3 Things that Make a School Fundraising Company Successful


fundraising for schools
Spread the love

Does your current school fundraiser company have these traits?

When it comes to fundraising for schools, many have been working with the same company for years. Things have been going pretty well with relatively minor issues along the way. This is all you can ask for. After all, raising money is not something you want to spend a lot of time on. Just put the car in drive and go.

Still other groups are not so fortunate. Either they aren’t satisfied with their results or they end up running into surprises that their company failed to communicate, or feel short on.

So how do you know when you’ve found the best school fundraising company? When you search Google there are literally millions of results. So how do you narrow down your options?

Statistics report that approximately 90% of people searching the web won’t venture past page one. Does this mean that the best alternatives are always going to be on the first page? Maybe, maybe not.

And to make matters even more challenging, fundraiser companies usually post biased information. In other words, they only want you to know the good stuff. This makes it hard to know who’s really telling the truth and who isn’t. And with so many partial promises aimed at trying to win you over, what’s really going to happen?

There’s more to choosing the right company besides offering the biggest sales brochure, the most exciting prize program, or even the most profit.

Many schools feel good about their initial selection only to experience frustration during the process and ultimately end up regretting their choice.

See also  The Power of Blooket Code: Supercharge Your Learning Experience

So what’s the best way to choose a fundraiser company?

Here are 3 important school fundraising ideas that you should put at the top of your list.

1. Strong School Fundraising Reviews

The company that you are looking at should be able to easily provide a minimum of 3 references from other schools similar to yours. Many companies also post customer reviews on their website; however, even reviews won’t give you the same information that you can get by talking directly to a sponsor.

Be sure to talk to at least 2 schools who’ve used the company you’re considering. This way you’ll find out if there are any troubling patterns that you may need to be concerned about. To help make your interview more effective, take the time to create a list of questions beforehand. Here are some examples:

  • What was the quality of the merchandise? Did you have any complaints?
  • How did students respond to the prize program?
  • Tell me how your delivery went?

Speaking of star ratings, an even more unbiased perspective is to see if the school fundraising company has any Google reviews. You can usually find this out by typing in the name of the company and the street name.

2. Customer Service is a Top Priority

All companies make themselves appear to care about this up front. They sound really concerned and make a lot of wonderful promises. However, the true litmus test is how they hold up during and after your fundraiser. Your interview questions to any school that’s already worked with the company should also cover this area. For example:

  • How would you rate the customer service you received?
  • How fast did you get a response to your questions?
  • Did the company do what they said that they would do?
  • If there were any issues, what was done and how quickly was it resolved?
  • On a scale of 1 to 5, what kind of star rating would you give the company?
  • Did the company ultimately do what they said that they would do?
See also  Launching Online Courses

We always say that nobody wants surprises, especially unpleasant ones. This is one reason many schools play it safe and stay with the same company year after year. Even if their fundraiser doesn’t bring in the amount of money they really want, it’s sometimes easier just to stay put. Earning trust is always more difficult than keeping it.

A red flag should go up if you are interviewing a new company and they seem more focused on how good their catalogs are without discussing much about how their process works. The company should be able to discuss how they will help your sale run smoother.

For instance, what helpful fundraiser sales tools will they provide, and why? Even if your sale goes well, if you experience lots of issues along the way, you won’t be thinking about the money you made.

And to help you maximize your profits, what school fundraising ideas do they offer that can grow your sale?

3. Fundraiser Sales Goal Focused

If the company says you’ll raise lots of money working with them because they have a better catalog, run for the hills. Or, ask them to prove it by providing actual sales results for schools just like yours. You’ll be amazed at how quickly this will leave most companies speechless.

What separates a really good school fundraiser company from everyone else is they’ll work with you to develop an effective game plan based on your specific needs. And they’ll help ensure that your plan stays on track towards achieving your financial goals and objectives.

See also  Mastering the SAA-C03 AWS Certified Solutions Architect Exam: Your Comprehensive Guide to Success in Education

Good companies also ask a lot of questions to find out your particular concerns and potential hurdles. The purpose of this is to gain important insight so they help create a plan that will achieve your objectives. Some of the questions that you should expect are:

  • How many students do you have at your school?
  • How much money did you raise with your last fundraiser? Were you pleased with your results?
  • What product line did you sell and what was the response from your customers?
  • Did your students have an individual sales goal?
  • What did the students and parents think about the incentives?
  • Did you set an overall group goal?
  • Did you promote your sale before your kickoff? If so, what did you do?
  • Did you have a purpose for your sale and how was it promoted?
  • How did you promote your sale to your students? What did you do and how often did you do it?
  • Did you offer any additional fundraiser incentives to attempt to bring in more money? If so, what were they, and would you use them again?

Fundraising for schools can be a challenge but make sure you find the right company that will effectively support your campaign from start to finish.


Spread the love

Selim Khan

Hi,I am Selim Khan Dipu. I am a professional freelancer and blogger. I have 5 years of experience in this section.Thank You So Much