On average, K-12 schools in the United States are in session for 180 days. This means you have just under six months to raise all the fundraising dollars needed to fund extracurricular activities, enriching learning experiences, school supply purchases, and other budgetary shortfalls. Are you making the most of each day?
While effective fundraisers depend on dedicated supporters, robust fundraising software, and staff and students who are willing to pitch in, you also need a solid game plan for the academic year. This means mapping out when to hold that community Walk-a-thon or how to pace your ongoing digital fundraising campaigns—in other words, creating a detailed fundraising calendar.
In this guide, we’ll cover all the steps you need to create a strategic school fundraising calendar, ending with a checklist of the key components your finished calendar should include.
1. Set a clear goal and timeline.
First, determine an overarching fundraising goal for the year following the SMART goal framework. According to this framework, goals should be specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound. Align with everyone involved in your school’s finances and fundraising initiatives to outline a fundraising goal similar to this:
“Vale Elementary School will raise $10,000 to support the purchase of new computer equipment and fund a new tutoring program by the end of the 2025-2026 school year using methods such as year-long virtual fundraising efforts, a back-to-school event, a fall festival fundraiser, a winter dance, and a spring Fun Run event.”
Clarify the exact timeline for achieving these goals, indicating a start and end date. Depending on your school’s planning periods, your timeline may extend beyond the dates when school is in session.
2. Analyze past fundraising efforts.
Next, review data from past fundraising efforts to determine which ideas and methods are most effective. By selecting from strategies that proved successful in the past, you’ll drive more supporter engagement and increase the likelihood of hitting your target.
Make sure to consider:
- The fundraising idea, analyzing the number of participants, the attendance rate (if there was an event), the number of donations, and the total amount raised.
- The communication channels used to promote the event, and the response and conversion rates from supporters.
- Specific marketing techniques, like sharing short-form videos about the fundraiser’s purpose, that garnered significant engagement.
- Any gamification strategies used to engage supporters, such as a fundraising thermometer to publicly track progress toward your goal.
Additionally, reference any constructive feedback from donors and look for opportunities to improve your upcoming campaigns. For instance, maybe donors would appreciate more flexible donation options. Start planning how you can accept donations from more platforms going forward, so you’ll be ready for next year.
3. Diversify fundraising activities.
Avoid donor fatigue by keeping your fundraising activities varied throughout the school year. If you need inspiration, start with this mini fundraising ideas list:
- Crowdfunding campaigns: Fundraise online by soliciting donations from your community. Typically, these campaigns route potential donors to a single donation page. Best of all, crowdfunding campaigns can run in the background throughout the year for any generous community member to contribute to.
- Peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraisers: These campaigns are similar to crowdfunding fundraisers. However, students will fundraise on behalf of your school and secure donations via personal donation pages. Some popular P2P campaigns for schools include Walk-a-thons (and other A-Thon fundraisers), Fun Runs, community service challenges, etc.
- Fundraising events: These campaigns culminate in an engaging event. Raise money by charging for entry, selling concessions or products at the event, or offering smaller, paid activities (e.g., carnival games). Bonfire suggests fun events for schools, such as tie dye parties, shoe drives, and parents’ night off events.
Of course, your school can also select an academic-focused idea like a Read-a-thon. Review your learning standards and consult with teachers about what types of fundraising initiatives would best support students’ learning.
4. Consider seasons and holidays.
Before you start penciling in your campaigns, mark the following events in your calendar:
- Holidays
- School breaks
- Testing dates
- Other school or community events (e.g., pep rallies, homecoming, community can drives, etc.)
While it’s best to plan around occassions like breaks and draining testing schedules, it can be advantageous to place certain fundraisers near key holidays or seasonal events. For example, you might hold a candy gram fundraiser in February. Students will purchase a candy gram, a piece of candy with a custom message, from your school that will be delivered to the recipient on Valentine’s Day. Or, take advantage of the season of generosity at the end of the year with a Turkey Trot race or winter-themed activities.
Remember to keep the weather in mind as well, particularly for outdoor events. For instance, if you’re looking for a back-to-school event to hold in August, an air-conditioned, indoor raffle will go over better than a 10K race.
5. Clearly assign roles.
Once you’ve built out the schedule, it’s time to outline who will be responsible for executing your fundraising activities. To ensure everyone understands their role, consider following the RACI framework to define who is:
- Responsible: Indicate who is directly responsible for performing the actions needed to complete the task.
- Example: The communications committee for the PTO might manage marketing efforts for a P2P campaign.
- Accountable: Name who is ultimately accountable for the outcome and completion of the task.
- Example: The communications chair who leads the communications committee.
- Consulted: Indicate the person whose input and expertise are needed before making a decision.
- Example: The assistant principal must approve any communications before they are posted or shared.
