ONLINE FUNDRAISING FOR SCHOOLS

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

My name is Luci Temple.

This is my daughter, Lani.

Her education is of key importance to me, and

I support the school when I can...

...However I’m a busy working parent and

some school fundraising activities are difficult

to support.

PROBLEM 1: TIME CONSUMING

Some fundraising activities require a small army of

volunteers to organise and run them.

Modern parents are time-poor.

PROBLEM 2: HIGH PRESSURE SALES

Some fundraising activities put unfair pressure on kids to

sell large volumes of stuff, that:

• People don’t need or want

• Are overpriced or poor quality

• Are at odds with our values

PROBLEM 3: POOR RETURNS

When you consider all the time and money

put in, some fundraising activities have

very little return trickle back to the school.

Professional parents can feel this is a

waste of their time, that these activities

make poor use of their abilities, and simply

don’t make good financial sense.

MANY PARENTS OPT OUT

Due to these problems, many modern parents disengage from the

school community:

• Don’t volunteer

• Don’t attend the parents’ committee

• Don’t share their ideas

• Don’t voice their concerns

• Only do the bare minimum

SOLUTION : ONLINE FUNDRAISING

Through my career I’ve been involved with,

and following, an online fundraising trend

called “crowdfunding” - which I believe is a

solution to these problems.

ONLINE FUNDRAISING: A U.S. EXAMPLE #1

Kickstarter is an example of an online fundraising

“crowdfunding” website in the U.S. that helps people raise

money for creative projects such as films, books, games,

music albums.

Initially it was used by people who could not otherwise raise

money... However it has proven so efficient that now even

some popular bands are leaving their labels to crowdfund the

costs of production independently as a preferred method.

The average amount raised is $10K per project, however it’s

a sliding scale with some exceptional campaigns raising over

$1 million!

ONLINE FUNDRAISING: A U.S. EXAMPLE #2

Donors Choose is a crowdfunding website available to US schools. It is mostly used by high-poverty public schools that have difficulty raising money or resources from within their largely underprivileged communities.

Teachers create a page listing what they need for their classroom, such as books, technology, classroom supplies, excursions, or other equipment.

Both ordinary people and wealthy benefactors can see what is needed and make a donation. Whether it just be $5 or it be millions spread across multiple projects, every dollar counts. The majority of supporters are first-time givers to public schools, and one such first-time benefactor sent in a multi-million-dollar cheque to Donors Choose to cover the cost of all currently listed Californian school projects!

Donors Choose has raised over $182,467,606 for schools, across 363,454 projects. The average amount raised is $502 per project.

HOW CROWD FUNDRAISING WORKS

1) Create fundraiser

• Set your goal

• Tell your story

• Provide gratitude

rewards

2) Share the link

• Tell everyone you know

• They share it with

everyone they know

• Viral spread

3) Receive payments

• Easy for supporters

• Anywhere in the world

• Any time day or night

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CROWD FUNDING

During a crowdfunding campaign there is a set deadline (for example 30 days), and money is not drawn down until the goal is reached.

This is part of the reason why crowdfunding is so successful, because – in addition to being online & universally accessible - psychologically:

1) It lowers donor risk (People don’t want to donate their money to something that doesn’t eventuate due to lack of enough funding – this way they only pay if enough is raised for the purpose given).

2) It creates immediacy and urgency (They must donate and get others to donate before the countdown ends).

3) People who donate rally their networks to support the fundraiser because they become emotionally invested (they want to help you reach the goal so money is not “lost”).

Crowdfunding is well suited to work for schools because schools have an:

• Existing tradition of fundraising

• Existing committed core of organisers

• Large body of parents who are willing to help (albeit on their own terms)

• Parents are the first to donate towards their own children’s benefit, & tap into

extended family for support.

• Large interested community around schools, including alumni, local

businesses, philanthropists.

