Connecting Schools With Great Fundraising Ideas.

Maybe it’s the upcoming presidential election. I, like so many others, have been absolutely fascinated by this political season. In my case, that’s not too much of a stretch, as I have always been a political junkie. But, these past few weeks have especially seemed to permeate a majority of my thoughts.

So, I’ll therefore blame this latest installment of “Jump Start Your School Spirit” on my obsession with all things politics.

One of the basic plays straight out of Campaigning 101 is to develop what’s called “a Message Calendar”. The leaders of a campaign will seek to match the daily, weekly, and monthly calendar with specifically timed messages on policy, philosophy, or even attacks against an opponent. A candidate will do everything in his or her power to stick to this well-thought out strategy, even though reporters and the opponent will try to take him or her off message.

The rationale behind instituting an official message calendar is that the candidate will be able to convey important information to the voters at times the campaign staff feels is most beneficial. The ultimate hope is that this regulated string of information will lead the voter to the inevitable conclusion that their candidate is best suited for whatever office is sought.

Ok, but what does this have to do with boosting your school spirit?

Well, I contend that an individual school can adopt this political strategy and institute a message calendar of its own. By thinking this schedule through very carefully, the school will be able to move its parents, teachers, and students, as well as people out in the community, toward a greater love, passion, and dedication to the school. This increased “spirit” will eventually lead to greater fundraising results, as well.

How to Create a Functioning School Message Calendar

Step 1. General Brainstorming.
The school leadership, which should also include the fundraising team, should plan a meeting during the summer for the upcoming school year. At this meeting, the group should brainstorm all of the important messages that need to be conveyed to families, staff, and the community. These broad themes may include various field trips, building maintenance issues, text book supply problems, school-wide events, new staff hires, new policy initiatives, student safety issues, transportation concerns, fundraising activities, proposed curriculum ideas, etc.

Step 2. Study The School Year Calendar.
The group should also look at the yearly calendar and plot that out, as well. When do vacations fall, when are traditional events held, when does school let out in the spring- questions like these. The entire group should have a very solid understanding of the yearly calendar at this point.

Step 3. Prioritize the Issues/Messages.
Then, I would recommend the group go back to the brainstormed list of broad themes. What are the most pressing concerns? What are more minor points? Are there certain issues that must come out at a certain time or in a certain sequence? Really start to get a grasp on the nature or the “personality” of this list.

Step 4. Start Populating the Calendar with the Issues/Messages.
At this point, the group should start placing the obvious issues at certain places on the calendar. If the school always has a spring auction, you’ll probably want to get your message out starting sometime after kids come back from Christmas vacation. If there is a tradition of a fall harvest festival, those reminders should start going home right at the beginning of the school year. These are the easy ones to place.

Step 5. The Hard Part.
At this point, the group should be left with a handful of important issues that aren’t necessarily tied to a specific date. Think about these remaining topics.

• Is there a logical order to them?
• Do any of them inter-relate?
• Would it be wise to introduce one first, then follow it up with a somewhat related topic?
• Do people need to understand one issue, before another one makes sense?
• Is there a time of year that’s busier than others, so it would be wise to avoid introducing a complicated issue?
• How much time (how many days/weeks) is needed to properly introduce and act upon each message?

The group should really tear all of this apart and look at it from every angle. This process is perhaps the most important part of setting your annual message calendar. If you misplace or mis-align your messages, you could be losing the opportunity to really lead your people where you want them to go.

Once this debate is complete and agreed upon, the group can start to place these issues to certain dates on the calendar.

Step 6. Breaking the Broad Themes Down.
You’ll remember that so far, we’ve only been dealing with the main issues. This was to get us in the ballpark, so to speak. From here, the group will need to get specific. Each broad theme may have many parts, each needed a separate moment of attention.

If you are dealing with a brand new fundraising activity for instance, you may want to prepare your families with an introductory letter, talking about a specific funding need at the school and the importance of meeting this need. A follow-up message may give the details of the event. It is not always wise to hit everybody with the whole thing at one time.

Do your best to break each broad theme down, exactly like this and put the individual action steps to a specific date.

Step 7. Deciding Upon the Means of Communication.
At last you have a finished calendar with every important issue and message that needs to get out into the community- broken down to the final details. Now, all that’s left in the planning process is how to deliver each individual message.

Fortunately, there are many available means of communication these days. Just a few suggestions are:

• Sending fliers or newsletters home in kids’ backpacks
• Parent mandated meetings
• Mass emails (Constant Contact style)
• Letters mailed to each home
• Press releases
• Automated phone tree messages
• Electronic billboards around your town
• Church bulletins
• Radio and television interviews
• Cell phone text messages
• Website opinion polls
• Regularly updated school blogs complete with video messages from the principal

It is clear, that there is no lack of creativity when it comes to communicating with your audience these days.

However, certain messages may be more formal and require a formal announcement. Other messages may deserve a lighter approach. Many of the topics may necessitate more than one method.

The group needs to figure out how all of this will play out in real life and assign the final product to the calendar. Once this is done, look the entire calendar over to ensure there is balance, if needed. If you are always sending home fliers, for instance, I would suggest mixing it up a bit.

Step 8. Who Gets to Talk?
The group should feel great. This is a big and involved task. Once the message and the delivery methods are set, the only thing that remains is to assign a spokesmen or spokes-team to each message. Just like with the means of communication, the messenger should also be rotated with regularity. Fundraising events can be handled by the PTO or PTA, for instance. The principal should inform parents about a new safety procedure. And so on. Look for the most logical person to introduce the appropriate topic.

Step 9. The Last Part. Does It All Make Sense?

At this point, the entire plan needs a thorough mental run-though. Each person in the group should get a copy of the overall message calendar and take some time to review it. Go home and sleep on it. Look at it with fresh eyes.

Does it make sense? Is it balanced? Does it flow from issue to issue? Are there any clunkers in there? Did the group forget anything?

If problems are spotted, solve them. If everything looks great, the entire groups can commit to the calendar and start to live by it. There should be regular meetings throughout the year to make sure everyone is still on board with the plan and to make any changes based on the dynamics of the year. Of course, things may happen that necessitate a change in the calendar, which is fine- as long as the group agrees to re-adjust and re-set, so they don’t get to far off-message.

The Results

I believe that if a school is able to craft and adhere to a message calendar, the entire community will ultimately care much more about it. The more that people get involved, the more school spirit will increase. The more school spirit increases, the greater the likelihood that financial contributions will increase, as well.

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