Question: Incentive Program for Major Fundraiser

Each Fall our Middle School holds one major fundraiser for the year, a magazine campaign drive. We do dash for cash, deal or no deal, etc. We are looking for ideas to incent all students to participate by just selling one magazine, maybe some prizes for teachers to have them enourage the students to participate, as well as ways to keep the fundraiser "visible" and keep the students motivated throughout the two week campaign. We are going to hold a a student focus group to see what will motivate the students, such as a BMX bike show, a laser light show, etc. For the teachers we are thinking gift baskets of classroom supplies they don't have to pay for themselves. Thoughts? What has worked for you? Thanks!

Asked by wilbrahammom

Answers:

Community Advice

CPerry writes:
We're an elementary school but prizes for top sellers and the thermometer work really well. Giving the kids earmarks, like X amount sold = ice cream for school, and XY amount sold = pizza and XYZ sold = laser light show, type thing, then once every few days announce where on the thermometer the school has reached. As far as teacher incentive, I have yet to have a teacher not want some help cleaning/organizing their classroom so maybe you could get three or four volunteers to donate a day toward organizing the winning classroom. Then you could do a supply basket for the two runner ups. Good luck, I hope your campaign is a huge success!

Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
Great ideas, CPerry! Also, Wilbrahammom, you might want to give this article on magazine fundraisers a look. It has some good tips on how to get students and teachers motivated.