3 Things Fundraising Companies Must Know about Your School

Three questions companies should ask you about your fundraiser.

It's that time of year again. Many schools are in the process of looking for a fall fundraiser. This may also involve the unenviable task of talking to several different companies. Have you ever interviewed someone for an important job, and they said "yes" to everything you asked? Everyone wants someone who can tackle every item on our checklist proficiently.

But do we want "yes men"? The adage, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is", applies here. Our advice? Run for the hills if you've interviewed any fundraising companies; they answer precisely how you want them to. This usually means that you'll run into some surprises along the way. Nothing ever goes perfectly 100% of the time; however, that doesn't mean there's no solution to anything that can come up. Good companies in the school fundraising business for a long time already know this.

It may be that these company reps lack experience and haven't been through enough situations, or their objective is to sign the business and ask questions later. Believe it or not, there are a lot of companies out there that have that mentality.

Most companies ask very few questions but aim to assure you that your sale will run smoothly and you will raise a lot of money. They can't tell you why your sale will thrive; they know your hot buttons. And you guessed it, successful fundraisers that are easy to run are at the top of most schools' lists.

Instead, when you're interviewing a company, believe it or not, they should also be interviewing you. By the end of your meeting, both sides will agree on any nonnegotiable parts, and where compromise can happen, the reason must also be clearly understood.

In other words, both sides have standards that they need to abide by. You and the company should be concerned about asking questions and getting answers. A successful interview is about coming to a complete understanding and agreement on how everything is going to work.

If you're experienced enough as a school fundraiser sponsor and have examined your needs thoroughly, there will inevitably be some things that need to be hashed out. The same goes for the company. You should be able to express your needs, and the company needs to explain in detail how those needs will be met.

Whenever a school approaches us to do a sales campaign, we hope they are prepared to ask us good questions. This tells us they've thought through what they want and expect. These schools tend to experience more successful sales results because they have clearly defined objectives.

Plus, what if some things you haven't thought about can make your sales campaign turn out even better? Good companies are supposed to get you to think outside the box. They should have many great fundraising ideas to help your school exceed its expectations, not just meet them.

So, just as we expect questions from potential customers, here are three questions that good fundraising companies will need to know about your school as well:

1. Why are you fundraising?

We hope you have a well-thought-out purpose. Are you attempting to solve a critical need, or are you just selling because it happens to be that time of year? For example, schools that take the time to interview their staff, students, and parents about what they think needs to be addressed usually raise more money. Why? Because everyone will believe in the project intrinsically and feel part of it because their opinion matters.

On the other hand, you may feel you need to have a campaign just because the fall is when you think you'll raise the most money. Or perhaps someone came up with a great fundraiser idea that they're convinced will be a hit. For many schools, fall is a more convenient time because there is a lot of testing in the spring.

Unfortunately, these schools usually turn out to be less successful. We call this "zombie fundraising" because everyone goes through the motions without addressing the "why".

If you don't have a good purpose yet, it's the company's job to help you define, develop, and promote it.

Questions to Consider When Developing Fundraising Strategies

2. What types of fundraisers have you done?

For instance, there's a big difference between schools experienced with catalog fundraising and schools new to this type of selling. We handle groups that have experienced it differently from those interested in trying it for the first time.

Sponsors who are not as familiar with this type of campaign will need to have the process explained to them in a little more detail. "Why are you considering a brochure fundraiser?" is probably one of our first questions. Ferreting out any questions these inexperienced schools hadn't considered will be very important.

On the other hand, sponsors with experience will want to know how our program works but will probably need to know more about how we're different from their previous company. And we hope they'll have lots of questions for us.

7 Things to Know When Picking a Fundraising Brochure

3. How successful were you last time?

In other words, how much money did you raise? Knowing how much money you raised with your previous program, based on the number of students that you have, helps us understand how we can help you improve your sales results. Not only do we need to know what your enrollment is, but how many students participated last time. What type of prize incentive did you use? What promotional strategies did you incorporate for your fundraiser? Did you offer any additional incentives? When we ask these questions, we're looking to see how we can improve your student participation which is a critical factor if you want to increase sales.

To help make your initial dialog as productive as possible, we recommend preparing a well-thought-out list of questions. Since you're looking to enter into a meaningful working relationship with a company, both sides must be able to come to a mutual understanding. The only surprise you should have is a pleasant one once you find out how much money you made.

How to Improve Fundraiser Sales Without Using Money

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.