Preschool Fundraising Planning Guide
Your FREE Preschool Fundraising Planning Guide
Are you looking for effective and profitable fundraising ideas for your preschool? Look no further! In this planning guide, Joe Wolpin of Fundraisingzone.com will share some valuable insights to help you organize a successful fundraising event that will generate the funds you need for your preschool programs and activities.
Set Goals
First and foremost, it’s essential to set clear goals for your fundraising event. Determine how much money you need to raise and what specific programs or activities you want to fund with the proceeds. Having clear goals will help you stay focused and motivated throughout the fundraising process.
Who are your best donors?
Next, consider your audience and tailor your fundraising event to their interests and needs. For example, if your preschool serves a predominantly young parent population, you may want to consider hosting a family-friendly event such as a bake sale or a carnival. Alternatively, if your preschool serves a more diverse community, you may want to consider hosting an auction or a gala event.
Set a time and location
Once you have a clear idea of your goals and your audience, it’s time to start planning the logistics of your fundraising event. This includes determining the date, time, and location of the event, as well as recruiting volunteers to help with setup, marketing, and sales.
When it comes to marketing your event, be sure to utilize all available channels, including social media, email, and flyers. Consider partnering with local businesses or organizations to help spread the word and gain more exposure for your fundraiser.
Show gratitude
Finally, be sure to express your gratitude to all of your supporters, whether they contributed financially or volunteered their time and resources. A simple thank you note or a public acknowledgment of their contributions can go a long way in building relationships and fostering a sense of community among your preschool supporters.
In summary, successful preschool fundraising requires clear goals, tailored planning, effective marketing, and gratitude towards your supporters. With these strategies in mind, you can organize a profitable fundraising event that will help your preschool thrive and provide high-quality programs and activities for years to come.
10 action steps for success
Research has shown that children’s lifelong well-being is positively associated with early childhood services, including formal schooling such as preschool. So planning is the key to success when it comes to implementing your preschool fundraising ideas. Feel free to use this preschool fundraisers planning guide checklist below. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us on our 800 phone number.
1- Select your preschool fundraising team
It all starts with leadership.
Your success is 100% dependent on the fundraising team that you choose to run your program. That is why it is essential to take the time to select fundraising members that are team players.
Think about asking preschool teachers, assistants, and parents to join your fundraising board. Furthermore, consider asking local business owners in your community if they would be willing to help.
Here are some questions to ask before selecting members for your team:
- Are the team players?
- Do they play nicely with others?
- Do they have the reputation of being punctual? Remember, If a person can’t be punctual, you will not be able to count on them when you need them.
- Are they hard workers?
- Will they be willing to jump in and do whatever is required?
Now that we have our team, let’s go to the next step in this preschool fundraising planning guide.
2- Assign Roles to each of your preschool fundraising team members
Look at the strengths and weaknesses of every member of your team objectively. Remember everyone has a unique skill to bring to the table. So match up the right skills with the right position on your fundraising board.
- Chair person: You want a person with the reputation of being a good organizer and coordinator. They should be excellent communicators. Furthermore, they should also be good delegators. And finally, they should welcome ideas and feedback from the rest of the board without dominating the fundraising meetings.
- Treasurer: This person should be excellent with numbers. Additionally they should also be honest and trustworthy since they will handle the money that you collect. And finally, they should be detail-oriented. This will come in handy when you are collecting payment for fundraising merchandise that your students will sell.
- Marketing: This person should be an outgoing communicator. It will also be helpful if they are good at making signs, and posters, as well as posting on social media. Furthermore, it will be helpful if they can talk to local business owners to see how they can help your preschool raise the money you require.
- Trainer: You will need someone to conduct traising with your students. They need to understand how to approach people with your fundraising message. We can’t emphasise this enough. You want a patient person that is willing to train others.
Now that we have our roles assigned, let’s go to the next step in this preschool fundraising planning guide.
3- Choose a theme for your preschool fundraiser.
So, why are you holding your fundraiser event?
- Is it to help a local cause like an animal shelter?
- Or perhaps do you want to help a family raise money for cancer treatments?
- Or are you raising money to help defray costs for preschool supplies and art supplies?
The next thing to do is to pick a theme for your fundraiser. Brainstorm ideas to pick the perfect theme for your event.
For example, here are a few preschool fundraising theme ideas to get your juices flowing:
- Pennies for Pooches: You can use this for a penny drive for your local animal shelter.
- Save a Child Cancer Drive: You can use any of our fundraising catalogs to help raise money for sick children in your neighborhood.
- Popcorn for Playgrounds: You can sell gourmet popcorn to raise money for playground sand and for new playground equipment.
- Coffee for Crafts: Your budding artist needs art and craft supplies. Try a coffee fundraiser to help raise the money.
