Connecting Schools With Great Fundraising Ideas.

Recently, I had a wonderful conversation with Barbara Rypkema, who is the organizer of the PTO Carnival for the Tomahawk Elementary School in Lynchburg, Virginia.

We spoke for over an hour, and I learned a great deal from her. Below, I have listed eight of the best tips she shared with me for running a carnival that makes a lot of money. If you would like to see an excellent example of a website set up just for a school carnival, check out their site here.

Here are a few of the ideas I picked up from our interview:

1. Use older students in the school to promote the carnival to younger students.

Barbara told me that their planning team recruited a handful of fifth graders (who are the oldest students at Tomahawk) to go into the younger classrooms and get the K to 4th graders totally fired up to attend. They made sure the students they chose were very outgoing and personable.

These mini-pep-rallies happened just a couple of weeks before the carnival itself. Barbara said that the fifth graders have much more “influence” over the younger kids than teachers, the principal, or the PTO volunteers do. Believe it or not, the fifth graders are “cooler” than adults. (Who knew?) The lesson is: If you want a lot of kids to convince their parents that they “have” to go to the carnival, get the older kids to stoke their passion!

2. Get teachers involved in the planning process.

Barbara said she learned this lesson the hard way. Two years ago, they had a number of teachers actually sit on the carnival planning committee. As a result, these teachers were very aware of all the latest news and deadlines, and they twisted the arms of the other teachers to support the event in their classrooms.

Last year, however, there was an unfortunate mis-communication that resulted in many teachers missing some key information about carnival planning, and consequently, teacher participation was way down. This hurt the overall effort.

The lesson is to be absolutely positive that each teacher is fully aware of all the vital dates, deadlines, forms, and other news that they should know. On a practical level, Barbara strongly recommends that you make sure teachers are actually reading the fliers that they are stuffing in their students’ homework folders. Many times a teacher gets busy and can miss vital information.

3. Use yard signs to promote the carnival.

One of the best marketing tools Barbara told me they use are the campaign-style yard signs that you see during political elections. She said they spent approximately $300 and purchased 50 or 60 very simple signs that read “Tomahawk Carnival This Saturday”. That’s it. Big bold letters. No date, no time, no directions. She said that more people comment to her about those signs than any other form of advertising they’ve tried. Also, since the message isn’t date specific, they can use the signs year after year. They just had to commit to the idea that their carnival would always be on a Saturday. Sometimes, low tech is the best approach!

4. Negotiate with any organizations who conflict with your carnival date.

Barbara told me that the only conflict they found on their carnival date was a youth football league in their city. A number of the students at Tomahawk play in this league, so she was fearful that the carnival attendance would be down.

Therefore, she went to the football league organizers directly and explained her situation. She asked them, well in advance of them creating their season schedule, if they could use her date as the “bye” week. She also asked if they could delay the start of the games that would be played that day until later in the afternoon, so the kids could still attend the carnival and then make the game in plenty of time.

Because she used the right approach, was respectful, and made her request far in advance, the league officials were able to work with her, and the conflict was resolved. The moral of the story is don’t be afraid to work with people to get what you want

5. Be careful not to lose money if you sell activity wristbands.

One of the interesting observations that Barbara shared with me involved the sale of wristbands that allow carnival-goers to participate in many of the games and activities without having to buy individual tickets. I really like the wristband concept for many reasons, but Barbara did have one warning.

Just this past year, Tomahawk decided to switch from a ticket-based system to exclusively using the wristband system. However, in reviewing the results of this experiment, she noticed that the school actually lost some money.

To explain, she used herself as an example. Last year, under the ticket system, she, personally, spent over $100 total at the event with her kids. That includes food and game tickets. She spent more than many other families, because she was there all day, organizing the event, and her kids were with her.

But, when the school switched to the wristband system this year, her total outlay was under $50! Same amount of kids, same food consumption. She realized that she spent way more money buying her kids individual tickets than she did buying the wristband, which was priced at $10. That was good for her personally, but bad for the school overall.

To make up for this gap, Tomahawk will raise the price of the wristband next year to $12, sell a combination of wristbands and individual tickets, and possibly increase the number of activities that the wristband doesn’t cover.

There are many advantages to selling activity wristbands. Just don’t make them so affordable, that you lose money.

6. Don’t buy expensive concessions to re-sell.

When it comes to picking your carnival menu, be careful not to pay too much for the food that you sell. For instance, in the past, Tomahawk has contracted with the fast food chain Chick-fil-A to provide their tasty chicken sandwiches. They get a deal from the restaurant because they are buying in bulk and because they are a non-profit.

However, they are still paying a relatively high price per sandwich. So, they can’t very well turn around and tack on a huge amount to make a substantial profit from their carnival customers. No one would buy the sandwiches at outrageous prices.

