Connecting Schools With Great Fundraising Ideas.

Not all of my ideas have been well-received.

I was reading an article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune this morning about the dire straits that private schools are finding themselves in during this economic downturn. Parents are struggling to find ways to afford expensive tuition rates, and schools are seeing many families depart for the free option- public school.

As a former private school principal, I used to grapple with these same worries. So, I remember that over the summer one year, I sat down and brainstormed all the ways I could think of to keep our current students and even attract more.

As I mentioned at the top, not all of my ideas have been well-received.

So, I was thinking… continue reading

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For the past seven months, I have been writing very regularly on the best ways to raise money for your school. I’ve offered advice on how to connect with your community, so that you can have the most productive fundraisers possible. I’ve written thousands of words on this subject. So, I think it would be fair to say that I have fundraising on the brain.

Therefore, it is not surprising that I had as strong a reaction as I did last night when I found myself, as an innocent bystander, in a real-life fundraising disaster.

(For the sake of not hurting anyone’s feelings, I will not divulge any of the details about this organization.)

Recently, I signed my four year old daughter and my five year old daughter up for a sports-related activity. They had never pursued this kind of activity before, and they were quite excited. Last night was the fourth meeting of this group. continue reading

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When I started working at the Christian elementary school as principal, we faced serious financial challenges, as a majority of schools do in this country. We worked very hard to generate income through various fundraisers, through increased enrollment, and through alternate streams of revenue, such as renting our gym to a local church every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening.

I had a very clear mission: cut spending and raise revenue. Sound familiar?

One morning, as I was in my office, busy with carrying out this mission, I received a phone call from a very well-known national non-profit organization. The person on the line was asking us to conduct a fundraiser for them with our children. I thanked the woman for her call, and politely told her that our school wasn’t in a position at the moment to raise money for anybody other than ourselves. In fact, I added, we would greatly appreciate a donation from THEIR organization, and that my secretary would gladly take it from her. continue reading

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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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