How to Effectively Schedule a Big Event Fundraising Program

How to schedule your big event fundraiser award assembly.

Schools that choose our big event fundraising incentive over a standard prize program to motivate their students to sell for their catalog fundraiser usually have one primary concern. How will they schedule it into an already hectic academic schedule?

Since these prize incentives are actual events, time must be blocked out after the fundraiser. If there's any downside to selecting a big event prize program, it must clear an hour or two on the busy school calendar so the students can experience their reward.

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Instead of scheduling it during the day, some might think that an easy solution is to have it after school or on a Saturday to avoid potential conflicts. One school came up with the idea of scheduling their magic show assembly on a school night. But people don't think about the additional problems scheduling a show or party outside of the regular school day can cause. Other issues aren't initially so obvious. So what's a logical solution?

If you're creative and can plan, you'll find great scheduling opportunities to help solve your dilemma.

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Why Have Your Big Event at School?

The first reason for scheduling your big event fundraising prize program during school hours is your students are already there. This will help maximize attendance. The issues you will encounter if you attempt to schedule outside of school are:

• Students will have other commitments and distractions outside of school that may pull them away from attending.
• Let's face it; it's hard enough for parents to get their students to school once a day. Bringing students back to school a second time will be a hassle.

Here's an example. Let's say you're using a super party as your student incentive. By having your big event during school, you will have a great turnout, and your students will get out of class to attend as well. This is a powerful selling motivator for many students that should actively be promoted. Additionally, many schools have solved the scheduling dilemma by having their big event just before the holidays in the fall.

And events for spring catalog fundraisers are often scheduled at the end of the school year. A super splash party is a perfect way to end the school year, as the weather usually starts warming up this time of year. Students have, for the most part, completed their academic obligations and are excited about not having to be in the classroom. Plus, teachers understand that being able to blow off some steam has its benefits. Your students will see the party or show as a way to celebrate the end of the school year. Sponsors see it as a way to give back to the students for their hard work.

Unique Big Event Magic Show Opportunities

Because our Big Event Magic Show is theme-oriented, this provides you with some unique scheduling opportunities. For example, during 'Red Ribbon Week', you can have our 'Just Say No' magic show assembly in October. In this case, missing classroom time for an educational assembly is an excellent trade-off for many administrators. Here are other events at different times of the school year where you can perfectly work in a magic show assembly.

Fabulous magic show scheduling ideas.

You can accomplish multiple objectives when scheduling your big event fundraising program with creative planning.

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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.