PTO fundraising advice for a newbie

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Questions for you - what specifically are you fundraising for? Pizza at school events? Food and childcare at PTO meetings? Enrichment activities/field trips? That may help tailor the responses.

Thank you. Great question. At this point, we are just hoping to help support the school in whatever way the principal/assistant principal and teachers ask. This year, for instance, we helped fund the annual picnic and a teacher appreciation lunch, helped a staffer attend a virtual conference for professional development, and gave out smallish Amazon gift certificates - $100 I think - for every teacher to buy classroom supplies.

I've heard that schools with wealthier demographics than ours are able to do big things like provide every teacher with an aide, fund a mindfulness coach...all sort of wonderful things.

Our school has significant needs and we would love to be able to offer that kind of support some day. For instance, teachers tell us the school could use more mental health counselors since many students have experienced trauma.

But for now, something like bringing in new staff is totally pie in the sky. We are thinking small - money to help with events and celebrations, fill in resource gaps for teachers, that sort of thing.

If you're able to do that many $100 gift cards, you're actually doing pretty well. Where is that money coming from?

Well, that's good to hear! It's a very small school so it wasn't that many gift cards.

For now, money is mostly coming from parents like me who have some disposal income and are planning to stay at the school long-term. There are maybe 10 or so of us who made significant donations ($100 or more).

You need to change your thinking. $25 might be very significant for some families, treat every donation as significant.

This. And I would caution you against focusing too hard on fundraising, OP. Yes, the need is extremely high. But it can be really off-putting for high-income parents to come in with a lot of cash. It's okay to be a moderate-earning PTO! There's so much more to the PTO's mission than fundraising. So don't put it on yourself that you have to bankroll all kinds of things. You really don't. Focus on building your fundraising infrastructure-- have that thank-you letter template ready to go, get the Harris Teeter thing up and running, and work on your standard grant application language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An auction is tremendous work. Not an early step.

Yes. DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER AN AUCTION . I've worked in fundraising for years, some of it with schools, and auctions are a giant PITA. Beyond just getting good donated and auctioning them off (generally a logistical hassle even in the best case scenario), there are very specific IRS reporting requirements. If you don't have someone knowledgeable and experienced with this record keeping, you open yourself (and your donors!) up to potential IRS problems.

Auctions, galas, etc., always cost far more then you think they will. When all is said and done, you would be shocked at how many lose money. Avoid them, especially for a new PTO.

[Anonymous]

An auction is a PITA. Focus on grants. If parents are happy with what you're doing, they'll increase their giving without all the hassle of an auction anyway.

[Anonymous]

Give the kids a week to bring in their change. Make it a grade competition or boys vs girls. You would be amazed how much you can get from pennies.

[Anonymous]

Can you do a school store? Profits abound for scented pencils.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Somebody mentioned Harris Teeter. I was going to say Giant has worked in the suburbs. I believe they gave us a gift card. Are you asking at the beginning of the year/month? This was years ago, but somewhere (I think it was at a Giant) told me they'd already given their allotment for that month/year but they did say when to come back to ask.

Also keep a Google Sheets file for contact info and responses so you know where to ask next time.

Are there any swim schools, breweries, massage places, bowling places, karate places, other after school programs, orthodontists? All of those and more have donated to our school. They may want to donate in kind goods and/or get recognized as a sponsor. If you can get, for instance, a gift card from a massage place or brewery you can have a door prize for a teacher lunch or just a random drawing for teacher appreciation.

Tagging onto this, if you have a lower SES school create a raffle with the donations so everyone has an equal shot at a prize (as opposed to an auction). You can hold an event and sell raffle tickets. For events:
- We do a parents vs. teachers soccer match. If you charge admission ($5 per ticket) it adds up. You can also sell pizza, snacks and merchandise at the game.
- Parents night out: organize a movie night for the kids in your gymnasium and have parents pay to leave their children for a parents night out, we've had great success with that. If your school has aftercare, you can probably recruit/pay some counselors to help out if you don't have enough parents volunteer. You can also sell pizza/snacks at this event for extra $$.

[Anonymous]

If you think parents might buy school tshirts, a site like Custom Ink lets you create an online fundraiser so people can place their shirt orders and pay online, and the PTO doesn’t have to front the cash for a large tshirt order. This isn’t perfect, because online orders can be challenging for some for a variety of reasons, but it can help build up an initial reserve.

[Anonymous]

Actual ideas from a fellow Title 1 schools:

-fundraiser nights at local restaurants (chipotle, Panda Express, &pizza all do them)
-adopt a teacher or a “clear the list” campaign at the beginning of the year—just share supply lists on social media and ask parents to share
-an “envelope” campaign: https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/small-business/articles/envelope-fundraiser/ We did it online and just created a store with 100 different items. Made I think $3,000 with just limited social media sharing on giving Tuesday.
-fun runs/walks—there’s a splashy company that does it whose name escapes me. It’s awful—they take either 49% or 51% of your funds raised and you can’t do any other fundraisers in the weeks surrounding it. But it’s tons of fun, they do almost everything and kids had a great time. We had a realtor sponsor shirts.
-small amounts but good for community building are things like plant sales around Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, etc. Buy at Home Depot or Costco and sell individually.

Some events are super easy some require lots of volunteers. The volunteer part will burn you out the fastest so start slow.

[Anonymous]

I was in your shoes 10 years ago.
A few things -
really try and put yourself in the shoes of others. For some families PTO is not something they are familiar with as it was not a part of their culture / life experience.
Have very clear fundraising goals - purpose.
Let those who may not be able to contribute financially feel included. International night was a big hit and families contributed home made food that was incredible.
Translate! Lead all family communications in Spanish if that is a primary language. English language speakers will know to jump down to the bottom of an email.
Small things are really powerful. End of year picnic (sell chips, beverages as a mini fundraiser)
When thinking about event planning - ask where do families live? Are they going to come back to the school in the evening? How will they get here?

[Anonymous]

Don't do any of those selling candy, popcorn, wrapping paper, etc. fundraisers. The product is crap and the fee percentage is terrible. Hate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have better luck with real estate companies than law firms. Maybe work on drafting an appeal letter that is professional and rather than emphasizing neeeeeed, emphasize what is excellent about your school.

+1. Realtors are the softest targets! Lots of them will give you $500-$1000 to sponsor an event if you plaster their name all over it. Our auction raises about $20K is straight sponsorship that way. We expand our donor base by trolling other schools auction websites for companies that have donated to them and hit them up too.

[Anonymous]

This is Julie from the Ida B Wells PTO and formerly of the Whittier PTO. Feel free to reach out to me at [e-mail]--happy to help and to get you connected to other parent leaders. We all lean on each other for support and new ideas!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is Julie from the Ida B Wells PTO and formerly of the Whittier PTO. Feel free to reach out to me at [e-mail]--happy to help and to get you connected to other parent leaders. We all lean on each other for support and new ideas!

OP here.

Julie - I will email you!

DCUM can be a catty place but this thread has been an amazing source of ideas, advice and support. Thank you so much and please keep it coming!

[Anonymous]

How do school supplies work at your school? If families are supposed to bring stuff in, a lot of families would be interested in just paying a flat amount to have all the supplies provided. If you can buy stuff in bulk and portion it out to the classrooms, that could save families money and raise funds for the PTA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do school supplies work at your school? If families are supposed to bring stuff in, a lot of families would be interested in just paying a flat amount to have all the supplies provided. If you can buy stuff in bulk and portion it out to the classrooms, that could save families money and raise funds for the PTA.

if it's DC title 1, they cover all school supplies.