- Informed: Detail the people who need to be informed about the progress and outcome of the task.
- Example: The PTO president and school principal would like updates on responses to the marketing efforts.
Often, these tasks will be completed by teachers, parents, and other community members who are volunteering their time to your school. Remember to thank and acknowledge volunteers by sending them personalized thank-you messages, recognizing them publicly, and even holding volunteer appreciation events.
School Fundraising Calendar Checklist
As we’ve shown, there are many moving parts to building a fundraising calendar, from brainstorming fun school fundraising ideas to allocating tasks to the right people. We created this checklist to ensure you don’t miss anything:
☐ Set fundraising goals for the year
☐ Choose diverse fundraising types and methods (events, product sales, online, etc.)
☐ Block out school holidays, summer vacation, testing dates, etc.
☐ Pick tentative dates and space fundraisers out across the year
☐ Assign leads for each fundraiser
☐ Select the platforms and tools needed
☐ Add fundraisers to school communications (newsletter, website, etc.)
☐ Draft a promotional schedule for each fundraiser
☐ Plan volunteer needs + recruitment timeline
☐ Include thank-you & results-sharing steps after each event
Creating a school fundraising calendar will ultimately save you time and money going forward. Armed with a strategic plan, you can avoid common pitfalls associated with a lack of planning, like cramming in back-to-back fundraisers in the spring to meet your goal. Organized processes will also enhance experiences for your volunteers, PTO or PTA members, and donors, strengthening the invaluable relationships you have with your community.
Post-Event Engagement Plans: How to Keep the Momentum Going
Did you know that hybrid events can increase revenue by up to 15% for organizers? Or that 81% of U.S. donors attend nonprofit fundraising events each year?
That’s a massive opportunity for nonprofits to boost revenue and engagement, but only if you know what to do after the attendees go home and the tables are cleared.
Considering all the planning that goes into your fundraiser, from choosing a venue to securing sponsorships, it’s easy to look at the end of the event as a finish line. However, it’s actually a starting line for long-term relationships, and your post-event strategy is what truly converts a one-time attendee into a long-term donor.
There’s a three-stage framework you can follow to keep your momentum strong: Connect, Share, and Invite. Let’s break it down.
Connect With Attendees Through Personalized Gratitude
The clock starts the moment your event ends. The most effective follow-up happens within 24 to 48 hours, and it starts with a heartfelt “thank you.”
Send a short, personalized email or letter that addresses recipients by name and acknowledges their specific role, whether they attended, volunteered, donated, or sponsored. Sincere appreciation sets the tone for ongoing engagement.
According to CharityEngine, event software can streamline this follow-up through features, such as:
Add a short highlight reel or photo gallery to your message to enhance its visual appeal. Let your attendees relive the magic and reinforce the positive emotions tied to your mission.
Share Your Mission and Impact Story
After your thank-yous are sent, shift the focus from the event to your impact. You’re now moving from gratitude to storytelling and stewardship.
Your post-event communications should include:
Finally, send a short, focused post-event survey (no more than 10 questions). Ask what resonated most, what could be improved, and whether they’d like to be more involved. This shows you value their opinion, and it gives you data to make your next event even stronger.
Invite Donors to Deeper Involvement
Now that your audience feels connected and informed, it’s time to invite them further into your mission. Resist the urge to jump straight to another donation request! Many have likely already contributed through tickets or gifts.
Instead, offer low-friction engagement opportunities that build loyalty:
Each follow-up should include a clear call to action (CTA)—join a volunteer team, subscribe to your monthly giving program, or register for the next event. Keep it simple, specific, and easy to act on.
The event itself may end in one night, but the momentum you build afterward determines your long-term success. Post-event engagement is the real engine of ROI; it’s the disciplined, personalized, and strategic follow-up that transforms fleeting excitement into lasting loyalty.
So, the next time you’re wrapping up a big fundraiser, remember: this isn’t the end. It’s the beginning of a deeper connection between your supporters and your mission.
3 Data Utilization Tips for Healthcare Association Members
Data is an invaluable asset for decision-making in any sector. Considering that the healthcare industry produces approximately 30% of the world’s data, health professionals are well-equipped to make informed, reliable decisions.
Here’s the kicker: The value you derive from your data depends on the way you collect, manage, and analyze it. If you’re a healthcare association leader, it isn’t enough to simply advise members to use their data—you need to explain how they should use it.
In this guide, we’ll cover a few practical ways your healthcare association can train its members to use data wisely and glean meaningful insights from it. More than teaching members how to put their data to work, these tips will help you steward relationships with members who value relevant, actionable insights.
Aggregate and Organize Data
Imagine you’re writing a review of a movie, but you only watched one scene. Or, let’s say you stopped reading a book after finishing the first chapter. Would you feel prepared to summarize the plot to a friend?
