Connecting Schools With Great Fundraising Ideas.

One of the best ways to raise money for schools is to do as little work as possible. In my estimation, the best money is the easiest money, because it saves you that priceless commodity- time.

Here is a very simple way to raise money at your school without much effort- My Coke Rewards from Coca-Cola.

The idea is simple. You sign up for a “My Coke Rewards” account. You become the account manager. You will have access to check your account and trade in your “points” for items for your school.

Then, let everyone in your school community know that if they drink a participating Coke product (Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Dasani water, Fanta, Mr. Pibb’s, Fresca, Minute Maid Lemonade, Vault, Powerade, and Barq’s Root Beer) they should donate the bottle cap (with the code printed on the underside of it ) to your school. Also, be sure to remind them that they cannot enter the code in themselves prior to giving it to you. It must be un-entered for it to have value to the school. (No double-dipping!) continue reading

1 Comment »

The great thing about writing a blog on a regular basis is that the author has the opportunity to really dive into a subject and examine it on a microscopic level.

Today is such a day, when we pull out our microscopes and peer deeply into our organization’s image. Let’s talk about voice mail and answering machines. We’ve all got ‘em, but are we getting the most out of them that we can?

This may seem like a very basic point, but I do believe it is worth covering, since I’ve heard many, many dreadful messages that have spoken very poorly of the people who recorded them.

10 Cardinal Rules of Recording Answering Machine Messages

1. Keep it up to date.
It’s embarrassing when you have a message that talks about an event or a date that is two weeks old. If you ever change your outgoing message for a time-sensitive purpose or event, make sure to change it immediately afterwards.

2. Make sure you actually have an outgoing message.
Some schools, who don’t have a fancy voice mail system, still use an old-fashioned answering machine, and these can lose their memory if there is a power outage. Don’t have a client or a school family member have to tell you you don’t have a message on the machine. This is the equivalent to being told your zipper is undone. continue reading

No Comments »

I think when a person is deeply involved in an activity, he or she runs the risk of becoming a little over-sensitive to people saying dumb stuff about that activity- even if the offender was just kidding.

Case in point- this past week, I was attending a meeting of a group that one of my children is involved with. This group recently completed a major product sale fundraiser that underwrites many of the group’s expenses for the entire year. They put a great deal of emphasis on families meeting or exceeding sales goals.

Well, at this meeting, they were handing out the awards for the top sellers. I was sitting in the audience. The person leading the ceremony was actually an assistant, since the leader was ill and could not attend. I think the assistant was nervous talking in front of the audience, and he made a joke about the kids getting scraped-up knuckles from knocking on hundreds of doors to sell the product. At least, I hope it was a joke. Ha Ha Ha.

What!?! Was he kidding? Unbeknownst to me, were there kids actually knocking on strangers’ doors, selling the items? continue reading

No Comments »

When I was the principal of a private elementary school, one of the things I always tried to do when planning a fundraiser was to get the teachers on my side.

You would think that simply because the teachers were school employees, they would be more than happy to do whatever they could to make sure we had the funds needed to do things like purchase supplies, buy new textbooks, fund field trips, and cover payroll. Unfortunately, however, that wasn’t always the case.

I found that some teachers, not all, actually resent the fundraising process. They believe that they were hired to teach, and that’s it. I agree that teaching is an incredibly demanding job and these dedicated servants don’t get nearly the recognition nor the compensation for what they do on a daily basis.

However, a school, in my opinion, is a community, and everyone has to pitch in to make it work. One of my favorite movies is the film Gandhi with Ben Kingsley. There is a scene in which Gandhi’s wife refuses to “rake and cover the latrines” at their ashram, deeming that job for a lesser type of person. In no uncertain terms, her husband, a peaceful sort, straightens her out, and she finally agrees to “rake and cover the latrines”.

Now, I’m not saying that fundraising is analogous to cleaning a toilet, but you get the point. Nobody is too good to help at any job. That’s my motto.

So, I heartily believe that teachers should be active and cheerful fundraisers. No exceptions. If they believe enough in the school to accept a paycheck they should believe enough to sell some cookie dough, if that’s what it takes.

Here are ten strategies I used to win over the more reluctant educators. continue reading

No Comments »

Ok, the title of this article might be a little misleading, because, of course, we want to raise as much money as we can for school programs in 2009. But, hear me out on the zero dollar part.

As readers of this blog probably know, I have been very interested, as have many others, in the historical developments surrounding Barack Obama and his journey to the White House. I’m not only intrigued by the political and policy aspects, but I’m also curious about his personal story.

So, I was naturally drawn to the news surrounding the Obama’s decision to send their daughters to a private school in Washington DC. I have no problem with this decision; I was the principal of a private elementary school myself, so I respect the decision the Obamas made on this particular question.

The school they choose is called Sidwell Friends. This particular school has a history of presidential children attending. Both Amy Carter and Chelsea Clinton were enrolled there, for instance. I wanted to learn more about why this school attracted such an elite student body, so I recently visited their website. continue reading

2 Comments »