About successfully executing primary school fundraising projects

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Getting by or surviving is simply not adequate. If you would like your school to thrive you need to construct a firm fundraising and development network thereby enabling yourself to focus less on the bank balance and more on the mission, programs, and certainly the students’ requirements and progress. Here are five key fundraising principles that you’ll need to inculcate into your primary and private school fundraising culture in order to make these initiatives thrive. Fundraising isn’t evil. This may seem like an obvious enough point but pause for a moment there and digest that. Independent schools are often unfairly ostracized if they attempt to implement private school fundraising ideas. All people, regardless of being affiliated to private or public primary schools, including those who fundraise for a living, need to hear this...fundraising isn’t evil! It isn’t bad at all, it’s not soiled, and neither is it beneath you. Here’s the kicker: What the school does matters. It’s really as basic as that. Take a moment to ponder about your firm’s mission...what it is it exactly that you do? Are you making a difference in the lives of the young folk that you educate? Your work does matter! If the mission matters then the primary school fundraising matters too. It’s hard to serve the children and families in the community or perform the duties that you do without funds and if fundraising seems like the best option moving forward then why not? Think about what you would be able to do at your school if you were able to raise more money. You could offer more and better programs, increase the salaries of your staff, offer more scholarships, and do more good for your community overall. When it is put that way, doesn’t it sound like fundraising is extremely important? It sure must. If, in the process of executing private school fundraising ideas you ask a parent, alum, or supporter for a gift and the response is “no” there’s definitely no reason to feel icky. Actually, you should feel good; you tried to raise money via school fundraising in order to change lives. You can always look at your cultivation process and assess if it was lacking somewhere but you should never feel bad about fundraising. Plans do matter. Many primary school fundraising projects start on a dream, but devoid of a plan. The founding board members and staff pull together and coax the school into raising whatever is needed to through a fundraising event. The organization does well to get off the ground but the fundraising activities continue, without much of a plan. Down the road a few plans get sketched out (usually revolving around when the event’s climax happens or sending out of letters) but these are done piecemeal and usually without much thought about a comprehensive strategy. In the event that the raises enough money, time will be taken to write out a full, comprehensive fundraising plan (sometimes, which is galling, using paid consultants) which will then be folded up, put on a shelf, and left there for the next 5 to 10 years until someone on the board inquires about the school’s fundraising plan. This is a mistake – one that expends time and money and which is bad enough considering that private school fundraising ideas are meant to make the most of both of these resources. By sticking to a solid plan a fundraiser is apt to become more of a success than in the case where no viable plans exist.