Just as you can’t fully analyze a movie or a book without having all of the necessary information, health data won’t provide useful insights without comprehensive and accurate data points.
According to Arcadia, healthcare data aggregation is the process of consolidating different data into one place. By enabling health professionals to review data in its full context, this practice helps to identify widespread patterns and trends, plan next actions accordingly, and even forecast future events to allow for early interventions.
Here are a few ways to educate association members on aggregating health data effectively:
Lean on your learning management system (LMS) to integrate these tips into your broader teaching materials. Since data aggregation is a fairly high-level topic to cover with members, it’ll be useful to share relevant tips in numerous formats and provide plenty of recurring opportunities to learn about it.
Monitor Emerging Analytics Trends and Tech
Healthcare technology innovations are constantly evolving as software adapts to the growing amount of health data generated each year. Members depend on your association to share new developments that can impact their workflows, such as:
To demonstrate your association’s commitment to providing the most up-to-date insights into healthcare trends, consider hosting a recurring workshop or ongoing webinar series that presents new insights each week. This can also serve as a sustainable fundraising tool for your association, since constant updates can incentivize membership renewals in addition to providing non-dues revenue if you charge fees for these sessions.
Differentiate Between Operational and Performance Insights
The tips you share with association members depend on their unique roles, data needs, and the types of data you’re discussing. Keep in mind that some data (like clinical notes and socioeconomic data) influence the way members serve their patient populations. Other data, such as hospital readmission rates or cost savings, are more directly tied to internal operations.
Let’s look at the difference between insights from operational data and performance data.
Operational Data Insights
Operational data provides insights that inform decision-making in members’ respective fields. This could include information like:
Train members to make the most of operational data by sharing systems for analyzing this information and drawing important insights. Depending on members’ data literacy levels, they may also benefit from high-level training, such as an introduction to third-party data or methodologies for extracting insights.
Performance Data Insights
Performance data helps organizations evaluate their effectiveness over time, offering visibility into areas for improvement. Think about this data the same way you’d assess the most popular items in your online store or which fundraiser raised the most money. Members will similarly measure their performance in the healthcare industry—they’ll just use different metrics, such as:
Analytics tools are also important for supporting members’ performance improvement efforts, but make sure that any tools you recommend can tap into market intelligence and benchmark data. This technology will help members compare their performance against other organizations in the industry and identify opportunities to do better.
Note that there may be some overlap between operational and performance-related metrics. For example, a patient’s readmission rate could indicate the potential need for a different treatment plan, but it could also contribute to insights into the quality of care delivered.
Data is a powerful asset in the healthcare industry, and your association’s members are likely looking for new ways to interact with it. Whether they’re starting from scratch and need an introductory overview of data analytics or want a community where they can constantly stay up-to-date on the latest data innovations, your association can deliver what they’re looking for and ensure they see their membership as valuable.
4 Elements of an Effective Elementary School Fundraiser
From field trips to libraries to sports equipment, fundraisers support a wide variety of programs that make your school a place where students can learn and thrive. However, experienced school fundraisers know that launching a successful fundraising campaign is easier said than done, and that just a few core elements can make all the difference.
To help your elementary school’s next fundraiser go off without a hitch, this guide will break down four essential components of a successful school fundraiser and how to implement them.
1. Clear Goals
When it comes to fundraising goals, you may think the answer is obvious: your school wants to raise money for its programs, of course. However, goals like this often lack clarity about what success looks like, which makes executing an organized fundraiser and gathering useful data from it a challenge.
OneCause’s guide to fundraising event planning suggests setting SMART goals, which are:
Once you have a clear goal, break it into a series of smaller, individual aims. These should be specific tasks, like “assemble a fundraising team” or “research fundraising software.” These help you stay on track and can make a large, challenging goal seem feasible.
2. Fundraising Ideas That Excite Students
If your fundraising idea aligns with students’ interests, you’ll have a far easier time attracting participants and volunteers. For instance, one popular fundraiser for elementary school students is hosting a Read-A-Thon.
Read-A-Thon’s guide to these fundraisers explains how they work and can inspire a love of reading in students. The guide also recommends the following tips to make your fundraiser a success:
Essentially, a Read-A-Thon succeeds as a fundraiser due to its accessibility, connection to activities students and families already support, and potential for prizes to increase motivation. When choosing a fundraising idea for your elementary school, consider your students and community’s interests.
3. Easy Participation
Elementary school fundraisers rely heavily on support from your community and school staff. However, teachers and families of young children lead busy lives, and it can be difficult to squeeze in more than a handful of hours a week to help your fundraiser.
