Simple Tips To Fundraise For Your School
We all know the sadly too often stresses and strains on the school budget and we also know the limited time for overworked staff and volunteers. So we scoured the internet to find the best tips and tools to help your Canadian school fundraise.
As they say: ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees’! So where do you get all that cash? Below you’ll find ideas to help with your situation.
As they also say: ‘Time is money’ so best you get going too!
- Hold a garage sale with donated items. This is a great way to raise a lot of money. Get people to donate extra items (the kind of stuff that lies around collecting dust in the garage) and hold a giant sale at your school (especially indoors for those colder/wetter months!). It’s a great way for every member of your school to donate something and be involved, hold a donation drive. Be sure to advertise the sale so that lots of people will come. You’ll be able to raise lots of money very quickly and remaining items can be returned or passed on to charities or thrift stores.
- Feed people at events ….like your garage sale! Forget the bake-sale. Baking items are expensive. Instead, set up a hot dog station. Ask for donations of large quantities of hot dogs, buns, and condiments from local grocery stores or restaurants, or you can buy these yourself from wholesalers like Costco. Advertise your event well or set up in a space that gets a lot of foot traffic and begin selling dogs. Don’t forget to let people know what you’re raising the money for and what stores might have helped you put it together!
- Be handymen. Get you and your volunteers together and sell vouchers for handymen services. You can mow lawns, change light bulbs, unclog drains or toilets, or paint a small room. You can sell these vouchers door-to-door or through your place of business. A great way to connect with your community while offering further value, if you are time rich but cash poor this is a great options but be clear about your services to maximise results.
- Set up URstore. URstore is a great way to earn and create passive income, it’s free to set up and there are no hosting or running fees. Your school can get their own online store simply and it takes minutes to set up so no hassle for your volunteers and staff.
Due to the unique way URstore works you don’t have any minimum orders or stock issues as you pay nothing upfront, you’ll also make money while you sleep! As your customers shop for high quality low cost branded schoolwear and apparel you’ll get a commission cheque for every item bought through your school’s store. Leveraging your audience and supporters for the benefit of the school while reducing headaches of hours spent in fulfilment and organisation while your staff 
and volunteers can focus on 1,2,3 on this list tripling you ability to generate revenue. As we said before ‘Time is money’ and URstore saves you time while giving you money! Try it today we’re sure you’ll be happy with the results! www.urstore.ca Once set up, all you need to do is promote it, make sure you have a link clearly on your website, email your community to tell them of the offers that are regularly available and how to get to the online store, connect your social media to ensure everyone knows how to help your school. - Market to Your Audience We’ve talked about this all the way alone but it’s so key to meaningfully benefiting from your (you and your volunteers/staff’s) hard work we feel it’s right to make it a point in itself.
Make a solid effort to tell your community/audience what you are doing and how they can help. Put up posters, get on message boards, email your network (mailchimp is a great tool and free up to 2000 members), make road signs leading up to your event, get on social media, create an event on Facebook and invite your networks. Simply do everything you can to tell the audience what you are promoting and why, of course not spam people as it’s a quick way for them to not engage with you, an email every day is a sure fire way to turn people off very quickly.
However appropriate communications with a solid understanding of your cause and a great explanation of why you need the money will make people more willing to give money to your cause especially if they feel you know what you are doing, build their confidence in you to help them donate and support more.
