AFRDS - Resources for Principals

Fundraising and Today's Busy Principal - Spring 2008
Crossing the Finish Line Fiscally Strong The Principal’s Role in Keeping Fundraising on Track - Spring 2007
Ask A Pro: About the School Principal’s Role in Fundraising – Spring 2003
Desperate Measures or Inspired Insanity – Spring 2002
If This Were a Perfect World: Elementary School Principals View of Fundraising: "Do or Do Without" - Fall 2000
Why I kissed a pig and other confessions of a school principal – Fall 1999
The Principal's Fundraising Hat – Fall 1997
Principal Confessions – Spring 1997

Fundraising and Today’s Busy Principal

Spring 2008

If you’re a principal, you’re no stranger to fundraising. Virtually every school in the U.S. (94%) raises funds to supplement budgets, according to a 2007 survey by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). Most principals report they would rather not have to hold fundraisers; however, 87% believe fundraising provides valuable returns, according to the data.

“For many principals, the revenue that’s generated from fundraisers provides them with sorely needed resources for their students and teachers,” said Gail Connelly, executive director of NAESP.

Today, many principals would rather delegate fundraising responsibilities to others, including the school’s parent-teacher organization. This is understandable considering research shows 72% of principals list “fragmentation of time” as a major concern. Principals are busier than ever, which explains why the NAESP survey found most principals turn fundraising decisions over to their PTO or PTA, even though experts believe this hands-off approach actually hampers a fundraiser’s success.

Goal-Setting
Cynthia Francis Gensheimer, a parent and author of Raising Funds for Your Child’s School, recommends that principals participate in setting fundraising goals. “They understand the school’s overall fiscal picture and can best identify shortfalls,” she said. “The principal’s endorsement is also crucial in committing school personnel – from teachers to custodians – to any school project.”

Rich Napierkowski, a fundraising professional in Lowell, MI, agrees that the principal can bring special insight to the goal-setting phase. “He or she may know intimately the needs of individual family members, and that information can be passed on to the fundraising chair and the fundraising company,” he said.

Gatekeeping
As leader of the school, the principal also has a responsibility to keep up with fundraising, according to James Hodge, an elementary school principal in Bridgeport, CT. “Ultimately, I’m responsible for everything that happens in and around this facility, including fundraising,” he said. “I delegate as much as I can, but fundraising is just too important. I never let go completely.”

According to Hodge, the principal plays an important role in selecting the fundraising program and the service provider. “When it has this school’s name attached to it, I have to know what’s going on – what products we sell, what vendors we use – because when someone has a question, they call me,” he said. “If I don’t know what’s going on, I can’t respond.

Noise Reduction
Another way principals can get involved with fundraising is to make sure his or her school isn’t doing too much of it. The NAESP survey suggests parents are getting more fundraising requests than ever before and most principals (86%) say they have seen an increased number of fundraising activities during the past ten years. Many principals are concerned than fundraising can be burdensome to parents, teachers and community members, and 56% of principals report they are also concerned about the increased number of school-wide fundraisers.
“A lot of schools and school groups are doing too much fundraising,” says Rich Freeman, a fundraising professional from Indiana. “Parents are getting so many requests that after awhile, they start to ignore everything.”

Staying Focused
The Association of Fund-Raising Distributors and Suppliers (AFRDS), a non-profit organization dedicated to educating parent groups, principals and other fundraising decision-makers about the best ways to raise money, recommends that principals work with their parent groups to reduce the fundraising “noise factor” by focusing on those fundraisers that can make the most money with the least time commitment from volunteers (see article on front cover for more information on which fundraisers are most profitable and require the least number of volunteers).

There’s no question that when it comes to school fundraising, principals should stay involved. Whether it’s helping the PTA set goals, helping to choose a fundraising company, or motivating students and parents to participate, when the principal plays a strong role in the school fundraiser, it could mean the difference between success or failure. Portions of this article were reprinted, with permission, from “Controlling Your School’s Fundraising Noise,” from the October 2007 issue of Principal, the official publication of NAESP.

