How to Enhance Your School’s Big Event Fundraising Program

How to ensure your big event exceeds everyone's expectations.

You've completed your school fundraiser, and it's time to prepare for your exciting big event fundraising reward that your students have earned for participating in the sale. At this point, they're eagerly anticipating this upcoming extravaganza they'll experience with their classmates. If you've never brought one of our four events to your school, what can you do to help ensure that it's a big success?

There are several things you can do to help ensure that your students will have a great experience that they'll remember for a long time. Plus, if your event goes well, it will help set the tone for future events, and word will begin to spread about your brochure fundraiser. This will lead to an even bigger sale next year and the year after that... Here are a few things you'll want to make sure that you do:

Ensure a Well-Organized Big Event

• Ensure your students are ready for the start time of your big event. Allow ample time to get your participation bracelets on your students who qualified. Most schools require at least an hour before start time to do this.
• Have your students enter the event area in an organized manner so you can ensure that each student is wearing their qualification bracelet.
• Ensure you have your parent volunteers at the event at least 30 minutes before the start time.

Safety is Your Top Priority

• If you are doing one of our party events, your students will have several different activities. Ensure you and your parent volunteers consistently enforce the 'no running' rule.
• Students must line up orderly and wait their turn on each inflatable game.

Set the Tone for Next Year with an Awards Ceremony

• Leave about 15 minutes at the end of your big event to acknowledge your more significant sellers.
  • Have them come up to the front of the group, read off their names, how many items they've sold, and how many total dollars they raised. You should do this in order of the least to the highest overall seller. You should limit this activity to those who have sold 24 items or more. Be sure and make a big deal out of these sellers.
  • Make sure that you encourage everyone to clap as each name is announced. The idea is that everyone will see other students being acknowledged and may want to be upfront next time.
• Make sure you wrap up your awards ceremony by asking all the students if they had a good time.
• Make sure and thank all of your participants for their hard work in helping to make their school fundraiser a success.
• Allow students who didn't qualify for your big event to see what's happening and what they are missing. This will motivate them to sell more for your next big event.

Learn more about our big event fundraising 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.