Wishlist Sponsor Board
Wishlist Poster
I met a P&C President, Elyse at Cammeraygal High School, at a parent engagement forum I attended recently, and she shared with me an idea they do at their school. I thought it was fantastic so I asked permission to share it with you all. It’s the ‘Wishlist Sponsor board’.
The Wish List
Having a Wish List is an essential part of successful fundraising (we have written about them before), but all too often they are not used effectively. The focus is all too often on the act of raising funds rather than what these funds will be used for. If you don’t already have a Wish List, it’s not too late to start one now! While the length of the list will vary from time to time, schools, clubs, and community groups will always have various needs, and the more people that know about it, the better.
When creating your wish list try to think big as well as small and practical:
- What are your immediate needs?
- What are your wants?
- What are your long-term dreams?
Whether it’s air conditioning for part (or all) of your school, instruments for music programs, art supplies, sports equipment, furniture, prizes for upcoming fundraising events, technology or even office equipment or supplies, all of these things need to go on your list. For the purposes of this tip, however, the smaller and more specific, the better, as we want our families to be able to sponsor tangible items.
The more specific, the better.
So, now you have your Wish List, you need to make sure that you spread the word using newsletters, your website, social media, and flyers. As well as this cracker of an idea:
The ‘Wish List Poster’ idea
Cammeraygal school prints up its list on posters and makes sure it is prominently displayed at social and fundraising events. Sticky dots are provided for anyone to ‘claim’ the item that they would like to sponsor, with forms for them to complete their details. Higher cost items are often broken down into ‘lots’ (eg $50 chunks) however one person can sponsor more than one lot. There is never any pressure to donate but they receive a great response. Most items on their list have already been sponsored.
They also have a slide show playing in the background at their events that cycles through pictures of the items that they are wanting to purchase. They were kind enough to share their slideshow with us, and you can download a copy below.
Families will be passionate about things that their children are involved in and you might find that someone will sponsor the cost of a music stand because their child/grandchild/niece or nephew is in the instrumental program and they know their contribution will have a direct impact on their child. At this school, for example, a house banner was sponsored by a family whose child was elected house captain, the compost bin was donated by someone who runs a landscape business, and chess sets were donated by chess team members.
Parents, guardians, and carers can’t always give their time to volunteer at fundraising events, but most will want to make a contribution of some sort to their child’s education. Making your Wish List public property encourages community engagement and this is an excellent way of giving everybody in your community and beyond the chance to make a difference.
Here is a screenshot from the Powerpoint presentation, which they have generously shared and can be downloaded here.