What Principals Say About Fundraising

94% of principals say their schools rely on fundraising
85% see an increased need for fundraising
64% would stop fundraising if they could
87% see a valuable return on their fundraising investment

Source: NAESP “Value of Fundraising” survey (2007)

Crossing the Finish Line Fiscally Strong The Principal’s Role in Keeping Fundraising on Track

Spring 2007

It’s springtime and the school year is almost over. Soon, students will be signing yearbooks and cleaning out their desks and lockers. Teachers are already scrambling as they prepare for end-of-the-year testing. Everyone is looking toward the finish line. As principal, it’s critical to keep staff and students motivated in order to finish the school year with a flourish.

“Maintaining focus is critical as the end of the school year draws near,” according to a retired principal who spent 17 years running a middle school in Dacula, Georgia. “The year is so short, it is important to utilize time well.”

Most school administrators approach the end of the year with mixed feelings of stress and relief. A plethora of issues must be dealt with before the school closes its doors for the summer, and it’s never been more important for principals to spend some of their busy time analyzing next year’s budgetary needs and concerns.

Student enrollment data significantly influence budgetary considerations, and will determine your schools needs in terms of supplies and materials for the coming year. Available funds also must be estimated, and will likely include the amount of district funds that will be appropriated to the school budget and donations from the school’s parent group (i.e, PTA or PTO). If you find that your costs exceed your available funds, one solution is to consider fundraising. Today, many principals would rather delegate fundraising responsibility to someone else – often the school’s parent/teacher organization. However, experts say this hands-off approach can hamper a fundraiser’s success.

“The principal serves as watchdog and sounding board for the entire school community,” according to Cynthia Francis Gensheimer, parent and author of Raising Funds for Your Child’s School. Gensheimer speaks from first-hand experience. With three children of her own, she has conducted a number of school and PTA fundraisers and recommends that school principals participate in setting goals. “They understand the school’s overall fiscal picture and can best identify shortfalls,” she said. “The principal’s endorsement is also crucial in committing school personnel – from teachers to custodians – to any school project.”

Dan Doerfling, a professional fundraiser whose company partners with schools in Florida, agrees. “The principal provides continuity and special insight into the fundraising process,” he said. A principal can warn a committee if the school or other schools have had a bad experience with a particular company, program or product, Doerfling said.

The retired middle school principal from Georgia says she met regularly with her school’s PTA president and officers – and in the spring, discussed plans for the upcoming year, including fundraising. She was often present when her parent group’s officers interviewed fundraising companies for the following year. “I let [the officers] know positive and negative issues that had come up with previous fund-raising projects as reflected by students, teachers and parents.” She sometimes steered her PTA away from certain companies that expected too much from volunteers and teachers. “I was a fierce protector of academic time and what was best for the students,” she said.

The school principal bears certain responsibilities as the end of the school year approaches. In addition to the numerous tasks and issues that need attention, the principal must stay focused, even if the people around her have started to slow down. Of all the items on the principal’s end of the year checklist, budgetary issues, and if necessary, fundraising planning, cannot be overlooked. Principals can provide special insight into the fundraising process and schools with principals that are actively involved with fundraising stand a better chance of meeting their goals.

Sources: “Finishing Strong” Today’s School magazine, May/June 2002
“Closing Out the School Year” Principal Leadership magazine, April 2005

Ask A Pro: About the School Principal’s Role in Fundraising

Spring 2003

Too often, today’s busy school principals leave fundraising responsibilities totally to their parent groups and booster clubs. We talked to a couple of principals about this trend and how they view their own role in fundraising.

“Ultimately, I’m responsible for everything that happens in and around this facility, including fundraising. I delegate as much as I can, but fundraising is just too important. I never let go completely. When it has this school’s name attached to it, I have to know what’s going on – what products we sell, what vendors we use – because when someone has a question, they call me. If I don’t know what’s going on, I can’t respond.”

