Fundraising Ideas to Run a School Fundraiser That is a Huge Success

Have you ever noticed how some school fundraising programs tend to run smoothly and meet their goal? Why is that? When a campaign runs smoothly more than likely it was because the organizers took the time to come up with better fundraising ideas and a plan to max out their efforts.

Use this set of ground rules when planning your school fundraising campaign and you might save yourself a great deal of frustration.

Set Goals:

The first thing that you should be doing when planning your fundraiser is setting your financial goals. How much do you need to earn? Once you have your financial goal in mind it is time to calculate your expenses. Now that you have both your goal determined and your expenses tabulated simply add them together and you will have your final goal. Plan on adding about 10% to your final goal to cover any unforeseen expenses.

Make a visual representation of your goal such as graph, chart, or maybe one of those big things that look like a thermometer.

Set Time Limits:

Set a time limit to achieve your goal. With the correct type of events and incentives you should have no trouble reaching your goal in the allotted amount of time.

Another thing you might consider is breaking your final goal up into mini goals. This gives your sales force as well as yourself a sense of accomplishment.

Organize, Organize, Organize:

To be honest you can never have enough organization. Set your fundraising schedule early in the year. Plan each fundraising event allowing 4 to 6 weeks per event and at least three weeks to a month between them. You don't want to burn out your sales people.

Set up a Contact List:

Set up a contact list with the contact information for all of your volunteers as well as those who donated prizes and rewards, as well as those who donated cash. This list will prove invaluable in upcoming events.

Reward your Team:

Your goals may be important to you, but they are not all that important to many of the students or the parents of your students. You really only have one tool at your disposal to change that. Prizes! If you leave awards out of your planning, you are planning for an inferior fundraiser.