Fundraiser How-to Guide We are proud to partner with you for your upcoming fundraiser. This guide represents best practices we ve found for planning an emcookies fundraiser. It includes information about choosing your volunteers, a timeline and checklist of details. Depending on your available resources (both in terms of time and volunteers), you can easily customize this guide for your needs. Keep in mind that you always have access to our ready-to-help representatives as well. Key Roles and Primary Responsibilities Depending on the number of volunteers you have, one person can fill more than one role. Also, if time is an issue, the Kick-Off Event and the Awards Ceremony are optional. There are other creative ways to launch your fundraiser and honor your participants contributions. (See sample Kick-Off Event and Awards Ceremony plans for ideas.) General Timeline and Checklist Having a timeline is especially helpful when running a fundraiser of any size. Insert your own dates to keep yourself and your team clear on deadlines, with a commitment to sticking to them. Don t worry if you miss them by a little bit; you can still have a completely successful fundraiser. Thank you, best wishes, and have fun!
Key Roles and Responsibilities Fundraiser Coordinator: Ensures the fundraiser meets/exceeds the established goals by keeping the leadership team enthused and encouraged. Works with the PTA/PTO, school board, school administrative staff and volunteers to plan and carry out your fundraiser strategies. An ideal volunteer for this position has strong leadership skills, the ability to build strong relationships with new people and organizations and is highly engaging, friendly and outgoing. Liaison between emcookies and organization Plan and lead the fundraiser Establish the fundraiser budget (if any) Recruit volunteers Provide input and/or establish fundraising goals Work closely with the volunteer leadership team to develop plans, set goals, monitor activities, identify problems and prepare action plans to resolve problems Communicate with leadership team, regularly keeps its members apprised of the most current information Prepare regular progress reports and overall evaluations Be the face of the fundraising campaign Hold a post-fundraiser evaluation meeting with volunteers and an emcookies representative Publicity Coordinator: Develops and coordinates a visual (offline) publicity plan (i.e., posters, flyers, and visual aids) to ensure the fundraiser is well publicized throughout the organization and publicity tasks are completed accurately, efficiently and in a timely manner. An ideal volunteer for this position will have excellent communication skills (both verbal and written), is familiar with marketing and publicity concepts and is a creative and clever thinker with excellent time management skills. Develop and administer a visually effective Publicity Plan to promote the fundraiser Sustain fundraiser awareness Continue working the Publicity Plan throughout fundraising campaign Work with Kick-Off Event Coordinator to assist with publicity needs
Communications Coordinator: Plans and executes a Communication Plan (written and online) to ensure the fundraiser is well communicated and promoted through print, email, and social media networks. An ideal volunteer for this position is well acquainted with Facebook and other social media networks, has excellent communication skills (both verbal and written), is detail oriented, deadline-driven and has excellent time management skills. Develop and administer Communications Plan Complete Branding Specifications worksheet Post sales reports and updates and engages in post communications Personalize and finalize Parents Letter and Parent Packet Print and/or email Parents Letter and Parent Packet Send out reminders of the fundraiser to school staff and faculty Post announcements on the organization s website to promote the fundraiser (if available) Administrative Assistant: Primarily assists the Fundraiser Coordinator along with the other coordinators in administrative responsibilities to make certain that the fundraiser operations run smoothly; ensures that administrative tasks are completed accurately, efficiently and in a timely manner. An ideal volunteer for this position has an administrative capacity, possesses excellent communication skills (both verbal and written), is detail oriented, deadline-driven and has excellent time-management skills. Record minutes of leadership meetings Track budget Maintain receipts Keep sales report current Administratively assist all coordinators
Group Leader: This individual is assigned to a group of students to function as their point person for questions and guidance. This person will educate the parents, teachers and students on how the fundraiser works and will stay in touch with and encourage their assigned group to remain involved in the campaign. This role is pivotal to the success of the fundraiser. An ideal volunteer for this position is enthusiastic and encouraging, is able to rally people and is a natural cheerleader with an approachable demeanor. Maintain daily contact with assigned group via email, phone calls or in-person Ensure parents receive Parent Letter and Parent Packet Write thank-you notes, with the fundraising results, to his or her assigned group Kick-off Event Coordinator (event is optional) Plans an effective organization-wide kickoff event to cast the vision and promote the fundraiser; ensures event runs smoothly and is well publicized throughout organization; works closely with the Publicity Coordinator. An ideal volunteer for this position enjoys event planning, is encouraging, inclusive, detail oriented, deadline-driven, has excellent time-management skills and strong interpersonal skills. Develop and manage Kick-off Event Plan Submit receipts associated with the event Select a master of ceremonies for the event Work with Publicity Coordinator to develop a publicity strategy Award Ceremony Coordinator (event is optional) Plans an effective organization-wide Award Ceremony event to honor high earners, participation and to thank the school-wide participants (students, teachers, staff and parents); ensures event runs smoothly and is well publicized throughout the organization; works closely with the Publicity Coordinator. An ideal volunteer for this position enjoys event planning, is encouraging, inclusive, detail oriented, deadline-driven, has excellent time-management skills and strong interpersonal skills Develop and manage Awards Ceremony Plan Submit receipts associated with the event Select a master of ceremonies for event Print and award Certificates of Participation and Certificates of Achievement Work with Publicity Coordinator to develop a publicity strategy