So, from a money-making perspective, make sure the food you’re selling is cheap enough (preferably donated!) for you to make a decent profit. Having a popular item, like a Chick-fil-A sandwich, is appealing, but ultimately, it is counterproductive to your goal to raise money.

7. Make sure parents know the carnival is a fundraiser, not just a feel-good get-together.

While this may seem like an obvious point to those of us deeply involved in volunteering at our children’s school, there are many parents who just don’t put two and two together. If your school carnival is meant to raise money, you need to make sure this message is heard loudly and clearly by everyone in your audience.

That means you’ll need to repeat it over and over again to make sure the concept sinks in. Barbara suggests putting this “fundraiser” disclaimer on every piece of written information that goes out to the community.

I would even suggest being very specific in telling moms and dads what the money will be used for. If you hope to convince parents to drop significant dollars on silly little games and to get locked up in a “jail”, you’re going to have to appeal to their logical sides and show them the bigger picture- i.e. the school’s financial need. Just don’t assume they know that you actually do want to raise some funds.

8. Don’t get too caught up in having a theme.

I asked Barbara if they used a different theme each year, like “Pirates” or “Day at the Farm”. She told me that their carnival takes place just before Halloween, so there are a few autumnal decorations, but overall, they didn’t want to get locked into the time or the expense that comes with rotating out a different theme every year.

There are many schools that do go the whole nine yards on costumes, decorations, and “atmosphere”, but Barbara thinks that by keeping themselves “theme-free” they can be flexible from year to year and never get pigeon-holed. Ultimately, by not using a theme, they save time and money.

Conclusion

Over the past four years of her involvement with the Tomahawk Elementary School Carnival, Barbara Rypkema has learned a great deal about putting on a first rate carnival event. All of the lessons above come from practical experience and first-hand trial and error. I want to thank Barbara for her time and willingness to share her expertise with me for this article.

If you would like to learn more about planning a successful school carnival, please visit my website, EverybodyHatesFundraising.com. I have many more free school carnival articles, as well as my 186 page e-book, The 2009-2010 School Carnival Money Making Guide.

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Many nonprofit organizations host golf tournaments to raise funds, but it’s not as common with public or even private schools.  Why?  A golf tournament can be a significant fundraiser for your school so I would strongly recommend considering one.

Here are five really good reasons to consider hosting a golf event, or partnering with another organization to plan a golf outing.

1. The Earning Potential is High

The first reason your school should have a golf outing is that these events are money makers, if they are done right. Here’s a list of eleven ways you can earn money at a golf tournament:

1. Golfer/team fee
2. Corporate sponsorship fees
3. Underwriting opportunities (meal, beverage cart, course fee, etc.)
4. Merchandise sales (your organization’s t-shirts, hats, hoodies, etc.)
5. “On the Course” contests
6. Mulligan sales
7. Raffles
8. Auctions
9. General donations
10. Separate dinner tickets for those who don’t play golf but just come for the meal
11. Revenue from an add-on of a walk-a-thon (held at the same time as golf outing and both groups come together at a shared banquet)

2. People are Familiar with Golf Tournament, So It’s a Natural Sell

Another reason that your PTO/PTA or school group should have a golf tournament is because they have become so popular. As a result of this popularity, you will have an easier time convincing people to attend. Certain incentives like an awesome course, a good crowd to network with, the ability to win some cool prizes, and the chance to escape the office for a day are all reasons people will be very open to your invitation. Of course, people will also want to support your non-profit, as well.

When it comes to fundraising, it’s best to stick to known entities. For the creative people who run non-profits, I know it’s sometimes frustrating to do what everyone else is doing. Where’s the originality? Where’s the stamp of your own unique personality? “Everybody has a golf outing. How boring!”

While the spirit of this thought may have validity, the fact of the matter is that if you want to ensure you raise money, you should stick to the events that are proven to do that very thing. Golf outings are designed to do exactly this.

3. It Offers Opportunities for Parents to Network

This reason can be a real selling point when you are trying to recruit teams to golf. Not only will your participants want to support your school, but many of them will also look forward to networking with other golfers who will be in attendance.

I realized this point very early in my nonprofit career. I would be making calls, trying to get folks to commit to playing in our outing and more than a few people would specifically ask me if certain individuals had already signed up or if it was likely they would be signing up. I came to see myself as a kind of a golf tournament match maker.

At the time, I was relatively young and working at a summer camp, and I didn’t realize it, but many of the campers’ parents were very aware of who the other parents were in the camp community. Our golf outing was the perfect vehicle for them to get to know one another and potentially create some new business connections.

