Poorly attended fundraiser - feedback

[BigGlasses]

Our school coffee morning was on Saturday and it was poorly supported. We hardly had anyone volunteer to help meaning we couldn't run as many stalls as usual. And the donations were way down, for the raffle, tombola and especially the cake and candy. It was all a bit sad and woeful. We normally make around £1000 but we only made half that this year. The footfall was about the same as usual, but there was nothing for people to spend their money on!

So I need to put out a post thanking those that attended and donated and stating how much we raised. DH thinks I should focus on the positive and keep it light. I feel however that people should know how poorly supported it was and that it is a bit disappointing that there is so little support for the school in what (used to be) a key fundraiser.

There is of course a wider discussion to be had about whether a coffee morning is the best way to fundraise, however it is also about community/event so it is not just the money that is important.

So should I just focus on the positive and not mention the poor support? I can't think of a way to do it without sounding bitter and passive agressive. The others who help organise it are a bit more of DHs opinion. I wasn't brave enough to put this in AIBU, still feeling deflated after putting energy into organising an event which evidently the majority of the school couldn't even be bothered to donate a bottle of wine to.

I'd be factual. State the amount made last year and this year, then state the footfall. Let people come to their own conclusions as to why that was. Be very thankful for any money raised and make a big deal about the positives, but let the facts speak for themselves

How often are parents expected to donate to stuff? I wonder if it's a bit of donating fatigue? How is it advertised? Is your scho community very local?

I don't think there's any way you can say "we raised 500 but it's normally 1000 cos lots of people didn't bother" without pissing people off

We have out of uniform every month, 50p each but I ntbe run up to key fundraisers the 50p is replaced with "a bottle / second hand toy / etc" so it isn't school constantly asking for more and more.

I'd say it's a bad time of year for a fundraiser

Families often struggle more in January as they've often been paid earlier and still sorting out the Xmas over spending

It's the timing OP. Everyone is skint in January.

I do not want to go to school on a Saturday. Can you have this event straight after the school day next time?

I'd mention that you only made half the usual amount and ask for some feedback - there must be reasons why people were unwilling to help/donate.

Did you have a Christmas fair as well? I think having something so close to Christmas when I lot of people have already given a lot (and may not have been paid until last Friday) is a big ask.

I dislike Saturday morning things too - we're usually running to different activities.

I'd re-think your timings.

I’d be factual but not necessarily ask for feedback, people won’t be honest

I personally really dislike these kind of fundraisers though, I really value my spare time and slightly begrudge the expectation of giving up time at weekends to part with a few quid in exchange for some tat. Raffles and tombolas slightly strike fear in to my heart, i don’t want to end up with someone’s unwanted Christmas bath salts.

I’d much prefer to know up front what the purpose of the fundraiser is and be able to donate directly to it rather than be guilt-tripped in to attending an event

If it's usually at this time of year and is well attended with plenty of donations/volunteers has something changed recently in the organisation that has put people off or meant it wasn't very well advertised.

A Saturday event would go down like a lead balloon at my school, but equally £500 would be a decent amount raised for a coffee morning.

We're having problems with getting people to help out, there are no new parents from the last three years intake who have volunteered or joined the PTA.

I do think people get sick of donating then buying back whatever they've donated. When my older two were little I could only really afford to do one or the other.

Agree people don’t want to endlessly donate things time and money esp if they don’t know where it’s going
It should be for a specific purpose

Are you expecting people to turn up because it's fun or out of obligation? If the former, then you need to offer something better than some coffee on a Saturday morning. If the latter, then just let people know you raised £X but the target was £Y and give people to the bank details to transfer some money.

I work in fundraising OP, and it doesn't go down well when you berate donors for lack of effort. Those who donated will think "Well I spent a tenner, how dare you" and those who didn't will say "Well I couldn't make it as we had a party/appointment/illnesses which isn't my fault".

Focus on the positives but say something like "we did very well, raising around £500, but we want to increase donations even more by diversifying our fundraising - so tell us your ideas, what your like to see and when. What would you fork out for and what wouldn't you? All ideas welcome."

Keep it factual and then ask for feedback on what to do next time.

"Thanks for those who attended, we raised £50. Any feedback on ideas for fundraisers would be gratefully recieved, so that we can arrange something which is convenient for more people"

You say that footfall was the same but that you had fewer stalls and donations? Have you asked people who previously took stalls/ donated why they didn't this time?

Do you have a school messaging scheme like ClassDojo? If so get the school office to put out a request for feedback on current fundraising approaches and suggestions for different ones. Our school did this very successful buy saying "to run a, b and c activities through the year we need to raise £x. Currently we raise £y through the summer fair and £z through coffee mornings each term. In recent years the number of people volunteering to help with these activities has reduced and it's becoming unsustainable so we're looking for other ideas." and then linked to a simple survey about what people want from the event (networking, buying stuff, sense of community etc) and what they can contribute (time, money, donations etc) and then comments for ideas

Someone suggested a termly donation of £10 per family and this was overwhelmingly popular, was implemented on ParentPay and has been really successful.

