An Educator’s Guide to Fundraising

As a coach, educator, or advisor for a student organization, we understand that you may wear a lot of hats! Often times, fundraising can be a challenging task that requires a lot of forethought and planning. Unfortunately, as costs for student participation in extracurricular activities increase, so will the need for fundraising.

In this article, we will walk you through the process of planning and executing fundraising activities for your student group.

Step 1: Identify Costs

It is crucial to gather all relevant costs that your student group will be responsible for. This may include hotel, transportation, substitute teacher, registration, and other fees. Once you have identified all of your costs, add them up to find the total expenses your organization is responsible for.

Any financial support that you may receive is important to factor in. Financial support can include support from your school, community foundation, A student group grant from MiYEF, corporate sponsors, and more. After adding up your total amount of financial support, subtract your funding from your overall costs. This makes up your total cost and is what your students and their families are responsible for.

Step 2: Determine Target Cost and Fundraising Need

Now that you have calculated your total expenses and total financial support, it is now time to calculate the target cost for this event per student participant. If you want students to participate with zero out of pocket costs, then the difference between your expenses and support will be your fundraising goal. However, If your goal is to reduce the cost of participating for students, then you will need to use the formula below:

You can find your fundraising goal by selecting a target cost and using the following equation:

Cost per Student= (Expenses – Support)/Total Participants

Fundraising Goal = (Cost per Student – Target Cost)* Total Participants

Step 3: Planning

Since you have determined your fundraising goal, you can start thinking about what fundraisers might work for your organization. If you have a large fundraising goal (which varies based on several factors), you will need to plan a more involved fundraiser or multiple smaller fundraisers. Depending on how many volunteers (parents, students, and staff), will depend on the complexity of fundraising. You can check out our Fundraising ideas list here.

You may want help planning and executing your fundraiser. We recommend at least 5 volunteers for fundraisers $1,000 or less, and more than 5 for fundraisers over $1,000. It can help to enlist parents of your students to lead your fundraising efforts. Often times, parents are invested in seeing their children succeed and cane a great resource to share in the planning and executing phase.

Planning Tasks

1. Determine fundraising goal.
2. Select fundraiser.
3. Find volunteer support.
4. Create a fundraising plan.
5. Execute!

Step 4: Execute Fundraiser(s)

With all of your work and planning done, you are now ready to execute your fundraiser(s)! Rely on your volunteers and prep work to make this step as easy as possible. Whether you are hosting an in-person or online fundraiser, it is crucial to leverage your personal network. Share your story and what you are asking. Remember, if you don’t ask nobody will support your cause, so share this widely and ask your friends and family to share your fundraiser as well. Spreading the word about your fundraiser can include sharing on your personal and organization’s social media; posting flyers in libraries, community centers, schools, and more; and adding your event to your school’s calendar.

Once you have spread the word, delegate day-of event tasks to your volunteers like decorating, setting up the event, bringing supplies, and more. With all of your planning, executing your fundraiser will be a breeze!

If you need assistance planning a fundraiser or if you have any questions, please give us a call and our team will get back to you as soon as possible.