Home Shop now & Support Your Group

Class Fundraisers

It's the end of the senior year and the class is planning a trip together but they face a common dilemma, lack of funding. School budgets don't typically include money for class trips or other outside projects. However, this does not mean all is lose; there are class fundraisers that can be held to raise the money needed to take the trip.

The class should have someone in charge of the project who will oversee it and help keep it on track. This person may also be the one responsible for choosing the project. There are some tips and ideas that have been gathered from other class fundraisers and school fundraisers that will help make the project a success.

Planning is the number one tip that all successful fundraisers share. Planning and organizing should start six months or more before the actual fundraising project is to start. One way of determining when to start planning for the fundraiser is to use the initial signup for the trip as the day the class fundraiser kick-off meeting is held. Planning early allows students plenty of time to raise the money they need for the trip and also gives the community plenty of information about why a fundraiser is coming and how important it is.

Create a plan and put it on paper. It's too easy to forget who is in charge of what if it isn't written down. Detail the fundraisers rules, the start and ending dates and make it known that they are not flexible dates. If the school requires permission slips, make sure they are on file for each student.

It is important that parents be aware of what their children are doing, regardless of how old the students are. Keep parents informed and in the loop on the class fundraiser and on how it is being handled. Schools should also make sure parents and students understand that should the student withdraw from the planned event the funds still remain property of the school.

The team leader should make sure that someone is keeping accurate records of all financial dealings involved with the fundraiser. There should only be one record keeper and perhaps one to audit the records to insure accuracy. This person should record all monies collected and receipts for all monies spent. This is the only way to get an accurate record of what the class fundraiser accomplishes.

Safeguards should be in place to insure that students don't become overloaded with money to keep up with by limiting the amount of products they have to sell. Once they turn in the money for those they can be issued more. If the class fundraiser is a catalog sale, the leaders must enforce a date to have money turned in and not bend. If the money is not turned in then the products will not be ordered. This protects the team from being responsible for covering money owed but not collected.

Set goals for students to reach. Students will push themselves harder when they have a goal to work toward. If possible, pre-determine how much money is needed and divide that by the number of students. This is the amount each student should strive to reach. Some students might not reach the goal but there will inevitably be students who go beyond the goal and balance the numbers.

Following advice and tips from other groups who have successful held class fundraisers is a simple step to insuring the success of the class fundraiser, regardless of what the funds are being use to do for the class.