WorldStrides Updates

7 Easy Steps to Fundraising for Your Trip

WorldStrides is committed to giving every student the opportunity to travel with us to amazing destinations. We offer several fundraising and financial assistance tools to help make students trip a reality. To help fundraise for your trips, we’ve broken it down to 7 easy steps. Because isn’t everything more manageable when broken into smaller tasks?

Check out 7 easy steps to fundraising for your trip:

1. Develop and evaluate fundraising goals

What are your fundraising goals? Start off your fundraising planning by deciding how much money you would like to raise in total and what that will cover in the end. This isn’t just about fundraising totals. Other goals can include increasing new donors from previous years (if applicable), keeping your costs down, or expanding your fundraising efforts to different channels or sources. Setting a goal will not only help you choose the right fundraiser, but it will also give you something to work towards. And of course, having a goal can help motivate students and families to fundraise even more.

2. Select a fundraiser

Selecting your fundraiser is a crucial step! It is very important to choose something that your group can handle and one that uses your resources wisely. Ask yourself a few questions first.

• How long do I want my fundraiser to last? Will an event be possible, or should the fundraiser continue for several weeks?
• When is a good time to hold a fundraiser in our community?
• Will lots of students be able to participate? Or just a few?
• Will parents likely be involved?

The answers to all those questions will guide you to what kind of fundraiser you should take part in. If you want your fundraiser to be just one day, maybe host a car wash or a babysitting event. If you’re looking to have a two-week fundraiser, maybe a bottle and can drive is more your style.

Another tip for choosing your fundraiser – check the calendar for other fundraisers being hosted. If there are too many happening at once, it may be difficult to attract attention and funds!

For more help choosing a fundraiser, check out our guide to choosing a successful fundraiser.

3. Hold a Kickoff Meeting

Whenever we start a new project at WorldStrides we host a Kickoff Meeting. You should do the same thing for your fundraiser! A kickoff meeting is the first meeting with the team that will define base guidelines and ideas for a project.

Use the Kickoff Meeting as an opportunity to share all your ideas and goals with students, teachers, parents and the community. Set daily, weekly, or monthly milestones to encourage participation and make fundraising less overwhelming. The meeting can also be used to set rules about how funds will be distributed for the trip and the timeframe of the fundraiser.

You can also use this time to brainstorm ideas with students. What ideas do they have to get the word out about your fundraiser? Ask them!

4. Request help from parents or booster clubs

Many Program Leaders and Directors say that parents served as a valuable resource and coordinated the majority of fundraising efforts, giving educators more time to focus on planning and promoting their trips (and teaching of course!). Request the help of parents and booster clubs at the school. They may have connections with local companies they can request donations from. Some of their employers may even match donations too!

Send a letter home to parents letting them know about your upcoming fundraiser and requesting their help or inviting them to your fundraising kickoff meeting. Also look up the meeting schedule for PTO groups and booster clubs at your school. Present your fundraiser and all necessary information at the meeting (this is a good promotional idea as well – see next step). Don’t forget to bring some handouts so parents can take the information home with them.

5. Promote your fundraiser

A fundraiser is only as successful as its promotion! Your promotion efforts may include your school, your community, and your extended social media community. Our Program Leaders and Directors shared their most successful tips, check out what they said in 8 Tips for Promoting Your Fundraiser.

6. Supervise and check-in

It’s important to check in on the fundraiser to see how the planning and money raising is going, or appoint an adult you trust to do so.

• Keep an eye on students to make sure they are conducting their fundraiser in a safe manner. Students should never sell door-to-door in unfamiliar neighborhoods or stand in roads collecting donations.
• Ensure the dollars and cents add up. Fundraising is fun, but any project that involves money must be managed to ensure that the money raised is going to the worthy cause you’ve designated.
• Follow-up with any donors that may have been interested in the fundraiser but may have not donated yet. Follow up with an email, give them a call, or chat with them next time you see them to follow up.

7. Provide frequent status updates

Be sure to keep parents and students up-to-date on the group’s progress.  One of the best parts of hosting a fundraiser is celebrating together and watching your group hit the milestones set and of course, hitting your end goal!

Hang a poster in your classroom, make an announcement on your class website, or post a status update on your MyTrip page that tracks how much money has been earned and how much more is still needed. Everyone will be excited to see the progress the group is making!

Utilize these steps to start your fundraising, and in no time you’ll be raising money to travel or doing an educational program! For lots more additional resources on fundraising visit the WorldStrides fundraising website.