Name of Topic: School Fundraising Project

Authors Name: Gasimov Parviz and Huseynli Jamala

Teacher: Agil Valiyev

Introduction
School fundraising is the practice of raising money to support educational
enrichment programs by schools or school groups mostly known from the USA
(such as PTO, booster clubs, etc.). Schools and other non-profits raise $1.7 billion
each year by selling popular consumer items. Additionally, schools and school
groups such as their PTO and PTA find many creative ways to raise funds from
bake sales, dinner events, auctions and school carnivals to more aggressive
advertising, affinity programs, grant writing and straight forward donation
requests.
It is obvious that some schools don’t get any benefit that will be enough for the
activities within the school. Therefore, they use fundraising activities to raise
money from external sources to fund and support co-curricular activities and other
school functions. This fundraising ideas may occur due to the school’s needs, or
missions and goals.
When school faces with financial problems, shortfalls or lack of the inventory or
labor that it wants to get, then it chooses the fundraising activities, which are the
quite interesting and may also be educational and fun.
It may aid for organizations and clubs, related to sport, culture, psychology,
science etc. within the school. These organizations play a great role in student’s
both educational and social development. If you spend money for education and
future of children, then it is worth it.
People that estimate the education and future organizations, this will be the great
opportunity for them to aid and give a hand. We expect in such fundraising
activities there will also be some of the prominent organizations. Perhaps the funds
will be used for a technology upgrade or to purchase new equipments inner
schools.
 Literature Review
By reading Sandra Sims’ “The 5 keys to successful Fundraising” we notice those 5
main factors:
1) Why? Why are we need fundraising? – We should know our goal. You should
know your mission, that will make you achieve your goal faster. There should be
personal motivation too. That volunteers would have the more enthusiasm. People
should know your purpose of fundraising. If the proceeds benefit a particular fund
or purpose it is important that this is understood by both organizers and potential
donors as it could affect their desire to help.
2) Choose the Right Fundraiser. Fundraisers fall into three basic types: sales,
events, and direct solicitation. Sales fundraisers derive income from sales of goods.
In our situation it will be the photos, paintings. Fundraising events generate profit
by the organization of an activity that will take place on a certain day and time and
involve inviting guests.
3) Organization. Budgetary needs of organization generally guide the fundraising
goals that are needed. Our organization should have yearly financial requirements,
and then a plan to reach that requirement with individual fundraisers and
campaigns. On a spreadsheet, create a line item for each expense.
4) Teamwork is Essential. Students, teachers and all the volunteers can learn from
the previous fundraisers, if everyone work together and cover the mistakes, then
the result will be pleasing and satisfactory. It is necessary that the group leader or
the team members had excellent leadership and speech skills.
5) Action and Follow Through. Volunteer Support is important and crucial. The
more people you can get to support your cause, the more profitable it can be.
Sending thank you letters or notes to people who make a donation shows your
appreciation and reinforces their goodwill about making a financial gift to charity.
 Steps of Project Plan
The first step of any school fundraising plan is to set your budget. It’s always a
good idea to look at the last several years fundraising results for a baseline number
and then adjust that based on the current year’s projected needs.
Once we’ve got our PTA (Parent Teacher Association) or PTO (Parent Teacher
Organization) budget set, then select two major fundraising events as our primary
school fundraisers for the year. For example, let’s say we have 500 students at our
school and we need to raise $50,000 this year or $100 per student. There’s a list of
the best school fundraising ideas right after the outline of the school fundraising
plan.
We’ll want to set a goal of getting 80% of your school’s fundraising dollars from
our two big fundraisers or about $20,000 net from each. The other 20% of our
annual budget can be produced from smaller fundraising activities during the
school year.
Next step for fundraising activities, we decided the most pleased events- art, such
as paintings and photos of young artists, photographers that worked together with
their families. Their works will be exhibited and sold. Another activity that we
really tend to, is theatre group of our school. It will show the spectacular plays of
famous playwrights. These activities won’t be high-priced and there will be free
snacks, but some of them will be also on sale. As the culture and art have the
increasing tendency, there will be many people that interested in it. The benefit
may be targeted toward a specific group, or could be something that is
advantageous for the entire school. As an also art based fundraiser, we often work
directly with art educators who are raising money for their programs. So often we
see that art, music and the humanities are being cut from school budgets. A
fundraiser that is run specifically to raise money for these types of programs can
have a huge impact on the breadth and quality of education our children receive.
 Business Analysis Methods

