Fundraising Directory

Fundraising Guide

This tip is not strictly about fundraising, but it will very much help to reinforce your fundraising strategy. Not only that, it’s a fantastic thing to do to build a sense of community!

This week’s tip is to share your knowledge and create a ‘Dummies Guide’ or ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for school/ club/ group families.

All parents new to a school or club (and even some who have been around a while!) have questions about how things work, what to do, who does what, where things are and soforth. It is best done at the start of a fresh year, or as soon as practical thereafter.

The benefits for a fundraising guide include:

• You let families know your fundraising calender (if it has been decided)
• You let families know how they can volunteer throughout the year. You can even be specific, for example ‘we need a photographer to volunteer at the fete’, or ‘we need somebody to coordinate the cookbook fundraiser’
• You get to ‘sell your benefits’ to reinforce the important contribution made by the P&C, which makes families more receptive to support you financially.

Some other topics might include:

• How parents can get involved
• The philosophy of your group
• Who’s Who
• What your efforts have been able to contribute in the past

As you plan to create your dummies guide, it is important to invite contributions from the all who may wish to communicate anything important.

It is a also a great idea to send a quick survey out to your families, simply asking them what they wish they knew when they first joined your community. You will be surprised by the responses.

I can sense the lightbulbs going off for seasoned fundraisers reading this… I can see you thinking: ‘If we create a substantial document, we can get it properly designed and printed and then sell sponsorship/ advertising in it!’ Now that’s the kind of fundraising thinking I love!

Happy fundraising!

Mandy Weidmann