— James Hodge, Elementary School Principal, Bridgeport, CT

“I serve on the executive board for both the parent organization and the athletic association – the two main fundraising organizations in our school. These groups make significant contributions to our schools and I have a hand in everything that happens, including setting goals and how we reach those goals. I also bring a little history to the table and know what – and who – has worked well for us in the past. And for me accountability is a top priority. After every fundraiser, a written report must be filed and eventually shared with everyone in the school. The reports show how much money was spent and how much money was earned and where it all went. This step protects the organization and the volunteers in charge.”

— Sister Nadine, Private Catholic School Principal, Hazlet, NJ

Desperate Measures or Inspired Insanity
by Vickie Mabry

Spring 2002

Leaning across our exhibit at the National Association of Elementary School Principals' Annual Convention last April, the Washington school administrator looked me square in the eye and told his story. "It's yellow. It's slimy. It's about the size of a banana. And I kissed it…for the cause."

It was just another confession from a well-meaning principal - that special breed willing to stop at nothing to motivate student participation in fundraising drives, reading programs and other important school activities. But this was a first. I've heard of pig-kissing and cow-kissing. I've even heard of frog-kissing. But a banana slug? How farwill they go?

Since we started asking the question, war stories from the front office abound. One assistant principal in Queens, notorious for his creative fundraising methods, stood in a chair with his back against the wall and charged students $1 to strap a foot-long segment of duct tape across his body, eventually suspending him from the cafeteria wall. Then there is the middle school administrator who instead of a kiss, received a nip on the thumb from an unimpressed pot-belly pig. The rejected administrator found himself in the emergency room, on the front page of the local paper and the butt of a long-standing community joke. Seemingly sane adults - our youth's role models - are now reportedly shaving their heads and painting them pink, green or - in the case of Andrew Yoxsimer, dean of students at O'Brien Middle School in Reno - red, white and blue. What is going on here? Are these desperate measures for desperate times?
Then I read this statistic in Time magazine: U.S. elementary school teachers spend more than $1 billion a year of their own money on supplies for their classrooms. That's $521 per teacher on average, 35% more than their own school districts give them to spend each year, according to Quality Education Data (QED), a market research firm. What the QED statistics don't include is the amount of money teachers receive each year from parent groups - an estimated $1.52 billion. (See article on page 4.) That's how much money schools earn each year by conducting product sales, which often are helped along by the crazy antics of a good sport in the front office. And it's not just about the money.

"I think the kids learned that if a group or community joined together the results can be overwhelming," said one middle school teacher. "They learned that when you come together you can do anything you set your mind to..." including kissing a banana slug.

Vickie Mabry is the Associate Director of the Atlanta-based Association of Fund-Raising Distributors & Suppliers, a trade association of companies involved in fundraising through product sales and frequent exhibitor at educational conventions.

If This Were a Perfect World: Elementary School Principals View of Fundraising: "Do or Do Without"

Fall 2000

Teachers would earn as much as professional athletes. All students would find themselves in state-of-the-art classrooms. Parents would rest in the knowledge that their child's every educational need is being met. And principals, well, principals would not know the meaning of "fundraising," let alone actually have to do it.
But it is not a perfect world and schools do need extra funding.

But it is not a perfect world and schools do need extra funding.

In fact, a survey conducted last spring by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) revealed that 91 percent of schools in America raise funds to supplement government funding.

And, while most principals said they would rather not have to fundraise, the vast majority (81%) believe fundraising results are worth it, according to the survey.

"Most principals view fundraising as a 'do-or-do-without' situation," said Vincent Ferrandino, executive director of NAESP. "In some cases, if they don't find the money themselves, their students go without computers, field trips, library books, and even pens and paper."Nearly 700 principals responded to the nationwide survey.

Product sales (81%), book fairs (88%) and box top collections (74%) are the most popular methods used - outpacing school portraits (53%), school carnivals (48%) and retail affiliation programs (34%) where schools earn rebates based on purchases made by their supporters. Twenty percent of schools report receiving vending machine royalties, while Internet retailers have agreements with approximately eight percent of schools, according to the NAESP survey.

