Gain Parent Participation in Preschool Fundraisers

Effective ways to improve parent involvement in preschool fundraising.

For preschool fundraisers to succeed, sponsors must win over the parents instead of motivating the students.

Elementary schools have the luxury of students selling the program to their parents because they understand that sales must be made to win prizes.

But unfortunately, preschool programs don’t have this advantage. Ultimately, any successful fundraising campaign has some form of involvement from the parents. But unlike older students, preschoolers are too young to understand the concept of winning prizes for selling, so your promotional approach must be different.

Sell Your Fundraising Purpose

Believe it or not, many groups don’t have a purpose for their fundraiser, and that’s a mistake. If you’re raising money, people need to know why; otherwise, you’ll be less likely to convince them to participate. It’s not enough to say you’re raising money for the ‘general fund’ and expect people to help. Instead, you must provide a specific reason, how much money needs to be raised, and how much you ask each parent to sell.

For example, if you’re raising money for classroom supplies, you must spell out precisely what you plan to buy, how much it will cost, and how the students will benefit.

Provide Advanced Notice

It’s always courteous to inform your parents that you’re planning a sale. Some parents may even want to help behind the scenes, especially if they know their child will benefit. It helps to spell out your fundraising strategy to your parents when they initially enroll their child in your program. You can do this by saying participation is expected to offset additional tuition costs. Provide your parents with an outline of upcoming events and the cost breakdowns. This also shows that your program is organized and credible.

Motivate Your Parents to Sell

There are two ways to motivate preschool parents to sell extrinsically:

1. Provide a prize program geared towards their children
2. Offer them a cash prize program directly

Some parents may be motivated to sell if their children can get something in return. Others will sell in exchange for a cash incentive. It also helps to offer an additional incentive, like a grand prize drawing or a prize for the top seller. This should further increase your sales.

See our additional incentive ideas.

What other suggestions do you have to get parents to participate in preschool fundraisers?

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.