13 Cultivating community relationships will benefit your school financially and as a whole. To begin, make a list of your school’s current supporters; who is already in your corner? Ask your board of directors, admin, and staff, to share connections they have that may be interested in supporting your school. Continue to expand your network by listing businesses and organizations that are in close proximity to your school. Invite parents to reach out to their contacts; if they are interested in supporting the school in some way, have them share their contact information with you. Then, start to develop relationships with these contacts; invite them to tour the school or be part of a school event, give them opportunities to volunteer, and make donations throughout the year. Building a network of supporters is a team effort that takes time but is the cornerstone of a good development and fundraising plan. Students and parents play a big role in the success of the school’s development and fundraising plan. They share the school’s vision and are passionate about the mission. They are motivated to help the school succeed however they can. Engaged parents will advocate, advertise and ask. Give them opportunities to serve and support in a variety of ways, online and in-person. Offering Parent Education Nights is a great way to guide them in supporting their students’ education and bring parents together and give them another support system. Invite students and parents to be part of the school’s development and fundraising plan and give them specific ways they can help. Spreading awareness of the school’s mission is a great way students and parents can help and doesn’t take a lot of time or money. Ask them to give a review of the school, and with their permission, share their reviews on your website and social media; these statements will have a great impact on current and future supporters. When needs arise, reach out to parents and invite them to ask their contacts for support. Provide them with the tools they need to represent the school well; donation request letters, event flyers, sponsorship benefit packages, etc. If your school requests parent volunteer hours, give them one more way to fulfill these hours by offering the value of any monetary or in-kind donations they bring into the school to count as volunteer hours: ex. $10 = one hour. Students and parents are the driving force behind school development and fundraising. Now that you’ve got your network of supporters and team of engaged parents, it’s time to get to work and generate donations. There are many ways to fundraise and create unique and sustainable opportunities. Here are a few ideas to get you started: • Make sure you have a “donation” button on your website. Spreading awareness of the schools’ mission is a great way students and parents can help and doesn’t take a lot of time or money. • Include a page of classroom wishes on your website. Utilize donorschoose.org. It is an incredible resource that will bring funding to your school by way of pre-purchased equipment, supplies, and materials directly to your classrooms, with little management on your end. • Host an auction, online or in-person, that includes donated product or gift certificates from local businesses, parents, and student-made items. RallyUp.com is an excellent online auction site to use. • Sell tickets to your school’s exhibitions and performances. • Sell donated concession items at your exhibitions and performances. • Ask a local restaurant to donate a portion of sales to your school on a specific day, then advertise it to your entire school, staff, and community. • Apply for grants. Have projects and programs in mind that need to be funded, then search for grants that are applicable. • Use the idea of students gathering pledges to reinforce what they are learning and raise funds for the school. Family and friends are more likely to pledge their support when they see the students will learn something from it. Examples: basketball free throws, running, reading, spelling, acts of kindness, etc. • Organize larger events such as a Fun Run, 5K, Golf Tournament, or Movie Night to get the whole community involved. Cover the cost of producing these events by soliciting sponsorships. Offer sponsor benefits that give sponsors opportunities to advertise their brand during the event. Use your school building to host events when you can to save money and bring the community into your school so your mission can inspire them. Start creating your development and fundraising plan today. Assign team members to spearhead the process — rally a team of parents and community members to support your plan. Continue to share your mission on every platform available. Begin fundraising with a few events and make them bigger and better each year. Doing these things will help bridge the financial gap that is a challenge to many charter schools.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU2Mjk4Mw==