The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(March 2016) |
School fundraising or school fund raising is the practice of raising money to support educational enrichment programs by schools or school groups such as parent-teacher organizations, parent-teacher associations and booster clubs. One of the most prevalent practices is product fundraising.
As of 2011 [update] , in the United States schools and other non-profits raised $1.7 billion each year by selling popular consumer items. [1] Eight out of 10 Americans support these types of programs. [2] In addition, schools and school groups such as their Parent Teacher Organization and Parent Teacher Association find many creative ways to raise funds—from bake sales, dinner events, auctions and school carnivals to more aggressive advertising, affinity programs, grant writing and straight forward donation requests.
Door-to-door fundraising and in hand product fundraising sales (outside local stores) has been a regular part of societal activities since the early 1970s. However, in the United States door-to-door sales came under scrutiny in 1997 following the murder of an 11-year-old New Jersey boy who was killed while fundraising unsupervised in his neighborhood. Due to this fundraisers do not allow kids to go door to door. [3] By the 1990s, most product sales were made to parents, family members, co-workers, friends and close neighbors. The fundraising industry strongly discourages unsupervised door-to-door sales. [4]
Product fundraising has its origins in the early 20th century.[ citation needed ] The practice typically involves the purchase and re-sale of popular consumer products by a non-profit group whereupon the group sponsoring the sale keeps a portion of the gross sales. Products can be purchased in bulk and paid for in advance by the organization, then re-sold to supporters. Products may also be ordered using a catalog, order forms and other methods. Supporters pay for the product when the order is placed or upon final delivery. Under some product fundraising models, the school or non-profit organization is required to pay for a fixed number of products in advance. [5]
There are three types of product fundraisers that schools use to generate revenue. (1) Pre-sales Fundraising, (2) Product In-Hand Fundraising, (3) Online Fundraising, with online fundraising rising in popularity over the course of the past decade.
As of 2010, there are over a thousand fundraising companies in the United States offering their products and services to schools and their associated nonprofit parent teacher groups. [6] In the past year, many changes have occurred in the school fundraising industry. A few online fundraising companies, like Piggybackr, are now using social media web apps, such as Facebook and Twitter, to make online fundraising easier for schools and the parents and students who promote them. Additionally, Fundraising Software is also now available allowing a school to have their own platform that makes it easy to engage students, parents, faculty, donors, and alumni with compelling communication campaigns.
Other school fundraisers that generate substantial revenue for schools include auctions and raffles. With these types of fundraising activities, the school requests donations from local restaurants and businesses in their area, that are then offered at the event. In the case of an auction, people are allowed to bid on the dinner, limousine ride, or whatever was donated by the local businesses in the community. In the case of a raffle, people purchase raffle tickets that are then later picked randomly from a container. Often the donations are solicited by parents acting on behalf of the school, who make phone calls, write letters, or know of other parents who work for companies who may be willing to donate. [7]
Scrip fundraising offers an alternative to fundraisers that rely on selling products or raffle tickets. The scrip fundraising concept was pioneered by St. Vincent DePaul Parish in Petaluma CA in 1988, and quickly grew to a powerful fundraising method for schools across the US. [8]
With scrip fundraising, retailers offer gift cards (“scrip”, or “substitute money”) at a discount to non-profit organizations. The non-profit organizations then sell the gift cards to member families at full face value. The families redeem the gift cards at full face value, and the discount or rebate is retained by the non-profit organization as revenue. [9]
ShopWithScrip reports that more than 50,000 non-profit organizations have raised more than $800 million with scrip fundraising. [10] Scrip fundraising differs from other school fundraising programs because there is no selling. Families do their normal household shopping at scrip retailers with scrip gift cards. A family that regularly does their shopping with scrip gift cards can easily raise $500 to $1000 or more per year. Participating schools use these funds for field trips, scholarships, tuition assistance or fee reductions.
One persistent and basic question has been whether or not any portion of the funds that are raised through a scrip program and applied to a family’s tuition account should be considered taxable income to the parent who purchases the scrip. According to ShopWithScrip, scrip is a reduction in purchase price from the face value, and is in effect a rebate from the retailer, and as such is not considered gross income. [11] [12]
Some parents and schools are now having to resort to extensive fundraising, including in one case having to raise $300,000 in six months to close budget gaps in order to keep Cordova Lane Elementary School in Sacramento, California open. [13]
Additionally, general economic hardships can cause school fundraisers to earn less, as volunteer time is spread thin with more families requiring dual incomes. A survey done by national fundraising association in 2007 determined that on average the most labor-intensive school wide fundraisers, in terms of the number of volunteers needed is school carnivals, with an average of 59 volunteers needed. Other labor-intensive fundraisers included: auctions (28), "thons" such as walk-a-thons (22), breakfasts or dinners (17) and raffles (17). By contrast the least labor-intensive fundraisers for schools included: product fundraisers (7), direct donations (7), restaurant nights (6) and student portraits (2). [14] Another survey from the same source showed 71% of parents are "concerned and overwhelmed" with having to do more fundraisers. [15]
A scrip is any substitute for legal tender. It is often a form of credit. Scrips have been created and used for a variety of reasons, including exploitative payment of employees under truck systems; or for use in local commerce at times when regular currency was unavailable, for example in remote coal towns, military bases, ships on long voyages, or occupied countries in wartime. Besides company scrip, other forms of scrip include land scrip, vouchers, token coins such as subway tokens, IOUs, arcade tokens and tickets, and points on some credit cards.
