Most of what I really need to know about how to run an easy fundraiser, what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the board room table, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
So don’t give up on generating the money your group needs, I mean the right fundraiser can be child’s play. The biggest thing we lose from our kindergarten days it the ability to have an open mind and the willingness to learn and try new things.
So while all the experiences you or I might have had doing fundraisers or supporting them might not have been that easy, the learning has put us on the path to a new and better approach...
These are the things I learned from kindergarten and fundraising:
Share everything. – I mean what is fundraising really about if not about giving a sharing to help others.
Play fair. – We aren’t out in the corporate dog eat dog world here, it’s a help and be helped kinda thing.
Don't hit people. – No one likes to be bullied into buying your cookie dough.
Put things back where you found them. – I know it’s tough not to eat just one of those wonderfully chocolaty candy bars you have been carrying around all day but you have to put it back. It’s for the good of the cause…
Clean up your own mess. – It’s not much fun, but even after the big all day car wash you still have to clean up. WOO HOO, don’t you just love being a volunteer. (Sorry that was a little cynical. What are we learning in Kindergarten these days!)
Don't take things that aren't yours. – Offer up something people need and want, that way you aren’t taking their hard earned money.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. – Its ok if not everyone can or wants to help your cause, don’t be ugly or hurtful about it. Wish them a great day and move on.
Wash your hands before you eat. – No one wants to buy a candy bar from a grubby little guy.
Flush. – Sometimes you get #%!@ and you just need to chalk it up as experience. Send it down the drain and move on to a better way…
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. – So is the good warm fuzzy feeling you get inside when you know your little contribution will help someone in real need.
Live a balanced life. – All work (and fundraising) and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Shouldn’t you get the chance to actually help those you set out to help and stop fundraising for a little bit?
Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. – It all comes back to balance. Enjoy what you have and don’t get so bogged down in the little things that can make fundraising a nightmare. Remember, there is a better way that removes the hard parts of fundraising so you want to sing and dance some...
Take a nap every afternoon. – Not sure if this has much to do with fundraising, but after a nice big lunch wouldn’t it be nice to just get your blankie and curl up for a little bit.
When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together. – I mean selling door to door can be rough so take a friend and look out for each other.
Be aware of wonder. – Isn’t it great to wonder what it would be like to have a fundraiser that ran itself!?!
Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup -- they all die. So do we. – But the right fundraiser properly set up will never die. It will go on generating money for the cause long after we have petered out.
And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: look. – Don’t get stuck with what you have always done. Look around, there might be a better way.
If you have ever done a few fundraisers, volunteered for a board position or been the parent of a child in an extracurricular activity you too might have learned a few life lessons about fundraising and its ups and downs.
Don’t despair, there is a better way…
