Connecting Schools With Great Fundraising Ideas.

At my daughter’s elementary school, she is taught “The Be Rules”. These are:

1. Be Responsible
2. Be Respectful
3. Be Safe

They are painted on the wall near the main entrance to the school. You can’t miss them when you walk in. Little bumble bees are painted along side of them. (Break these rules and you’ll be stung by a bee? Just kidding, kids!)

I pass by these rules everyday when I go to pick her up. I genuinely like how most of the other rules in the school can be boiled down into one of these three categories- responsibility, respectfulness, and safety.

Since my mind is always thinking about school fundraising, I started to wonder if we could reduce all (or at least a bunch of) the fundraising advice we give on this site into our own “Be Rules”.

For starters, I’ll steal one of the Be Rules from my daughter’s school- “Be Respectful”. Here are some examples of ways you can be respectful in a fundraising context:

• Be respectful of people’s time. Don’t over-expect/demand too much from busy families.
• Be respectful of people’s effort. Thank them sincerely.
• Be respectful of people’s taste. Don’t try to sell them junk they don’t want.
• Be respectful of people’s money. Don’t go with a scheme where you lose most of the profit.
• Be respectful of people’s prior/other commitments. Give them lots of notice and preparation.

The next Be Rule for fundraising would be “Be Creative”. Let’s look at some ways we should be creative in our school fundraisers.

• Be creative with finding and working with partners in the local community to increase revenue and positive exposure.
• Be creative in the kinds of fundraisers you pursue. While it’s good to keep traditions that work, always be on the lookout for new promotions that would excite your audience into a greater participation.
• Be creative in coming up with add-ons to existing fundraisers. If you’ve had a golf-outing for years, do some research to find out new ways to make money at the event.
• Be creative in how you communicate with your target audience. With so many new technological opportunities, you have more access to people than ever before. Does your school have a Facebook page? Why not? It’s an easy way to talk to lots of like-minded people at once.
• Be creative in your own presentation. Let’s face it, selling cookie dough or running an auction year after year can get old. However, the need to raise money is as great as ever, so you can’t afford to let yourself get bored. Do whatever it takes to rejuvenate yourself to be the leader of this very important charge.

The Last Be Rule of school fundraising that I would paint on a wall (if I had a wall) would be “Be Persistent”.

• Be persistent in a tough economy. People are still making donations. You just have to make a great case for your need and make very wise decisions on how to use the money you do raise.
• Be persistent building your volunteer staff. People want to help, they just have to be shown they want to get involved.
• Be persistent in sharpening your school’s public image. You never know what kind of future benefits could come your way as far as volunteers, contributions, and partnerships, just because somebody heard something positive about you out in the community.
• Be persistent with setting high goals. Never be ok with just settling for an “average” fundraiser. The minute you don’t set high goals, you will lose the enthusiasm of your audience. High goals are great motivators.
• Be persistent in finding new ways of raising money for your school that don’t tap your regular supporters over and over. This is called passive fundraising, and you should be looking to set up an entire passive fundraising plan that stretches the entire school year. This is a vital component to your overall fundraising strategy, so don’t give up on it.

The Be Rules of School Fundraising

1. Be Respectful
2. Be Creative
3. Be Persistent

Three simple rules that contain a lot of wisdom. Feel free to paint them on your wall, too.

Photo By: MarilynJane

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