Fundraiser Timeline/Checklist Enter your date KICKSTART FUNDRAISER PLANNING At least 3 weeks before the fundraiser campaign begins! FUNDRAISER Coordinator: Hold an in-person meeting with your volunteer staff and share, or decide on, the following: o Project for which you will be raising funds o Financial goal o Share fundraiser campaign dates o Provide an overview of how the fundraiser works and answer any questions o Give an overview of the volunteer opportunities (e.g., coordinators, group leaders, etc.) o Select coordinators and group leaders (determine if you will hold a kick-off event and/or awards ceremony) " Fundraiser Coordinator: " Administrative Assistant: " Publicity Coordinator: " Communications Coordinator: " Group Leaders: " Kick-off Event Coordinator: " Awards Ceremony Coordinator: o Determine what type of publicity will work for your school o Determine what type of communication strategy will work for your school o Determine how the school will be segmented (i.e., by grade, by classroom, etc.) and assign groups to the Group Leaders Group Leader Name! FUNDRAISER Coordinator: Complete and return the Branding Specifications Worksheet! FUNDRAISER Coordinator: stay in touch with your coordinators to ensure a successful fundraiser! PUBLICITY Coordinator: Develop and begin implementing a Publicity Plan (see sample plan on emcookies.com)! KICK-OFF EVENT Coordinator (optional): Develop and begin implementing an event timeline/checklist (see sample plan on emcookies.com)! COMMUNICATIONS Coordinator: Develop and begin implementing a Communications Plan (see sample plan on emcookies.com)! GROUP LEADERS: Develop and begin implementing a strategy for staying in touch with your group (see Group Leader Success Guide on emcookies.com)
Enter your date FINAL PREPARATIONS 2 weeks before the fundraiser campaign begins! FUNDRAISER Coordinator: Schedule a meeting with your team to review fundraiser planning progress (if an in-person meeting is not realistic, this can be done via group email, Skype, or phone conference; it is best to have all coordinators involved in progress meetings)! PUBLICITY Coordinator: finalize publicity strategy and prepare to implement next week! KICK-OFF EVENT Coordinator (optional): continue preparations for Kick-Off event! COMMUNICATIONS Coordinator: finalize communications strategy and prepare to implement it the following week; finalize parent letter/email and prepare to send out next week; write and post announcements for the school/organization website, newsletter, email communications; create a Facebook event! GROUP LEADERS: finalize strategy for encouraging and keeping your group rallied for the upcoming two-week campaign and prepare to implement next week Enter your date BEGIN IMPLEMENTING 1 week before the fundraiser campaign begins! FUNDRAISER Coordinator: Schedule a meeting with your team to review fundraiser planning progress (if an in-person meeting is not realistic, this can be done via group email, Skype, or phone conference; it is best to have all coordinators involved in progress meetings)! PUBLICITY Coordinator: carry out publicity strategy! KICK-OFF EVENT Coordinator (optional): hold Kick-Off event the day of or day before the fundraiser begins! COMMUNICATIONS Coordinator: deliver Parent Packets, with the help of Group Leaders, via whatever method you ve determined (print and/or emails)! GROUP LEADERS: may consider telephoning or emailing all parents in your group to introduce yourself and to let them know you are their chief resource for the duration of the fundraising campaign; make sure the members of your group have their My Daily Checklist handy and are ready to follow it every day Enter your date FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN PERIOD 2 weeks of fundraiser campaign! FUNDRAISER Coordinator: stay in touch with Group Leaders to assist with any challenges! COMMUNICATIONS Coordinator: encourage to post, post, post to individual Facebook pages, post sales reports, give shout-outs to top achievers, share encouraging/funny stories, keep purpose and financial goal status posted! PUBLICITY Coordinator: continue to visibly publicize the fundraiser! AWARDS CEREMONY Coordinator (optional): Develop and begin implementing an event timeline/checklist (see sample plan on emcookies.com)! GROUP LEADERS: send emails or Facebook messages to group. Like and comment on their photo posts, cover timeline posts, updates, etc. Take note of those not engaged, and extend your support or help
Enter your date FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN ENDS 1-3 days after the fundraiser campaign concludes! AWARDS CEREMONY Coordinator (optional): hold Awards Ceremony within 1-3 days after the fundraiser ends, and hand out certificates of participation and achievement! FUNDRAISER Coordinator: schedule a Lessons Learned meeting with your team to review what worked, what didn t work, and what could be improved for the next time! COMMUNICATIONS Coordinator: post thank-you greetings on the school website and school Facebook Page (as applies), send email to parents updating them on the success of the fundraiser and thanking them for their support! PUBLICITY Coordinator: remove all visual aids and store or dispose of them! GROUP LEADERS: send thank-you notes to parents and students for their hard work and willingness to participate