With Microsoft Works I created two documents that may be of help to you. First is a personalized checklist for all the to-do’s involved in planning and organizing a bake sale.  This checklist can be customized to fit your bake sale to-do’s as well.

Bake Sale checklist (excel)

We all know just how important volunteer involvement is in any fundraiser.  This is the best way to keep track of your bake sale happenings from planning to clean up and all the sweet stuff in between.  Feel free to download and customize this document and be sure to print plenty of copies to hand out to your volunteers.

Bake Sale Volunteer list (excel)

The most important thing to do is advertise as much as possible.  Be sure to keep a couple of  flyers on hand so wherever you go you can ask if they would allow you to post one of the flyers in their location. Reynolds has a variety of templates to boost the look of your bake sale advertisements.  Use the signs as flyers to help get the word out.

Bake Sale Sign (PDF)

Bake Sale Table Sign (PDF)

And finally when it comes to pricing all the delicious cookies, cakes, brownies and other sweets that are there for the sole purpose of raising as much money as possible for your group or organization, go ahead and do it up right with these decorative labels.

Bake Sale Label template (word)

Bake Sale Label template (PDF)

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If you have been thinking about adding a new event to your school fundraising calendar, a school carnival is an excellent idea.  Here are nine great reasons why your school should be having a carnival, if it already doesn’t.

1. School Carnivals Are Incredibly Popular With Students and Parents Alike
Quick, which would you rather do- go to the school carnival or visit to the dentist? See? No contest. OK, maybe that’s not a fair fight, carnival vs. dentist, but the fact is, a school carnival is one of the absolute highlights of the year for any school that has one. It has all the best rolled up into one great package: people having fun, the school making money, and if it’s a really good carnival, there’s always food of some variety on a stick.

2. Carnivals require lots of people as volunteers, but the work is fun and not stressful.
Even though carnivals require a number of people willing to take charge of a wide range of responsibilities, the vast majority of jobs involve having fun and interacting with people. Whether it’s baking items to sell, running games, passing out prizes, decorating the carnival space, face painting, or even selling tickets, the atmosphere of a school carnival is light and enjoyable. These are exactly the kinds of jobs to break new volunteers in on. Once a person has mastered the art of the school carnival, he or she may be ready to take on more challenging volunteer duties within your fundraising team.

3. Carnival Expenses are Low
Since carnivals are held in the school building itself, there won’t be any facility rental fees the school will have to pay, which can often be one of the most expensive items in the budget. Also, food can be donated, and games can be used year after year. Many decorations can also be used more than one year. Of course, there will be a desire to add some new things each year, but the core of the activity can be relatively inexpensive to operate year in and year out. (more…)

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No time to cook? Just pop in a frozen pizza!

Today’s busy lifestyles require families to have convenience foods on hand. Pizza is one of those foods that are great for after school snacks or a quick meal.

So when your organization conducts a frozen pizza fundraiser you’re providing something that people are already buying and will want more of.

Tips for Planning a Frozen Pizza Fundraiser:

1. Review the companies the offer frozen pizza fundraisers and choose one that offers the best product, profit potential and service.
2. Set a goal for your group’s overall sales and then break it down by participant.
3. Offer prizes as incentives for sellers. A stepped scale works well and rewards those who sell the minimum, as well as higher targets. You can even order extra frozen pizzas as prizes.
4. Set dates for the start and end of your fundraiser. A mid campaign check-in where coordinators call participants to see how their sales are going is a good idea.
5. Arrange for storage of the frozen products when they arrive. Make sure your sellers know the date, time and location of the pickup.
6. Celebrate! Have a recognition meeting or party to acknowledge those who sold the most. Announce the total amount raised and describe what the funds will do to support the activities of your organization.

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The final honorable mention in the 2009 Top School Fundraisers Grant Award goes to Poinsettia Elementary School from Carlsbad, California. On behalf of the first through fifth graders, principal Steve Ahle submitted an excellent video requesting $2,000 for the purchase of new reading materials for their 500 students. This would include Leveled Readers sets for grades 1 and 2 and Newberry Award Winner novels for grades 3, 4 and 5.

The purchase of these materials will be used to help students go beyond reading at a basic level to achieve comprehension and application proficiency.

From the video, you will see that there is a strong commitment by the teachers and staff at Poinsettia to help children gain a life-long love of reading. There is also a thorough understanding that these early years are critical for a child. As Principal Ahle points out in the video, students who aren’t reading by the end of second grade are likely to be non-readers for their entire school careers.

Take a moment to watch their terrific video application, which is posted below. Thank you Poinsettia Elementary for sharing your needs with Top School Fundraisers. We wish you great success in achieving your very worthy goals!

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One of the greatest challenges non-profit organizations face today is keeping up with technological advancements. As we saw in the Obama campaign for president, a non-profit armed with the latest gadgets and gizmos can really accomplish something amazing. Of course, no computer program or instrument is ever going to replace human passion and drive, but the bells and whistles certainly make the job a little easier.

However, most of the non-profits out there are not as well funded as the Obama campaign, so creative means must be found to underwrite the expense of acquiring such technological tools.

In the first part of this article, I want to identify a handful of the items that are very popular right now in the educational realm, although many of these devices can be adapted for use in other non-profit environments, such as museums, senior centers, or community-based organizations. In the second part, I’ll look at some solutions for finding help funding these rather expensive items.

I saw first-hand how in-demand these items are, when we were going through the applications for the 2009 Top School Fundraiser educational grant program. Schools ranging from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade, all across the United States and Canada, were invited to share with us a particular need in their school that was related to learning. (To find out more about the grant click here.)

Here are some of the ways we saw computer-based technology being introduced in classrooms. You’ll clearly see why educators would want these items. (more…)

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As we read through the grant applications, it was great to see such a variety of subjects.  There were quite a few applications for fine arts: music, visual arts, and dance.  One that particularly stood out to me, since I was an Art History major in college, was the application from Will Rogers Learning Community in Santa Monica, California.

Art teacher Wanda Boudreaux said:

Students who are involved in the process of thinking critically and creatively are apt to succeed in more subjects. We believe in the “multiple intelligences” approach to learning and understand the importance of curriculum integration and crossover in teaching. Our experience in teaching visual art provides overwhelming evidence in support of these beliefs.

After taking inspiration from a well-known piece of art students acquire new skills and practice techniques. Students engage in projects that challenge them to create an original response. We present a wide variety of activities in order to promote discovery and experimentation with materials and methods. Among that broad range of art making experiences, grade appropriate projects have included photography, shaded drawings, paintings, collages, installation art, printmaking and sculptures.

Our goal is to help students develop a strong relationship with art, which they will carry with them as they grow.  Children’s spirits are an open door through which art is eagerly embraced. Our Art Program provides a necessary opportunity to inspire the creative and critical thinking that, while deepening their individual humanity, also gives students’ greater success in all subjects.

To recognize the importance of fine arts and this presentation in particular, we selected Will Rogers as an Honorable Mention. Congratulations Will Rogers students, parents and teachers.  Keep up the great work!

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