School fundraising can dream bigger and better than just touching students’ families and friends. A truly remarkable fundraiser and a well-constructed fundraising calendar get everyone in town excited about donating to your school and builds meaningful community engagement that can benefit everyone for years to come. Here are some things you can do to take a community-based approach to your next school fundraiser.
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Community engagement widens the scope and potential earnings from your school fundraising. Involving community members also fosters a sense of belonging that will only enhance your school’s standing in the community. When your community is committed to student learning and success, it can improve academic performance and make students feel more confident at school.
Vanco makes it incredibly easy to accept online donations with our proven donation tools, issue tickets for events and run online fundraising campaigns all in one place. Using a community-based approach and platforms that streamline the process, can help you get your community involved and watch your funds increase overnight.
Family engagement, as well as engaging the community at large, is not a new concept. Families of students must feel that they and their students are seen, heard and respected by the school to foster loyalty and personal connections. That is part of why it is crucial to have family engagement strategies in place. Family support is one of many factors that can have a significant impact on student success.
Schools can create mutually respectful relationships with their students and families by carefully considering how language, socioeconomic and cultural differences may affect how students and families show up in education institutions.
Emphasizing what educators, students and families all have in common is the cornerstone of effective community engagement and building relationships. When families of students are inspired in this way, they are more likely to play an integral role in their children’s learning, which includes participation in fundraising efforts. This extends passion and determination into the community at large. After all, when you engage students and their parents, you aren’t just reaching them. You are also reaching their friends, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents and any interpersonal organizations they may be involved in outside of school.
Community engagement is about more than just raising money. It can offer a comprehensive and well-rounded educational experience for scholars and give members of the community an opportunity to participate in youth development in their own backyard. To do it well, collaborative efforts and building relationships are essential.
For instance, take the Herman Brown Park Community Garden and Fruit Orchard in Houston, Texas. This community-driven initiative is fully maintained and operated by high school students. In creating community partnerships with organizers, students attending Furr High School get a hands-on lesson in ecology, food independence and environmental justice. Community gardens like this can also add fresh fruits and vegetables to the food available in the cafeteria or support local food pantries with the produce. Either way, students benefit from added nutrients in their diet or the satisfaction of contributing to their community at large.
When education institutions take pride in making their communities better places, the communities will show up to share community resources, take part in community projects and ensure the best opportunities are available for their students. These activities can also encourage family involvement and community feedback on how schools empower students. They may also have a positive impact on attendance rates.
Online engagement platforms like Vanco make fundraising easy. Whether you’re selling school-themed merchandise, hosting an online auction or conducting peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, Vanco makes growing funds and keeping everything online easy for school leaders.
Passionate parents and staff volunteers who are inspired by learning experiences and want to make a difference in their children’s school experience are the glue that holds fundraising efforts together. They represent a great opportunity to encourage family engagement. A large team with a fair of distribution of work is the best possible setup when approaching fundraising that engages community leaders and the community as a whole.
Social media platforms, fliers, fundraising emails and email newsletters are all reliable ways to make sure your fundraiser reaches the entire community. Targeting local Facebook groups and posting fundraiser information attached to popular social media trends are great ways to draw attention to your upcoming fundraising event.
When students and their families feel the money raised will be used to make their lives better, they will be more likely to fight for the cause. One passionate and dedicated fundraiser has impact but imagine the impact of 20 or 200 dedicated fundraisers on community projects.
Incentives and perks are a great way to encourage participation. By offering prizes for each level of funds raised, each member of the student body will feel encouraged to meet at least the minimum donation amount.
Vanco’s online fundraising solutions make promoting and managing your fundraising events easy.
Digital fundraising is more secure than cash donations and people from all over are eligible and welcome to participate.
Vanco also features event ticketing and online registration software, giving you access to everything you need for a successful fundraiser all in one place.
Keep events inclusive, market to the community as a whole and use online campaign solutions. Vanco’s services, from ticketing to donation management, make fundraising that inspires the entire community a breeze.
Technology makes donating easy. By and large, people prefer to pay for purchases electronically, and online campaigns make it easier than ever to boost your fundraising efforts.
Students are the direct link between the school and community resources. Students, their families and community members must be passionate about improving education before any outside entities will be willing to assist.
Using secure payment methods to receive funds helps to keep fundraising events safe. And having the appropriate number of volunteers and staff present at each event to manage crowds helps to provide a quality experience for attendees.
Schools can measure their success by tracking new parent engagement, retained parent engagement and ongoing donor tendencies.
Extend your reach beyond the student body itself by sharing details in relevant Facebook groups and on other social media platforms.
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