Connecting Schools With Great Fundraising Ideas.

Here is a very interesting and thorough article on helping our kids get the most out of the fundraising experience. From Jennifer Anderson’s Experiential Fundraising blog.

This is a great new twist on an old fundraising standby: The Coupon Book. Read how a school in Canada has been able to combine an active lifestyle with awesome fundraising opportunities. From the Black Press of British Columbia.

Heidi over at USA Fundraising gives us another informative fundraising article. Learn How Special Olympics Delaware raised $85,000 on the Internet!

Marc, the Fundraising Coach (and all-around nice guy), is cracking me up over at his blog with the latest installment of his Fundraising Secret series. From one of my favorite movies of all time- Groundhog’s Day.

If you haven’t already checked it out, you might want to click on over to the PTO Today website. They’ve totally redesigned it, and it looks terrific! PTO Today is always a great resource to learn more about what’s going on in our kids’ schools. I highly recommend it.

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Just recently, the principal of Bremen High School in Midlothian, Illinois, canceled the fundraising basketball game scheduled for the evening of Monday January 28, 2008. The leader of the school made this decision, after he learned that some of the game’s participants had been possibly mistreated or poorly trained.

Once the news about the principal’s stand spread, he was contacted by a nationally known organization and given an award for his courageous decision.

The group? PETA- or “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals”. The basketball players in question? Donkeys.

(This video from You Tube does not have any relation to the events mentioned in this article.  I only included it as a visual aid.) 

Yes, you read that right. As it turns out, there is such a thing as “Donkey Basketball” and more than a few groups around the country have used this activity to raise money for a variety of causes. continue reading

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Today I am going to write about one of those topics you wish you never had to even think about: embezzlement. Just last week, a young stockbroker in France was arrested for making off with $7 Billion from his bank employer. That got me thinking about how often employee or volunteer theft happens in the non-profit sector, especially in our schools.

Embezzlement in any environment is bad. Embezzlement in a school is tragic. There are so many victims: the person responsible can go to jail, the students lose whatever goal they were working toward, and parents lose trust in the institution.

Consider your own school or club for a moment. Ask yourself the following questions to get a feeling for how secure you think your organization is.

• How would you rate your system for recording incoming revenue?
• How secure is the location you keep cash and checks before they are deposited?
• Have you ever seen a situation in the school office, where someone might have the opportunity to be tempted to steal?
• Has there ever been a circumstance in which money was collected at an evening event, but there was no place to take the cash until the next morning? Who takes that money home and who double checks that nothing happens to it?
• Does the responsibility for logging in donations, managing the checkbook, and approving purchases rest solely in the hands of one person?
• What kind of oversight is in place to ensure funds are secure and managed properly?
• Do checks require two signatures, for instance? continue reading

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Today’s post is directed primarily at the people who are responsible for leading private school fundraisers. In a public school setting, fundraising events are usually funneled through the building principal, who is accountable to the superintendent, who, in turn, answers to the overarching school board. In most situations, your grassroots level efforts probably won’t rise all the way to the top.

However, in the case of a private school, the board of directors is very much involved in fundraising. In fact, some people would argue that the board’s most important function is that of ensuring the school stays well-funded. Remember, that in a non-profit organization, the board is the supreme authority.  The principal and all other employees are accountable to the board members. By the textbook definition, what the board says, goes. Therefore, it is wise to keep them happy and well-informed.

The goal of this article is to help a school employee or parent volunteer to think like a board member in order to move your plans forward with total buy-in and cooperation. continue reading

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Today I want to share with you some of the more interesting fundraising links I’ve come across this past week.  Enjoy!

Elementary School in Adrian, Michigan receives surprise $41,000 playground grant from Lowe’s. Read about it in the Daily Telegram.

Read one mother’s account in the Arizona Republic of why she has given so much of herself for her child’s school.

Here’s a creative fundraising idea that has students sitting down on the job. From the Shrewsbury Chronicle.

Here’s the sad and cautionary story about a former PTO Treasurer in Indiana who has been accused of stealing over $11,000 from her organization.

Take a look at this five-part series about online fundraising. Advice from many professional sources.

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Maybe my thumbs are too slow. Or too big. But, for the life of me, I have never been able to become proficient at text-messaging on a cell phone. It takes me a half an hour just to enter in a new contact.

I realize that this makes me incredibly lame, but even though I’m pretty awful at this activity, it’s not that I don’t appreciate it. Because I do. I’m quite impressed by the folks who excel at this. Back in April of 2007, a 13 year-old girl named Morgan Pozgar became the first-ever National Texting Champion and won $25,000 for being able to send a 151 character message in 42 seconds. Amazing. After winning the prize, Morgan reported that she sends over 4,000 text messages per month! That works out to over eight messages every waking hour of the month.

Anyway, the point is, texting has arrived.

So, I was understandably intrigued when I recently learned about an upcoming fundraiser to be held in New Jersey that was using cell phone text messaging as the main hook for raising $100,000. The one-day event is scheduled for February 28, 2008. (There is a great article on the plan here.) The beneficiary for this event is a brain trauma center, not a school, but I think the steps could easily be transferred to a school setting. continue reading

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When your school decides to pursue a fundraiser for a particular need, it is very easy to focus on that goal with laser-like intensity. The time and effort required to pull off a successful fundraising event requires this kind of commitment from everyone involved.

However, I contend that there are also numerous opportunities for children to learn some very important life-lessons along the way. I believe that it is our responsibility as adult leaders to ensure these lessons are not glossed over in the rush to raise dollars. We should be coaching parents on how to discuss what goes into a fundraiser and why it is important for the students to be involved in a positive manner.

How to Set Goals
The first lesson children can learn from a school fundraiser is the concept of setting and then working toward a goal. Since the goal often has a direct impact on the students’ school, it may be easier to help them to see why it is meaningful. Early on in the process, parents can explain to their children that if they want to “get” whatever the goal is, they will have to do the following things in order to achieve it. It’s a very simple “If…then…” scenario. continue reading

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