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Fundraising In Cyberspace

If you have a child (or a grandchild) in school, chances are your closets, attic, pantry and garage contain boxes of “stuff” that you really don’t need but felt compelled to purchase. As school budgets tighten, more of the burden of funding “value added” school activities is falling on the students and their parents. In an effort to keep extracurricular activities afloat, parents and students are selling everything from candles to cookie dough. Band boosters, cheerleaders, football teams, honor societies and school service organizations are in a perpetual fundraising mode.

Why not harness the power of the web to boost your group’s fundraising potential? Considering the amount of money it takes to complete initiatives and the amount of money that exchanges hands through fundraising, all extracurricular school organizations are, at the end of the day, small nonprofit businesses. A web page that features testimonials from students and photos of products being sold in your fundraising campaign can boost sales and save many hours of valuable time.

As with all types of web sites, it is important to understand your target audience. Typically your target audience will be parents with children in the same school.  Studies show that parents are more enthusiastic about technology than non-parents and are more likely to use the Internet to find information. “All other things being equal, people who are parents are more likely to be Internet users than people who are not,” said Lee Rainie, director of the PEW Internet and American Life Project. “Many wired parents are convinced that technology helps them stay in control of their busy lives.

According to PEW, nearly 30 percent of the parents surveyed use the internet to shop for birthday and holiday gifts. Steer them to your site and match their needs to the items and services you are selling to raise money for your cause.

Who Should Host Your Fundraising Site?

What good is your snazzy fundraising web site if nobody can find it? That’s where your web host comes in. A good web host will know the latest search engine optimization techniques and can not only submit your site to the top search engines, but also take steps to rank your site within the top three pages for relevant search items.

Many school districts and universities prefer to host their websites on their own server, so it is important to check your local district’s rules before launching a school-related web site or engaging a web host.

For those who need to outsource their web hosting, it’s important to do your homework. There are many high-quality web hosts out there that can offer the services you need. Make a list of your expectations and find the host that can best meet them. 

Here are some elements that can help make your site successful. Talk to your web host about other ways to enhance your site.

• Home Page - Your home page is the welcome mat for your school/organization. It should feature the elements that make your school unique like school colors and mascots. If should also include some background information about your organization.

• Online Calendars – These are a great way to keep your visitors informed about upcoming fundraisers, meetings and other activities. 

• Online Forms – This feature can provide visitors with the forms they need to purchase the products that are part of your fundraising campaign. You might also include a form for potential volunteers for your organization.
• Member List – Make sure this list includes all members and their contact information.
• News Section – Keep your parents and your community up to date on current school and organization news, district news, general announcements, sporting events and academic events. You might even encourage the president of the student government organization to write a small column for your site
• Contact Form – Site visitors can use the online contact to reach members of the organization, offer suggestions or inquire about merchandise. You might also include donor information here. Many people have all the candles they can ever use but still want to contribute to your organization.  

It’s also a good idea to develop an online newsletter. You can use the information from subscriptions to aid you in future fundraisers. Each issue should list volunteer opportunities that are available so potential recruits can match their talents to your needs.

The decision for a school-related organization to have a web site is aided by the fact that education and the Internet have a long, harmonious relationship. The internet is an often used teaching tool and students forsook traditional libraries years ago in exchange for electronic information sources. According to the PEW Internet and American Life Project, the use of internet technology in all facets of education will grow exponentially in the coming years.

School web site hosting services should offer:

• Modifying web content and other site features at specified time intervals (monthly, quarterly, every semester, etc.)
• Monitoring and updating links to other sites to ensure that links remain current
• Updating the site to work correctly with new browsers.
• Fixing any bugs or glitches that arise over time.
• Monitoring site usage and reporting number of hits, bandwidth usage, etc., (This will be a measure of your web site’s success.)
• Ecommerce – shopping carts are available.

Talk to other groups who have taken the leap to fundraising in cyberspace and find out techniques that have worked well for them. The quest for fundraising dollars becomes more difficult and multi-faceted every year. Organizations that have a web presence will have a significant competitive advantage and will be more likely to reap lucrative results. Go ahead. Kick it up a notch.