Why Tracking Your Fundraiser is Worth it
Wouldn’t it be great if all you had to do was hand each student their fundraising packet at the beginning of your sale and then collect their order forms and money envelopes at the end? Ideally, every student would automatically read through the information and then go out and sell and reach their fundraiser goal. Will this happen in the real world? Probably not.
Fundraising is hard work and unfortunately there is no magic available potion that will make it any easier. You might think that you’ve picked out a great sales brochure that will really get buyers attention, or perhaps you believe that your students will naturally embrace your fundraiser just because you think they should be motivated by the purpose. If you want your fundraiser to be successful you will need to spend the time:
- Explaining the process
- Discussing your goals
- Promoting your sale
- Establishing and maintaining accountability
- Tracking your fundraiser
Since you probably have a limited time period that you are allowed to fundraise you should want to make the most of your opportunity. No one wants to reach the end of their sale only to find out that they didn’t reach their sales goal. This is why you will want to keep track of how your students are progressing. Does this create more work for you? Yes, but we feel that in the end it is well worth the invested time and energy.
We send a fundraiser progress tracker to every high school fundraising group that we work with. Based on your sales goal, the tracker breaks your sale into 3 smaller check-in day goals. For example, if your students need to have 10 total items sold by the end of your fundraiser your check-in day goals might look like:
- Day after kickoff goal = 3 items
- Mid-sales goal = 7 items
- End goal = 10 items
We recommend that you check order forms the day after your fundraising kickoff because it helps to create a sense of urgency in the minds of your sellers. You can also have them show you their money collection envelopes to ensure that they are also collecting the money.
It requires your students to:
- Bring their order forms (& money collection envelopes) to you on the check-in days so that you can enter how many items they have sold into your tracker. Your fundraiser tracker will do all of your calculations for you and determine how well your students are progressing towards their goal
- Keep up with the sale
It requires you to:
- Remind your students the day before each check-in day to bring their order forms and money envelopes
- Enter their sales data
- Keep encouraging them to sell
Your check-in days are also a great opportunity to incorporate additional fundraising incentives. Here are some popular incentives for high school students:
Your additional incentives are well worth the investment, or you can incorporate incentives where you spend little to no money and still increase your sales.
Successful fundraising is a mind-set. Effective sponsors work hard and smart while they have the opportunity to raise money and then in the end they have peace of mind as they move onto something else.