Meet your community where they’re at by making your fundraiser as easy to participate in as possible. For example, to make planning your fundraiser easier on your volunteers, you might leverage pre-made templates and software with out-of-the-box functionality. While platforms with extensive customization can be useful, prioritizing solutions that promise speed and ease of use is just as valid.
Additionally, the more flexible your fundraiser is with how individuals participate, the more participants you’ll attract. For instance, you could host a hybrid fundraiser that allows individuals to join in at any time of day from the comfort of their homes. Or, to accommodate parents and guardians who work during the day, you might host events exclusively at night or on weekends.
4. Community Support
When your community comes together to support your fundraiser, your chances of success skyrocket. Attract and retain community support by:
Chances are, your school will develop a small group of dedicated supporters who run most fundraisers and a larger community of donors and volunteers who drop in and out based on their interest and availability. Ensure you go the extra mile to appreciate the individuals putting in the extra effort to make your fundraisers happen, while also continually marketing your fundraisers to the wider community to retain their support.
When it comes to putting together an effective elementary school fundraiser, nailing down the essentials should be your first priority. Set a goal you know your school can achieve, make participation as fun and easy as possible, and start reaching out to your community to make your next fundraiser a team effort.
How to Apply for Corporate In-Kind Donations
4 Key Types of Metrics Medical Organizations Should Track
Medical organizations must be improvement-oriented to provide exceptional clinical care and patient experiences. The key to making impactful improvements that make a difference for your operations is data and analytics.
Every business identifies and tracks key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure how successful they are. The insights they glean from these metrics tell them what they’re doing right and where they can improve.
By tracking the right metrics, you can make smarter operational decisions and ultimately deliver more effective patient care. Let’s examine the most important categories of metrics that medical organizations should track and why they matter.
Clinical Quality Metrics
Clinical quality metrics help you measure whether your medical organization provides excellent clinical care. Metrics you might track that fall into this category may include:
These metrics help medical organizations meet regulatory and accreditation requirements and make internal improvements in care delivery. By monitoring these trends, you can make targeted changes to your organization’s infrastructure and processes that reduce complications and provide better care.
Plus, these metrics are a great way to demonstrate your accountability to patients and stakeholders. As UpMetrics explains, strong impact reports are built around both quantitative and qualitative data, so your organization may also consider conducting patient interviews or sending surveys to receive their feedback.
Patient Experience and Satisfaction Metrics
While clinical care effectiveness is essential, patients’ feelings about their care are just as important. If a patient is treated successfully but has a terrible experience with your staff members, this can greatly damage their trust in your healthcare organization.
To measure patient experience, track the following metrics:
In addition to tracking these metrics, you can measure patient experience through patient surveys. One or two days after a patient visits your medical organization, send them a survey through email or text message with a mix of short answer and multiple-choice questions they can answer about their experience. Surveys help patients feel heard and respected while enabling you to make data-driven decisions that improve their overall experience.
Operational Efficiency Metrics
Running a smooth operation doesn’t just result in happier patients—it also makes life easier for your staff members. In a recent study, over 45% of physicians reported at least one symptom of burnout. As burnout leads to lower productivity and work dissatisfaction, lightening the workload on medical staff and boosting operational efficiency is key to providing a better workplace.
Operational metrics highlight inefficiencies that you can target for improvement. Here are a few examples:
When you monitor these metrics with a robust practice management software solution, you can make better decisions for resource allocation, staff time management, and patient flow. Look for a comprehensive solution with features that increase operational efficiency, such as appointment scheduling tools and functionalities for managing and cleansing your data.
Financial Metrics
Financial metrics help medical organizations manage their finances and resources effectively and plan strategically for future growth and expansion. These indicators reveal how well your organization generates revenue, manages costs, and sustains profitability:
Streamlining financial management and billing operations is often challenging, and many medical organizations don’t know where to begin. These metrics will give you a good starting point for optimizing your process.
For instance, if you’re running into issues with insurance billing, your solution may be to outsource this work to a medical billing service to free up your time to focus on other revenue leaks. Or, you may take PracticeSuite’s recommendation and invest in medical billing software that streamlines the process and makes it easier for your staff members to handle.
Tracking the right metrics helps your organization run more smoothly and empowers you to deliver high-quality care. Whether you’re just beginning your data analytics journey or looking to refine your approach, focusing on key indicators in each area can provide the clarity you need to drive meaningful change. Determine your current priorities, whether that’s hiring, finances, or patient care, and set metrics for them that you can assess to shape a stronger future strategy.
How to Prepare for a Nonprofit Audit: 4 Essential Steps
If your nonprofit is considering conducting an audit, you might feel intimidated or worried, especially if it’s your first time. However, audits are a crucial part of effectively managing your organization’s finances, ensuring proper governance, and maintaining transparency with stakeholders. And once you understand the process, it isn’t nearly as scary as it may seem!