Once I opened my eyes to this reality, I saw it happening over and over and came to view our golf outing not only as an excellent fundraiser, but also as a service to the parents of our campers and the camp alumni.

Once we actively started to help people make these introductions, the value of our outing increased and in the long run, greatly benefited our nonprofit.

4. It’s a Great Chance for You to Have Personal Contact with Donors

From the moment you arrive at your golf tournament (as the leader), there are literally dozens of items that need your attention. It is very easy to get pulled into handling one crisis after another. Before you know it, half the day is gone and you’re already exhausted.

On the day of the golf outing, the best thing you can do for your school is to be an incredibly gracious host. Golfers will be looking for you when they arrive. They’d like to feel welcomed by the “boss”. So, this is exactly where you should be. Greeting people when they arrive, seeing foursomes off at the tee box, milling around the cart corral – these are the hot spots for mixing and mingling for you.

Once players are off and away, a good place to visit would be one of the contest holes, like “Closest to the Pin” or “Longest Drive”. There is always a lot of fun going on at these special holes. You can encourage the players to bet high and really have a good, relaxed time with the players. They will really appreciate the time you spend with them in this way.

(If it makes you feel better, you can take a walkie-talkie or cell phone with you so that you can be reached by your staff in case of a planning emergency.)

I’ve always found that golf tournaments provide an excellent opportunity to share a few quality minutes with my important (read: bigger) donors. I can run new ideas by them, ask them for advice on a particular project and just make myself exclusively available to them for a few minutes. This has always been well received.

It’s also a chance to build better relationships with those who could become bigger contributors. A few laughs and some sincere camaraderie can go a long way toward developing your donor base.

However, if you’re back at the club house, working on organizational details, you’ll miss these incredible opportunities and in the long run hurt your cause.

5. It’s a Great chance to Honor People at the Banquet Afterwards

Since golf tournaments usually attract a large number of people from your community, it is a fantastic time to use the banquet after a day of golfing as a time to hand out some of your organization’s most prestigious awards. In fact, if you establish the post golf-outing banquet as your organization’s premier ceremony, you could draw people just to this event itself.

The mood is perfect for it. Everyone is gathered, they’ve spent a day in the great outdoors, having fun, and enjoying each other’s company. At the banquet, all the participants come together to share a meal and swap stories from the day of golfing.

As the leader, you can first hand out all the golf-related awards from the contests like “Closest to the Pin”, “Longest Drive”, and of course, all the teams who won the different divisions. This will be a good segue into the more serious recognitions.

When I worked for the summer camp, this is when we passed out our “Thomas Bean” award, which went to the person who best exemplified the ideals of a servant leader for the year. We would always have some wives and even mothers who would come to the banquet just to see the “Bean” award passed out. It became a great tradition.

I would recommend that you have a volunteer whose sole job it is to take pictures all day long. Of course, many pictures should be taken during you award ceremony.

Conclusion

If a school golf tournament is planned and run correctly, it can be a day filled with joy, excitement, humor, good will, and generosity. You can improve existing relationships with donors and develop new friendships that could lead to future support. You can also help develop the bonds that exist between people inside your community, and at the end of the day, you can raise thousands of dollars for your non-profit.

If you’re not running an annual golf outing, I would strongly urge you to get in touch with some local golf pros and leaders of other non-profits to inquire about their experiences and suggestions.

For more information on planning a school golf tournament see: Three Important Steps to Planning a Charity Golf Outing

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When planning a school Halloween carnival it’s important to include lots of fun games for the kids to play. Playing games, competitions and winning prizes make the event so much fun for the students.

Many times each grade or class will have their own game booth. The game idea that your group picks should be age appropriate. There are a wide variety of game ideas that are good for each age level.

There are some games that students will expect to see each year, such as the bean bag toss. Be sure to include the most popular games that your school carnival had last year. Students also like to find something new and different. So finding a few unique, fun Halloween carnival games will bring some new excitement to your event.

Traditional Games

Just about every carnival should include the traditional, tried and true games that everyone enjoys. Some of these are kids games and others can be for older siblings and adults.

Dunking Booth – Who can resist dunking their teacher, classmate or school principal. You just need to prepare for the logistics of hosting the booth, making sure it works properly and is safe. If you don’t want to build one, check with local rental companies.

Duck pond – This is great for toddlers to grade 1. Fill a galvanized tub with water and colorful plastic ducks. Each duck has a number on the bottom that corresponds to a prize with that same number. The child picks up a duck from the pond and the person working the booth awards the prize. Easy and fun for little ones.

Darts – You cannot have a carnival without the traditional balloon dart game!

High Tech Games

Why not incorporate technology into your Halloween carnival?

Wii games – Have a Wii set up to play one of the sports like bowling. Have a time limit!

