Fundraising Incentives

FUNDRAISING INCENTIVES - GET THEM EXCITED!

Reward your group for a job well done!

Get your group excited and motivated!

Ideas to create excitement and to show

everyone who participates how

much they are appreciated.

Many groups use some types of incentives and prizes to encourage participation in fundraising. They range from individual items to activities to fun things done by principals and pastors. But do such rewards really work? And if you do decide to use incentives, what’s the best way to incorporate them?

Some groups avoid or limit the use of incentives out of a concern that certain kinds of rewards, such as class parties, take away from instructional time. Concerns also exist about the pressure that prize packages put on children and about the message of consumerism they send. Some choose to encourage a spirit of selflessness to help their church or school versus getting something at the end. One parent leader was not into rewarding their own children with toys or events so they did not set up the school fundraiser with any incentives. But after disappointing results of their fundraiser, in which only 45 of 560 students submitted orders, the group is changing its approach. They found incentives can be a great motivator to encourage involvement. There are many routes to choose and each group will have different needs.

Tips for Using Incentives

Kick off your fundraiser with a meeting or assembly where the principal or pastor will talk about the fundraiser, products, incentives and encourage the group to meet their goal. It’s important to keep up the excitement going. Some groups do this through morning announcements and e-mails. Focus on participation rather than sales totals. Award a prize to each participant if possible. Fun promises from the principal and encouragement from the pastor can be a big motivator. Offer incentives to teachers and leaders for group participation. Use a big thermometer poster to track progress.

The Principal and Pastor Matters

Perhaps nothing is more important than the principal, staff or pastor’s support. Their involvement is key to the fundraisers success, can double sales and takes it to a whole new level. Kid’s love it when their principal or staff agrees to do something fun for hitting a certain goal.

Big Prizes VS. Small Prizes

Experts say that an effective fundraiser should focus on participation, so it helps to reward everyone who participates. It takes a prize at a one-item level to get somebody to participate. The grand prize concept is more old school. More today it’s about encouraging participation. It’s not about getting children to sell hundreds of items. It’s about getting more of the students to sell one, 10, or 20 items. The better the participation rate is at the better the sale. Another successful idea is to offer group wide incentives. We easily see an increase of 15 to 25 percent between groups that use incentives to one that does nothing but hand out catalogs. We offer a free prize of T-shirt for every 20 items sold. This is not cost to your group. Groups can enhance their program by adding things like an event, pizza party, extra recess etc. Please see some rewarding ideas below.

INCENTIVE IDEAS