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Spotlight on Secondary School Fundraising

Most parents find themselves getting involved in raising money when their children are in primary school. However, secondary schools frequently complain that it is harder to involve parents: more are working full-time and pupils are reluctant to see their parents invading their school space! This column looks at how secondary schools manage to raise money from outside their school budget. It offers readers some valuable fundraising tips and gives advice on approaching companies on behalf of your school.

How much money do secondary schools raise?

Research by the Baring Foundation suggests maintained English secondary schools raise 143 million a year (or an average of 4,000 a school, or 47 per pupil) from sources outside their main school budget. In addition we also know that:

49% of secondary schools are raising more than 10,000 a year;
Secondary schools raise money from a much wider spread of funds than primary schools.

Where do secondary schools raise money from?

Companies are the main non-LEA source of support for secondary schools. And, some of the highest fundraising secondary schools are community schools with high levels of parental support. These high fundraising schools tend to use diverse fundraising methods such as:

Fundraising from the general public, parents, events etc
Company donations
Commercial Sponsorship
Parental Convenant schemes
Applications for grants/lottery funds
Income generation (trading goods or services, etc)

What do secondary schools raise money for?

Computers, music and sports equipment top the secondary school list, followed by school grounds, Specialist status, transport and voluntary support of school trips.

A case study

School Business Manager, The Ridgeway Community School
Completed the Cert in School Fundraising, September 2007

Previous experience of raising funds

Beryl describes herself as very much a beginner before the course. She had fundraised before in a piecemeal way.

Success since completion of course Grants totaling over 77,000 in the last 6 months including:
- 18,000 Children in Need grant over 3 years to provide salaries for WISH project staff
- 15,000 Foyle Foundation grant for equipment for a new communications room
- 17,000 Variety Club of Great Britain towards a new minibus
- 6,000 grant from a local Surrey charity for a people carrier

Future Plans

Now researching grants for a new sensory garden.

'The course is brilliant. I now know where to look for grants and how to take a more strategic approach. Our success over the last 6 months has been as a result of this course.' B. Jenkins

Conclusion

A small investment in training can bring huge rewards to your school. The advantages of studying online can be very attractive to schools whose staff and budgets are under pressure: there are no supply costs, no travel costs or travel time, you have immediate access to materials and complete flexibility around choosing when to study. And the course leads to a ready made bid, funding strategy and trust appeal.

Fundraising made easy

http://www.fundraisingskills.co.uk

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Colored Smencils Gourmet Scented Pencils 10 Pack

Set of 10 scented colored #2 pencils, one of each scent: Bubble Gum, Cinnamon, Chocolate, Cotton Candy, Grape, Orange, Root Beer, Tropical Blast, Very Berry, and Watermelon.Note: Not suitable for children 3 or under

A proven way to reactivate lapsed donors is to ask them why they have stopped giving.

You can do this with a survey that you enclose in your mailing. Or you can leave space on the reply device for a few questions. According to Stephen Hitchcock, in his book, Open Immediately! Straight Talk on Direct Mail Fundraising, asking lapsed donors why they are no longer giving will generate some useful answers, and a sizeable percentage of the donors will mail back a gift.

You can use this new information to prevent other donors from lapsing. Review again the reasons that donors stop giving, found earlier in this handbook, to think up the kinds of questions you can ask in your survey to elicit each donors reason for dropping support.

If you prefer, make the survey entirely qualitative, and ask questions that require original answers and not a simple checking off of a box on the survey form.

Whichever method of survey you employ, use the survey questions to discover the otherwise unknownwhy your donors lapsed. Maybe the fault lies with you. Maybe it lies with the donor. Maybe the economy is at fault. You will never know unless you ask.

One advantage of a survey, if worded well, is that the questions themselves inspire the donor again to support your cause. Lets say, for example, that your organization lobbies the federal government to ban handguns. Your donors, even the ones who lapse, are people concerned about handgun violence to some degree. In your survey, you could include questions like these:

1. True of False? An average of five children are killed each day in gun-related accidents and suicides.



2. True of False? 40% of American households with children have guns.



3. True of False? A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in an unintentional shooting, than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense.

As you can imagine, these survey questions are likely to provoke the same anger among decent, concerned lapsed donors that moved them to mail you their first and successive gifts. Survey questions like this prompt lapsed donors to contemplate your work again, thing again about who you help, and ponder
the need you meet, and the role that the lapsed donor has in making the world a better place by giving again.

2006 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the Author" message).

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About the author
Alan Sharpe is a professional fundraising letter writer, instructor and mentor who helps non-profit organizations raise funds, build relationships and retain loyal donors using creative fundraising letters. Learn more about his services, view free sample fundraising letters, and sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.RaiserSharpe.com.

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50 Colored Smencils Gourmet Scented Pencils (Bucket)

Colored Smencils Scented Pencils Bucket of 50. Includes: 5 Bubble Gum, 5 Cinnamon, 5 Tropical Blast, 5 Grape, 5 Cotton Candy, 5 Chocolate, 5 Very Berry, 5 Orange, 5 Watermelon, and 5 Rootbeer. Note: Not suitable for children 3 or under.