Other key findings from the NAESP survey:

81% of elementary school principals say the benefits of fundraising justify the time and effort; 76% of principals report an increased need to fundraise in the last 10 years; 65% of principals delegate fundraising responsibilities to the school's PTA/PTO; 47% estimate that 50-75% of families participate in school fundraising efforts; 28% say that 25-49% of families participate in fundraising; with approximately 16% reporting much higher levels of participation - over 75%.

Nearly 40 % of schools earn between $10,000 and $25,000 through fundraising each year. Twenty-nine percent say they earn between $5,000 and $10,000; while 23 percent earn less than $5,000. The remaining eight percent of schools earn $25,000 and up.

How do schools spend the money?

Most schools (58%) purchase classroom equipment and supplies with the money they raise on their own. Fifty-seven percent pay for field trips; 50 percent buy library books; and 45 percent purchase playground equipment with fundraising dollars.

Why I kissed a pig and other confessions of a school principal

Fall 1999

"I once slept on top of the roof for eight days and then gave myself a mohawk," recalls former principal Dr. Donald Lemon. It's not a fraternity hazing the North Dakota professor remembers, but rather a voluntary escapade to reward his elementary school students and parents for raising $10,000.

Lemon today provides leadership training for new school principals at the University of North Dakota. He believes that fundraising, like so many tasks a principal performs, is most effective when done in "partnership" with the entire community. Lemon, for example, found private donors to match funds raised by his former school's PTA. "If a PTA fundraiser brought in $2,000, then I had someone ready to write a check for $2,000," Lemon says.

Today, many principals would rather delegate fundraising responsibility to someone else - often the school's parent/teacher organization. However, experts say this hands-off approach can hamper a fundraiser's success. It is better that principals stay involved from start to finish, they advise.

"The principal serves as watchdog and sounding board for the entire school community," according to Cynthia Francis Gensheimer, parent and author of Raising Funds for Your Child's School. Gensheimer speaks from first-hand experience. With three children of her own, she has conducted a number of school and PTA fundraisers and recommends that school principals participate in setting goals. "They understand the school's overall fiscal picture and can best identify shortfalls," she says. "The principal's endorsement is also crucial in committing school personnel - from teachers to custodians - to any school project."

But how important is the principal in selecting the fundraising program itself and the fundraising service provider? According to professional fundraising companies, the principal is often the only constant from year-to-year and, therefore, in the best position to provide valuable experience and historical perspective to a new group of parent volunteers charged with selecting a fundraiser.

"Many times principals choose to wash their hands of fundraising, and parent organizations often think this is great because they really want the final say," says Bob Rumberger, a supplier of fundraising products based in Springsboro, OH. But he thinks they're doing each other a disservice because a principal can warn a committee if the school or other schools have had a bad experience with a particular company, program or product.

A former band director himself and a professional fundraising representative and supplier for 16 years, Rumberger has sat at both sides of the fundraising table. His experience suggests that any decision made without the principal's input may pose a risk to the school and the fundraising organization.

Rumberger recommends that principals serve as the school's fundraising gatekeeper.

"Without some controls, it's easy to see how a school can end up with five or six fundraisers in the course of one year," says Rumberger. "The PTA has the fall magazine sale and the spring candy sale. The fifth grade class wants to raise money for a field trip to D.C. The principal has a pet project that needs separate funding. Before you know it a parent is getting hit with fundraisers once a month."

Rumberger suggests a fundraising schedule be developed and governed by the school principal.

Dave Ramirez, owner of a fundraising company in San Diego, CA, also likes the idea of controls: "When fundraising is regulated, it's a good thing. I'd rather a school do a couple of big fundraising projects than ten little ones. It's better for everyone."

Gensheimer agrees: "Principals can keep things in perspective. It's vital that there be open lines of communication between the principal and the parent organization in every school activity."

Coaches, school administrators, and good-humored teachers will do just about anything to motivate students. Here are a few examples reported over the years:

Elementary school students in Gadsden, AL, enjoyed watching their principal kiss a pig - a promise made to the students if they reached their fundraising goal.
The assistant principal of a middle school in Santa Ana, CA, spent a day working atop the school's roof - keeping a promise to students if they exceeded their fundraising goal of $20,000.
The principal of a Marietta, GA, elementary school went one better. After the students and parents did their part to raise $16,000, he also moved his office to the rooftop for one day, but he was dressed only in pajamas and bedslippers.
In a central Florida elementary school, the principal donned an outfit made of wrapping paper held together with gift bows, coincidentally the same products featured in an upcoming fundraiser.

