Reasons to rethink your prize program.
Anyone who's ever experienced a kickoff assembly can tell you how excited students get once they see the prizes. Their first reaction is usually one of optimism and anticipation.
Yet the discouragement usually doesn't set in until students start selling and realize how many items they have to sell to win the more valuable prizes. Most fundraising companies offer poor-quality prizes at lower levels, so they focus instead on the better prizes at the kickoff.
Students learn quickly that they must do a lot of selling to win more significant and worthwhile prizes. Once they realize that, they often become discouraged. Most end up selling less, if anything at all.
This is one reason many school fundraisers experience low participation rates negatively affect overall sales. Here are some additional reasons why many people feel that student prize programs fall short:
Parents are tired of the same prize programs.
Many parents don't look forward to seeing the student packet from their child's backpack. They dread it even more once they see how excited their children are about the prizes. They then have to explain how difficult it will be to sell all those items to win their desired prizes. The alternative is to sell a few items and win a cheap, junky prize that parents know they can get at the dollar store. Parents often justify it by saying they're helping their child's school while giving them a chance to get something so they won't feel left out.
Older students aren't participating in fundraisers.
Seller apathy is why most school fundraising campaigns experience low student participation. A big reason is that older students stop participating because they know what to expect. They are the ones who are drowned out by the excitement of the younger students at the kickoff assembly. These students don't need to be told by their parents that the better prizes will be too hard to work for because they already know that from experience.
Prize quality is disappointing to many students.
Most students who sell will qualify for the first couple of prize levels. Once these students get the prizes, they become discouraged by the quality. The prizes don't work as expected and even break after a short period. Even some better prizes requiring much more selling can be disappointing. Students who win stereos, for example, find the sound quality very poor. As a result, many students end up not selling as much or not at all the following year.
Why do groups continue to select these types of student prize programs to motivate their students to sell? What has your experience been with your school's incentive program?
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.