Coming up with novel fundraising ideas is vital for so many charity organisations. Doing something a little bit different is an important way of keeping your fundraising fresh. Developing interesting and unique fundraising ideas brings publicity to your chosen charity and helps to keep your team of volunteers and supporters happy and motivated.

But novel fundraising ideas have to be right for your charity or non profit organisation. You need to find something with mass appeal and money making potential.

How about this one? Because fundraising event ideas don't come more fun and colourful than holding a Rainbow Festival.

The beauty of a rainbow festival is that it:

• Is easily understood and has mass appeal.
• Will stand out from the crowd of competing Summer Fetes and other fundraisers.
• Is simple to organise and set up.
• Allows you to try out some new and novel fundraising ideas.
• But still has room for all your favourite tried and tested fete ideas.

Advertising your Rainbow Festival There is no point in coming up with unique fundraising event ideas if you don't make the most of them.

The great thing about a Rainbow Festival is that all the posters, flyers and advertisments can be wonderfully colourful. Don't miss this opportunity to make your fundraising event and your organisation really stand out. A kid's poster competition is a great way to get the ball rolling and begin the promotion of your event. Radio stations and the local press too love novel fundraising ideas. They are always after something that makes a change from the usual round of worthy but "same every-time" events. So make sure that you give them all the details they need and encourage them to do a special feature.

A Rainbow Walkabout the week before in your town centre with brightly dressed people handing out flyers etc is also a great way to advertise your forthcoming event.

Well What are you going to have at your festival? Your festival can easily incorporate lots of your usual fete ideas. Simply decorate your stall in rainbow colours and come up with Rainbow names such as Pinky's refreshments, Mr Blue's Splat The Rat, Purple Pete's Welly Wanging etc

The Rainbow Arch This is one of the major ways you will fundraise at your festival. It also make a great backdrop for a stage for any entertainment or announcements such as the Raffle Draw. competitions etc.

Cut sheets of hardboard (or cardboard at smaller events) to form a nice big arch. Attach it to scaffolding or a wooden framework. You could also attach it to a suitable wall if you had one in the right place just "begging to be used"!

Visitors to your festival will now be offered the opportunity to buy (or make a donation for) a square of coloured card. On this they write a message of support and attach it to the arch. In this way the rainbow slowly begins. hopefully to be completed by the end of your event. You might like to put a few "fake" cards in appropriate positions to start the Rainbow off and make sure everyone gets the idea.

Don't forget the kids. You could also do a smaller arch for children. Kids will love to draw a little picture, write their name and then importantly pin their card on to the arch!

The Rainbow Arch Idea also works particularly well for Hospices and Hospitals where people can use the cards as little messages of remembrance for loved ones etc.

Children's Rainbow Hat Competition This one need to be advertised well in advance. A good idea is to let the local schools, libraries etc know. In this way it also serves as a bit of pre-event advertising. Simply ask kids to either make a hat on a rainbow theme. This may be done by decorating an existing hat or starting from scratch. Judges will award marks for design, ingenuity, and use of colour etc. A rainbow hat parade in front of your arch prior to judging is always going to be popular with camera wielding parents.

Rainbow Cake Competition Get the friendly rivalry going amongst the home bakers with a Rainbow Cake Competition. A Prize for the Best - Raffle the Rest.

A novel fundraising idea for helping judge this is getting people to buy a voting slip on which they write their name and phone number. They place it in a box in front of their favourite cake. The votes are counted toward the end of the day. A winner announced and a draw takes place for each cake from its voting slips. Not only have people voted for their Number One but they also stand a chance of taking it home!

Make a Rainbow Worm Kids love these little craft ideas at fundraising events. Put the craft area near the refreshment tent and Mum and Dad are happy too! A rainbow worm starts life as an old sock. Stuff it with newspaper or scrap material and tie the end. Then simply wrap strips of bright coloured material around it and tie them off. You may like to add an elastic string to the middle of the worm (so that you can bounce them along the ground). A pair of googly eyes either purchased from a craft shop or made from material and stuck on complete your worm. "Donations in the Rainbow Worm Fundraising Tin please"

Rainbow Glory Choose your own Rainbow (Knickerbocker) Glory. A clear plastic cup (the larger ones from water coolers are ideal) gets filled with rainbow layers of your choice of different flavoured ice cream, tinned and fresh fruit, coloured syrups and sauces. Top your creation off with brightly coloured sprinkles.

Rainbow Raffle Its like a normal raffle but you buy different coloured tickets. You could always do a different colour ticket raffle every half an hour etc

So there you have it add a splash of colour to your fundraising event ideas. You're guaranteed to have loads of fun and don't forget

There's Gold At The End of The Rainbow!

Neill Wilkins

For more information about holding a Rainbow Festival, including photos of key elements please visit our website at http://www.better-fundraising-ideas.com

You will also find lots of other novel fundraising ideas along with tried and tested old favourites (but often with a new twist). Perfect for church fundraising, school fundraising and all other charity and non profit organisations.

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