School Fundraising Made Better Online

Fundraising is a must for many schools and organizations, but does it have to be so difficult?

I played softball when I was nine and we had to sell beef sticks for $1 to raise money for our league. The first ingredient listed was beef hearts… yuck. When I was in first grade we had a Jog-A-Thon and had to run around the parking lot as many times as we could. It took days of scrubbing to wash the Sharpie tick marks off my graffiti-ed arm (not to mention my stick legs didn’t carry me too many times around the lot). In fifth grade we had to sell tins of cookies that were miniscule in size and grandiose in price. My mom gasped when we received our order due to the discrepancy of the picture in the catalog verses the product in reality.

As we try to provide wide and varied experiences for our children to learn responsibility, coordination, and self-worth, we pollute their bodies and minds with byproducts, chemicals, and cost inflation. While I’m all for students working to support their school, there must be a better way to raise money.

When my niece was selling Christmas wreaths to fund a trip to winter camp, I asked how much of the price actually went towards her account to pay for the trip. Regardless of the size (which cost anywhere from $15 – $40), she only made $5off of each wreath. Instead of buying a decoration that will die in a couple of weeks, I now just give her the cash.

Online fundraising is a great new concept that eliminates the hassle of coordinating orders or locking people in to buying overpriced goods that they don’t really want or need. And on the topic of Teacher Appreciation Week, this is one less duty that teachers will have to worry about. Don’t they have enough on their plates?!?! A well designed website can clearly state your goal, stir emotions in the viewer to act, and make donating fast and easy.

One way to incorporate this new idea into your school fundraising strategy is to create an awesome video of your school and encourage the students to participate and share why they need a new library, P.E. equipment, or text books. Upload the video to your webpage, share the link with parents, and have them pass it on to relatives and close family friends via e-mail. If grandma is on a tight budget, she can give at a level that she feels comfortable with.

With budget cuts and larger class sizes, fundraising isn’t an option for many schools. However, how you fundraise is! Fundly can make your online fundraising easy with a website template that only takes a few minutes to complete. Every time a friend or family member donates, it gets posted on their Facebook page to encourage others to do the same.

I’m not saying that you should throw away your catalogs and bake sale signs. (What would the world do without Girl Scout cookies?!) It’s just time to try something new that can bring great results without all the hassle.