Special events are often cut out of funding for schools due to the elevated costs of teaching and keeping the facility operational. Personalised teddy bears are a great idea for fundraising to allow children to go on small trips to museums, on special luncheons or to events. Fundraising also helps less fortunate children to have their meals paid for, to play sports or purchase uniforms for other events.
Select a Theme
Consider the reason for the fundraiser, it should be specific. Some ideas include:
- Funding a school trip
- Funding the purchase of new equipment
- Repairs to a classroom
- Purchase of sporting equipment
- Purchase of band instruments or choir robes
- Assisting meal program funding
- Hosting a special event
- Purchase of classroom supplies
These are just ideas but are valid reasons to hold a fundraiser if your school is lacking funding for programs and special events.
Offer a Variety of Products
Other than just personalised teddy bears, you should also offer donors other items. Consider adding coffee mugs, tea towels and even sports bottles to the list. When supporters have a choice, they are more likely to make a purchase which helps the school. Some may even offer to copy the list and take it to their workplace to obtain more orders to help the school.
With the additional items all being useful and handy, it is likely that the school will see more sales and the funds needed for their project.
Create the Pitch and Reason for the Fundraiser
The pitch is very important. It should be straight forward and detailed. Keep the tone quite friendly, but not desperate or demanding. Provide fiscal financial report numbers and information as to where the shortcomings are in the budget. Supporters like to see where the funds will go and why they are needed with statistical information.
Keep the pitch to a single page as supporters wish to do little reading. In fact, graphs, charts or tables to support the information go much further than paragraphs of words. Keep the written content short with the most dynamic information being visual.
Personalised teddy bears are friendly gestures that can be re-gifted for other occasions. The shirts are removable, so it is easy to pick up a different piece of clothing, or opt to just remove it altogether for a child to play with. Fundraising is an important part of keeping a school functioning, and sometimes, the help of the community is needed. When supporters receive something for their “donation” it makes them feel better about giving and helping. Making information available regarding the funds raised and how they are spent is also something that should be done after a fundraiser so that supporters do know where their money has gone.