The Drawbacks to Fundraising Kickoffs During P.E.

Why P.E. fundraiser kickoffs are less effective.

With increased pressure on educators to use every bit of time available to prepare their students for upcoming standardized exams, it would initially make sense not to take time out of class for an extracurricular activity like a school-wide kickoff assembly.

As a result, many administrators are concerned about this schedule of their fundraising kickoffs during P.E. Although this may solve one problem, they often don't think about the potential consequences that this can have on their sales results.

So what are you giving up if you decide not to have all your students together for a kickoff assembly?

Disadvantages to Multiple Fundraising Kickoffs

You are giving up some potential benefits when you don't have everyone together, like:

• Lower energy and enthusiasm due to fewer students in the room. The bigger the group, the greater the energy and excitement. Enthusiasm is contagious, so the more you can generate, the better.
• School administrators and teachers are often not present. Since these people are the school leaders, they could play a key role in helping to motivate your students at the kickoff. Instead, they are often uninformed and uninvolved.
• With the emphasis on health and fitness, you still use P.E. time for your kickoff.
• You're using up less classroom time by having everyone together to hear the message simultaneously.
• Your greatest fundraising asset is unifying your students, administrators, teachers, and staff to work towards a financial goal.

Consolidating the Kickoff Meeting

One compromise would be to kick off your sale during morning announcements. This way, you're not using up classroom time and can still reach all of your students simultaneously. Although, this format probably won't achieve the energy level that a school-wide assembly would.

Or, by scheduling school-wide fundraising kickoffs where everyone is together, groups have the best opportunity to create high energy and enthusiasm. This is the foundation that leads to a successful sale. After all, you don't have many opportunities to raise money, so why not make the most of it?

See our brochure fundraisers.

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.