Taking High School Fundraisers into the 21st Century

High schools raise funds every which way they can selling products and putting on events. All the different clubs and groups in a high school need funding at some point, so it is typical to see a student no matter what time of year selling calendars, cookie dough or candy. Or you can usually see a few students running around trying to meet deadlines for the latest fundraiser event.

Nobody wants to see high school students stuck without financial support. Still, it can be difficult for many people to fit fundraising events into their schedules. And not everyone wants to buy a candle or some cookie dough. Students and administrators work hard to come up exciting fundraising ideas, but with so many clubs and students with different needs, the task can be tough. There are the obvious groups like the football team, the basketball team, the drama club, the band and cheerleaders. But then there are individuals with special learning needs or personal academic goals.

But the other problem is that fundraisers can get boring and mundane to run, no matter how much you care about your school. It can feel kind of like begging. It can be tiresome coordinating groups and storing inventories of products. Plus, everyone is already busy enough with school activities, assignments and social lives. That’s why online fundraising is such a perfect solution for so many high schools.

Many high schools are taking fundraising to the Internet. Special events like car washes or dances will always remain an important social part of fundraising in schools, but online fundraising allows high schools to raise more money year round without the frustrations of traditional approaches.

You can set up a simple fundraising website for your school or school group where you can sell products online. Products can be drop shipped to customers and donors straight from the wholesalers. Or you can use affiliate advertising on your site to make percentages for your school through referrals. You can still sell all the traditional fundraising products like candy, magazines and cookie dough. You can even sell advertising to local companies in the community who want to support your high school. Setting up a website is not as expensive or time intensive as you might think-while your school reaps benefits year round.

You can raise funds through email. Send out a letter to parents and donors with links leading to your school website or to your product advertisers.

There are websites selling all kinds of products devoted to high school fundraising. You can sign your school up with one of these sites so all your donors need to do is go to the site and find a product they genuinely want, while your school or club gets a funding percentage. Tell people about your school’s online funding through Facebook. You can highlight seasonal products all year long with a click or two of buttons.

Fundraising can seem like an endless chore, but with online strategies it can be an ongoing benefit for high schools.

Tillman Lippinski is an authority on high school fundraisers consulting with Gifts That Give. For more solutions with fundraisers check out the Gifts That Give website online. Tillman is an SEO consultant based with SEO services organization ClickResponse.