Thoughts On the Motivation of School Fundraising
Unidentifiable chatter echo over the concrete walls.
Ancient wooden chairs squeak as if in protest under the constantly moving 10 year olds, the backs of the chairs covered in etching reading "J hearts S".
The loud speaker produces its awful ear-splitting ring as the principal steps up to it.
A hush begins to fall over the room as the principal announces, "It's time for our annual fundraising campaign boys and girl!" Allow me to translate for you into what the elementary students just heard, "It's time for you to compete to get the top prize by roping grandma and grandpa and mom and dad, into buying a lot of things from you, boys and girls!" This is the ultimate goal of any three foot fundraiser, to win prizes.
The prizes, depending on how popular they are at the time, motivate every student to sell just one more product in order to bump them into the higher prize category.
Many Kids...
Many kids loved fundraising in elementary school.
There was a prospect in the air.
They understood that they could win some pretty cool prizes without having to spend my hard-earned allowance money.
It was great! Competition ran rampant but they could hold their own, some had Nanny and Poppy to back them after all! In their heads, that shiny new bike was as good as theirs.
For every year that they fundraised, maybe they never achieved that shiny, new bike but somehow that never deterred them the next year.
When you think about it, this all makes sense.
Schools reach out to the largest population they have, the students, as working bees in order to raise money.
After all, what sweet Aunt Sue can say "no" to her darling niece? And then these students, can be easily motivated by any toy that is popular at the time and they have enough charisma and sugar pulsing through their veins that they are not deterred year after year of not winning the top prize that they are still out door to door year in and year out.
It is kind of the perfect business.
A Technical Look At the Business A lot goes into what seems like a pretty simple concept of a fundraising event.
This concept being: motivate people to sell products which produces a profit then give the money back to the school.
But there is more than meets the eye to this endeavor.
First of all, motivation is the key.
Proper motivation will not be achieved by an assembly blasting loud music and a charismatic speaker, yes this will help but the motivation achieved here will be temporary.
There needs to be a constant presence of motivation and what better way to create this presence then by sending home glossy packets detailing the many prizes that can be won as a result of the students hard work fundraising.
It takes time, resources, and expertise to create this packets as well as the letter introducing the fundraiser to the families of students, other packets needed, and kick-off videos that add to the initial excitement of the fundraiser.
Then comes the difficult and seemingly never-ending task off data entry and product distribution.
The countless hours put in by the fundraising company are probably only matched by the hours students spend thinking about the prizes.
Students are motivated by what is in front of them, the prizes.
The company makes it clear and easy as to what the students must do in order to win the prizes and here in lies, a successful fundraiser.
Ancient wooden chairs squeak as if in protest under the constantly moving 10 year olds, the backs of the chairs covered in etching reading "J hearts S".
The loud speaker produces its awful ear-splitting ring as the principal steps up to it.
A hush begins to fall over the room as the principal announces, "It's time for our annual fundraising campaign boys and girl!" Allow me to translate for you into what the elementary students just heard, "It's time for you to compete to get the top prize by roping grandma and grandpa and mom and dad, into buying a lot of things from you, boys and girls!" This is the ultimate goal of any three foot fundraiser, to win prizes.
The prizes, depending on how popular they are at the time, motivate every student to sell just one more product in order to bump them into the higher prize category.
Many Kids...
Many kids loved fundraising in elementary school.
There was a prospect in the air.
They understood that they could win some pretty cool prizes without having to spend my hard-earned allowance money.
It was great! Competition ran rampant but they could hold their own, some had Nanny and Poppy to back them after all! In their heads, that shiny new bike was as good as theirs.
For every year that they fundraised, maybe they never achieved that shiny, new bike but somehow that never deterred them the next year.
When you think about it, this all makes sense.
Schools reach out to the largest population they have, the students, as working bees in order to raise money.
After all, what sweet Aunt Sue can say "no" to her darling niece? And then these students, can be easily motivated by any toy that is popular at the time and they have enough charisma and sugar pulsing through their veins that they are not deterred year after year of not winning the top prize that they are still out door to door year in and year out.
It is kind of the perfect business.
A Technical Look At the Business A lot goes into what seems like a pretty simple concept of a fundraising event.
This concept being: motivate people to sell products which produces a profit then give the money back to the school.
But there is more than meets the eye to this endeavor.
First of all, motivation is the key.
Proper motivation will not be achieved by an assembly blasting loud music and a charismatic speaker, yes this will help but the motivation achieved here will be temporary.
There needs to be a constant presence of motivation and what better way to create this presence then by sending home glossy packets detailing the many prizes that can be won as a result of the students hard work fundraising.
It takes time, resources, and expertise to create this packets as well as the letter introducing the fundraiser to the families of students, other packets needed, and kick-off videos that add to the initial excitement of the fundraiser.
Then comes the difficult and seemingly never-ending task off data entry and product distribution.
The countless hours put in by the fundraising company are probably only matched by the hours students spend thinking about the prizes.
Students are motivated by what is in front of them, the prizes.
The company makes it clear and easy as to what the students must do in order to win the prizes and here in lies, a successful fundraiser.
