How can parent groups organize fundraising campaigns?

Understand the unique challenges of Parent Groups. The typical base of volunteers for a Parent Group consists of parents of school-aged children. Thus, the typical base of volunteers for a Parent Group ‘flips’ every year or so. Thus, most treasurers of Parent Groups are parents with no accounting background whatsoever. And the fundraising period for schools typically is limited to the period between the start of the school year and the end of the relevant sports season. Thus, the question that needs to be addressed by this book is not whether or not to fundraise. Rather, the question is how to set up a fundraiser so that it reaches a pre-determined target and then can be scrutinized after the fact.

Set the target before choosing the activity

The bulk of campaigns that fail do so before the actual effort of fundraising is ever taken. That is because the activity has been chosen first, and then the numbers are run to see how much will be raised. Flip that around, start with the committed expenditures of the year, and then subtract out the amounts that are ‘guaranteed’ such as membership dues and district funds. The remainder is the true fundraising goal for the year, and that in turn will help determine the extent of the efforts required to reach said goal.

Calculate net, not gross

Many programs find that even a very successful spirit wear sale (say $20,000 in sales with a 40% margin) will return less than a straightforward ask of the parents and citizens for $9,000. Create a simple model to forecast net for each campaign and subtract out the costs of products, shipping, processing, permits, etc. As well as prizes and recognition. Treat activities bringing in less than half of the gross of the sales to consider other measurements of value.

Apply a yield-per-hour test

Most important of all is the volunteer hours your event will require to put on the event. The best way to measure this is to divide the projected net revenue by the estimated hours. In general anything under 1/10 of an hour per dollar is not worth your volunteer’s time. Not only does such an activity bring in little revenue, it will in fact cost the organization much more than the revenue brings in due to burnout of the very few people who seem to be able to do it all.

Build payment collection around reconciliation

Cash and checks collected by hand are probably the biggest administrative pain point for your organization. Tracking them to collect them, being sure to apply them correctly and then account for them afterwards can be a real loss of time. Online collection of money produces an immediate, accurate record of every payment, by whom, on what date, for what purpose.

Compare the processing models honestly

Booster club fundraising platforms only have value to a group that runs many different efforts throughout the year. If your calendar includes dues, spirit wear, event tickets, and donations, a booster club fundraising platform is worth considering because it keeps each of those efforts in a separate fund. If you only have one effort per year then a simple processor is probably as good or better than a subscription based service.

Decide who absorbs the fees

Covering online transaction processing costs (where applicable) generally recovers the majority of the fee, with a considerable percentage of online donors agreeing to pay. Either set the online payment form to the default option and clearly indicate this on the form or make sure to consistently set (e.g.) both a processing fee and a voluntary surcharge in all online campaigns and consistently set neither in all off-line campaigns.

Coordinate volunteers as a scheduling problem

Most volunteers when asked to serve within a school will decline a request that is not specific to a clear scope of work. Thus it is essential to define each needed role before publicly advertising for volunteers.

• Title and reporting line, so the volunteer knows who answers questions
• Exact time commitment, expressed in hours and dates rather than in a season
• Whether the role handles money, which triggers additional controls
• The deliverable that signals the job is finished

Design shifts for attrition

Plan for 10% to 20% of the volunteers to “no-show”. Overstaff the end of the event (tear down) and the beginning of the event (set-up) as these are the hardest events to staff for short periods of time and one person showing up late can leave another to complete. Use text messaging 2 days prior to the event and again the morning of the event. Maintain a short standby list of prior volunteers.

Administer the campaign so it survives the handoff

Financial controls for volunteers are more important than controls for money. Having a single person, such as the treasurer, handle cash provides no proof that any of it was ever taken.

1. Count cash in pairs and have both counters sign the tally sheet
2. Require two signatures or two approvals on any disbursement above a set threshold
3. Deposit within one business day of collection
4. Reconcile bank statements monthly against the platform export and present the result at the next meeting
5. Track payments to any individual vendor against reporting thresholds for tax filing

Close each campaign with a file, not a memory

Store the Final Budget/Activity Report along with relevant vendor information, as well as rosters for volunteer activities, within 2 weeks of the close of the activity and at a location where the new board can find it.

Measure what you will act on

For your board meetings track 4 numbers, the participation rate in your activities, average gift, net $/hr by all volunteers in all activities and the percentage of last year’s donors who gave this year. Decide whether to continue, to fix or to discard an activity based on these four numbers.