Booster leaders, wouldn’t you love to have the assurance of meeting all your fundraising goals? After all, funding is a booster club’s most tangible sign of support for its extracurricular program.
For the majority of organizations, fundraising is a marathon, not a sprint. The field is crowded with student groups, nonprofits, and other organizations competing for the general public’s charitable dollar. So what can you do to achieve your fundraising goals? Tailor your approach. Here are three prudent secrets to achieve the highest return from your fundraising efforts.
1. Limit the number of fundraisers. This may seem counter intuitive. Conventional wisdom leads you to believe that the more fundraisers you have, the more you will earn. However, it’s just the opposite. If you are constantly in fundraising mode, your students and parents will become fatigued and your participation rate will drop. They will not be willing to continually solicit their relatives and neighbors with the “fundraiser of the month.” It is better to conduct a few fundraisers with excellence than many with mediocrity.
2. Calculate the payout on the front end. Before committing to a fundraiser, calculate its potential on the “back of the napkin.” How will the fundraiser contribute toward your overall fundraising goal? What student participation rate will be considered a success? If the fundraiser involves selling a product, how much will each student need to sell? Is this reasonable?
3. Carefully select fundraising partners. New fundraising companies spring up every day so be prudent when selecting a fundraising partner. Ask for references, and actually contact them. Here are a few questions to ask:
• How helpful is the company’s customer service?
• Do they ship in a timely manner?
• How is the quality of the product upon delivery, especially if the product is perishable?
• What is their product return policy?
My son’s Boy Scout troop once partnered with a fundraising company that promised many incentives and prizes for the boys. The boys sold diligently, each one pushing toward the next tier within his reach to earn a better prize. At the end of the sale, the fundraising company did not live up to their promises – they did not fulfill the incentives and prizes the boys earned. Fortunately, they did provide the customers’ product, but shipped it to us without any interaction from their sales staff. This experience taught the adult volunteers to carefully select fundraising partners, and it created a teachable moment for the boys about honesty and integrity. And yes, we did pull together some alternate prizes to honor the boys’ efforts.
The Booster Leader
Are you responsible for fundraising in your child’s booster club? If you’d like to learn how thriving booster clubs approach fundraising, check out my book, The Booster Leader, 35 Leadership Essentials for a Thriving Booster Organization. The Booster Leader will help with every aspect of booster club leadership. It consists of…
- Thirty-five proven leadership essentials that are quick and easy to implement
- Eighteen inspirational stories that bring the leadership essentials to life
- A twenty-nine point checklist to help you identify risks that may jeopardize your organization if not properly addressed (and the answers to help you resolve every issue!)
Now is the time to start leading your own thriving booster organization. In The Booster Leader, I show you exactly how to do it!
Question: How will your booster club achieve its fundraising goals this year? You can leave a comment by clicking here.