SWOT Analysis

METRICS POINT 1 POINT 2

Established online
presence Known and trusted
Large population of organization by other major
Strengths
student body corporations who loves to
No direct competition donate
within our school zone
Haven’t established trust
Customer service is weak
from regular people
Weaknesses Overall attendance of special
Lack of corporate sponsors
events can be decreased
for whole organization
New corporations are
willing to donate funds for
the organizations Online social media is gaining
Opportunities
Opportunity of most more followers 
winning high school in the
city
Scammers are using the Some donation moneys are
name of the organization being stolen by other
to scam people to get employees
Threats
donations Targeted population and
Multiple extra-curricular businesses can be also in
fees recession
 Data Collection
The first step in creating a Data Collection Plan is to identify the questions we
want to answer. Our data must be relevant to the project. We also need to figure
out the type of measurements or metrics we want to include.
The second step in creating a plan is to find out what kind of data is available to
collect. We should make sure that make a list of all of the data points that are
needed to answer the questions the project is centered on.
The third step in creating a Data Collection Plan is to decide how much data we
need. We want to get enough data so what we can see patterns and trends. For each
data element on the list, write down how much data is actually needed.
The fourth step in creating a data collection plan is to see how we are going to
measure the data. As we all know, data can be measured in different ways: check
sheets, survey answers, etc.
The fifth step in creating a data collection plan is to decide who is going to collect
the data. Nowadays, the data can also be collected through automated software. We
may be required to liaise with the person in charge of the software to ensure the
data is available and in the correct format.
The sixth step is to check where to collect the data from. It means deciding on the
location and/or source of data. The location does not mean any physical location. It
is the location within the process.
The seventh step is to decide whether to sample the data or not. Sometimes it is
impractical to measure an entire population of data. In such a case, we then take a
sample of data.

Risks and Uncertainties

1) Missing the Mark

The most familiar fundraising risk in the nonprofit sector is falling shy of the target
for fundraising results. Causes include:
Unrealistic expectations;
Taking long-term donors for granted;
Failing to make a compelling case.
2) Lack of Transparency
Meeting minimum requirements imposed by federal and state regulatory agencies
is compliance. Transparency is a choice that leaders of a nonprofit make. To
manage the risk that donors will believe you are hiding rather than sharing, ask our
donors what they would like to know about your organization and make that
information readily available.
3) Lack of Clarity
Raising money “together” can be an effective strategy as long as all of the parties
participating in the campaign take time to clarify their respective roles and
responsibilities. Possible topics to include in such a document include:
Effective date
Limitations and responsibilities
Accounting of expenses
Ethical standards
Cancellation
4) Failing to Comply with Charitable Registration Laws
The requirement applies not only to the home state of the charity, but also to any
other such jurisdiction in which the charity is seeking contributions.
5) Fundraising can require a lot of selling.
Discount cards aren’t just going to sell themselves. Door-to-door selling is often
required for effective fundraising. On crowdfunding platforms, numerous emails
and social media posts might be required.
 Limitation of Project

Economic pressures
General economic hardships can cause school fundraisers to earn less, as volunteer
time is spread thin with more families requiring dual incomes. A survey done by
national fundraising association in 2018 determined that on average the most labor-
intensive school wide fundraisers, in terms of the number of volunteers needed is
school carnivals, with an average of 60 volunteers needed.
By contrast the least labor-intensive fundraisers for schools included: product
fundraisers, direct donations, restaurant nights and student portraits. Another
survey from the same source showed 71% of parents are "concerned and
overwhelmed" with having to do more fundraisers.

Conclusion
As a result, despite some of the shortcomings and risks mentioned above,
widespread use is observed in primary and secondary schools across the country,
and in universities and other educational institutions, if successful. Based on
preliminary research, various studies and their use in foreign countries, the
development of this type of activity in our country will inevitably become a
priority. Although the main goal is philanthropy and development perspective, this
type of activity is unprofitable, but as a result of the development of the field, we
have investigated and decided to implement a certain amount of increase in
profitability years later. It is expected that the creation of favorable market
conditions and opportunities for the sustainability and longevity of the project will
be used to teach foreign and international practice, as well as to make maximum
use of domestic application, and achieve mass growth.

Practical Implication of Project

For our major school fundraisers, we can choose to sell fundraising products or do
some large-scale events or challenges. Both approaches will produce the needed
funds if it done correctly. The list below are all easy fundraising ideas for
elementary school fundraisers.
Holiday Festival – Celebration of the holidays. Silent auctions do great at this time
of year. We can use consignment items to boost revenue. Also offer poinsettias,
holiday wreathes, etc.
School Carnival – Spring carnival is another great family fun day that we can also
tie in with Home & Garden offerings or an attractive raffle.
Reading Challenge – An online fundraiser where students get pledges of $1 for
each book read during a month. Averages well above $25 per student.
Fitness Challenge – Similar to the reading challenge, the fitness challenge has
students get pledges for completing various fitness tasks like running laps,
completing obstacle course, President’s fitness competition, etc.

References

1) http://www.fundraising-ideas.org/DIY/
2) https://www.pachyonychia.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/11/Guide.5KeysFundraising.stepbystepfundraising.pdf
3) https://www.originalworks.com
4) https://www.fundraiserhelp.com
5) https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/school-fundraising-ideas/
6) https://www.giveforms.com/blog/10-best-school-fundraising-ideas
7) https://www.curacubby.com/blog/fundraising-during-covid19
8) Guidance Charities and RM, CC for England and Wales