How to Budget Wisely for Fundraising Success

Creating a budget is essential for any project, and that is just as true when it comes to fundraising and budgeting in parent-teacher associations (PTA). PTA groups are designed to help enrich a child’s educational experience by providing support, encouragement and funds to supplement the classroom. How should PTA’s wisely and responsibly create a budget for the year? Read on to see what steps PTA’s should consider when budgeting funds.

Effective budgeting means mindful thinking. Create a list of goals and ambitions for the year. Establish what is financially feasible, and develop a written portfolio, a detailed spreadsheet, a map of financial funds and goals - whatever it is that your PTA finds necessary to meet your financial goals. Whether for reception funds at concerts, field trip funds, or for special group interests, you will want to be well prepared for the year’s activities and needs.

Learn from last year’s successes and mistakes. Study treasurer’s reports and budget from previous years to determine how well the budget met the association’s needs. Maintain connections with organizations your PTA partnered successfully with last year to ease any planning processes for the current year.

Keep the necessary, trim the non-essential. Determine projected financial needs while taking into consideration what funds are needed for approved programs, projects, events, and development. Develop trustworthy sourcing for these funds to meet all the requirements necessary.

Begin forming a budget. From here, a PTA can begin developing a budget, one that includes allocated expenditures for the remainder of the year, existing funds, and plans for obtaining funds. Make sure to include ample adjustment room funding as well, otherwise known as an emergency fund.

Don’t resist the urge to update. Whether an event went more successfully than you imagined or an unfortunate emergency arose, return to your budgeting process and readjust to make the most of your funds. Keeping a watchful eye on one budget can mean allowing for more space and leverage on another, so don’t assume funding cannot be moved around.

Mindful and effective budgeting can help you take your goals to the distance. For more resources, check out these articles from Parent Teacher Organizations Today for more information.

Fundraising Success is Measured in More Ways Than One

Fundraising goes beyond catalogues and order forms, so measuring the success of your efforts shouldn't be based solely on the amount of money raised. When starting your fundraiser, consider the success and types of past fundraising efforts, incoming generations of students, your community and socio economic environment and the user-friendliness of your fundraiser. These factors combined will help you determine how successful your efforts are and will also help you identify areas of improvement for future initiatives.

A Learning Experience
Although a fundraising event may not be profitable the first year, it doesn’t mean that it was not successful at all. Perhaps you tried a different strategy and it wasn’t as successful as your first. Making a profit is a learning experience. You have to find the knacks that work for you and your team along the way. Through experimenting with different types of fundraisers, you will be able to determine the preferences of your audience.

Incoming Grades
The culture of incoming grades can determine the success of an event. They can either “make or break” a fundraising event. It is evident how different cultures’ grades can be - some have involved young minds ready to participate in all schools events while others struggle to get students involved. The key idea is to make your students want to be involved. The more inclined they are to support a cause they are passionate about, the more successful your event will be.

Community Involvement
The socio-economic status of community members around you can play a role. Students rely on the support of their community to fundraise for schools. You must find a cause that a majority of people will want to support. You will find that most groups are unable to discover which fundraisers work best without first deciding which packages intrigue supporters.

Make sure to investigate the timeliness of your event. If other fundraising activities are happening in town at the same time, it can be detrimental to the success of a fundraiser. Most people are only able to support so much at a time, so make your event the one they want to support.

User-friendly = Supporter-friendly
Was the ease of the program you chose user-friendly? Most companies sell the packages and assign you to complete everything else. You need to find a company that cares about your success. One that has a sales representative that strives to make your event as successful as you dreamed it would be.

Meadow Farms Fundraising offers an exceptional staff to help make your event successful. We are here to provide an easier, yet rewarding experience. Meadow Farms offers nine fundraising event packages - something for everyone. When you choose Meadow Farms Fundraising, you can rest assured that your campaign is being supported by an elite team of professionals, dedicated to providing you with the best service in our industry.

5 Things You Need to Know Before Your Color-A-Thon:

Color-A-Thon is a great event for students and adults of every age. This 3K race/walk is a color craze that allows your group to have a successful fundraiser that benefits your school. Before you start, check out these 5 things you must know before you start your School-A-Thon event planning!

1. What is a Color-A-Thon? Color-A-Thon is a colorful fundraising event that the entire family can enjoy. Students are not required to go door-to-door when fundraising. A School-A-Thon representative will walk you through the entire event set up process.

2. Who Can Participate? Everyone is able to participate in a Color-A-Thon Event- this is a fundraiser that the entire family can enjoy together. Even if you’re not into running, you can walk, skip or strolldown through the course!  