CROWDFUNDING FOR SCHOOLS

Average Kickstarter

Project

Potential Average Online School

Fundraiser

Organisers 2 4-20 from parent & teacher committees

Helpers 3 10-400 parents, teachers, & community

Network effect 1000 5,000+

Average pledge $50 $50

Average # of pledges 200 200 – 1000+

Average amount raised $10,000 $10,000 - $50,000+

A CROWDFUNDING WEBSITE FOR SCHOOLS

I have built a crowdfunding website –

Village Raised - so we can improve

fundraising at my daughter’s school.

Talking to other school parents I realise

they have the same needs, so I am making

it available to other schools.

WWW.VILLAGERAISED.COM

The demo site is live, and accepting applications. The first school

fundraisers will launch in third term 2013.

VILLAGE RAISED: FIRST SCHOOLS

During this initial ‘startup’ phase I am offering to

personally support the first 10 schools to get best

possible results. I’ll work with you through:

set up

goal setting

telling your ‘story’

brainstorming ‘rewards’ to encourage higher

donations

promotion, social media strategy, PR

VILLAGE RAISED INTO THE FUTURE

I have a big vision to help schools, and the long term plan includes:

• Resources, online learning, case studies & workshops to help

schools improve fundraising & grants.

• Online community forum so that parents and teachers from

different schools can communicate and trade tips and advice to

help with fundraising, grants and other P&C/P&F issues.

• Gain grants & investment to allow Village Raised to:

– hire more people to help more schools hands-on;

– develop the platform further to add extra features as required

by schools.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO USE?

• No upfront fees

• No cost if fundraising campaign is unsuccessful

• No risk

When a campaign is successful:

- Payment processing fees charged by PayPal/Visa/Mastercard

(approx 3%)

- Admin fee to Village Raised of 5%

This is the same fee structure as Kickstarter uses, while DonorsChoose asks

supporters to pay DonorsChoose 15% on top of their donation to the school.

COMPARE OPTIONS TO RAISE $10K

To raise $10K: # items sold Cost to parents & community School

Profit

Village Raised 218 $10,900 92%

Bake sale 5,000 $14,000

($10K sales + $4K ingredients)

71%

Sausage sizzle 5,000 $15,000 66%

Tea towels 2,000 $24,000 41%

Chocolate bars 15,000 $30,000 33%

Crowdfunding provides an easier way for parents and community to

support schools, and provides a better financial return than many

alternatives.

BUT IT’S MORE THAN MONEY

“To save Erskineville

Public School... the key

goal of fundraising

activities was community

outreach.”

Adrienne Jerram, previous President of

Erskineville Primary School P&C Committee

School fundraising is not just about raising money.

1) Raise awareness of your school’s “story” & cause

2) Rally support around your school through trusted sources

including parents’ own social networks

3) “Good news” PR stories

4) Reconnect with ex-students

5) Reach new philanthropists & donors

6) Build a larger community of advocates who publicly support your

school

ADDITIONAL SCHOOL BENEFITS:

I would appreciate it if you could help us identify:

First 10 schools (to use Village Raised July/August 2013)

Schools who will consider using Village Raised within the

next 3-12 months (validation of need will help us in gaining

grants & investment).

Principals, teachers & parents to fill in our quick 5

question survey, even if not interested in Village Raised

http://bit.ly/1b2Yksj (will help us to better understand

needs).

Sign up for the newsletter, read the blog, follow us on

twitter for advice and ideas about more efficient school

fundraising – and tell other people about it!

HELP US MAKE IT HAPPEN:

VILLAGE RAISED TEAM Luci Temple, Founder

Parent to a 3rd grader

Marketing & Communications Strategist, 12 yrs

Crowdfunding Workshop Facilitator, AFTRS

Recent experience in the K-12 education sector

Sasha Gerrand, Developer

15 yrs+ experience as senior programmer

Team of Interns

Tertiary trained in marketing, communications,

PR & social media

VILLAGE RAISED SUMMARY

Raise money efficiently

Promote your school story

Enable busy parents & the community to champion your cause to

their networks

Contact us for a demonstration, workshop or a chat

Sign up at www.villageraised.com to gain support

Complete our quick survey http://bit.ly/1b2Yksj

Email: hello@villageraised.com

Follow us: www.twitter.com/villageraised

Like us: www.facebook.com/villageraised

Luci Temple 0414 583 924