How Successful School PTOs form Business Alliances

How to benefit from the help of businesses.

If you want your organization to thrive, you should look for ways to enhance your existing school fundraising efforts. Asking businesses to provide additional incentives that get more parents involved in selling is only one option. Partnering with local businesses can make a carnival, bake sale, or auction more exciting and lucrative.

For example, you may want to have a silent auction going on during your school carnival. Soliciting local businesses to help donate the prizes can benefit everyone involved. Or, you might ask a business to donate gift cards to help improve fundraiser participation. Here are some things that you should consider that successful school PTOs do to form effective business alliances.

Form a Business Donation Committee

Start by forming a business donation committee within your PTO that explicitly reaches out to businesses in your area. The group might consist of 2-4 people. Start by asking what specific items your PTO will need business donations for.

Create a PTO Donation Letter Template

Writing a donation letter can be surprisingly simple. The important thing is to clearly state who you are and why you're asking for donations in the first place. Be brief and to the point; however, remember to be personable and appreciative. You can also get ideas by googling 'How to write a donation letter'.

Creating a template will allow you to reuse the letter for multiple businesses.

Track your Business Partnership Activity

Once you get started, ensure you can keep up with any business partnership activity. You'll want to:

• Keep track of donation letters that are sent out.
• Have a record of the school fundraising companies that have already been contacted.
• Know what specific donations have been received.
• Send out 'thank you for your donation' letters.

You can keep this information in a binder; however, some ways allow for information to be shared more efficiently amongst your team, like using Google Docs.

Successful school PTOs understand the value of forming strategic alliances with businesses that also see a mutual benefit.

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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.