Hi ~
My husband just landed a teacher/principal job after subbing for a whole year. I'm still underemployed but so glad we are both full-time!! He is now @ a parochial school. This is his career -- been doing this for 30 years, including internationally.
Unfortunately, this school (like our last one in the states) is struggling. They have about 80 kids, PreK through 5th. From what I can tell, tuition is about right; there are discounts for church members + scholarships (I assume from private donations).
Hubby is not a marketing type, not an aggressive person (actually would prefer just teaching). The school board ran an article about him in 2 local papers, about his experience, but he didn't really like that approach. At any rate, the papers cut half of article :)
Other successful schools here advertise on TV and billboards, but of course that costs money. We've already raised $12,000 with our annual auction. Students are selling those restaurant/entertainment coupon books. Once a month, a restaurant will sponsor our school for a night (not sure how much that makes). The board chair has visited local companies (Samsung, for example) and offered the parents there incentives for enrolling. They've done this at several companies. School is located in a big new residential area -- houses being built all over the place.
They would like to add 6th grade (and eventually 7th & 8th) because an affiliated high school will open up nearby next fall.
Does anyone have any marketing advice? What has worked for you/your school or what can we do besides these things? Btw, there is a daycare too, which is a good moneymaker, which is usually the case in these schools... They recently (before hubby got there) reorganized staff, so they are leaner this year.
Thanks for any help you can provide!!
Thank you to all who wrote! We are looking at recruiting new students + pay the debt that we already have incurred. The auction helped but not near enough :(
I am going to copy ALL of these (plus any that come in after) into an email to the board chairwoman + my husband. The Halloween one I'm going to email first. I forgot to mention, we already use local grocery scrip but will check out the website.
Husband liked the alumni thing too. I got on facebook & noticed we only have 3 likes (mine was the 3rd) -- so that is an area that I can help with.
Blessings to all who wrote!
Are you trying to raise money or bring in new students? I think reaching out to the alumni would be the best approach either way. If you don't have an alumni newsletter, you should start one. You can write articles about programs that are working, touting accomplishments and mentioning needs the school has. Reach out to alumni and offer legacy discounts for enrolling thier kids.
This year, my son's preschool started what the director called "guilt-free fundraising," which basically was soliciting donations in lieu of selling that crappy gift wrapping. To date, they have raised more money than they ever have before.
They also do eScrip and Scholastic book orders.
The auction sounds like such a winner! I don't know much about school costs, but I'd say just look at your budget. Where is your money going - salaries, supplies, furniture, consumable books, non-consumable books, computers, etc. See what could be adjusted. Perhaps you may need to start charging more for tuition or a smaller discount for church members.
As a former teacher in public school, the fundraiser I loved best was when the principal told us that for $10, we could wear jeans for the whole week. In the whole school year, I think there were probably 5 weeks that she gave us this option. I paid my $10 every time. I'm sure with 80 kids that means you don't have TONS of staff, but if it made them happier to be comfy in jeans as opposed to the normal teacher clothes, then they were happy and you were happy to have made $10. Win-win!
Wish I had more. Halloween is coming up - not sure if you give out candy, but you can always advertise that way - have a brochure or business card tied to a chocolate bar for the parents who come with their kids to your house.
Our volunteer fire dept makes all their money once a year with raffle tickets and a dinner. ($1 a ticket or $5 for 6 tickets. Need NOT be present to win). There's an auction too and it's a lot of fun. Local places donate to the raffle - $50 gift card to Walmart, free oil change from the local Ford dealership, $40 gift card to the local nursery owned by a residen of our community...... We always give $100 and win at least ONE thing!
Our biggest unintentional fundraiser is school carnival. We spend about $30,000 on bounce houses, slides, face painters, button makers, karaoke and much more but net meaning MAKE about $30,000. So we cover our costs and then make money. We get local restuarants to set up booths, they donate food, we get profits, they get great advertsing. We even have the local porta potty comapny donate toilets. Families sponser different booths and commpanies pay to be on tshirts that the kids buy. Of course you have to start off small, ours has been going on for 20 years so we have great reputation and huge following.
