We are in the midst of fall, the holiday season is right around the corner, and you know what that means? People begin questioning the importance of school fundraising.

It never fails that around this time in November blog posts pop up about how much the school actually profits from fundraisers. It’s an interesting question because it has more to it than just someone being curious as to how much money the school is making.

The fact is, people are looking for something more than just a percentage.

Basically, they want to find fault somewhere in fundraising companies. They think schools should receive all of the money from the fundraiser with none of it going to the fundraising company. It implies that the schools would be better off without a cut going to the fundraising company. In order to change that opinion, they need the confidence to purchase knowing that they are not being taken advantage of. In a way it all makes sense.

There are two main reasons people are skeptical of fundraising:

1. People resist charitable giving

2. People don’t like fundraising

Resisting charitable giving

More precisely, people resist being asked to give something when they don’t really plan on giving it on their own. It makes someone want to gain control back. This is most commonly expressed in comments like “I’d rather give directly to the school.”

The key there is the “I’d rather.” This phrase is quite damaging to school fundraising as well as other charitable giving. It’s basically an excuse, a resistance. The immediate response is to resist by suggesting another way to participate. It would seem that giving through the fundraiser or giving directly to the school are the choices when really, there is no choice. People can give to the school any time they want, it is always welcomed. They just don’t. So the question is really just to support the fundraiser at hand or not.

People don’t like fundraising

Or more accurately, people don’t like fundraising companies. They would rather see an exchange where the school benefits and the fundraising company does not. However, this really doesn’t make much sense. When people go into a retail store to purchase an item, they don’t think that store should give their profits away. While fundraising companies give the majority of their profits to the schools. This logic leads to people not taking action because they disagree with the rules of the game. But, is it really the rules of the game people are disagreeing with, or is it that they don’t want to be approached with something they’d rather not deal with?

What most people forget is that school fundraising isn’t a matter of 50 cents on the dollar going to the school. Fundraising companies handle and pay for products, shipping, prizes, promotions, consulting, marketing materials, catalogs, order forms, websites, warehousing and more.  By working with a fundraising company, schools receive consistency and security. They can relax knowing all of the details of complex student orders are handled by professionals.

The fact is, people need to be encouraged to give. They need to be asked, informed , prompted, encouraged and rewarded. There also needs to be importance and excitement built around the need for raising funds. Focusing on these things will garner the momentum to throw a successful fundraiser.

Yes, there are always a few people that say they donate, and the key is a few. The vast majority just doesn’t do it. Thinking people should just give directly to a school is great in theory but, it doesn’t work in a practical sense. There are a lot of things people ‘should’ do.

That’s why organizations exist. To create something exciting that gains momentum and donations. It’s a matter of encouraging and rewarding, and it works.