"I once slept on top of the roof for eight days and then gave myself a mohawk," recalls former principal Dr. Donald Lemon. It's not a fraternity hazing the North Dakota professor remembers, but rather a voluntary escapade to reward his elementary school students and parents for raising $10,000.

"If a PTA fundraiser brought in $2,000, then I had someone ready to write a check for $2,000," Lemon says.

Today, many principals would rather delegate fundraising responsibility to someone else — often the school's parent/teacher organization. However, experts say this hands-off approach can hamper a fundraiser's success. It is better that principals stay involved from start to finish, they advise.

"The principal serves as watchdog and sounding board for the entire school community," according to Cynthia Francis Gensheimer, parent and author of Raising Funds for Your Child's School. Gensheimer speaks from first-hand experience. With three children of her own, she has conducted a number of school and PTA fundraisers and recommends that school principals participate in setting goals. "They understand the school's overall fiscal picture and can best identify shortfalls," she says. "The principal's endorsement is also crucial in committing school personnel — from teachers to custodians — to any school project."

Parent Joanne Salwei's school PTA in Kingston, WA, follows Gensheimer's advice. As a leader in the local and district PTA, Salwei says her principal participates in planning for the coming year and works with the PTA to assess school needs. Salwei reports, "we invite the principal to every meeting." But how important is the principal in selecting the fundraising program itself and the fundraising service provider? Professional fundraising companies believe that parent volunteer turnover can lead to poor decisions about fundraisers. Often the principal is the only constant from year-to-year and, therefore, in the best position to provide valuable experience and historical perspective to a new group of parent volunteers charged with selecting a fundraiser. "Many times principals choose to wash their hands of fundraising, and parent organizations often think this is great because they really want the final say," says Bob Rumberger, a supplier of fundraising products based in Franklin, TN. But he thinks they're doing each other a disservice because a principal can warn a committee if the school or other schools have had a bad experience with a particular company, program or product. A former band director himself and a professional fundraising representative and supplier for 16 years, Rumberger has sat at both sides of the fundraising table. His experience suggests that any decision made without the principal's input may pose a risk to the school and the fundraising organization.

Rumberger recommends that principals serve as the school's fundraising gatekeeper.

Rumberger suggests a fundraising schedule be developed and governed by the school principal.

Gensheimer agrees: "Principals can keep things in perspective. It's vital that there be open lines of communication between the principal and the parent organization in every school activity."

While some principals may invest more time (and hair) than others in fundraising activities, many realize the importance of committing at least some effort and energy toward helping fundraisers succeed. Whether it is setting goals, coaching parents through the selection process, or motivating students, parents and the community at large, when a principal puts on his or her fundraising hat — it could mean the difference between success or failure.

Principal Confessions

Spring 1997

Like many acts of insanity, it starts out innocently enough. The fundraising committee suggests that the students may need a little motivation to get excited about the fundraiser that begins next week. The principal agrees, and wonders what might motivate an eight year old more interested in recess than homework and school fundraisers? Here are just a few ideas reported over the years.

Elementary school students in Gadsden, AL, enjoyed watching their principal kiss a pig — a promise made to the students if they reached their fundraising goal.

After a successful fundraising drive at one Southern California middle school, the principal and top-selling student traded places for one day.

The assistant principal of a middle school, in Santa Ana, CA, spent a day working atop the school’s roof — keeping a promise to students if they exceeded their fundraising goal of $20,000.

The principal of a Marietta, GA, elementary school went one better. After the students and parents did their part to raise $16,000, he also moved his office to the rooftop for one day, but he was dressed only in pajamas and bedslippers.

In a central Florida elementary school, the principal donned an outfit made of wrapping paper held together with gift bows, coincidentally the same products featured in an upcoming fundraiser.