by Richard England

Created on: May 12, 2008   Last Updated: September 10, 2009

The key to a successful High School Fundraiser or Elementary School Fundraiser is to create an event or activity which if not unique is at least different enough to capture the imagination of both the participants and your target audience of potential donors. If in doubt imagine your own reaction if you were invited to the event by someone else. If your response would be "Oh no, not another sponsored walk" or something similar then it is fair to assume that you will only provoke the same response in others. Successful fundraisers only happen when you have plenty of people in attendance so make sure you are doing enough to pull in those punters. Follow the three golden rules below and you should do well.

1: Make it fun for the participants

If the people actually doing the fundraising are enjoying it they are far more likely to get more from people - one of the most successful fundraising drives I have done involved giving a group of young boys a tube of sweets each, these were theirs to eat, they then got to decorate the tube to make a collecting device for 20 pence pieces (worth about 40 cents in the US.) The lads loved the challenge of filling the tubes and of course the free sweets.

2: Take advantage of the time of year

Match your fund raising activities to the season, temperature and time of year. Take advantage of the sunshine in summer. Don't forget the weather if you plan to offer food or drinks. Where there is a seasonal angle use it but be original, we often run an unwanted Christmas present auction in January which gives people a chance to get rid of surplus gifts without feeling to guilty.

3: Make it a challenge

If you have set your heart on sponsored events why not add a twist and make it a team challenge? Swim the English Channel or climb Mount Everest - not as hard as it sounds. Multiply the average distance you intend to run, walk, swim etc by the number of participants and then find something that matches the distance or height and make sure you achieve it. Again be original, why not do a sponsored jump to the moon, crawl Route 66, weight lift an elephant, read War and Peace in an hour or hop to Houston.

Above all plan well, and in advance. Once you have your School fundraiser idea, choose a date and check it does not clash with anything too similar. As soon as you have chosen when and what publicise as much as possible. Make it possible for people to donate sooner, set up a website so that people can donate or place School fundraiser orders online.

On the day make sure you have enough hands to do everything you have planned. Supply refreshments if at all possible and charge for them. Make sure you have a coin box or boxes handy where people can deposit any spare change. Finally make sure you say thanks to everyone that supports, most local papers will run an article which gives you this opportunity, after all, you want their Money again next year.

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