Sports Live Blog

Planning a fundraising campaign can be pretty frustrating. Here are seven helpful tips that will help make planning your fundraiser go smoothly and make it more profitable.

1.) Plan for a Huge Success

Efficient planning is an integral part to the success of not only your fundraising campaign but any project you might think of. Without a well thought out plan of action chaos will reign and your project will suffer as a result. In fact, you should have a primary plan as well as a secondary and tertiary as well.

2.) There can be Only One Chief!

It probably can go without saying, but, there can only be one captain of a ship and the same holds true for your fundraiser. Too many heads doing the planning is a recipe for failure.

3.) Delegate Authority

Assign specific tasks to people in whom you have confidence and trust. In your planning create a list of tasks that must be accomplished and choose personnel for each task. Ensure that each of your chosen staff understands that accountability for their assigned task falls squarely on their shoulders.

4.) Promotion is Key

Get the word out about your fundraiser. Proper promotion of your event will ensure that you reach your goal. Send out notices to local newspaper and radio stations. Don’t forget your own school web page is a great way to post your fundraiser and get the word out about it. The type of fundraiser you are planning will dictate if making flyers and asking local business to put them in their store windows would be helpful. There are a variety of ways to promote your fundraiser and you should take advantage of as many as possible.

5.) Pre-Sell for Success

This tactic will work effectively for any type of fundraising event. If your event is a dance, dinner, guest speaker, or other ticketed type of event you must pre-sell your tickets. Start the revenue stream long before the actual event. When items such as cookie dough are your main product line, start mentioning it to friends, family, and neighbors ahead of time.

6.) Multiple Income Streams

Try not put all of your eggs in one basket. Multiple income streams have been a recipe for success in business for quite some time and you should be planning your fundraiser just like a business. If all of your efforts are concentrated in only one program, something like a huge storm or tragic event in your town can divert attention away from your fundraiser and ruin the results you were expecting. Try using multiple events to your advantage. Conducting more than one fundraiser is an excellent way to reach your goal as quickly as possible and spread out some of the risk.

7.) Post Event Analysis

This is not part of the actual fundraiser, but this is something that you should not overlook. Analyze how each of your school fundraising efforts performed when it is finished. Which one raised your school the most money? Which one was the easiest to do? You can use your analysis of your current campaign to enhance future fundraising efforts. It is also helpful to make notes in a journal for the next board to view in case all the faces on the board change next year. This way they don’t have to re-invent the wheel like you did.