How to Attract Donors to Your School Fundraising Campaign

How To Find and Win Over Donors to Support Your School

Raising funds for your school requires donors. To successfully fundraise, you’ll need to attract people to your cause and convince them to contribute with capital, gifts-in-kind, or volunteer hours. This article teaches you how to find donors for your school and win their support.

How to Raise Funds for Schools

As mentioned above, donors are crucial to fundraising as this is where the funding comes from. You’ll need to acquire donors, solicit donations, and sustain an ongoing relationship to encourage recurring giving.

Attracting Donors

Attracting donors is one of the first and most essential steps when campaigning. How do you do this? You need to share your fundraising story with those invested in your cause. Write a compelling story sharing your background, needs, and how you can enhance the student experience through donor dollars.

Get your school in the limelight. You need to be visible to attract donors. Involvement in the community is a great way to do this. You may additionally ask local businesses to rep your school by hanging flags or banners with your school’s name and colors. Be loud, proud, and transparent when putting your fundraising needs out there to attract your needed donors.

Asking for Donations

Ask for donations once potential donors are lined up. You may do this in person, through email, on the phone, or formally at an event. You can send a general donation invite or contact each potential donor individually. Be clear about what you need and why.

How to Win Donor Support

To earn donations, you’ll need to win your donors’ support. Do this by building relationships. Share news, updates, and photos. Invite donors to follow social media and attend special events. Keep them involved and in the loop, and ensure they know they are essential to your cause.

School Fundraising Donor FAQs

The following are questions commonly asked about attracting and securing donors for your school.

Why Do Schools Need Donors?

Schools need funding to support extracurricular activities, buy materials, go on field trips, and host events such as dances and field days. As nonprofits, funds are limited as no revenue comes to the school’s budget. Donors help offset this need.

How Do Schools Find Donors?

Schools find donors in a myriad of ways. Potential donors may include parents, alums, local celebrities or spokespersons, community members, and local businesses.

How Do Schools Keep Donors Giving?

Sustaining relationships is vital to keeping donors giving. Build a relationship and always share gratitude and appreciation after any size or give.

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.