School Fundraising: Selling with Purpose

Helping others and teaching altruism to your child is one of the healthiest ways to help your child understand the purpose of fundraising. It’s also very important to teach your child about making the sale. It’s not a secret—it’s exciting! Don’t think you have the credentials to teach on this subject? Haven’t been a car salesperson or a QVC model? The reality of it is, you sell every day. You go to the store and demand discounts on imperfect clothes; you sell your personality to strangers to make new friends; you even sell yourself on certain ideas. Now it’s time to pay attention to those strategies and put them to use.

Coming from Michigan, I know what it’s like to fundraise in a down economy. I see students and parents afraid to bring their fundraising materials door-to-door because they know their neighbors are having a tough time to make ends meet. The best thing to do is sell, sell, sell. When your neighbors are having a hard time, so is your school. You will appreciate that band equipment, the free uniforms, or the enriching play outing. Cookies may be your neighbor’s favorite snack…or he might have a long-time connection with the school band. You never know.

Explaining the economy and necessary organizational growth to our children can be difficult—and is encouraged. But in case you get stumped, here are three reasons you can give them that express why making the sale is important:

1. Money is coming in.
More money coming in is less that your child or child’s organization needs to come up with. Explain it to your child like this: You have ten friends. You get a dollar a week, and you have $3 saved up. You want a pizza that costs $10, but you only have $3. If you share the cost with your ten friends, you only have to pay $1, and you get your pizza and have $2 left. Fundraising can really help spread out the cost of large purchases. If your close networks alone contributed a single dollar to your important cause, think of what a difference that would make.

2. Work is necessary to gain the reward.
You can tell them it’s like getting a job. They are getting paid for their time. They don’t necessarily have to work more hours—but they have to work smart to gain the outcomes they are looking for. They have to plan appropriately and follow the steps to fundraising, including the preparation, selling strategies, and follow-through.

3. You will meet new people.
Some people sell solely because of the connections they make. Fundraising is a great way to get involved in the community. Your child’s attitude will spread to her or his potential customers; if you are used to thinking of fundraising in a negative light, that is because you are giving in to the negative energy. Dare to make fundraising cool again! Dare to make it an exciting activity to be shared with family and friends. You will find that people love fundraising just as much as Halloween—it’s just an excuse to invite the children inside to share stories and hot cocoa.