Categories: NewsAdministration

School fundraising: keeping it simple

<h2>Fundraising &&num;8211&semi; it’s the gritty reality of education today&comma; plugging the gap between state and federal funding&comma; and the cost of running a well-resourced school&period; It also requires a huge outlay of time and energy&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>How can schools run effective fundraising campaigns that don’t suck the life out of staff and volunteers&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In most schools&comma; the task of fundraising falls to the Parents’ &amp&semi; Citizens’ Association &lpar;P&amp&semi;C&rpar;&comma; and their efforts can make a colossal difference to the resources a school can provide for students&period; The traditional book fair&comma; for example&comma; can reap in excess of &dollar;10&comma;000 in a big primary school&period; And the annual school fair or fete&comma; a day of great excitement for children&comma; can be the most lucrative fundraiser of the year &&num;8211&semi; as well as providing an opportunity for the school to connect more closely with its wider community&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The challenge with fundraising is determining cost and profit&period; Bake sales&comma; for example&comma; are labour and cost intensive&comma; with the average contributing family spending around &dollar;10 in ingredients to contribute baking&comma; only to then send more cash to buy someone else’s &lpar;usually sugar-laden&rpar; baking&period; It could be argued that a more effective strategy would be to hold a No Bake Sale&semi; no one buys ingredients or bakes&comma; but everyone sends a dollar or two&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There are&comma; however&comma; fundraising opportunities that require minimal input from staff and volunteers&period; Online crowdfunding campaigns fit this bill perfectly&comma; allowing rapid sharing of information and collection of funds with as much or as little publicity as the donor prefers&period; A scan of the education entries on GoFundMe reveals this method to be gaining in popularity&comma; with pages of campaigns for school fundraising&period; Some schools need help with providing seemingly basic equipment&comma; for example&comma; air conditioning for a high school in tropical Queensland&comma; while others want to replenish supplies of gym equipment or specialist gear for children with additional needs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The flip side of the fundraising headache is the sense of belonging created when the staff&comma; pupils and families are supported by their wider community&period; Fundraising events can bring the whole community together and give children the message that their education is really worth investing in&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Remember also to look out for grants on offer in your school’s communities&period; A successful grant application can bring in more money for less work than a cake stall or fair&period; Hundreds of millions of dollars in education-related grants are available to schools each year from governments&comma; charities and the private sector&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"box shadow ">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"box-inner-block">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"fa tie-shortcode-boxicon"><&sol;span>&NewLine;<p><strong>Sipping milk to raise money for your school<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" wp-image-7813 alignright" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;school-news&period;com&period;au&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;SN04-ADMIN-FUNDRAISING-BOX-SIPAHH-3-300x213&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"656" height&equals;"465" &sol;>Sipahh Fundraising Ventures is a new fundraising program designed to help kids&comma; clubs and schools raise money for their causes through the sale of Sipahh Milk Flavouring Straws&period; With a 4&period;5 healthy star rating&comma; less than half a teaspoon of sugar per straw&comma; and nomination for &OpenCurlyQuote;best new fundraising company’ in 2016&comma; it’s a more wholesome&comma; healthy and unique way of fundraising&period; Sipahh provides two fundraising options&semi; first&comma; the Sipahh Fundraising Crates&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These cute fundraising crates enable everyone in the school or group to participate by selling little packs of Sipahh straws&period; Each crate contains 24 four-packs with a profit of &dollar;22 per crate sold&comma; a margin of 46 percent&period; The second option is to hold a Sipahh fundraising event at your school fete&comma; carnival&comma; market or special event&period; It involves raising money by selling glasses of milk with Sipahh straws&period; The vintage&comma; pop-up Sipahh Milk Bar is available to order online&comma; and combined with a wider selection of Sipahh flavours&comma; it makes for an exciting and unique way of fundraising&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Kids love Sipahh straws as they’re so unique and parents love them because they’re lower in sugar and more profitable than many fundraising options&period; Sipahh helps people drink more milk with less sugar every day&period; For a limited time&comma; Sipahh is offering eight free crates for every 40 ordered&period; That’s &dollar;380 additional profit for your fundraiser&period; &NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&NewLine;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"box shadow ">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"box-inner-block">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"fa tie-shortcode-boxicon"><&sol;span>&NewLine;<p><strong>Lighting up school events with risk-free fundraisers<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignleft wp-image-7814" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;school-news&period;com&period;au&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;SNAU04-ADMIN-FUNDRAISING-BOX-Everything-Glows-300x150&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"696" height&equals;"348" &sol;>Everything Glows&excl; products light up parties and events all around Australia&comma; and the company specialises in providing schools with fundraising opportunities&period; Product investment is low&comma; starting at less than &dollar;1 per item&comma; and cheerful &&num;8211&semi; items glow or flash&comma; allowing schools to make a good profit&period;&period; Most popular items include glowing paraphernalia &&num;8211&semi; sticks&comma; glasses&comma; earrings&comma; caps&comma; cups and bracelets&comma; and flashing novelties such as necklaces&comma; wands&comma; bubble guns and badges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Company spokesperson Paula House says&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Everything Glows&excl; provides material data sheets for all products&semi; checks all products for compliance with Australian Safety Standards&comma; and will advise clients about any restrictions that may be relevant for schools”&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Everything Glows&excl; provides schools with the flexibility and easy payment terms they need to take the hassle out of fundraising&period;” &NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&NewLine;

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Anna Clements

Anna Clements is the print and digital editor for School News, New Zealand. She has a background in newspapers, magazines and television, and spent six years working as an editorial advisor to a group ECE centres.

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