Schools Must Harness the Power of Community

What happens when a school system decides to eliminate high school football because of funding cuts? That is what the city of San Diego has been considering. Other school districts are imposing fees on student athletes as high as $400 per sport to participate. Our public schools for years have been dependant on taxes and federal funding to provide an education and activities for our children. In the future, they will have to find other means to fund programs or totally eliminate them.

Private schools for years have relied on tuition, gifts, and fundraising to support their programs. Because of their fund raising efforts, most private schools even provide financial aid for lower income students. Public schools can learn some  lessons from these schools, especially in their fundraising efforts.

When examining typical fundraisers put on by booster clubs and athletic programs, we found  the focus is on sales activities by individuals or the focus is on events to raise money.  Event based fundraisers such as a golf tournament or a silent auction can raise funds but there no way to estimate how much revenue can be brought in. Its a guessing game. Selling candy, coupon cards, or sports tickets (focus on individuals) are a true nuisance to both students and potential buyers. The amounts raised are typically small and are very labor intensive. So what is the solution?

The solution is for schools to define their community, to get commitment, and promote fundraising programs that provide a benefit to all involved.

Community

A school is not just students and teachers, it is also extended families of students, families of employees, friends, alumni and also the people who visit schools to compete. A 1500 student school is actually a community of 10,000 people or more. That community has a "common interest" and has purchasing power.

The school must act to "harness the power of community." Regardless of the fundraiser, the school must make every attempt to notify the community of their fundraiser. Home room flyer's, e-mail blasts, and phone calls by volunteers should be utilized to perform out-reach to the community.

Most high school fundraisers say the lack of communication is the main reason their efforts fall below expectations. Actually, it is communication and commitment which is lacking.

Commitment

The school must demand commitment from its community, especially students and parents. We say demand because the alternative is elimination of programs and possibly higher fees required by students. Pay for play is not an effective model for public schools.

The question arises, what do they commit to? It is difficult to gain commitment when you are forcing children to sell magazine subscriptions or chocolates as many schools do require. The school must implement a fundraiser which does not require selling or time consuming events. They must offer their community something that provides a benefit to each and every member of the community that participates. Of course, there must be a revenue opportunity for the school or program.

A simple (but ineffective) fundraiser is the "car wash". Typically students meet at a specified location, make card board signs, and hope to flag down enough cars to raise money. The only commitment here is that of the students. They wash cars, they make money for the school. This scenario that is widely utilized is completely flawed and is highly risky. Injury, damage to cars, or bad weather can make it a money loser. The return is not worth the risk, yet parents allow their children to participate and school staff support and manage it.

What the car wash fundraiser proves, however, is that students are motivated to participate, but its the schools job to utilize their enthusiasm in the right way to raise money.

Promotion

Take the enthusiasm of the "cheerleaders" doing the car wash and put them in the middle of your down town. A Saturday afternoon in most shopping districts has a flow of casual shoppers who are approachable. Safely done in groups, these "promoters" of your fundraiser can create a buzz in the community. If done on a recurring basis, many local businesses, merchants and consumers  will be curious as to what they are doing.

A fundraiser must have defined goals and a central coordinator. The coordinator can schedule teams to go into the community, each and every week . A 1500 student high school can have as many as 800 to 900 athletes. If each student, in return for reduced fees for their sports program, agreed to promote the fundraiser for 3 hours, how effective would it be? That is almost 3000 hours of promotion in a community.

So now we have the commitment, the promotion, the community, but what can they promote?

What  medium  can provide a benefit to the community, family, schools and local business?

Finding the Right Fundraiser.

We now have come full circle. Private schools for years reach out to their graduates and the general business  community for funding. Public schools can do the same but they have not built those relationships. They should start immediately to get alumni and the business community active in their schools. It is essential now more than ever.

Does the school collect parental occupational information and have it stored in a central database? It is certain that the private schools know the occupations of the parents and alumni, but does the public school? Knowing who is involved directly in your school community is the base for the beginning of an ongoing fundraising effort.

A survey of occupations of parents  will most likely uncover all types of professionals and business owners. Taking it a step further, close relatives may also be business owners and serve your community. Key is collecting the information and communicating to these businesses your fundraising needs and providing something of value in return. Then going deeper into your community with more aggressive promotional programs to sign up other businesses in the community.

Today there are a number of programs which can build ongoing revenues without being a burden to any of the participants. Mingamo, www.mingamo.com offers online digital coupons where business pays monthly subscription fees to post local coupons. Schools share in the monthly  subscription fees. The only real requirement the school has is to actively promote the program to their community. Parents, students, and the entire community commit to using coupons to save money. It is not unrealistic to have a school sign up 100 or so businesses on a program like Mingamo while collecting on average $25.00 per month for each account. Could your school use an extra $2500 per month to help support school programs?

Other similar programs are e-scripts, www.escrip.com where a percentage of money spent at member locations goes directly to the school of your choice.

School heart.com offers a coupon card, however, students pay a yearly $25.00 fee to use the cards.

Again, to be successful, the school must ask for commitment from the entire school community. Every effort and medium should be used to explain the exact need for funds and how the program will benefit the school. The school should do active promotions throughout the community. The more visible the efforts of the school the more likelihood that local business will realize there is an advantage to participating in funding school programs.

If done properly, athletic booster clubs, music programs, and school administers can create measurable, recurring revenue. By performing ongoing promotions, these revenues can continue to grow with minimal intrusion placed upon students and parents. Schools can effectively reduce participation fees to an affordable level for most students. Families can save money using valuable coupons. Merchants and business can drive consumers to their place of business while creating access to a growing, common market.