There are people who really want to devote some time they have in helping out other people. But the purpose for putting up fundraising drives would have to define what they are designed for and what they intend to accomplish. People would resort to medical missions, conducting community service in helping out shorthanded foundations to take care of the people under their wing.
It should however be noted that all this work is purely for volunteering and not strictly required. It is done out of entirely an open heart with no expectations of anything in return. This is the fundraising way of living, sharing and spreading the love that other people look for to which they have stumbled and almost fallen.
There have been a lot of campaigns and benefit events done each year for a certain cause. A lot of them are done out of fundraising, some to provide and answer the needs of people and so on. Whatever the cause may be, everything is aimed at answering the needs of people who seek comfort in the best way possible.
The level of satisfaction of such people is entirely different from the normal standards that people live on, and such is to be expected considering extending a helping hand is the important agenda of it all.
We all here that giving to fundraising is a good Samaritan's deed. Sadly, people are not entirely aware of why they are doing fundraising work. Some would even do it for building their image or for some other reason to get attention and commendations for their supposed efforts. However, it has been forgotten that charities are done for the purpose of lending a helping hand without expecting anything in return. The only probable return is the feeling of happiness where a person is able to contribute his way towards actually helping people in need of it.
Fundraising work should always come from the heart and not the mind. Taking into consideration that people have the excess funds and resources to donate and help people who have misfortunes in their means of living is something that will depend on the actual purpose for helping them out. Fundraising and donation should be done with an open heart, the reward of which is the tingling feeling we all feel inside for contributing to a worthy cause.
Practically anyone must be wondering, do all donations given to the known charitable institutions in their region actually reach their intended purpose of helping the actual people in need? Technically, the common man would care less but each penny or in kind donations are totally for the account of the people housed and targeted for such aids and donations.
These fundraising organizations are non-profit organizations. They are purely for voluntary aid and work to serve people and endeavors in need. While the immediate understanding that people in need would be the main beneficiaries, there are other causes such as disaster victims, and other individuals who would find themselves on the losing end.
But just the same, the aim of such foundations and organizations is to purely offer help and support in any form possible. It is not about how much or what to give. It is about the use and extending that helping hand to help them in their unfortunate predicaments caused by varying events that have come into their lives.
Every day I talk with people who have had their school fundraising program dropped in their lap. Many times they have taken on the job because there was no one else to do it. In every case, their main concern is that they do a better job on the school fundraising campaign than was done the year before. Imagine the pressure of running a sale in such a way that the school actually makes less than they did last year. Now that is what I call pressure!
To make your life a bit easier here is a simple guide to ensuring that your school fundraising events achieve their goals and operate smoothly. Namely, that they are both profitable and trouble free.
1. Setting a Goal
The very first thing that you must do is determine how much money you need to raise. Take into consideration the expenses you are likely to have. Coming up with a figure on exactly how much you need to raise can be a pretty big chore. It also helps your cause to have specific instead of "general" goals.
Running a school fundraising campaign with the intended goal to "raise as much as we can" is very hard to communicate to parents of your students and will likely not get a lot of support. If you find that you really don't have anything pressing that you need to raise money for, it is better to give the parents a break and simply choose to not do a fundraiser.
2. Determine Your Timeline.
When conducting a fundraiser you must set a timeline. It is wise to consult a professional fundraiser if you are planning to do any type of product sale. They can help you determine a timeline that will allow you plenty of time to conduct your fundraising activities. They can even help you plan events around your calendar so that the Fall Carnival won't interfere with your product sale, and your product sale won't interrupt your Book Day's and so forth.
3. What is Your Target Audience?
Determine who you will be targeting in your fundraising. Ask yourself is you want to make your school fundraiser a product sale or a family type of event fundraiser like an auction or carnival. Or, do you need to try to raise more money by doing a product sale like cookie dough or Christmas wrap. Each one of these type fundraisers have it's own application in different schools. There are some schools that do a spaghetti dinner and make ten's of thousands on them, while others will barely break even.
4. Incentives.
I have found that the prizes that are given in a particular school fundraising program has more to do with it's success than any other single factor. A school could almost sell five dollar bills for ten dollars and do very well if you motivate the students and parents correctly.
One misconception about prize incentives is that many believe that the bigger the prize the better the sale. If one of the prizes for the top seller is an item that is the latest craze that year, then you will have a better sale. Do not fall into that trap.
The power of school fundraising is in the size of the group, not in who sells $1,000 worth of "stuff." Think about it, would you rather have 2 students sell over $1,000 and 25% participation in your sale? Or would you make much more profit if you had 40% participation and no one sells more than $80.00?
When you think about it, the prize that gets the most kids to sell $80 is much more important than the big prize that gets 2 kids to sell $1,000! And what is really sad about that is most professional fundraiser don't get that let alone the average PTA Fundraising Chairperson!
5. Promotion
How will you promote your fundraiser? One of the best ways to promote your fundraising campaign is by throwing out lots of reminders. When it is time for the school fundraiser, be sure to send a letter or an e-mail to parents long before the sale starts. Send another informational letter home with your sales brochure. Parents can be busy people and sometimes things slip their mind.
Though this guide is geared toward school or groups in the education system these are the basic steps involved in any form of fundraising. Use these steps to plan your events. If you spend some time in planning and making sure that you are sticking to the plan, you'll find that your school fundraiser will go as planned.
Both Jon Caldwell & Juan Franco are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.