School fundraising I
n today’s economic climate, it can often be difficult for schools to raise the funds necessary to give their students the sort of enriching extra- curricular activities which many want to. Education Today recently caught up with Sue Jones, 6th Form Enrichment & Community Links, at Penketh High School in Warrington, to find out how her students work together to raise funds for such activities.
“I first started fundraising with my students at Penketh High School in Warrington in 2006 when I started planning our first World Challenge expedition. Our school isn't the kind of school where parents can afford to spend thousands of pounds sending their children on overseas expeditions; but I believe that these are valuable experiences that really benefit young people as part of a well-rounded education. I work closely with each group to spend two-years fundraising to pay for the expedition and to support the community project that they get involved with as part of the trip.
“Getting involved in fundraising gives the students added benefits far beyond the process of actually raising the money. They learn to work in a team, taking on a leadership role for certain activities but then also being an effective team- member and delivering on their responsibilities. “It is also a great way of developing financial awareness and budgeting skills. The students are responsible for monitoring progress against their target and planning how much they need to raise through each activity. They also need to think about profit and expenditure from events, for example if they are buying in refreshments for an event how much do they need to sell them for to make a good profit whilst making them affordable for guests.
“For schools thinking about getting students involved in big fundraising projects - whether it is for an overseas expedition, to support the school or helping a charity - here are my top tips:
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Create a varied programme of activities. To raise bigger sums of money you need to make sure that you are planning a range of different activities that target a range of different people. If you ask the same people to join in with the same activities time and time again, of course people will be less likely to get involved. Think not just about the types of activity that you can do, but also what people would want to take part in or attend.
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www.education-today.co.uk October 2014 10 2 3
Limit the amount of sponsored activities. I limit our World Challenge groups to one sponsored activity each per year such as a climb up Snowdon in Wales. This is a great activity to take part in because it not only helps with team- building but is also great preparation for the physical challenge of the trek ahead of them. However, too many sponsored activities mean you are relying on asking the same people to put their hands in their pockets every time.
ways to improve fundraising in your school 4
Make sure students know what is expected of them. We generally have a two year fundraising cycle (although when we decided to go to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, we took three years to raise the money for this more expensive trip). Students need to be in it for the long-haul and to be able to pull their weight, not relying on other people to put in the work for them. At the beginning of the two year cycle I set each student a challenge over the summer holidays to raise the £250 for their deposit. I clearly explain to parents that they can help their child as much as they want, but to bear in mind that this is a two year project and that they need to be reassured that their child has the drive and motivation to take on the challenge.
Kick off a long-term fundraising project with a big event to bring everyone together. I traditionally work with my groups to put on a race night involving the whole group and their parents during the first September. This brings everyone together, creates a bit of a buzz about the project and gives students the inspiration for their individual fundraising as well as giving their friends and relatives an insight into what they will be doing over the coming two years. Race nights are easy to run and as a school you probably won't even need to pay for a venue. I now have good links with a contact who runs race nights who does us a great deal for his services, the students (and their parents) then have the responsibility for selling tickets to the event and selling jockeys for each race as well as arranging refreshments, car-parking, room set-up etc. I have found that a race night can easily raise £1,500 for your project.
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Think about the types of activities that would benefit the community. A really popular fundraising event I have introduced is running a regular car boot sale at the school. No outdoor car boots run in our area in the winter and so we have set up an indoor one with six events per year.
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