There are lots of ways to do community fundraising, and getting your community involved with fundraising on any level is so important — both for the school and for the business. A couple of weeks ago I talked about creating Party Book events to raise money for your organizations; Businesses can be incorporated into these events as well. A great example is our local bakery. The owner is both a parent at the school as well as a small business owner. She hosted two events for the Party Book that brought small groups of people together to have fun, learn something new and raise money for the school. What it also did was raise awareness among the parent population that this particular business gives back to the school. Parents like to patron businesses that support their kids. It’s a win-win!
But Party Book isn’t the only way for businesses to support the schools. Some schools have partnership programs. Perhaps you pay a certain amount of money and get a banner on the fence of the school. Maybe the local restaurant donates food for an event at the school and gets some special acknowledgment in a program. Or perhaps they set up a night where 10 or 20% of every check goes back to the school. There are lots of different ways to do it and lots of different models you can use. One of my favorite examples is from my book. There was an elementary school that put on a golf tournament every year for several years. When a new parent came in to take over the event, he wanted to make it more special. He thought outside of the box. There were plenty of others who told him it couldn’t be done, but he persevered and got the YES!
He went to the local BMW dealership and somehow got them to commit to GIVING away one of their cars IF anyone got a hole in one.
What did that do for the dealership? A LOT! While they haven’t had to cash in on a prize very often (maybe once since they started), they get HUGE word of mouth as sponsors for the event. A little effort can go a long way!
If you are a small business, how would you want to give back to the school? If you’re a parent working with the school organization, how are you going to best incorporate that small business?
I want you to do two things for me: Share your answer in the comments on the blog (and click the link so it goes to Facebook too). Send this to anyone you think could use a little help with their fundraising, and if you haven’t signed up for my newsletter yet, please do! ———————-> I promise no spam!
To your success,
Sarah
Photo attributed to Rick Calcutt
Sarah has been fundraising for schools since 2008. She is the author of A Mom’s Guide to School Fundraising and has consulted for several schools and clubs. She has been featured on RetailMeNot.com, Scholastic: Parent & Child and The New York Times. She thinks all kids should be able to have a well-rounded education, team uniforms, instruments and support. Don’t you?