A gift card, also known as a gift certificate in North America, or gift voucher or gift token in the UK, is a prepaid stored-value money card, usually issued by a retailer or bank, to be used as an alternative to cash for purchases within a particular store or related businesses. Gift cards are also given out by employers or organizations as rewards or gifts. They may also be distributed by retailers and marketers as part of a promotion strategy, to entice the recipient to come in or return to the store, and at times such cards are called cash cards. Gift cards are generally redeemable only for purchases at the relevant retail premises and cannot be cashed out, and in some situations may be subject to an expiry date or fees. American Express, MasterCard, and Visa offer generic gift cards which need not be redeemed at particular stores, and which are widely used for cashback marketing strategies. A feature of these cards is that they are generally anonymous and are disposed of when the stored value on a card is exhausted.
Internet fraud is a type of cybercrime fraud or deception which makes use of the Internet and could involve hiding of information or providing incorrect information for the purpose of tricking victims out of money, property, and inheritance. Internet fraud is not considered a single, distinctive crime but covers a range of illegal and illicit actions that are committed in cyberspace. It is differentiated from theft since, in this case, the victim voluntarily and knowingly provides the information, money or property to the perpetrator. It is also distinguished by the way it involves temporally and spatially separated offenders.
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gather money for non-profit organizations, it is sometimes used to refer to the identification and solicitation of investors or other sources of capital for for-profit enterprises.
The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity is the biggest, non-governmental, non-profit, charity organization in Poland raising money for pediatric and elderly care. The GOCC Foundation holds American Heart Association certification to provide courses in CPR and AED, and for the use of high technology for medical lifesaving. The GOCC aims to support health care in Poland by purchase of state of the art medical equipment for Polish hospitals and clinics and by establishing and running six medical programmes and one educational programme. The foundation supports pediatric and geriatric wards, furnishing them in both complex medical devices such as MRI scanners, and providing long-term care units with anti-bedsore mattresses and beds.
Booster clubs are organizations in schools at the high school and university level. The clubs are generally run and organized by the parents of the students in the supported organization in high schools, and by athletic supporters and fans at colleges. Its main function is to develop support for the student program and raise funds to supplement shrinking public support as a result of budget cuts.
In marketing, a rebate is a form of buying discount and is an amount paid by way of reduction, return, or refund that is paid retrospectively. It is a type of sales promotion that marketers use primarily as incentives or supplements to product sales. Rebates are also used as a means of enticing price-sensitive consumers into purchasing a product. The mail-in rebate (MIR) is the most common. An MIR entitles the buyer to mail in a coupon, receipt, and barcode in order to receive a check for a particular amount, depending on the particular product, time, and often place of purchase. Rebates are offered by either the retailer or the product manufacturer. Large stores often work in conjunction with manufacturers, usually requiring two or sometimes three separate rebates for each item, and sometimes are valid only at a single store. Rebate forms and special receipts are sometimes printed by the cash register at time of purchase on a separate receipt or available online for download. In some cases, the rebate may be available immediately, in which case it is referred to as an instant rebate. Some rebate programs offer several payout options to consumers, including a paper check, a prepaid card that can be spent immediately without a trip to the bank, or even as a PayPal payout.
Retail media is marketing to consumers at or near their point of purchase, or point of choice between competing brands or products. Common techniques include in-store advertising, online advertising, sampling, loyalty cards and coupons or vouchers.
The Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association was formed in 2004 as a means to honour Canadian creators, publishers and retailers in the medium of comic books.
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New Eyes for the Needy is a non-profit organization started in 1932 as New Eyes and based in Short Hills, New Jersey, which provides people in the United States with eyeglasses and sends recycled eyeglasses to needy people overseas.
Rawhide Youth Services is a faith-based non-profit organization established in 1965. Its campus is located south of New London, Wisconsin, in the Town of Caledonia, Waupaca County, Wisconsin, United States. It provides residential programs for at-risk and troubled boys as well as outpatient mental health services dedicated to helping at-risk youth and their families lead healthy, responsible lives.
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The Children's Art Project at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is a non-profit initiative that benefits patients in the Children’s Cancer Hospital at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Marketing and sales of products based on the artwork of these young patients fund programs that support their educational, emotional and recreational needs.
Spokane Civic Theatre is a nationally recognized non-profit theatre located in Spokane, Washington. Incorporated in 1947, the theatre is one of the oldest community theatres in the country. In recent years, the theatre has been brought to a level of excellence that has resulted in many awards. The theatre's mission is "to foster an enduring love for live theatre in every community member." Civic, as it is fondly called by the surrounding community, sets a high standard for theatre in the Spokane area.
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The Pittsburgh Penguin's Foundation is a non-profit organization formed on July 20, 2010 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its sponsor was the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Pittsburgh Penguins ownership group. The foundation provides programs focused on preventive wellness, developmental support, and charitable activities. Additionally, it encourages the teaching of life skills and the engagement of youth and families in various activities.
Tilt.com, Inc. was a crowdfunding company founded in 2012 that allowed for groups and communities to collect, fundraise, or pool money online. James Beshara and Khaled Hussein launched the platform under the name Crowdtilt out of Y Combinator.