How to Achieve Unanimous Support for Your School Fundraiser

Before your school fundraiser ever starts, if you want success you’ll need to get certain people to buy into your cause. It’s not enough if your students are excited about the prize program that they learn about at the fundraising kickoff. Successful fundraising is a team sport; therefore it will be important to get the following people on board before your sale ever starts.

Administrators:
Your principal and assistant principal can be one of your greatest allies. Even though they have a lot on their plate, set up a short meeting to discuss your fundraising objectives with them. Make sure that they are on board with what type of fundraiser you are planning and how you plan to spend the money. It’s also a good idea to ask for their input. Perhaps they will see other ways to spend fundraiser money as well. Here are some ways they might be able to help:

• Introduce the Fundraiser at the kickoff assembly. You will want to start your kickoff assembly by having an authority figure introduce your fundraiser. The students usually respect an authority figure like the principal and will usually pay close attention to what they have to say. As a result, they will understand the importance of participating in your sale. You will also want to have them wrap up the assembly with some closing remarks.
• Involve them in the daily announcements. Hopefully you plan to promote your sale every day. Since the principal is busy, plan to write a variety of creative scripts about your fundraiser for them to read to the students during morning announcements. It could be as simple as reminding them about a couple of the prizes from the prize brochure to announcing the winners from a periodic prize drawing that you are conducting during the sale to attempt to bring in more sales.
• Convince them to do something fun. Motivate your students from the beginning at your kickoff assembly by telling the students that the principal will do something fun if your fundraising goal is reached. You can have the principal agree to be taped to the wall, wear their pajamas to school or kiss a pig, for example. Make sure this is heavily promoted throughout your sale. Your students will be excited about the opportunity to see the principal do something fun or crazy

Teachers:
Plan to meet with your teachers before your fundraiser and let them know how your fundraiser will impact them. They are busy and don’t have a lot of spare time but if they understand how the money that’s being raised will benefit the students and the school, they may be more apt to get involved. They can help you:

• Remind their students to sell each day from the classroom
• Collect order forms and money for their class once the fundraiser is over
• Do something fun as a reward to the students for selling

Parents:
Parental involvement in your fundraiser is critical. They are the ones who will help their students sell by accompanying them as they approach neighbors, family and friends as well as taking the brochure to work. If you can, plan to introduce your fundraiser at an upcoming parent meeting. A lot of our schools show their Big Event Prize Program video to their parents at parent night. You can also let them know about the fundraiser by sending home a parent letter in your students fundraising packets as well as announcing it on the school marquee. Facebook and Twitter is another way to get the word out about your fundraiser.

By getting as many people to buy into your fundraiser as possible, you will help insure that your fundraiser meets or even exceeds your expectations.