Fundraise while you have excited children.

Primary school children and always excited to see parents involved and parents are more connected with the school and your fundraising could be the way to make some money for your school and to build the school community.  A great fundraiser might include a way to include to children, they will have fantastic pester power and why not use it to your advantage.  After all our children do it to us, so why should other parents not get the same joy.

Unfortunately by the time children get to upper primary school or high school, parents are considered very uncool and being involved is an embarrassment to your children, so the effort-to-reward ratio is much less favourable.  In fact it unlikely parents will even get the note to come to the meeting if the adolescent has their way.

Parents in primary schools tend to be more connected as they often walk their children into the class and waits for them after school, which encourages conversation, involvement and participation.  Don’t call a meeting by sending notes, stand outside the classes and catch the parents as they wait for the children, introduce yourself and ask them to come to the meeting.

Another tip is to not only ask them but also ask them bring one or two other people that they know.  This has two advantages, the first is they know at least a few people, and you get more people to your meeting.  It’s important that when you have these volunteers to make them feel welcome and involved in the process.  Everyone has something to offer, some people have time, and others might just know the right contacts.

Volunteers are just people that have not been asked to be involved yet.  The quiet person may make a spectacular volunteer if they are made welcome, their efforts are valued and they join the team.

Make sure you are covered so the entire time but sometimes having too many people is worse than having too few.  People might feel tired at the end of the shift is you have too few people but nobody likes to feel they have wasted their time.  I’m not saying you should plan to have too few people but make sure they all have a real job.  “I don’t know just help Helen” is not a job.  Even their children’s pride will not be enough reward for parents who feel their time has been wasted.

There is many websites to give volunteers a fundraising resources for schools, clubs and community groups.  There is any number of great promotional products available for fundraising as well as the old favourites such as walk-a-thon, quiz nights, raffles and discos. While traditional fundraisers are still popular they are now being replaced by more sophisticated fundraisers.

A well-run state primary school P&C in a prosperous area with 500 families can generate more than $150,000 annually from fundraising whereas a smaller school in a less prosperous area might struggle to make $10,000 per year.  While the money may be important to meet the financial goals, the social goals of community building may be just as rewarding for the fundraising team.