fundraisingYou have probably heard about Causera.org, the great online platform dedicated to making fundraising easier. Even if you haven’t, though, you will be interested to hear that about a month ago the platform carried out a survey among 1,000 parents and the results are out. Overall, it appears that the situation with fundraising at schools is quite good at the moment (as you can see in the inforgraphic below), but there is more work to be done if we want to make it perfect. Read on to find out more about the results and the future of school fundraising.

Fundraising is a good thing!

Not surprisingly, parents are happy for their children’s schools to fundraise. According to them, fundraising is a normal and common event nowadays and it is good for the students – if the school has a bigger budget, it will be able to provide a better education. So, here are some figures:

  • 77% of the surveyed parents are of the opinion that schools should fundraise and are ready to help with it.
  •  80% think that more funds will improve their children’s performance.
  • 96% of the parents said that their children’s school already fundraises.
  • 89% already participate in the fundraising events by planning them, helping with the selling of goods or donating.
  • However, only 40% reported that the fundraising activities are a regular thing.
  • Another 43% stated that the school holds fundraising events only occasionally.
  • 13% rarely see fundraising activity at their schools.
  • Parents like fundraising because it will give the school more funds (56%); they can give back (45%); they can take advantage of deals or products on offer (43%); they can spend quality time with their children (41%). 

What is being done?

One of the most important things about fundraising is that it should be planned and executed carefully. Organising a fund-raising event means taking a number of important decisions starting with the type of event. Here are the most popular options these days:

  • Selling products: 58% of the schools organise selling events and sell different products, such as cookie dough or donuts.
  • Selling spirit gear: 55% of the schools do this, but it is believed to be a means of building pride in their community rather than fundraising.
  • 38% offer dining discounts and 36% do scrip and online mall programs.
  • Another 36% directly ask for the money they need.
  • 36% organise paid and community events
  • 31% are fans of the auctions.

What needs to change?

So far, all looks great, doesn’t it? However, there are certain sides of fundraising that are not too popular amongst parents and these will need to change for better and more successful fundraising experience. One of these is the way fundraising is carried out – while many schools do product sales or directly ask for money, it appears that 30% of the parents don’t like that. Apparently, the best options for them are scrip and online mall programs (preferred by 87%) paid and community events (84%) and spirit gear sales (82%).

There are also certain reasons why parents don’t like fundraising in its current state:

  • 39% think fundraising requires too much effort.
  • 60% don’t like the idea to do door-to-door fundraising or to ask friends to donate.
  • 45% experience difficulties when trying to find volunteers.

Conclusion

To wrap it up, Causera found out that school fundraising is not in a bad state. However, its future is bound to change with parents looking for alternative ways to fundraise. Door-to-door activities will probably be replaced with online and mobile tools, the product sales will be turned into spirit gear sales and instead of just asking for money, schools will have to be creative and find a more interesting way to collect donations. It certainly is a way to go, but what’s been achieved so far is good, so ‘Good job!’ to all those schools that make the effort of fundraising.