{"id":5638,"date":"2015-03-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/?p=5638"},"modified":"2024-05-08T17:53:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T17:53:47","slug":"crowdfunding-fundamentals-school-fundraising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/blog\/crowdfunding-fundamentals-school-fundraising\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowdfunding Fundamentals from School Bake Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bakesale<\/p>\n

Nonprofit crowdfunding<\/a> is a relatively new term, but it\u2019s been around as long as school bake sales and community carwashes. Most of us have tried these accessible forms of fundraising, so we can learn a lot about crowdfunding fundamentals.<\/p>\n

Sadly, these classic fundraisers are going out of style. Even schools are now benefiting from current crowdfunding techniques.<\/p>\n

But the crowdfunding fundamentals are still there. Here are 4 basic techniques that work learned from school fundraisers.<\/p>\n

Give Volunteers Ownership<\/h3>\n

Fundraising isn’t a piece of cake, and one crowdfunding fundamental is to use volunteers<\/a> to do much of the heavy lifting. As we learned from high school bake sales, volunteers can be more trouble than they\u2019re worth if you\u2019re not careful.<\/p>\n

One way to get the most out of your volunteers in fundraising is to let them take ownership of their jobs.<\/p>\n

In bake sales, this meant handing out a sign-up sheet with different jobs that needed to get done and letting people choose which items to bake and bring to the sale. This way they can work to their strengths, making them more likely to contribute good work.<\/p>\n

Allow your volunteers to pick their own roles.<\/p>\n

Because they chose it, they will feel more ownership about it and do a better job. This enlists the psychological principle that people are more likely to defend something they chose, compared to the same job assigned to them.<\/p>\n

Provide Clear Instructions<\/h3>\n

Nothing is more disappointing than getting someone to sign up to bake cookies and them showing up with just a small batch on the day of the event.<\/p>\n

It was always a better idea to specify exactly how many cookies needed to be brought, how they should be packaged, where they needed to be dropped off, and even what ingredients were OK (no nuts please).<\/p>\n

Another crowdfunding fundamental is to make sure your volunteers and donors have clear and simple instructions<\/a> so they know exactly what\u2019s expected of them.<\/p>\n