TRACKING YOU'RE FUNDRAISING PROGRESS…..!
Before reaching or exceeding your fundraising goal, you need to track your progression toward that achievement. Getting from Kick-Off to Event Day to Final Donation Day is a journey, and it’s important to be informed of your progress along the way. Not only does tracking your progress keep you and your team focused, but it also alerts you to what’s working and what’s not working with promoting your fundraiser and bringing in those donations. But, that’s not the only benefit.
Tracking fundraising progress keeps students, parents, and teachers motivated!
A large goal doesn’t seem impossible when you can visually see how far you’ve come and how far you have to go. Plus, when there are incentives to go along with reaching smaller goals along the way students are far more likely to bring in donations throughout fundraiser, rather than diminish down in the weeks between your kick-off and event.
Here are 5 ideas we’ve found. We’re excited to see these put into use by the creative and innovative minds of Parent Group readers.
- The Classic Fundraising Thermometer
As the saying goes, if it is broke don’t fix it.There’s nothing more simple and to the point than the classic thermometer to track your fundraising progress.
Pro to the thermometer: It’s a clear illustration for all ages and quickly communicates where you are on you're fundraising journey.
Con to the thermometer: It’s a bit overused and could be overlooked for its simplicity.
If you’re finding that you need to grab the attention of your students, try something new.
If you feel traditional thermometer is right for you, here are a few places where you should feature either a cut-out thermometer or a digitised version for viewing online:
- PTO Website
- PTO Bulletin Board
- PTO Social Media
- Email or Letter Updates to Parents
We use a tracker on our Student Fundraising Pages that are similar to the classic thermometer.
2. The Classroom Jar
Our friends at EndeavourPTA came up with this impressive display to highlight the progress each of their classrooms were making toward their individual classroom goals. By using the excitement and motivation that comes with some healthy competition, EndeavourPTA was able to provide a great visual for students and teachers, while encouraging classrooms to bring in more donations and get their class goal achieve.
Your team can follow EndeavourPTA lead by making a bulletin board using this idea, or you could have a jar cut-out on each classroom door that displays the amount they have raised. Fill the cut-out by shading in the area with paint/marker, or you could have dollars or pennies that students are able to pin or glue to the board for their classroom each time another significant amount is reached.
3. Leverage Incentives
Want to keep kids motivated to bring in donations? Here’s a hint: Use incentives! Whether they are physical items or amazing experiences, student incentives have been proven to light a fire under your fundraising efforts. One way to help keep track of your fundraising progress is to leverage your student incentives.
Take, for example, EndeavourPTA and CreeksidePTA. This fall they promoted their Annual Fund-Raising by offering Raffle(Lucky Draw) for students. This was one of the way EndeavourPTA and CreeksidePTA used to tracked their student progress in throughout fundraising event.
Your Parent Group can implement a similar idea. Throwing a movie night if the school reaches its goal? Get popcorn bucket cut-outs and for each grade, class, or for the entire school, fill up each bucket with cut-outs of popcorn to illustrate your progress. Giving students an ice cream social if you reach your goal. Follow the same format but trade it out for ice cream cones and scoops for each monetary mile marker.
4. Fill In The Picture
Similar to leveraging student incentives, it is also smart to be working toward a tangible goal for your school. Rather than focusing solely on reaching a number amount, shift the focus to what this money will be able to purchase for the school. Whether that’s new computers, a school garden, new books for the library, or funds for student field trips.
Use these tangible goals to help track your overall progress. Use an image that represents the primary initiative that the fundraising money will go toward and get it printed at a local office supply store (they will be able to do it in a size large enough to display on your bulletin board or other common space). Cut the printed image into equal-sized squares. As you progress through your fundraiser, put up a square on the bulletin board. The more donations come in the more the picture is filled in. You could even leave it as a surprise so students have to raise enough to figure out where the money will be going and how it will be put to use for the school.
5. Roadmaps and Races
As we said at the beginning of this post, fundraising is a journey, and it’s important to keep track of where you are on the path to your goal.
We’re not the only ones who love this image. After searching through different platforms, we saw many examples of visual roadmaps and races to illustrate where individuals, classrooms, grades, and the school as a whole are on the fundraising journey. Here are just a few ideas on ways to use the theme of travel and racing to track your progress:
a) Use your PTA/PTO bulletin board to illustrate a track. Give each grade or class a different colour car and illustrate where each one falls on the track toward the finish line.
b) Get your teachers involved by having them help you create maps to go one their doors. On each map, use a red circle or another image to illustrate where that classroom is on the journey toward their class goal.