Most nonprofits hire external professionals to conduct audits, but that doesn’t mean your team should contact the first auditor you find and leave everything in their hands. Rather, proper internal preparation helps ensure your audit is accurate, timely, and useful for shaping your organization’s financial practices going forward.
In this guide, we’ll walk through four steps your nonprofit should take to get ready for its audit and lay the foundation for receiving thorough, actionable results. Let’s dive in!
1. Decide What Type of Audit You Need to Conduct
While the term “audit” is most often used in financial contexts, not every nonprofit audit focuses on finances. Different types of audits serve different purposes, and the right one for your nonprofit depends on your unique needs, goals, and priorities.
According to Jitasa’s nonprofit audit guide, the most common audit categories are as follows:
For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus primarily on independent financial audits since they’re the most common type of nonprofit audit. They’re also the most likely type of audit to be required for your organization, whether because of a stipulation in your bylaws, a federal or state government regulation, or a request from the funder of a grant you’re pursuing.
2. Lay out Your Auditing Timeline
The entire independent financial audit process takes several months to complete. If you have a deadline to submit your audit report to a grantmaker or government agency, note that date and work backward to figure out when you need to begin, building in some wiggle room to ensure you finish in time.
Here is a quick breakdown of the phases of the audit process and how long each one typically takes:
If your nonprofit doesn’t have an external deadline for your audit, try to conduct it and begin implementing the recommendations before completing your annual tax return. This way, you can let the IRS know that you’re actively improving your processes, and your team won’t have to work on two major financial projects at the same time.
The Form 990 filing deadline is the 15th day of the fifth month after the end of your nonprofit’s fiscal year (May 15 for organizations whose fiscal year follows the calendar year). You can extend the due date by up to six months if needed to conduct your audit—you’ll just have to file Form 8868 and get approval from the IRS to make the extension official.
3. Select a Nonprofit Auditor
Choosing your auditor typically takes longer than any other step in the independent auditing process. It’s important to select an individual or firm that can meet your needs and goals while working within your budget and timeline.
Here is a basic overview of how to find the right auditor for your nonprofit:
Just like with hiring financial team members for your organization, look for auditors who specialize in working with nonprofits. When searching online, use keywords like “nonprofit auditing firms near me” or “nonprofit auditors in [city name]” to narrow your results. Additionally, make sure their past clients include nonprofits of approximately the same size as yours to ensure they’re familiar with similar financial situations.
4. Organize Your Financial Records & Reports
After signing your contract and scheduling your audit, your auditor will send over a Provided by Client (PBC) list. This list details all of the documents they’ll need to complete their review, which can range from your fiscal policy handbook to financial statements to board meeting minutes. Compile these resources in a digital folder that you can share with your auditor for easy access.
However, pulling together everything on the PBC list is only part of the audit prep equation. You also have to clean up your accounting system—not only to help your auditor find the information they need in it, but also to demonstrate that you’re practicing good financial data hygiene, which the auditor will be looking for as they assess your procedures.
Before your audit, make sure to:
If you need help with these tasks, your bookkeeper or accountant can help you identify and resolve any issues in your accounting system before the audit begins and pull any reports you might still need for your PBC folder.
Even if you prepare thoroughly for your audit, your report might not be perfect, which is completely fine! Remember that your auditor isn’t just there to check boxes. They can be a valuable partner in helping your organization develop sustainable practices for long-term financial success.
When you get your report, take some time to review the recommendations with your team and determine the best ways to incorporate them into your financial management activities. Then, hopefully, your next audit can go even more smoothly!
How to Embed Philanthropy into Your Onboarding Process
70% of new hires can tell within the first week whether or not their new job is the right fit for them. The onboarding period is their first impression of your business, and it’s critical to their long-term success that they get off to a good start.
Your corporate social responsibility (CSR) program and philanthropic efforts are important facets of your overall employee engagement strategy, so why not incorporate them into your onboarding process and introduce new hires right away? Highlighting philanthropy during onboarding will make a great first impression during that critical period and improve the likelihood that they remain engaged and satisfied with their role.
Read on to learn more about intentionally embedding your philanthropy into your onboarding schedule to engage new employees.
Include your corporate philanthropy goals in their first-week information
Highlighting philanthropy during onboarding has two important outcomes. First, you demonstrate your business’s resolve and prove that your CSR work is not just lip service, and second, you give new employees the chance to get involved as soon as possible. As employees attend new-hire meetings and gain access to different software suites, make sure that your philanthropy program is included as mission-critical—not an afterthought.
In your onboarding schedule, set a dedicated time for a human resources staff member or CSR specialist to sit down with new hires and explain how your business’s philanthropy strategy works. You might include:
By including philanthropy in your new hire’s educational meetings, you demonstrate how firmly integrated it is into how your business is run. This is good for your new hire—allowing them to see your business’s values from the first day—as well as good for you, because philanthropic programs like workplace giving increase staff engagement and retention.
