Are you involved with school fundraising projects? It’s often difficult in the real world to raise enough money for school projects or other initiatives through regular fundraising efforts. In the age of the Internet you can bring your school more money by taking the bulk of your fundraising effort online and generating interest in your campaign.

Traditional Fundraising Efforts

No matter how hard you work there’s only so much money you can raise in your local area. You can have the traditional bake sale or have a community car wash day but this usually doesn’t provide the school with the funds you need to meet your fundraising goals. When you need money for field trips and other school projects this can be difficult to achieve without enough funds coming in through your efforts.

The Internet

Online you can raise money quickly because you’re able to reach a very wide audience through your efforts. You can get more people interested in your project, even if they aren’t in the same locations you are. This is a very powerful way to raise money for your school and help meet the financial needs of the school so students can take those trips or get equipment they desperately need. Online fundraising websites such as Fundly can help you achieve this.

Why Go Online to Fundraise?

The main reason you should take your fundraising efforts online is the amount of money you can raise. With the Internet you can reach a great deal more people who might be interested in your project and the needs of your school. A regular fundraiser just doesn’t have the reach needed to bring the funds in that you need. Websites like Fundly allow you to do so many things to help you raise the finances needed.

With a site such as Fundly you can begin to raise your funds immediately after you sign up and start getting the income you need for your school projects and other plans. You can add videos, text, and images to your campaign in a few minutes so you can give the visitors to your campaign a multimedia experience. You have the ability to define custom levels of giving so people can donate as little or as much as they want to your cause. The Fundly site has social sharing features so you can send your fundraising effort to social media sites and gather even more support for your cause.

With the Fundly site you can use the dashboard provided for you to see how your campaign is doing and how many supporters you currently have. You can have your supports share your fundraiser through their own personal accounts such as Facebook and Twitter so your message spreads quickly online.

Starting a campaign on a site such as Fundly just makes sense as it offers you an amazing opportunity to reach many more people that are interested in supporting school fundraising causes such as yours but don’t know where to donate their money. Taking your fundraising online will help you reach these people and bring your school that needed money.

Combine Online and Offline Efforts

You can use online fundraising along with your regular local fundraising to bring even more money and support to your cause. You don’t need to give up your regular efforts when you go online you just get more options to raise money when you take the campaign online.

When your school is in need of funds for projects and more, you should consider raising money online using an online fundraising platform that makes fundraising for schools so much more efficient and productive for all involved. To learn more, check out one of the leading fundraising platforms, called Fundly today.

Fundraising for schools has come a long way from a campaign that is done in schools and communities through different events to being available online making it accessible to as many donors and interested fundraisers as possible. The Internet, but especially popular social media networks is an excellent place for you to advertise about your school fundraising campaign. There is no need for you to sell cookies and candy bars door to door for your school. Online fundraising for schools is a great, better and more lucrative alternative.

Some of the benefits of using the Internet to raise funds for school include not having products to sell, no upfront cost, no money to collect and no orders to list. Instead of using your energy and resources selling all those stuffs just to collect as much profit as you need, your time can be very useful in trying to make your website desirable and appealing to those who may be interested in giving their donations on it.

Creating a free fundraising website for your school is very easy given that the Internet provides free tools you can make use of. This can help teachers, students and parents to collect donations every time your supporter gives their donations online. Online school fundraisers have helped a lot of schools raise thousands of dollars each year and this is one very good reason on why you should consider using this as a way to collect funds for your school.

An online fundraising campaign has two unique aspects that will surely benefit your organization. First of all, there are no sign up fees, costs on memberships and other payments involved with joining. Secondly, there are many channels where you can advertise about your campaign such as the use of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter where everyone in the community can learn about the ongoing fundraising campaign of your school.

Fundraising for schools online can also spread your campaign more easily and students will be more motivated to participate in the campaigns as they can easily make some posts, tweets and comments about your fundraising campaign. The good thing about using the Internet to raise funds and find more donors is you get to provide them with the information they need before making their donations such as your mission or vision, your goals and your cause.

When the donor understands these details while browsing your website, they will be able to easily decide on whether or not they should give to your school. It is important to post some photos about your accomplishments as it will inform the donors where their donations have been used. When they are able to see their donations have been put to good use such as acquiring laboratory equipments, repairing buildings, buying books and other supplies or any other purpose, they will be more inspired to give continuously and support your campaign to raise money and make your school an excellent place for learning.

A lot of schools from all over the country have exploited the Internet in reaching out to their school fundraisers and donors and even in expressing their gratitude for the support they extend on them. 

Fundraising for schools can be made very easy for all involved when using a quality online fundraising platform to raise money online from your supporters via popular social media networks.

Anyone who’s been an elementary school or booster club parent – or a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or work colleague of one – braces for the time (times!) of the year when the order form comes home from school to raise money through product sales.  Whether it’s cookie dough, candy, entertainment books, wrapping paper, magazine subscriptions, or some other consumer item, this is big business!  School product fundraising is a $1.7 billion industry.

We can probably agree that public and private school systems don’t have enough money to fund education. Private funding gathered by school PTAs, PTOs, foundations or other parent organizations ensures kids don’t lack paper and pencils, music and visual arts, computers, and other components of a solid education.  However, we all secretly question why the de-facto standard in school fundraising is hawking goods.

This review is not meant to discourage ALL product fundraisers, but to help schools look carefully at the motivations, value, effort, and alternatives before continuing in that tradition.

