How to Get Parents Excited about Fundraising

“Mom, my baseball team is selling candy bars.” “Dad, my dance studio is selling cookie dough.” “Mom, my school is selling stuff again and I really want these cool prizes!”

Have you ever felt like all your kids do is fundraise? Maybe you’ve felt like Lois:

It’s no wonder parents are burnt out on fundraisers. Every activity that their kids participate in asks them to raise money for something and it starts as early as daycare. But, that doesn’t change the fact that each activity (including their school) still needs to raise money.

Let’s face it, it’s easy to get kids excited about fundraising. Show them some cool prizes, tell them how they can win money and they are pumped up and ready to sell, sell, sell. But, the truth is, the kids aren’t the ones doing the selling. Mom and Dad take it to work, mom and dad bring it to grandma’s house, mom and dad collect and keep track of all the money, mom and dad make sure everything gets turned in on time, and mom and dad pass all the stuff out after the sale is over and the kid collects the prizes. Sort of seems like we reward the wrong person, doesn’t it? Yet a prize program for parents doesn’t really make sense, so here are a few ways to keep the parents involved and excited about fundraising:

1)    Set a Goal and be Upfront about it: If parents know how much money needs to be raised and what the money is going towards, they are going to be much more likely to participate.

 

 If you are honest with parents about how much money needs to be raised and you set a goal then everyone knows what is expected of them. The best strategy is to break it down by item. Ask the fundraising company you are working with to do the math for you. Tell them how many kids are participating and how much money you need to raise. They will be able to give you a rough estimate of how many items each child needs to sell. Also, make sure that parents know what the money is being used for and be as specific as possible. When parents can see how their child will directly benefit from the money raised, they will be more willing to participate.

  

2)    Bonus Incentives: Fundraising companies often provide prizes to the students for how much they sell. But these are mostly toys that are intriguing to kids and not to adults. When you take control of your own fundraiser and begin offering incentives in addition to what the fundraising company offers, your sales will sky rocket. For example, you could give away a TV to the top selling family or have a drawing for it.

  

3)   Keep talking about it: No matter what your incentives are, no matter how much the goal is the most important part of a fundraiser is to keep talking about it. Send home flyers leading up to the sale, send home reminders during the sale about goals, incentives, and turn it dates, and talk about it with the kids every chance possible. If it is a PTO sale, have the school make announcements daily, if it is for a sports team mention the sale at the end of every practice and game. Just keep talking about it!

Parent involvement is the key to a successful fundraiser. These are just a few ideas to help get parents more interested in your fundraising efforts.

If you have more ideas please share them below. We would love to hear what other ways you have come up with, even if they didn’t work out the way you planned.

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