Engaging parents in fundraising campaign efforts can be challenging. In this article, we show you the techniques to get parents and local businesses engaged with your fundraising process to create a more successful and profitable school fundraiser.

Community involvement is an essential part of creating successful school fundraisers. Working together is a fantastic way to create a strong sense of connection around the school, and when parents, friends and family, and businesses join forces, something much bigger than fundraising happens. This collaboration fosters a sense of shared purpose, leading to long-lasting relationships that benefit the school and community in the long run. Perfect!

TLDR;
There are three key concepts we need to understand to increase engagement in our school fundraisers.

Understanding your audience

• Identifying our primary audience and what motivates them to participate in the fundraising campaign.

Implementing effective fundraising strategies

• Personalising your communication, demonstrating the impact of their contributions, and promoting the campaign effectively within the community can contribute to the most profitable school fundraiser.

Nurturing lasting relationships within the community

• Building and strengthening relationships with parents and businesses by expressing gratitude, offering opportunities for active involvement, and maintaining consistent communication.

Understanding your audience

Who makes up our audience?

A successful school fundraising campaign begins with understanding who your audience is and what motivates them to get involved.

The Parents

Parents are deeply invested in their children’s education and are often willing to participate in various fundraising projects and contribute to fundraising activities.

Local Business

Businesses often use school fundraisers as an opportunity to contribute to their community and promote their business at the same time.

What motivates these groups to get involved in school fundraisers?

Understanding what motivates your audience to participate in the school’s fundraising efforts is important when tailoring your marketing approach and engaging each of these groups effectively.

Rosalie Allen, Chaplain of Narangba Valley State High School, is not a natural born promoter. In fact, she hates asking for money. But she found a way to fundraise in a fun way which achieved amazing results for her school. Read about the results she achieved below. 

NARANGBA VALLEY STATE SCHOOL CASE STUDY

• Total Funds Raised: $39,434
• Total Students: 1,200
• Average Amount Raised Per Student Online: $103
• # Students Who Raised Funds: 405
• Fundraising Event: Standard Fun Run
• Prize Selection: Traditional

The best part is that the parents go along and support their children. It connects the fundraising with the school community and parents during a wonderful event.

When asked about her experience with Australian Fundraising she said “(they) have been really helpful and supportive from start to finish over the years. The best part is they understand that the money we raise is great, but is not our sole motivator. It’s simply something that enables us Chappies to continue to do the work that we love.”

Rosalie Allen – Narangba Valley State School

Read full case study

“Our goal at Australian Fundraising is not just about raising funds; it’s about bringing communities together, inspiring engagement and instilling a shared dedication towards supporting our children’s education. When we all chip in, there’s no limit to what we can achieve together.” 

– Bill Gaydon, Founder, Australian Fundraising.

Creating an engaging marketing strategy

To market effectively, it’s important to create messages that resonate with your target audience. By using personalised communication and showing the real impact of their contributions, schools can boost participation and support. This approach ensures that fundraising messages not only get noticed, but also inspire action and create a genuine community connection around school initiatives.

Crafting personalised communication

One of the most effective ways to boost engagement and encourage parents to take action is to spend time personalising your communication.

Personal phone calls can be effective with parents and business owners. They create an instant personal connection that cannot be replicated with text or email. This personal touch makes parents and community members feel they are worth your extra time and effort to get them on a call.

Personal one-off emails make the recipients feel as if their time is worth your attention of writing an email directly to them. In this day and age, genuine, personal emails are quite rare and stand out from all the noise of marketing communication. If you want to get parents involved, this is a great place to start.

Meeting face-to-face is an extremely effective way to build relationships and show you are willing to put in the effort for your campaign. Planning out a morning and visiting a group of local shops and businesses can really move the needle for your efforts to raise money.

Show the impact of their contributions

Emphasising the importance of each donation can make a real difference in how people feel about their involvement. Highlighting how their contributions have affected your fundraising goal is a great way to reinforce that their participation has helped. This strategy reinforces the significance of collective effort and encourages parents and local businesses to take a more active role in fundraising activities.

Effective promotion of the campaign

Promotion plays an essential role in the success of your school fundraisers, and the aim is to reach the audience where they are most comfortable and most likely to actually receive the message. Social posts, local newspaper editorials, flyer drops and school and community newsletters.