Wii tournament – Even better have a Wii tournament.  Each player signs up for a time slot ahead of time, paying an entry fee.  Players come back to play one another in the tournament rounds to determine who the best player is.

Guitar Hero or Garage Band – These are other very popular games that kids enjoy.

Jeopardy – This long standing TV show is available as an interactive game.  Classroom Jeopardy is customizable with your own questions or you can just use one of the Jeopardy software programs for your game system.

Big Event Games

Draw a crowd — plus media attention and publicity ahead of time — with an unusual game.

Super-sized board games – Take your regular, old fashioned board game and make it BIG.  How about putting together lots of Twister sheets for the “world’s largest Twister game?”  One group found success with a life size checkers game.

Sports tournaments – Hold a tournament at the same location of your school Halloween carnival.  Great for teens who are “too old” for kiddie games and costumes.  You could have several age brackets to make it fair.  Start filling up the entry level brackets and times before the day of the carnival so people know when to be there.

Inflatables – There’s so much more to inflatables than just a simple bounce house!  Now there are activities like obstacle courses, bungee competitions, and slides.  Check with your local party rental place to see what’s available near you.

More Game Ideas

Here are several great websites that have more ideas to help you create fun carnival games:

A to Z Carnival Game List – Long list of many popular carnival games & variations

Muscular Dystrophy Association Carnival Game Ideas – Carnivals are held for MDA fundraisers. They offer some ideas that may be good for your Halloween carnival too.

Carnival Savers – Has a lot of ideas for Halloween carnivals – fast & easy games, build it yourself game booths, popular foods, petting zoos and other fun activities

These school Halloween game ideas should get you started on the right path. With some creativity you can probably come up with many other activities that your kids will love!   Is there an unusual game that’s worked for your school in the past?  Let us know in the comment box below:

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Tournaments are a great way to raise funds for your school or other cause.

• You have commitment ahead of time so you know how many people to expect at the actual event.
• They are fun, competitive events that people enjoy participating in.
• You can hold additional fundraisers at the tournament: food/drink sales, raffles, auctions, etc.
• Tournament fundraisers are great for all ages!

Here’s a list of some of the most popular tournaments and links to resources to help you plan them:

Some of the best tournaments appeal to a wide audience:

Team sports tournaments are great for elementary to high school students (and even adults)

Volleyball: An Annual Volleyball Remembers a Special Girl

Basketball: A three-on-three basketball tournament or a Shoot for the Hoop game

Soccer: The Ultimate Guide to Running Your Own Soccer Tournament

Bowling: Bowling Tournaments for Fun and Fundraising

Not quite a tournament, but football contests can be fun!

Individual sports are also great… Tennis Tournaments a Successful Fundraiser in Any Season

And there’s golf tournaments of course: Three Important Steps to Planning a Charity Golf Outing

Think beyond traditional sports. How about…

Pool Tournaments are great for anytime of year: Annual Pool Tournament Fundraiser a Success

You could have a darts contest the same night as the pool tournament.

A horseshoe tournament might sound old-fashioned but it’s easy to add on to another outdoor event.

Dodgeball Fundraiser lets you re-live your school days.

or for summertime fun, a dodgeball tournament using water balloons!

For those who’d rather exercise brains than brawn:

Your fundraiser passes GO with a Monopoly game tournament.

Or choose another board game instead.

Bunko is a fun game that’s easy to learn.

A trivia night is sure to bring out the competitve spirit!

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Besides actually baking the cakes and cookies, one of the time consuming things about bake sale fundraisers is designing and creating the bake sale flyers. So today we have some samples for you to download and use.

With Microsoft Works I created two documents that may be of help to you. First is a personalized checklist for all the to-do’s involved in planning and organizing a bake sale.  This checklist can be customized to fit your bake sale to-do’s as well.

Bake Sale checklist (excel)

We all know just how important volunteer involvement is in any fundraiser.  This is the best way to keep track of your bake sale happenings from planning to clean up and all the sweet stuff in between.  Feel free to download and customize this document and be sure to print plenty of copies to hand out to your volunteers.

Bake Sale Volunteer list (excel)

The most important thing to do is advertise as much as possible.  Be sure to keep a couple of  flyers on hand so wherever you go you can ask if they would allow you to post one of the flyers in their location. Reynolds has a variety of templates to boost the look of your bake sale advertisements.  Use the signs as flyers to help get the word out.

Bake Sale Sign (PDF)

Bake Sale Table Sign (PDF)

And finally when it comes to pricing all the delicious cookies, cakes, brownies and other sweets that are there for the sole purpose of raising as much money as possible for your group or organization, go ahead and do it up right with these decorative labels.

Bake Sale Label template (word)

Bake Sale Label template (PDF)

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