- Toys for tots. Perfect for the holiday season.
Now that we have our theme, let’s go to the next step in this preschool fundraising planning guide.
4- Find volunteers for your preschool fundraising event.
Start with the obvious and solicit help from all of the employees at your preschool center.
Is there a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) associated with your preschool? If there is, ask for volunteers.
Next, send out a parent letter announcing your fundraiser. If you need help writing one, you can look at a sample parent fundraising letter here. (By the way, when we work together, we will be happy to write the letter for you).
Now that we have our volunteers, let’s go to the next step in this preschool fundraising planning guide.
5- Choose the perfect fundraiser for your preschool center.
What have you done in the past that has been successful? If it worked in the past, it will most likely work in the future. So, schedule a time during the year to repeat this successful preschool fundraiser. Additionally, we encourage you to schedule other fundraising events during the course of the year.
Check out what other parents and teachers have done as you research preschool forums and Internet sites. Can you copy any of these ideas for your preschool center?
Finally, we provide a free fundraising brainstorming session to help you select the perfect fundraising brochure for your preschool center. From trail mix to gift wrap, we have a fundraising program for everyone.
Some additional tips to help you choose the perfect fundraiser
First of all, make sure it is a profitable fundraiser before you start it.
For example, our fundraising brochures offer you up to a 52% profit on the resale.
Furthermore, never sign up with a preschool fundraising company that requires you to pay money up front before you begin. There should be no upfront costs to your preschool center.
Additionally, you can get a good checklist to use to pick the right preschool fundraising company over here.
Now that we have our perfect fundraiser, let’s go to the next step in this preschool fundraising planning guide.
6- Schedule your events on your fundraising calendar
This is an easy one.
For example, early spring is the perfect opportunity to hold a car wash fundraiser or a yard sale fundraiser. Additionally, we have a spring fundraising brochure that sells flower seeds and flower bulbs.
Winter is a perfect occasion for a gift wrap fundraiser. The biggest mistake is that some preschool centers don’t allow enough time beforehand for the product to be delivered on schedule. Typically, we need 90 days from the start of the mailing fundraising brochures to the delivery of fundraising products in time for the holiday season.
What does that mean for your preschool center? The time to get started is right now. Procrastinating even a few days could mean missing out on the next holiday season. However, don’t fret because we have many fundraising ideas that can be run throughout the entire school year.
Now that we have our event scheduled, let’s go to the next step in this preschool fundraising planning guide.
7- Market your preschool fundraiser.
Get everyone involved. You can have the children make flyers and posters. Talk to local business owners and ask if you can put flyers in their businesses to hand out to their customers. Additionally, be sure to advertise on Facebook, instagram and email too. Ask your friends to share your posts with their friends as well.
8- Will you institute a prize program to reward the top seller?
Many day care centers have had success setting up a price program to incentivize their sellers. When sellers get to win prizes, they will push themselves to sell even more product. This means everyone wins.
Here is a good example of a fundraising prize incentive program that we offer.
9- Train your preschool fundraising volunteers
Did you know that one of the biggest reasons your volunteers may give up is because of a lack of training?
First of all, you must educate the parents.
How do you do this? Remember to include the big reason why you’re holding a fundraiser. You must tell the story for your fundraiser if you want the parents to rally behind you and support you. One of the biggest mistakes preschools make is to forget to tell their story. If you miss this then kiss your fundraisers success goodbye.
Additionally, you must train your volunteers.
Once you have your volunteers, assign them roles and responsibilities. Be sure to train them to do what is required, otherwise they may get frustrated. Finally, you need to train your sellers to tell your story too. In their sales pitch, they will need to explain why they are holding a fundraiser.
Here are some of the examples of why a preschool center might hold a fundraiser:
- We are selling gourmet cookie dough in order to help pay for our new playground equipment. Your donation will help your children to get outdoor exercise.
- We are selling gourmet popcorn to help buy sand for our playground. Your purchase will help the children to play safely.
- We are selling gourmet coffee to help pay for our class trip to the zoo. Your purchase will help pay for the transportation costs
10- Using free catalog fundraising brochures
- Hand a brochure to every student.
- Instruct the parents to simply show the brochure to their friends, families, neighbors and coworkers.
- Have them explain why you are having a fundraiser.
- Have them collect payment in advance for every purchase.
- We will ship out your merchandise ASAP.
- Finally, distribute your fundraising items to each of your customers. Be sure to thank them for their support.
We hope you have found this preschool fundraising planning guide helpful.
- You can download a free copy of your catalog fundraiser checklist here…
- You can also order your free preschool fundraising kit here…
If we can be of any assistance to you in planning your next preschool fundraiser, please feel free to reach out to us by email or by phone.
One of our fundraising experts would be delighted to answer all of your questions.