3. What Should You Wear? Not sure what to wear for the Color-A-Thon race? Color-A-Thon recommends that you wear a bright white so can show off your tie-dye shirt at the end of the course. We recommend coordinating the rest of your outfit with neon socks, headbands or wristbands. If you are with a group of people, try organizing a theme for everyone to follow.  

4. What is the Color Blast Dust Made of?
Color-A-Thon has an eco-friendly, non-toxic, plant-based powdered dye that is washable. Although, if you have a participant in your group that has asthma or dust allergies, Color-A-Thon recommends that you limit their exposure to the dust.  

5. Are there different types of Color-A-Thons? Yes, there are two different types of Color-A-Thons; choose from donation-based or entrance fee-based events. When you speak to your School-A-Thon planner, they will be able to find the best event for your organization.

To get started, pick your event date, plan, promote and have fun in full color! For more information about Color-A-Thon, visit them on Facebook.

10 Tips for Promoting Your Fundraising Event

We have run over 20,000 fundraising events. In our professional experience, we know how crucial publicity is to the success of your event. It doesn’t matter how noble the cause or how organized you are…if people don’t know about your fundraiser, your participation will be affected.

With that said, we’ve put together a list of 10 thoughts to get you thinking critically about your event, which will hopefully lead to a ton of success.

1. Focus on the benefit of the fundraiser.
2. Remember - parents, teachers and community members are more likely to participate if they truly understand how money raised will be used for the school. 
3. Along the lines of #2, highlight the benefits your students will receive as a result of the fundraiser.
4. Remind people of what great gifts fundraisers items are; for example, encourage them to shop now for the holidays and beat the store crowds! 
5. Parents should be notified if you choose to extend your sale. Send a flyer or letter home and keep them up-to-date.
6. To get the most awareness and participation for your fundraiser, consistent communication with your supports is key. It’s going to take more than just one flyer to get your message to hit home. People may plan to join in, but as per usual, we all get busy and forget. A gentle reminder may really be appreciated and give your group a better chance for success!
7. Consider parents who may have formerly had their children attending your school. They may really want to support your fundraiser – but will only have the chance to do so if you let them know about it. 
8. If your school, PTO or other group has a newsletter, make sure to include your fundraiser in the news/events bulletin.
9. Create a special posting on your Facebook page dedicated to your fundraiser. 
10. The principal or teacher who gives the morning PA announcements can keep your school updated on the progress of the fundraiser. Even better? Let the students who have raised the most give the morning announcements!

Of course, these are just a few ideas on how you can spread the word about your fundraiser. If you have any questions, our team is here to help. Good luck and go raise those funds!

Color Your Fundraiser

Do you want to bring color and excitement to your next fundraiser? Maybe FREE teacher incentives and prizes packed in our custom drawstring bag? At Meadow Farms, we are excited to welcome the newest addition to our fundraising family, Color-A- Thon!!

Color-A- Thon is a healthy and fun alternative to the traditional fundraising event. This unique fundraiser offers many different benefits for everyone! Raising money shouldn’t be tedious, boring or the same thing year after year. We will make it new, exciting, and full of color! The kids will get red, yellow, blue and pink to celebrate with, while you’re getting more “green” for your school.

The amazing benefits of this fundraiser include:

• Earn from 70% to 90% profit
• Make more money and accept credit cards with your own Custom Pledge Site: 
•  Ability to upload custom picture of yourselves.
• Students set their goals and monitor their progress.
• Email friends and family near and far.
• Instantly upload to Instagram, Facebook, and other social media.
• Neighborhood donation base to worldwide.'
• No hassle. Let us do the work! Let us do the set up!
• Easy-to-use tools make your event easy to run (included downloads and money-managing software)
• Professional marketing materials- Posters, flags, collection envelopes, parent letters, prize programs, and a custom website:
• Customize the pledge envelope for your group
• Allows the addition of in person donations and money collection.
• Easy turn in sealable envelope keeps money safe.
• Educational support for our  R.E.A.C.H. theme for teachers.
• Amazing awards and incentives for the students while giving back:
• Cumulative, innovative, and quality event based prize program.
• Packed by student by class.
• Prizes come packed in our custom Color-A-Thon drawstring bag.
• Easy to distribute!
• More students and families participate, exercise and have fun!
• Our color dust is SAFE, NON-TOXIC, and completely WASHABLE.

For more information about this fundraiser, please visit our preliminary website http://schoolathon.org/.

If the website wasn’t enough to boost your excitement, check out this descriptive video of how the Color-A- Thon works! You will need a password to access the video, which is: COLOR.

What did you think of the video? AWESOME right? This is the perfect fundraiser for schools who love to get their students active and interacting with others. Invite your whole family and even other members of the community to join in- the more the merrier!

See below for a sample of the parent letter, order taker and prize flyer.

We look forward to supporting you and your school with this colorful event!