3 Powerful High School Fundraising Ideas for 2022

Practical solutions that help fundraisers succeed in 2022.

The primary goal for high school sponsors is to unify their students around their group's unique challenges and ultimate objectives. Furthermore, to get them to understand how they'll benefit from solving these challenges, creative high school fundraising ideas that get results will play a vital role and should be seen as an essential part of the solution.

Although raising money is voluntary, to be successful, it should be communicated to your group as an expectation. Students should understand that to be a part of any group, and they must give back. And fundraisers are no different. In other words, they should be strongly encouraged to participate.

However, beyond the financial impact, fundraisers can benefit students in other ways. It teaches them the importance of communicating their group's mission to others, setting daily goals, and giving them a sense of accomplishment once they've achieved their objective.

But perhaps most important, students get to see the fruits of their labor. This is an opportunity for sponsors to communicate a powerful message about overcoming obstacles with practical hands-on solutions.

We'll all be tested with hurdles throughout our lives, and how we deal with them will ultimately determine our fate. Students should be prepared for the world outside with essential life skills; fundraisers can help play a valuable role.

High school students also have a built-in advantage over their younger siblings. They're more capable of understanding and incorporating more advanced selling techniques that can lead to significantly more sales.

Students who use these methods will almost always reach and exceed their sales goals. Therefore, instead of just telling your students to go out and try to sell without a game plan, why not provide them with some helpful fundraising tools so they can flourish?

To help your group reach its financial objectives, you should incorporate the following three sales tools and discuss them with your students at your kickoff meeting.

Implement Sales Prospect Lists

Knowing who you plan to approach before you head out the door is essential for two reasons. It gives you a definitive roadmap to follow and helps build confidence. Having a list of prospects to contact also provides positive feedback because your students can see the names being checked off over time. Tracking their progress also gives them a definite end goal.

Ask your students to create prospecting lists during your kickoff meeting. This way, they can focus on the people they feel are their most promising buyers.

Creative High School Fundraising Ideas are Intentional

As opposed to just telling your students to go out and sell, why not give them a specific goal and then help them understand why it's essential that they reach it? The best way to accomplish this is to have them do simple calculations.

For example, if you've determined that each student needs to raise $300 for new uniforms, have them complete their own expenses worksheet. This way, they can internalize the mission and better understand what it will take to succeed.

Incorporate a Selling & Reward Strategy

When approaching potential customers and asking them to buy, it's not very effective when students say, "Want to buy something?" First, anytime you ask a 'yes or no', otherwise known as a closed-ended type question, you're leaving the door wide open for people to say 'no'.

According to Action Selling, failed sales calls include 86% more close-ended questions, while successful sales have 25% more open-ended questions. Teaching students how to approach people initially is essential.

Second, since your students represent your organization in the community, they should present themselves as professional and polite. Most people will respect those who introduce themselves and briefly explain their mission before asking for support.

They can accomplish this in a straightforward sentence. To make it easy, have your students incorporate The NOW selling method. This system makes it easy for students to memorize and incorporate the right way to engage people while improving their chances of getting a positive outcome.

Be sure to introduce it at your kickoff meeting and then have your students pair up and practice before the meeting is over. Before they break up into pairs, it may be a good idea to demonstrate it yourself.

Once your students have had time to practice, you can even ask a volunteer to try it on you in front of the group. Be sure to reward them for their efforts by purchasing from them. This will send a powerful message.

And third, you shouldn't think the main prize program offered by the company is enough. It's important to incorporate additional incentives into your fundraiser that will make selling even more fun and exciting. What follows are two game ideas that have worked well for other high school groups:

1. Money Game
2. Mystery Person Game

You'll help your students take ownership and find their sales success by providing practical high school fundraising ideas.

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.