Your business’s software stack likely includes project management tools, communication options, HR software, and many others. If you leverage CSR software to manage your philanthropy programs, make sure to incorporate it into your onboarding training, too. If you don’t, consider investing! According to Uncommon Giving’s CSR software guide, these platforms help you engage employees, increase trust, and improve your brand’s reputation.
Encourage a volunteer day with a mentor in their first month
Once your new hire has been introduced to your business’s philanthropic goals, it’s time to give them the opportunity to engage in a more hands-on fashion. Your organization’s corporate volunteerism program provides the perfect way to showcase your values in action, while giving them a break from the office or computer during the stressful first-month period.
The first month of their tenure is important for learning your processes and getting to know their coworkers, so it can be valuable on multiple levels to encourage them to take a volunteer day early on. First, it shows that your company really does want its employees to use those days. Second, it provides a great opportunity for them to connect with a more senior staffer, whether that’s an assigned mentor, their manager, or just someone who cares about the same cause that they do. If your team is geographically dispersed, it can also be a helpful way to encourage them to make an in-person connection with someone who is located nearby.
This opportunity will also show your new hire how your corporate giving culture works in action. Don’t forget to tell them about any additional resources, like volunteer grants, that their nonprofit of choice might be eligible for after their day out!
Highlight your corporate philanthropy priorities regularly
In their first week, new hires learn about your corporate philanthropy programs. In their first month, they participate in a hands-on way. But what about the rest of their first year?
Instead of relying on them remembering everything that was covered in their orientation, create regular checkpoints and reminders to share philanthropic opportunities with your whole staff. This might look like:
Keeping your corporate philanthropy efforts front and center throughout the year will build your organization’s culture of giving, keep employees engaged, and continue to support the communities and nonprofits that your philanthropy serves.
With these tips, you can improve your bottom line and boost employee retention by embedding your corporate philanthropy directly into your onboarding process. If you remain consistent and focus on what resonates most with your employees, you’ll see participation continue to grow.
5 Tips for Planning Your School’s Fundraising Calendar
On average, K-12 schools in the United States are in session for 180 days. This means you have just under six months to raise all the fundraising dollars needed to fund extracurricular activities, enriching learning experiences, school supply purchases, and other budgetary shortfalls. Are you making the most of each day?
While effective fundraisers depend on dedicated supporters, robust fundraising software, and staff and students who are willing to pitch in, you also need a solid game plan for the academic year. This means mapping out when to hold that community Walk-a-thon or how to pace your ongoing digital fundraising campaigns—in other words, creating a detailed fundraising calendar.
In this guide, we’ll cover all the steps you need to create a strategic school fundraising calendar, ending with a checklist of the key components your finished calendar should include.
1. Set a clear goal and timeline.
First, determine an overarching fundraising goal for the year following the SMART goal framework. According to this framework, goals should be specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound. Align with everyone involved in your school’s finances and fundraising initiatives to outline a fundraising goal similar to this:
“Vale Elementary School will raise $10,000 to support the purchase of new computer equipment and fund a new tutoring program by the end of the 2025-2026 school year using methods such as year-long virtual fundraising efforts, a back-to-school event, a fall festival fundraiser, a winter dance, and a spring Fun Run event.”
Clarify the exact timeline for achieving these goals, indicating a start and end date. Depending on your school’s planning periods, your timeline may extend beyond the dates when school is in session.
2. Analyze past fundraising efforts.
Next, review data from past fundraising efforts to determine which ideas and methods are most effective. By selecting from strategies that proved successful in the past, you’ll drive more supporter engagement and increase the likelihood of hitting your target.
Make sure to consider:
Additionally, reference any constructive feedback from donors and look for opportunities to improve your upcoming campaigns. For instance, maybe donors would appreciate more flexible donation options. Start planning how you can accept donations from more platforms going forward, so you’ll be ready for next year.
3. Diversify fundraising activities.
Avoid donor fatigue by keeping your fundraising activities varied throughout the school year. If you need inspiration, start with this mini fundraising ideas list:
Of course, your school can also select an academic-focused idea like a Read-a-thon. Review your learning standards and consult with teachers about what types of fundraising initiatives would best support students’ learning.
4. Consider seasons and holidays.
Before you start penciling in your campaigns, mark the following events in your calendar:
While it’s best to plan around occassions like breaks and draining testing schedules, it can be advantageous to place certain fundraisers near key holidays or seasonal events. For example, you might hold a candy gram fundraiser in February. Students will purchase a candy gram, a piece of candy with a custom message, from your school that will be delivered to the recipient on Valentine’s Day. Or, take advantage of the season of generosity at the end of the year with a Turkey Trot race or winter-themed activities.
