Register and enter X number of contacts with email:
Having students register and enter quality contacts (with email) is the first step to a successful online fundraising campaign.
I have used a small collectible keychain with many middle school and high school groups. I usually have the sponsor give out the collectible when the child enters 5 quality contacts (that is an adult that they genuinely know with that person's email address). If it is a quality contact, we generally see $15 - $20 in support per supporter (on average). 1,000 "quality" supporters entered should yield $15,000 - $20,000 retail.
Having students register and enter quality contacts (with email) is the first step to a successful online fundraising campaign.
I have used a small collectible keychain with many middle school and high school groups. I usually have the sponsor give out the collectible when the child enters 5 quality contacts (that is an adult that they genuinely know with that person's email address). If it is a quality contact, we generally see $15 - $20 in support per supporter (on average). 1,000 "quality" supporters entered should yield $15,000 - $20,000 retail.
Texting campaign:
If the email set is "too hard" or creating resistance in participation, we may want to switch or consider a texting campaign. In the long run, the email campaign is easier for the students; however there is an initial hurdle of "I don't know their email" which can stop some students right away. If this is the case, they can text their supporters from their InstaRaise dashboard. They can also text out the main fundraising page for the group which has a place for a supporter to type in the name of the child that they are supporting. With this approach, you would need to have them manually send 4-5 text messages over the course of the campaign.
Reward for $$ raised to encourage participation:
I suggest using a small reward to recognize participation and results early in the campaign to encourage that child and other children to stay involved or get involved. Currently, I have a LED "light up" phone charger that can be used once a child raises X amount. I would suggest that this could be a reward when a child raises $100 or even $60. Since funds are being collected in real time, you could hand out the LED phone chargers daily as students are earning them. This would be a great way to continue to encourage more participation. Video of LED Phone Charger: https://youtu.be/hmF4dZmvJww
Group Incentives or Team Incentives:
There is recent research in team building and group dynamics that has found that a "2 pizza team" is about as big as you want to go when doing small group work. A "2 pizza team" is a small enough team that you could feed everyone with 2 pizzas. This 6-8 person team approach would allow them to work together to earn a small group reward. You would select metrics that are measurable to provide rewards. For example, groups that enter X quality contacts receive a reward; groups that raise Y dollars as a team receive a reward. These can be Chick-fil-a, Italian Ice, after school hang out time, section t-shirt, special privilege, etc. One sponsor provided a coupon to the concession stand at home games for the season. Another sponsor gave a section a "fast pass" to skip to the front of the line to return Marching Band Uniforms after Friday night games.
LeaderBoard Rewards:
This is a cash reward for the top 10 producers in the campaign and a little extra cash for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. This has worked wonders for the sponsors who are willing to make the commitment. A budget of $245 would provide $100 for 1st place, $50 for 2nd place, $25 for 3rd place and $10 for each remaining placeholder (4th - 10th).
Adjust as we go:
Above are solid suggestions and I am going to have you decide what makes the most sense for your program and then I support you on those. If half way through the campaign, we are seeing that participation is lower than expected or that they've registered but we don't have contacts entered, we will evaluate how to adjust. I have used a 1/2 way "texting campaign" to re-boot campaigns after an early slump in performance or when a hurricane has disrupted a campaign and we lost our momentum.
Budget for prizes:
When using a product, I would suggest a 3% of retail budget and when using a donation platform I would suggest up to 5% as a reasonable budget for rewards. The participation % in a fundraiser is far more important that what % you are earning per item sold or dollar donated. It doesn't matter if you are keeping 100% of donations if no one clicks on your donation button. Finding the right approach and reward system for your culture is key.
Gathering email addresses at the start of the school year:
For future years, consider having students turn in "quality contacts" as a Music Advocacy assignment to start building a list of quality emails that you can later leverage for your group's fundraising needs.