In this month (maybe last month's??) Parents Magazine they actually had a great article showcasing some of the alternative type of fundraising schools across the country are doing. They might have it on-line, I'd check. The one that seemed the best was a parents soccer game. The parents paid $35 each to participate in game/tournament. The organized collected all the applications and grouped teams together with a mix of parents and ability levels. They also made money selling concessions and they brought in local nutrition people and a race company to set up a kid race along side. You could also sell t-shirts, foam fingers, and things like that too.
Auctions are a huge time suck. It takes a lot of time and space to get it done, but raffles are a bit easier. I also liked the idea of paying to wear jeans. Lee just had their national denim day and it's a fundraiser for breast cancer but you could just do your own. Maybe around a time when you have low attendance (it helps the kids come to school if they are excited to wear their own clothes).
Do you do book fairs and book orders? Scholastic is awesome and the book fair is some work on your end, but honestly they bring all the materials and take them all away. That's the hardest part, as long as you have someone honest and good with money dealing with the actual sales. Monthly book order forms don't generate a ton of money for the school but they could earn you free books for classrooms/libraries/reading teachers, etc. They have book orders that start in preschool as well.
Anything you end up doing, you'll need a solid group of volunteers to help you, so I'd start recruiting now!
I totally agree with Tracy's suggestion to look to the alumni. They can be a huge source of revenue, especially if you can identify prestigious alumni.
What is it about your school that is special? Great math program? High standardized test scores? Fellowship? Social services? Solid doctrine? Make sure that the school has a clearly articulated mission statement. Based on the mission, come up with an ad for the local paper.
Just my 2 cents but I love when someone is selling candy bars for $1 or $2, everyone at work always buys them out. I would love it if my sons school did that fundraiser they would clean up! Also my son's school each year has a festival with tables from different vendors (who pay for the tables) and each class raffles off a basket of goodies that parent donate items to. each basket/class has a theme and they send home a list of suggested items, all are fairly inexpensive. Then we sell raffle tickets and they raffle those at the festival among other prizes.
Good luck hope he finds some good ways to rise some money!
1. escrip.com
2. fun run and pledging for $ for lap
3. starting an annual fund with teachers, admin, parents, relatives contributing to the school with specific goal and possibly recognition
Our school's biggest fund raiser is an annual golf tournament. Added to what we receive from the actual tournament we remind parents and participants to check with their employers, as many offer matching funds for their contributions. (this is not for their tuition, only the charitable contributions). In addition, finding one company or foundation to give matching funds at the end of the year makes a huge impact.
We have also found that the best way to get information about the school to the public is not simply advertising, which is terribly costly, but to do something newsworthy, such as adding a new, unique cirriculum or, such as a new ESL or fine arts program. A picture in the paper with news of something good for kids is very valuable.
Our school just had a "fun run" and it raised a lot. Look up "boosterthon" or "funrun". Don't know if it would work with only 80 students. But we parents appreciate not having to hawk cookie dough or giftwrap. You just need to get pledges.
Many parochial schools use Scrip and Market Day. Ours also does an auction, a clothing & toy resale twice per year (sellers keep 70% and school gets 30% of sales), and Football Mania. What about a monthly "Fast Food Friday" where kids can order lunch. Charge $5 for a $3 meal (some local fast food places might cut you a deal). Some of these ideas are little but add up. Good money management is also crucial!
Our small private school is going through similar growing pains. We just restructured everything, hired a new head master, etc.
What has really worked for us is mass mailings of school propaganda and the sorry state of public schools in our area. A lot of the parents are fed up with it and we use it to our advantage.
First, I would ask if there is a parent with a sales/ marketing background that could donate their time to help out the school. The school needs to come up with a comprehensive mission and action plan that makes them different than all the other schools in the area. For us, it is small class sizes, campus safety, and non-religious affiliation.
Then, get the word out through parents. Word of mouth is the best advertising. Have an open house where all the teachers are there and the student's work is showcased. Show off your students at community events- parades where cheerleaders and the band can perform (if you have them) charity events where the choir can sing, etc. We got lots of word of mouth from doing a couple of those events.
Find out why parents are at your school and use that as your marketing. Chances are, there are more parents out there that have similar concerns and are looking for a place for their kids.
Good Luck!
My company does fundraisers. It is basically no cost for the school and there is no door to door sales. Let me know if you are interested.