Remember to keep the weather in mind as well, particularly for outdoor events. For instance, if you’re looking for a back-to-school event to hold in August, an air-conditioned, indoor raffle will go over better than a 10K race.
5. Clearly assign roles.
Once you’ve built out the schedule, it’s time to outline who will be responsible for executing your fundraising activities. To ensure everyone understands their role, consider following the RACI framework to define who is:
Often, these tasks will be completed by teachers, parents, and other community members who are volunteering their time to your school. Remember to thank and acknowledge volunteers by sending them personalized thank-you messages, recognizing them publicly, and even holding volunteer appreciation events.
School Fundraising Calendar Checklist
As we’ve shown, there are many moving parts to building a fundraising calendar, from brainstorming fun school fundraising ideas to allocating tasks to the right people. We created this checklist to ensure you don’t miss anything:
☐ Set fundraising goals for the year
☐ Choose diverse fundraising types and methods (events, product sales, online, etc.)
☐ Block out school holidays, summer vacation, testing dates, etc.
☐ Pick tentative dates and space fundraisers out across the year
☐ Assign leads for each fundraiser
☐ Select the platforms and tools needed
☐ Add fundraisers to school communications (newsletter, website, etc.)
☐ Draft a promotional schedule for each fundraiser
☐ Plan volunteer needs + recruitment timeline
☐ Include thank-you & results-sharing steps after each event
Creating a school fundraising calendar will ultimately save you time and money going forward. Armed with a strategic plan, you can avoid common pitfalls associated with a lack of planning, like cramming in back-to-back fundraisers in the spring to meet your goal. Organized processes will also enhance experiences for your volunteers, PTO or PTA members, and donors, strengthening the invaluable relationships you have with your community.
5 Donor FAQs About Corporate Giving and How to Respond
Corporate giving is an extremely valuable fundraising opportunity, but it often goes untapped by the organizations that need it most. This is largely because donors just aren’t aware that programs like donation matching and employee volunteer grants exist. Even if they are, your supporters may not know how to participate and whether it’s really worthwhile.
To access these vital corporate funds, your nonprofit must be prepared to provide helpful information to donors. In this quick guide, we’ll explore common questions about corporate giving and how you can answer them to encourage participation.
1. Why do companies offer corporate giving programs?
When donors first hear about corporate giving, they might not understand why businesses participate in it. Do companies really donate portions of their profits to nonprofits? What’s the catch?
Without knowing the rationale, donors may not trust workplace giving, thinking it’s just an empty promise or a marketing ploy. In reality, however, companies offer philanthropy programs for a variety of reasons, including to:
In your initial communications about corporate giving, emphasize that these programs are a win-win for everyone: your organization, the donor, and their employer.
2. How do I find out if I’m eligible for corporate giving?
Once donors understand the value of corporate philanthropy programs, they’ll want to know how to get involved. The first step is to determine their eligibility for opportunities like matching gifts, volunteer grants, and paycheck giving—which can be a tricky process.
Every company has different guidelines and eligibility criteria that determine who can participate. One employer may match donations to any 501(c)(3) as long as the employee is full-time, while another might restrict eligibility to non-religious nonprofits and employees who’ve been with the company at least a year. To find out, donors must visit their employee portals or look for information in their company handbooks.
You can make finding guidelines easier for donors by:
When you market corporate giving opportunities like matching gifts and volunteer grants, include basic instructions for checking eligibility and making a request. Highlight your search tool if you have one, or create infographics that break down the process into easy steps.
3. Is requesting matching gifts or volunteer grants worth it?
Since donors have to jump through a few hoops to determine their eligibility and make requests, they’ll want to know if it’s really worth the effort.
The short answer is yes—participating in workplace giving is extremely worthwhile! Requesting matching gifts, volunteer grants, and other forms of corporate funding for your nonprofit helps donors increase their impact (without necessarily increasing their donations) and provide much-needed funding for your work.
To better communicate the value of corporate giving to your nonprofit, share fundraising and impact metrics that demonstrate the tangible results of corporate donations. For instance, you could share the total revenue earned from matching gifts last year and how those dollars funded the construction of 10 houses for unhoused locals.
4. Does my company offer more ways to support nonprofits?
Loyal donors might wonder if there’s more they can do to support your nonprofit through their employer. Companies often participate in several types of philanthropy besides employee-driven workplace giving, and your donors can share opportunities as they discover them.
Specifically, employers might offer:
And these offerings are just the beginning! Companies create all kinds of programs to support nonprofits in ways that align with their employees’ interests. For example, Uncommon Giving suggests that businesses co-host volunteer events with nonprofits throughout the year to boost volunteerism.
