Connecting Schools With Great Fundraising Ideas.

Whenever a leader of an organization is poised to make some dramatic changes to the operational structure of the institution, it is likely that there will be a level of resistance from the people within the community. It is often difficult, in such situations, to get everyone to buy into a new system without a substantial amount of education, persuasion, trust, and time.

If the leader imposes change without this “buy in” from his people, it is likely that his efforts will fail, or at the very least, come at the high price of alienation and division.

In my experience, one way to help bring people into a “change” mode is to first make boldly positive alterations to the physical environment of the organization. The actions need to be noticeable and significant in appearance only. No policy changes should be attached to the physical modifications. These are strictly having to do with inanimate objects.

The goal of this demonstration is to show people that change can be attractive and beneficial. It helps them make the connection when the leader starts implementing new policy. If they see some dramatic new landscaping or completely re-decorated office, they will eventually realize that the leader has a vision, that and the world won’t come to an end.

If the people see enough examples of this “safe” kind of change, they will start to build trust in the leader, which will allow him to slowly bring about the institutional adjustments that are needed, without resentment or mis-trust.

Below, I have offered a few examples of physical transformations I have either made myself or have witnessed just before an organization undergoes significant changes.

A Breath of Fresh Air
Easily, the most dramatic change I have ever instituted was also the easiest to accomplish. Before I began working at the elementary school, it had a reputation for not being the cleanest of buildings. Many parents complained about being hit with a musty odor each time they came in the front doors. After a thorough cleaning of walls, windows, and carpets, I bought a few of those cheap Glade plug-in air fresheners. I think it was cinnamon spice. Anyway, once they were installed, right in the entrance of the school, parents were floored. We received daily comments in our office about how clean the school seemed and what a great smell it had. That reputation for being un-clean immediately disappeared. If, as the leader, I could make that amazing transformation with such a simple tweak, imagine what I could do with curriculum or fundraising…

Hand Sanitizers
Since moms were the most frequent visitors to the school, I wanted to make a direct appeal to their sensibilities. Because schools are known for being breeding grounds of bacteria, I simply purchased and installed numerous Purell hand-sanitizer dispensers all over the school. They were in front of classrooms, by the drinking fountains, next to the playground door, and outside each restroom. This sent a subtle message to everyone that we were “cleaning” up. Moms loved this and came to know that we were doing our best to keep their children safe and healthy.

A Coat of Paint Will Do Wonders
I know this may seem obvious, but it amazed me that the school existed as long as it did with plain beige walls in the hallways and battleship blue walls in the classrooms. I think there must have been a big sale at the paint store that year on just those colors.

Anyway, I asked some of the staff and parents for advice on what color paints to pick out, because we were going to re-paint everything. There was even a grandmother who was very artistically talented, and she volunteered to paint a mural in the front entrance. It was fantastic! The response to the simple paint job was amazing. People thought it was a whole new school. This played right into my strategy of big change.

Better Bulletin Boards
If you are not doing this already, it really pays to get a volunteer mom or two to take responsibility for changing the main school bulletin boards. I gave my team of moms room to be creative and they did a great job keeping up with seasonal changes and making sure they were continually updated. Parents who came into the school always stopped and checked the bulletin boards out, because they knew they could usually find something new on them. This added to the sense of excitement and vitality I was trying to add to the community.

Photographs
Everybody loves to see a picture of themselves prominently displayed. It makes them feel as though they are an important part of the organization. When I first started working at the school, there weren’t any pictures of anybody up on the walls in the main hallway. We changed this right away and did our best to keep rotating them. This added to the overall excitement people had when coming into our school. There was often a lot of conversation about the pictures and the bulletin boards in the newly painted and fresh-smelling hallway. This was exactly the kind of atmosphere I wanted to create, and it signaled folks that bigger changes were in store for how we were going to go about our school business.

De-Clutter
Our school office had become a real dumping ground for lost and found, old newsletters, empty boxes, an odd collection of chairs, and anything else you’d see floating around a school. Everything always seemed to end up in the office. With the help of our office staff, I gutted the place. If we didn’t need an item on a regular basis, it was gone. We streamlined the front counter and got rid of all sorts of weird furniture. When we were finished, the office looked much more professional and inviting. My goal in doing this was to show people that we were going to clear out all the stuff that didn’t work at the school.

Make Your Office Very Welcoming
The guy who had the job before me was a very good administrator, and he was a true book lover. The administrator’s office isn’t huge, but he had a gigantic bookshelf in there that made the area for guests to sit very cramped and uncomfortable. I’m not sure he was aware of this or not, but the lack of comfortable seating for guests sent a message that conversations in the office didn’t have a high priority to him. I got rid of the book shelf and put in much more comfortable chairs. It was very important for me to make sure people felt comfortable coming into see me. This kind of openness and accessibility was one of my top priorities I wanted people to get used to.

Do Something for the Teachers
Every school has its oddities that don’t make sense to outsiders. In these cases, it usually takes someone who hasn’t been in the community very long to point these things out. When I first got to the school, kids were allowed to freely come into the back portion of the school office. They could walk right into my office, which was in the back, or into the teachers lounge at will.

Now, ours was a small school and the kids were generally very well behaved, so it wasn’t ever really a problem. However, when I came in, this just didn’t make sense to me. Beside all the privacy concerns in a school office, I wanted to make sure that teachers had a place to take a break from the students. So, I immediately had a gate built which prevented kids from being where they shouldn’t be. It worked great and the teachers were happy. In this, my goal was to do something for the teachers that they would appreciate and realize I wanted to serve them.

Conclusion
While I wrote this article specifically about the school I worked in, I’m sure you can think of many examples from your own school that need attention. If you are a leader and you are contemplating some major changes in the way you operate, I would strongly recommend undertaking some physical tasks first. You are much more likely to win supporters through the easy jobs than through some of the more serious policy decision that are to follow. When trying to lead a school community, you need every advantage you can get!

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