Part 3: Building a relationship with parents and businesses

The importance of lasting relationships

Building and nurturing strong relationships with parents and local businesses is a long game, but vitally important to ongoing success with your school fundraising. Fostering a sense of belonging and continued contribution towards the school and its goals is worth the investment of time and effort.

As you move from campaign to campaign, being able to involve parents and local businesses in your journey is a great way to promote new fundraising events to the community.

Show your gratitude

One way to nurture these relationships is by regularly expressing gratitude for their contributions. This appreciation can be coupled with opportunities for active involvement in school events and regular updates on how their support is making a difference. These actions can foster a deeper relationship and increase their participation in future fundraising campaigns.

Consistent communication and appreciation

Consistent communication and sincere appreciation foster a sense of belonging and purpose. These elements of relationship building can significantly enhance parental involvement in the school community and maximise your potential for achieving our fundraising goals. To make the most of the opportunity, remember the importance of thanking everyone publicly on the day, and ensuring your list of sponsors and supporters is correct to make sure you don’t miss anyone.

Ask for input with fundraising ideas

Frequently Asked Questions

What role does social media play in school fundraising? 

By using social channels such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, you can significantly amplify your fundraising efforts by reaching the wider community quite quickly. It allows for regular updates to parents and family members, engagement through comments and shares, and direct links to donation pages.

How can storytelling be used to enhance my campaigns? 

Storytelling can emotionally connect donors to the cause by highlighting individual stories or specific benefits of the fundraising efforts. This method makes the need more relatable and urgent.

What are some creative incentives for donors in school fundraisers? 

Offering incentives like acknowledgments in school newsletters, donor walls, or small thank-you gifts can motivate higher contributions and foster a sense of community appreciation. If donors are businesses, they can achieve different levels of recognition as specific sponsorship amounts, for example; their own tent, banners, merchandise. 

How can we use email marketing effectively in our fundraising strategy? 

Email marketing should be personalised and segmented to target different groups within your community, such as parents vs. small businesses, ensuring the message is relevant to each segment. This is an added benefit of communicating to parents through the fundraising platform as they are particularly engaged.

Can digital fundraising platforms increase community participation? 

Digital platforms can streamline the donation process and provide tools for sharing campaigns on social media, potentially increasing participation by making it easier for community members to contribute and share.

What are some low-cost marketing strategies for school fundraisers? 

Using volunteers to help with flyer distribution, leveraging local community bulletin boards, and hosting informational booths at local events to engage parents and family members can be cost-effective ways to promote fundraising efforts. Senior students can be encouraged to visit classrooms to promote the fundraiser. Regular announcements can be made on parade. Encourage the younger students to draw a picture of what they think the fundraiser will look like with a small reward at the end. Rewards like ‘no homework’, and a ‘longer lunchtime’ can also be used to recognise different achievements. Classes can also celebrate with low-cost options like an ‘ice block party’ for achieving a certain milestone.

How important is it to have a clear call to action in fundraising communications? 

A clear call to action is crucial as it directs potential donors exactly how and where to contribute, reducing confusion and simplifying the donation process. It is important to set out tasks across the fundraising period to ensure things happen consistently. This is best achieved with a fundraising platform that will automatically remind you of what to do, including calls to action.

What are the benefits of partnering with local media? 

Local media partnerships can enhance visibility, lend credibility to fundraising efforts, and reach audiences that might not be active online or on social networks.

What is the impact of transparency on school fundraising? 

Being transparent about where funds are going and the impact they have encourages trust and can lead to increased and repeat donations, as donors feel more connected to the cause. The best results are achieved when everyone understands what the end goal of the fundraising is (eg. an upgraded playground), the cost of doing it, setting a goal for the fundraiser to assist with this, and then showing the progress of the fundraising.

Understanding our audience, implementing effective marketing strategies, and building strong relationships with parents and local businesses form a successful community-led fundraising initiative. The success of these campaigns is a shared victory. Through your active involvement and actions, we can tap into our community’s generous spirit.

Host a successful fundraiser that raises money and fosters a sense of unity and shared purpose. It’s more than just a fundraising campaign; it’s a celebration of your vibrant and diverse community, where each personal phone call, social media post, school event, or local business contribution brings you closer to achieving your school’s goals.