Connecting Schools With Great Fundraising Ideas.

Sometime during the course of your school fundraising experience, it is likely that you will send out a solicitation letter to parents. Maybe you already have. From my own experience, I don’t think this kind of a letter is anybody’s first choice of a fundraising strategy.

You probably arrived or will arrive at this point when you realize that you just can’t, in good conscience, ask parents to partake in another product sale or purchase tickets to another fundraising event, but your budget is still short and so you have no choice.

Why not just put it all out there in a well-written letter and ask parents to pony up to cover the shortfall? I mean, the logic is sound- all parents have to do is write a check- no twisting arms of co-workers or relatives, no volunteering on a Saturday morning for bake sale duty, no decorating the church gym for an auction. Just a few strokes of the pen and the problem is solved. Right?

The real challenge in this strategy is crafting the right kind of letter. This is a very tall order, and if not handled properly, you won’t be receiving very many checks.

Just recently, I came across a blog post that offered a sample of such a letter. The folks who run this blog have offered the letter up for any school to copy and customize as needed. I think that there are some very good parts in this letter; however, I do believe that it significantly misses the mark in convincing parents to take the action step of sending a check.

Because they offered this letter up to the public, I’m going to re-print it here and point out a few of the areas where I believe it goes astray. Please feel free to link to the original, as there is much helpful information at their website.

My comments will appear in the shaded boxes.

Dear Parent,
First of all, let me say: Thank you. Thank you for your tireless support of your child in OurSchool. Through fundraisers, exams, parent-teacher meetings, discipline notices, school sports, after-school activities, and everything else that happens in the course of a school year, you have shown your commitment to giving your child the best possible education. As we partner with you here at OurSchool for the education of your child, I want you to know, it does not go unnoticed. It certainly does not go unappreciated.

It is partly because of the busy lives we all lead that I am writing. As you know, OurSchool customarily has a fundraiser in the first part of the school year to pay for things that are not fully covered by the school budget: art and music classes, field trips, science fairs, and so on. This year the school board met and discussed a variety of options for our annual fundraiser, but no consensus on what we should do was reached.

First of all, I wouldn’t write that the leadership board of the school met and couldn’t decide on a course of action. This makes the board look ineffectual and indecisive. As a parent, I would lose confidence in the school board if they couldn’t come up with a plan for securing the funds needed to operate the school for that year. And, if I lost confidence in such a manner, I wouldn’t feel motivated to give my money.

Instead, if you really wanted to mention the board, I would write something to the effect that the board was concerned for the time burden placed on parents and to help reduce this burden, the school has decided to offer parents an opt-out option. This puts the board in a compassionate and visionary light.

Finally, one person proposed that we simply write to the parents in the school, let them know the amount of the budget shortfall, and ask if they can each contribute a little bit towards that amount, so that we can continue to offer the wonderful programs and extracurricular activities that OurSchool the highly respected school that it is.

To be fair, I do think that being honest with parents about the school budget is a great idea. However, once you open this door, you should be ready to discuss your projected income and expenses in an open forum, like a public board meeting. This kind of a process can be very healthy for an organization, but it can also become awkward if not handled properly.

And that brings me to you.

I wish I could tell you that we are raising money for something terribly exciting, like a class trip to Europe; but the reality is that we are raising money just to continue the programs we have been able to offer in the past.

Again, I think that the honesty in this section is commendable, but I wouldn’t set up necessary school programs as a “boring” alternative to a trip to Europe. If something is worth asking parents to donate money to it, you darn well better be able to sell it with genuine enthusiasm. After reading this line, I’m wondering how passionate the folks running this school really are about the place.

And partly out of consideration for you, one of our esteemed parents, and your valuable time, we have decided to ask if each parent could contribute $60 over the course of the next 3 months to help make up for where the state budget has fallen short.

I do like that they named a figure; however, I might suggest writing “three monthly payments of $20 each” instead of a flat $60. Maybe that would be easier to digest for some folks.

Like I said, we’ve considered many options. Candy sales, magazine subscriptions, walk-a-thons, and many other ideas were put forth. But in the end, we felt that the parents at OurSchool have all given so much of their time already, the easiest and most convenient way to raise the needed money would be to just lay it at the parents’ feet and ask if we can all work together to share this burden.

“Many hands make light work,” so the saying goes. If each of the parents in the school can give an extra $60, we will have enough for all programs and extracurricular activities to carry on through the year. If not, well…hopefully we won’t have to consider that option.

Maybe it’s just a personal preference on this point, but I would not include an open, hanging threat. Instead, I would have laid out a detailed list of the programs that were on the chopping block, in order. That kind of detailed glimpse of reality would, I think, encourage people to act more than some nebulous fear that has not been named.

I want to end this letter by thanking you again. Thank you for taking the time to read it, and whether you are able to give or not, know we deeply appreciate your dedication to your child and our school.

Sincerely,
Your Principal
Principal at OurSchool

P.S. Don’t forget, whatever you give towards the school is fully tax-deductible! Thanks again!

Overall, I would approach a fundraising solicitation letter with much more specificity. I think it is wise to put a face on budgetary needs, so that people can identify with them. For instance, I know that I, as a parent, would be much more likely to give even if I was told the money would be going to pay for something as mundane as “carpet cleaning” if that weren’t covered in the school budget. I know that I wouldn’t want my kids crawling around on carpets that haven’t been cleaned in three years (gross!). Now I have a specific reason to give.

I do think that this letter does a great job of being thankful to the parents, and that is definitely a must when trying to solicit donations.

Writing effective fundraising letters is a very difficult task.  So much psychology and so much social awareness is necessary in order to strike the right tone, not offend anybody, and send a signal of consistency and strength.

If you are finding your organization in a position where you may be sending such a letter in the near future, I would recommend asking many people from a diverse background to review it for you.  The more input you receive on a letter like this, the greater the chance of success you will have.

For further reading on this topic, I highly recommend a book entitled the 7 Essential Steps to Raising Money by Mail by Sandra Sims and Sandy Rees. It features 29 sample letters, including one for schools.

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