How to Kick off Your School Fundraising Prize Program

There is ongoing debate over whether it’s the school fundraising brochure or the school prize program that has the greatest influence in determining the success of a school fundraiser. One thing is for sure however, and that is if you have a bad prize program, your sales will probably suffer. Even more, what people don’t often think about is, even if they have a good prize program, how do they plan to promote it? If actively promoting your prize program will lead to more sales, why aren’t more people doing it? What follows are some important steps that are absolutely necessary for promoting your fundraising prize program.

• First and foremost, you must believe that your school's prize program will be successful in motivating your students to get out and sell. Doesn’t that sound obvious? Yes, but your students will see right through you if there are any doubts. This will probably affect sales more than anything else. They are looking to you for leadership and to set a positive tone. So make sure that you have done everything possible to ensure that you have the best possible prize program.
• Second, why not start promoting your prize program before your fundraiser? A few days before your kickoff date, arrange to start sharing with students what they might win during your morning announcements. It may even be a good idea to tell them that you are saving your ‘big’ prize for the kick-off in order to keep them in suspense. It is also a good idea to start informing the parents by sending home information in a letter that explains when the sale will start, what you will be selling and what special prizes and awards will be given out. You may be surprised by the parents who take prizes seriously for their children. Many will want to know what their child will receive for the effort they put in.
• The actual fundraising kickoff is where you will really need to hype up your prizes. Whether you plan to kick off your own fundraiser, have someone else do it or show a kickoff video, this is where you must sell your school's prize program to your students. And it’s all in how it is presented. After all, if the students are excited about what you plan to offer them, you may also be excited about your sales results. The most important thing when presenting prizes to students at a fundraising kickoff is to create suspense. You can have your big prizes covered up at the front on a table as the students walk into the assembly area and then reveal them one by one as you describe to your students what they have to do to win them. Start from the smallest prize and work up to the biggest. It is recommended that you ‘save the best for last’ by reviewing the prizes at the end of the kickoff presentation. It is important that you set aside ample time in your presentation to discuss the fundraising prizes so don’t let time get away from you.
• It is extremely important that you continue to promote your school prize program after the kickoff as well. Don’t think that because your students are very excited right after your kickoff that this level of enthusiasm is going to persist. Like anything else, if we are not reminded about things we tend to forget about them over time. Make sure you are talking about your fundraising prizes during your morning announcements. It is even recommended that you give away prizes during your sale. By using prize drawing coupons for example, you can draw names of several students each day who have turned them into a drawing box at the front of the school. In order to turn in a coupon they have to sell 5 items. Once they turn in a coupon they would then become eligible for additional prizes and/or special privileges. This will encourage them, as well as others, to continue to push the sale even higher. Why not reward your sellers while they still have a chance to sell even more? Make sure that you announce the winners so that everyone knows about it (i.e. morning announcements etc.)
• Finally, when all is said and done and you are at the end of your fundraiser make sure to have an award ceremony to give away your special prizes to those students who earned them. By having everyone present you will do two things. One, the winners get recognized and two, everyone sees them win. This will set the tone for the next time you do a school fundraiser because even more students will then want to be up on stage receiving their prize.