With two daughters in private school and a husband who is a high school teacher, I am well aware how important school fundraisers are to create a successful learning environment. That being said, I have to admit that I dread school fundraising. We have sold everything from raffle tickets to chocolate candy, pizza kits to wrapping paper and done more than our share of donating time for the cause. However, I feel horrible sending yet another email or facebook post letting our family and friends know that we are selling more “stuff.”
Fundraisers are so much easier when they are timely. Big Event Fundraising has some great quality products that would be easy to pitch to your family such as wrapping paper for near the holidays (everyone needs wrapping paper, right?) and school spirit items at the start of a new school year. The big problem in or area is that all of the local schools do the same fundraisers at the same time, so not only do we compete against classmates, but all local kids for a customer base.
While the incentive to help our school is certainly worthwhile and the main focus of fundraising, I find the prize programs to be rather insulting for the amount of work parents and students put in to the effort. After spending nearly two weeks selling candy for a recent sale, my daughter came home with a plastic yo-yo. Now, understand that she was immensely proud of the yo-yo, but she forgot about it after 5 minutes and it ended up in the trash.
Big Event Fundraising has come up with a brilliant idea in order to motivate the students! The plastic yo-yos are being replaced with a fun and educational experience for the participating students at the school. The school can choose between fun events such as a Super Splash Party including a live DJ and inflatable water slides or even a 60 minute reptile adventure assembly. At the end of your fundraiser, students who sold the minimum amount of products can join the fun and take part in the Big Event. Kids that sell more receive incentives such as front row seats to the show, a “fast-pass” to cut the line or even an iPod Shuffle!
I know we will have more fundraisers in which to participate next year and I hope our school looks for new school fundraising ideas that can be fun for the students as well. I know both my daughters would love to have the opportunity to take part in one of the Big Events!
