Learn why your prize incentives are essential to your sale.
Sponsors expect students to be excited about the prizes offered in the school prize program. But should students get more than just a tangible prize?
It's essential to the success of any catalog sale to entice as many students to sell out of their brochure as possible. The goal is also to have students reach the higher prize levels; otherwise, they would settle for the cheaper prizes or not be interested in the fundraiser. This would translate into fewer dollars brought in by the school. Yet do prize programs do enough, or should parents and students expect more?
Take School Prize Programs to Another Level
Our Big Event Magic Show attempts to take this concept a step further. Instead of simply rewarding students with prizes, the bar is raised to another level by offering schools a curriculum-based assembly. In other words, students can benefit intrinsically as well. Here is a comparison of what both types of programs offer:
| Feature | Traditional Prize Program | Magic Show Prize Program |
|---|---|---|
| Prize program flyers? | Yes | Yes |
| Do students win prizes? | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple prizes & prize levels? | Yes | Yes |
| Do students win special privileges? | No | Yes |
| Do students learn educational concepts? | No | Yes |
The Reasons Schools Want Better Prize Incentives
There are multiple reasons why schools are considering other options to the traditional prize program:
- Most students end up winning only the lower-quality prizes.
- Even the more expensive prizes don't work or stop working after limited use.
- Many parents are tired of having to sell many items to win 'dollar-store quality' prizes.
- Older experienced students have stopped participating in fundraisers.
One primary is that traditional prize programs require students to reach higher levels by selling many items. Initially, students focus on the bigger, more appealing prizes but don't realize how many items they will need to sell. Many end up selling very little, while most sell nothing at all.
Why Big Event Prize Programs Offer More
On the other hand, with our magic show prize program, we have intentionally placed the most exciting prize at the lowest level, gaining admission to a fun and educational magic show assembly. This will get more students to participate and offer an important and relevant message. This contradicts how the traditional prize program works, which requires students to sell a lot to win the more desirable prizes. The ultimate objective is to get every student to the event while the school reaches its financial goal.
Another bonus with the magic show is the educational component incorporates active audience participation. Schools can select the curriculum-based theme they feel is most relevant to their students. Bringing in a highly esteemed educational speaker can be expensive; therefore, offering an exciting assembly at no cost has been very appealing.
If you want to keep your fundraiser as low-key as possible, then you may be better off with a traditional prize program; however, if you are looking for a fresh approach that will get the attention of both your students and parents, then it may be time to start looking at something new. Ultimately it comes down to exchanging a cheap junky prize for an experience that students may never forget.
See our big event prize programs.
Author Bio
Clay Boggess has been designing fundraising programs for schools and various nonprofit organizations throughout the US since 1999. He’s helped administrators, teachers, and outside support entities such as PTAs and PTOs raise millions of dollars. Clay is an owner and partner at Big Fundraising Ideas.