Improve School Fundraisers Through Teacher Involvement

Inspire your teachers to become more engaged in your cause.

Regarding fundraising incentives, everyone thinks they need to focus on the students. This makes logical sense because their enthusiasm is crucial to driving your sales. Some sponsors even offer prizes to the parents. This is also good because, at least with elementary schools, mom or dad usually do the bulk of the selling.

But what about your teachers? School fundraisers that include them in their promotional strategy understand their value and are putting themselves in a much better position to achieve or exceed their financial goals ultimately.

There's a reason so much emphasis is put on motivating students. They provide needed energy and enthusiasm. Parents often decide to participate based on their student's eagerness and continual reminders. If Johnny's excited about the prizes, no doting parent will want them to do without.

In the elementary school environment, only one person probably sees your students as often as their parents. You guessed it, teachers. This allows them to continually remind their students to become involved, thus positively impacting sales.

The big challenge, however, is that teachers are already busy and overwhelmed with their educational obligations. This is a big hurdle. According to a recent international survey, teachers are overworked and feel underappreciated.

So how can you even think about adding something else to their plate by getting them more involved in your fundraiser? This seems a bit presumptuous.

There are some simple steps you can take that can persuade and even inspire your teachers to become more engaged in your cause.

You'll want to emphasize some crucial points with your teachers.

Clarify the Benefits of the Fundraiser

Putting a courtesy information flyer in the teacher's boxes is one thing; taking the time to sit down and meet with them is another. If you can arrange a meeting, be sure to walk in prepared. You'll need to consider what they need to know about your fundraiser and why it's essential. How will the money benefit the school, and will they understand the value?

For example, if you're raising money to upgrade technology equipment for your learning lab, explain how these enhanced versions will improve practical skill development. The result improved test scores. Something they're interested in.

Educational field trips will provide a more well-rounded perspective, and being able to purchase academic performance prizes will ultimately motivate students to want to do better academically.

If you're raising money for a new awning, explain how students will no longer have to wait inside their classrooms on bad weather days. You get the point. Paint the picture by explaining the benefits, not just the features.

To accomplish this task, you'll need a little more time. Therefore, attempt to have a short meeting with the teachers on a day just before your kickoff. To get everyone together at one time, you may need to ask the principal if you could have a couple of minutes during a teacher meeting or arrange a short visit before or after school.

Consider also bringing treats or a beverage. It may even be a good idea to advertise this beforehand. To take it a step further, if you're selling cookie dough, bake the cookies and bring them to your meeting so the teachers can try them. This shows appreciation for their time and gets them excited about the product.

Make sure your teachers will be attending your kickoff assembly, as well as the administration and staff members. This will help foster a great sense of school-wide unity and enthusiasm for your project.

Reduce Teacher Financial Burdens

According to a survey in The New York Times, 94% of teachers in the United States spend their money on school supplies without reimbursement. This is regardless of whether they teach in the cities, suburbs, or rural areas. Socioeconomics wasn't a factor either.

So why not help them by sharing some profit with your teachers? The reports many fundraising companies provide also break down sales results by class. You can even offer a tiered incentive that gives them a higher percentage with increased sales.

Minimal Teacher Time Required

Inform your teachers that the most important thing they can do during the sale is to remind their students to sell daily. Some teachers may choose to do more creative things on their own. For instance, instead of just reminding them to sell, they can ask their students a probing question for the day, like, "Raise your hand if you've already sold five items?"

Another idea is to encourage your teachers to set a powerful example in front of the class. Ask them to put all of the students' names into a hat. Then they can draw out a name and purchase an item from that student.

2 Teacher Incentive Ideas for School Fundraisers

During your presale meeting, you can inform your teachers that you'll provide teacher incentives. Many teachers are motivated by incentives and may be willing to become more involved if they know they can get something in return. For example, you can do one of the following:

1. Offer the top 5 teachers whose classrooms sell the most items or dollars raise a special prize.
2. Reward teachers by grade level with the highest student participation rate.

And your prizes don't have to cost any money. For example, you may offer the winning teacher some free time by subbing in their class for an hour. Handmade gifts or baked goods are always appreciated as well.

Some companies offer teacher gifts, but make sure you're not paying for them. Rather than provide an arbitrary gift, these incentives should encourage teachers to encourage additional sales.

Learn how to improve school fundraising participation

Express Your Appreciation

Most teachers already understand the need for school fundraisers and how the students and the school benefit.

Ensure your teachers know you appreciate any help they're willing to offer.

Improved teacher engagement may be easier to accomplish than you think and can help make a difference in reaching your sales goals.

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.