How to Plan a Successful School Fundraiser Without Losing Your Mind

12/20/2020

Working full time and planning your child’s school fundraiser part-time? The demands of both combined can get a little overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Avoid more gray hairs and set yourself up for success with these tips.

Create a Budget

Start with how much money you’d like to net from your school fundraiser, then make a list of expenses and include everything. To help you catch every line item, here’s a handy list of possible fundraiser expenses:

1. Venue Fees – Ideally you can avoid this by hosting at your school.
2. Advertising and Promotion – Remember to factor in things like the cost of stamps, invitations, posters, postcards, and flyers!
3. Refreshments – Don’t forget plates, napkins, ice, and all other necessary dining-related accessories. Décor – consider everything from banners to tablecloths to flowers.
4. Administration – These are raffle tickets, event tickets, drink tickets, VIP passes….all the stuff that helps your event run smoothly.
5. Raffle Prizes – Ideally these will be donated, but it’s always a good idea to have a contingency.

Once you have a comprehensive list of expenses, total it, and add that number to your net fundraising goal – this all-encompassing number is your fundraiser’s actual goal. Without factoring in expenses, less of your fundraiser’s earnings will go towards the cause.

Brand Your Fundraiser

Connecting to your target audience is essential to your fundraiser’s success – folks will be more likely to donate if your cause resonates. To do this, develop a concise phrase or tagline that summarizes your fundraiser’s purpose and use images to reinforce your message. As you develop your fundraiser’s visuals, remember that less is more – too many images or words will dilute things. Keep your message clear while communicating essentials and include means for folks to find out more, such as a web address or a QR code.

 

Execute a Smooth Sailing Fundraising Blitz

You want to reach as many people as possible, and you want them all to buy an event ticket (or at least a raffle ticket). Harness that army of kids, parents, and teachers by making participation effortless:

1. Order raffle tickets and event tickets custom printed with your event’s information. This looks good, and when kids or parents approach someone, they won’t have to rely on their memory to relay information or to sell.
2. Get printed flyers or posters and hand stacks to kids and their families (along with hanging supplies) so they can effortlessly canvas businesses they frequent.
3. Enable everyone to sell event and raffle tickets through social media. Creating an online raffle and ticket sales page is super easy, fast, and, in the case of Eventgroove Fundraising (our online fundraising platform), free! Give the link to your herd of students, staff, and parents and your fundraising efforts will reach far and wide!
4. Stay top of mind by sharing fundraising updates and details regularly through the school’s social media platforms, newsletter, and website. Assign a student to help out with your fundraiser’s social media presence. Not only will that be a huge help, but they can put ‘social media manager’ on their resume!
5. Advertise in community newspapers and on local radio.
6. Design custom marketing materials for your school fundraiser. It’s way easier than it sounds! Just drop your details into our ticket, invitation, poster, flyer, and postcard templates, upload your school logo and…voila! All details and prizes will be printed in a professional package that the potential buyer can see and touch.

Browse our hundreds of raffle and event ticket template designs and see how hassle-free (and inexpensive) getting custom printed collateral can be!

Keep the Fun in Fundraiser

Sure, the pressure is on, but remember no person is an island – you have a whole community behind you! Preserve your sense of satisfaction and fun by delegating what you can and asking for help when you need it. Folks will be more than happy to lend a hand – especially in the name of a worthy cause.