Myth #1:  Product fundraisers make it easier for parents to ask for money.

Reality:  Let’s be real. Either parents are standing right behind their kids or doing all the fundraising on their own.  While it’s difficult for most people to ask for money, it’s often embarrassing for parents to make a phone call, go door-to-door, or office cube-to-cube selling goods in the “name of charity”.  While some feel a little more at ease offering something tangible in exchange for their friends’ money, we still dreadit.  That’s because in most cases, the people we’re asking don’t really want what we’re selling.  They could go down to the grocery store and buy a tub of Tollhouse cookie dough for $7 instead of spending $15 on ours.  Or they could go to Costco to get the entertainment book at a deep discount, if they even want it in the first place.  While parents typically reserve judgment for off-campus coffee talk and private venting sessions, a recent blog by The Stir asserted, with mommy comments chiming in, that product fundraisers are overdone.

Myth #2:  Selling cookie dough and wrapping paper is easy for volunteers.

Reality:  PTA chairpersons and volunteers work their fingers to the bone to support our kids. There is nothing quick and easy about sending out fliers to hundreds of students, collecting order forms, processing check or cash payments, tracking class or grade-level sales, placing the order with the fundraising corporation, receiving the order, and distributing the products to all those students (add more stress for frozen or refrigerated goods), then cutting the final check to the fundraising product corporation.  It’s plain time-consuming.

Myth #3:  Schools raise a lot of money on product fundraisers.

Reality:  Most parents are unaware or numbed to the real costs of product fundraisers.  Schools typically make between 25% and 50% “profit” on goods sold.  That means when my son sells a roll of wrapping paper for $8, his school gets to keep just $4.  Most parents feel compelled to purchase the products themselves, whether by perceived obligation or to help their kids win a prize.  If 200 families just donated that $8, instead of buying the product, the school would raise $800 more!

I’m not saying to quit product fundraisers cold turkey, but be selective.  Look for opportunities where there is true demand for the product or it fits a school initiative that the kids can stand behind.  At our school a few years ago, we tried with overwhelming success selling reusable bags by Mixed Bag Designs.  They were stylish, practical, and affirmed our schools’ “go green” initiative, and best of all parents came back clamoring for more.  We heard over and over again they were easy to sell, because people actually wanted to buy them.  Before continuing with or selecting a new product, survey parents for their level of interest.  Their frustration will only limit your school’s success.

Are we focusing on the wrong fundraising message?

Part of the problem is focusing so heavily on selling something rather than on the meaning and benefit behind a fundraiser – the support for a quality education for the kids.  A school walk-a-thon or jog-a-thon presents an opportunity to ask genuinely for financial support from family and peers, while assuring nearly all of the donation amount directly benefits the school.  By wrapping a fundraising campaign around a community or school event, we not only raise money, we also raise awareness within and outside of our community for needs in education.

There’s great news for schools already hosting an annual walk-a-thon type of event!

Online fundraising for schools can dramatically increase donations by making it possible for students (and their parents) to reach out to supporters through email and Facebook, quickly and easily getting donations by credit card.  It also alleviates work for the PTA!

A bonus benefit of the school walk-a-thon?  It burns calories as opposed to eating a tub of cookie dough one spoonful at a time!

Successful school fundraising is responsible for a variety of necessities, from outfitting school marching bands to properly equipping high school computer labs. The process of brainstorming, creating, and executing effective school fundraisers is a time consuming effort that depletes resources and the energy of those who invest to make them successful. Making use of the Internet is a new and effective way to raise school funds.

Conventional fundraisers take an incredible amount of effort that involves managing time, volunteers, resources, and finances. Balancing these factors – even with the help of a school fundraising committee – is crucial to an event’s success. Oftentimes, even the most careful planning cannot yield profitable results. This is more than flat out frustrating – it jeopardizes the needs of the school when financial goals cannot be met.

Online fundraising is easier for the same reason shopping online is – convenience. Online social fundraising platforms enable schools to create campaigns and easily manage them online, decreasing the work and increasing gain. With the prevalence of portable electronic devices like laptops, smartphones, and tablets, taking care of school fundraising details can be done from anywhere with Wi-Fi.

This portable option ensures that those in charge of school fundraising stay on top of every development. Using the online platform to employ the donations of Facebook and Twitter users significantly increases potential funds raised. Making use of popular social networks and other methods such as email allows schools to quickly and easily reach mass audiences of potential contributors in just moments.

Online school fundraising is also more convenient for contributors. With just a few simple button punches, donors can easily complete a transaction, donating exactly what they want from the privacy of their own home. Contributors will not have to set aside time in the day to attend an event. Instead online school fundraising gives individuals the option to log on and donate funds when it is the most convenient for their schedule.

Online social fundraising platforms make it simple with user-friendly options that make contributing straightforward and secure. Fundraising platforms such as Fundly.com have helped schools raise hundreds of millions of dollars just by using online methods. Sites such as this one take all the guesswork out of school fundraising. Adding this online option to other fundraisers will also help increase profits with very little effort.

By using the Internet, those in charge of school fundraising can achieve the same (and potentially bigger) effect as traditional fundraising using just a fraction of the effort. Online fundraising platforms help guide fundraising workers through each step of the process in order to set up easy online fundraising. This virtual method requires no extra volunteers, no additional purchases, and a lot less stress while still delivering maximum results.