It's increasingly difficult to do things like coffee mornings and bake sales due to allergies. In DS's class there are kids with dairy allergies, egg allergies, nut allergies, gluten allergies...

And many people are in families where everyone works and have no time for baking cupcakes and running the tombola. And being asked to do that for school, church, Beavers whilst juggling homework, swimming, band practice, football etc etc etc

School coffee mornings where you donate the goods and then buy them back aren't that attractive.

Our school does a summer fete. Apparently they used to hold it in July, on a Saturday. They then moved it to June after school on a Friday. Apparently it made double that of the previous years and this seemed to be because it was during termtime and immediately after school on a Friday - more people could attend.

Perhaps that's the same for why people couldn't help out?

Our summer fair is on a Friday after school too. Bit of a bugger for people working but the kids at After School Club can attend with some spends.

Things that have worked well at our school - direct donation, quiz night at the pub, curry night with live music, summer fair, own clothes days (last day of each half term)

Things that haven't worked - fashion show, Christmas fair (these need to be really good to work well), race nights

It does seem a bad time to hold a fundraising event. So close to Christmas and also the weather isn't great this time of year and people are less inclined to leave the house (or maybe just me!). But as the event is usually at this time and very successful maybe it wasn't advertised well enough this year. Or it was just a particularly expensive Christmas/Jan for most people!

I know from my experience with dd's school, they don't seem to do a great deal to advertise their presence/ or ask for volunteers. I found out a few months ago that they have a Facebook group, run by pta members but open to all parents. I applied as it's a private group, and as of yet haven't been accepted. So definitely not very welcoming! It kind of feels like unless you're in the gang, or friends with someone who is, you're not really wanted or at least things aren't made known to you. I don't know that any of this is the case at your school, but maybe it's something to consider as I think sometimes I don't think people realise that not everyone finds things out via word of mouth. I only find out bits and bobs when I am early at pick up time and bump into the right person, generally I am not there long enough and don't hear the gossip/news.

Keep it positive.

Tbh I'm suffering from fundraising/charity fatigue.

I can't log onto Facebook without seeing some kind of fundraising/Just Giving/charity appeal.

In almost every watts app group I'm in there is a friend asking for sponsorship for a dementia walk, London Marathon, parachute jump, flights for them to go volunteer in an African orphanage, blah, blah, blah.

Emails from school are constant requests for money for this and that - non uniform day, the church needs a new roof, the music department are having a bake sale to raise money for new equipment, it's fucking endless.

An email like the one you want to send would simply have me hitting the"unsubscribe" button.

I'm with your dh in keeping it positive, but am also confused at the idea of
a) a coffee morning raising £500 let alone £1000
b) why you hold it in January
c)why you hold it on a Saturday
d) why hold it when the 6 Nations is starting

Is this what you normally do ? Hold a coffee morning, in January, on a Saturday morning, and you normally raise £1000

In which case, compare what was different between last year and this. It is such an unusual scenario, I can't see that many of us would be able to help you.

I would send out a celebratory "look what we raised!" email, but then also tackle the issue with the PTA separately and brainstorm what you can do to improve things for the next event.

Guilting the parents won't have a positive effect.

I'd definitely avoid this time of year, it may be a good idea to suggest that any unwanted Christmas gifts could be donated for future fundraising, but then do something with them around March?

Everyone talks about the 8 week month of January etc, basically saying they've overspent on Christmas and the next paycheck seems so long away. It looks like you've timed it after that paycheck but a lot of people will use that to cover overdraft, stock up on the things they've been running out of but not had the cash to get etc

You need to get creative. No one is thrilled by the prospect of a coffee morning or bake sale anymore. As most people seem to live in Costa or Starbucks why would they trek to school on a Saturday morning for an overpriced cup of instant and a rice krispie cake? This is the sort of thing my Mum would go to in the Village hall in the 80s. There are so many exciting food and drink options out there, think of something that people will want to show off about going to on Facebook.

You held it on a Saturday in January when the Rugby was on.

Our children's previous school had a load of fundraisers, and it always seemed like such a waste of effort. Loads of unpaid labour, usually done by the same group of women, constant requests for time, donations and money - small amounts £1 here, £1 there, but a constant drip, drip, drip. The current school asks for a donation for each child at the start of the year - about £20 and once a year do a bucket collection in the town, which raises a couple of thousand quid. I much prefer it.

Thanks for the comments. I put out a ‘thanks to everyone one who attended and donated and thanks to our small but hardworking team of volunteers. We raised £500 towards school funds’. Ironically more people have liked the post than actually donated. But c’est la vie. In the past it hasn’t always been a good fundraiser despite the time of year, ( last year was the biggest at £1000) but I think a lot of your comments are true, coffee mornings and bake sales are a thing of the past

Was another event on in town? We had this in September when our takings were down. Turns out there was a popular event scheduled for same night that we didn't realise. We have checked dates for this month's event!

Also rugby. January.