I always found it interesting that schools do so much better with their fall fundraisers than they do with their spring campaigns. There’s an obvious reason.

It seems like the start of a school year brings new excitement and life to the school. There are new families and teachers in some cases and other families have had enough summer and are ready to get back to school. There is a distinct energy that unfortunately wears thin as the year progresses.

The new energy that exists at the beginning of the school year is the main reason that fall fundraisers work better than spring fundraisers. Parents are more willing to help. Getting their attention is easier. Customers have not yet been bombarded by fundraiser after fundraiser.

So the real question is how do you keep that energy throughout the year and make sure your spring campaigns are as good or better than those held in the fall?

Like it or not energy is often one of those top down forces. If the people in charge are excited then more often than not that energy will flow throughout your group. One suggestion, then, is to make sure your spring fundraiser involves a product or event that you can rally people around. Since there’s already excitement at the beginning of the year it becomes more important for the actual spring fundraiser to drive some excitement.

Many schools choose to do carnivals or other fun events in the spring because students and their families get more excited when the event or fundraiser is fun. But you don’t have to do a carnival for the kids to have fun and raise lots of money.

Consider offering fun rewards for the students that participate. Maybe you can give each participant an extra recess. The as participation grows start rewarding results. If your doing a cookie dough fundraiser you might let everyone who sells 5 tubs wear pajamas to school. Or you might let kids who sell 10 or more tubs put their name in a hat to become principal for a day.

The point is that spring does not have to lag behind fall. You are more in control of your spring fundraising results than you know!