Donors can discover these opportunities by visiting their employee portals or speaking to leadership about corporate giving. If a donor identifies a good opportunity for your nonprofit, encourage them to bring it up to their manager or connect your organization with them. Even if these decisions are made by leadership rather than driven by employees, they’ll likely appreciate employee input.
5. What can I do if my employer doesn’t offer corporate giving?
Some of your donors might be excited to participate in corporate giving, only to discover that their employer doesn’t offer any formalized program. What can they do in these situations?
Let donors know that they can advocate for one! Encourage them to reach out to the leaders at their business and explain why starting a workplace giving program would benefit the company, the community, and employees alike. Provide statistics and research they can share with their employer to prove it’s worthwhile, such as this data from Crowd101. Support interested donors through this process, and thank them for their dedication to your cause.
Corporate giving may feel confusing for your donors, so it’s up to your nonprofit to answer their questions and share additional resources as needed. By supporting them through the request process, you’ll drive more donations and improve donor relationships at the same time.
Board Member Engagement: 5 Tips To Build Strong Connections
If you think about your nonprofit as a machine, your board of directors is the engine. Board members make key decisions, contribute to fundraising efforts, and forge connections in the community, all in the name of powering your organization’s purpose.
But what happens when such an integral component of your operations isn’t functioning at its best? Unfortunately, the nonprofit world is notoriously prone to burnout; recent studies have shown that over 95% of nonprofit leaders are concerned about burnout at the highest levels of governance.
To keep your engine firing on all cylinders, you must proactively fight burnout and ensure your board members are as engaged as possible. In this guide, we’ll review how to make the board member experience exciting and rewarding to drive your mission forward.
1. Set clear expectations.
Board members are passionate about your mission and dedicate significant time and money to ensuring your organization runs smoothly. The last thing you want is to blindside them about their roles and dampen their enthusiasm as a result.
Your nonprofit has to do everything in its power to set and adhere to expectations, particularly if your board members are volunteers (which is true for most boards), to ensure a positive experience for everyone. Get started by:
Ensure you keep up with best practices for board member expectations by looking at other nonprofits for inspiration. Stay updated with emerging engagement techniques by reading credible blogs, watching relevant webinars, and attending conferences with other nonprofit leaders.
2. Foster open communication.
Communication practices and pathways can make or break your board’s success. After all, important stakeholders must be well-informed to bridge internal gaps and prevent external issues. However, your board members are likely busy with personal and professional commitments. Simplify connection by:
Ensure deliverability is a priority in your communication system. Teach your board members how to bypass the spam filter and only use channels that members regularly check.
3. Encourage relationship-building.
Board members must trust each other to collaborate well and build a better future for your nonprofit. Break out of the board meeting mold to cultivate connections that last and improve board member morale. For instance, you could host:
Additionally, you can fortify relationships within the professional board setting by establishing a mentorship program in which established board members coach new board members. Match mentors and mentees based on shared interests, professional skills, or schedule availability.
To ensure all board members feel comfortable and eager to participate, ask for their opinions about which activities to offer. You can even appoint some board members to be part of a planning committee (if they express interest), giving them a more vested role in your success.
4. Offer ongoing education and development.
Your board members likely have connections in the community and are passionate about your mission, making them valuable strategic assets if you provide the right training. Investing funds into professional development materials can pay off in the long run, setting current board members up for success while enticing future supporters to join.
Whether you’re educating board members on how to collect planned gifts or make an executive budget, you can train them by:
If you have extra room in your budget and big aspirations for board growth, you could outsource board training with the help of a nonprofit fundraising consultant. They’ll help you devise custom educational materials based on your needs and goals or even lead the training themselves.
Regardless of the training methods you decide on, ensure your board members actually find them helpful. Ask them for feedback and track their progress to see if the training has helped them advance in their study area.
5. Recognize board member contributions.
Board members are integral to your organization’s success. Express how important they are to you by celebrating their contributions.
eCardWidget’s guide to board member appreciation suggests trying these tactics:
As you express gratitude for your board’s hard work, ensure it comes across as genuine. Personalize these communications and events whenever possible to add sincerity and highlight specific achievements. For example, you might ask your Director of Development to send handwritten thank-you cards to board members quarterly to recap their specific contributions to strategic initiatives.
Also, remember that you don’t always need a work-related occasion to say thanks! Keep track of board members’ birthdays, anniversaries, and other milestones and reach out to them during those occasions. This provides a natural opportunity to express your gratitude while brightening your board members’ days.
It’s one thing to commit to improving your board and another to actually implement these practices into your nonprofit. Start with small adjustments and work your way up to avoid overwhelming your board. As long as you communicate openly and center your mission, your board will run better than ever after a few “tune-ups!”