5 School Fundraising Trends That Define Successful Campaigns

Classic school fundraisers, like bake sales and car washes, have historically worked well for schools like yours looking to raise much-needed funds. But these days, it takes a lot more to make your fundraiser stand out and attract the support your school needs.

With shifts in technology, communication, and donor experiences, schools are increasingly turning to digital fundraising to raise money. These advances may leave your team asking, “How can we keep up?”

Let’s review current trends your school needs to know (and follow!) to boost success, engagement, and sustainable giving.

1. Embrace Smarter Donor Management

In our current digital age, your school is not the only organization vying for your target audience’s attention. You must thoughtfully connect with potential supporters to stand out from the crowd, and schools are increasingly turning to technology to do so.

A good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system can transform how schools manage donors and run fundraising campaigns. By automating everyday tasks and improving your communication with families, alumni, and supporters, a CRM helps schools engage with their communities more effectively.

There are some key CRM features that benefit school fundraisers:

• Donor management: Keep detailed records of everyone who supports your school, including parents, alumni, local businesses, and other supporters.

• Online donation forms: Optimize your donation forms to make it easy for donors to contribute. Improved forms can also raise more by prompting one-time donors to become recurring donors instead!

• Event management: Most schools count on auctions, fun runs, galas, or other sports tournaments to raise funds. When you can plan and manage events in one place, you can run a successful event with minimal effort.

• Email and text messaging: Send updates and reminders with just a click or two. Text updates are helpful when communicating event changes quickly.

• Reporting and analytics: Identify which campaigns, communication tactics, and other fundraising strategies are working and pinpoint areas for improvement.

• Volunteers and Pledge Tracking: Easily manage sign-ups for parents, teachers, and students who pitch in and help. Need to award student service hours? Keep the hours served straight in your CRM.

When choosing a CRM for your school, look for an all-in-one platform that combines donor management and core fundraising tools, including payment processing. This will help you maximize every dollar raised, keep costs down, and build stronger connections with your school community.

2. Prioritize Year-Round Engagement

Sporadic fundraising appeals make it harder for schools to build lasting relationships with supporters. Consistent engagement, both financial and non-monetary, is the key to long-term support, which is why your school must weave stewardship into its year-round plan. According to Meyer Partners, successful stewardship results in increased giving amounts and types of engagement.

What does year-round stewardship look like? Here’s an example to get you thinking:

• September: Back-to-school campaign to stock up on classroom supplies
• October: Homecoming event with an alumni donation drive
• November: Donor recognition efforts (i.e., highlighting them on social media and your website, sending handwritten notes from students, etc.)
• December: Holiday auction or end-of-year push
• January: Impact story on how fall donations made a difference
• February: Valentine’s-themed donor appreciation
• March: Spring pledge drive for field trips or graduation
• April: Volunteer appreciation event
• May: “That’s a Wrap” event to close the school year (i.e., movie night, pizza night, fun run, etc.)
• June to August: Subtle communications to keep donors connected (i.e., a newsletter about what the staff is doing over the summer or check-ins with parents)

Review relevant statistics and trends to guide your stewardship efforts. Understanding what motivates your donors can help shape your messaging so that it taps into the factors that drive your community. For example, CharityEngine’s recurring giving statistics report that most recurring donors prefer to start giving on special occasions (i.e., GivingTuesday and New Year’s Eve). You can use this insight to craft holiday campaigns or make fundraising asks at the right time of the year.

3. Leverage the Power of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

When it comes to school fundraising, people are far more likely to give when asked by someone they know and trust. That’s why peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising has become such a powerful option for schools! It turns students, parents, and alumni into enthusiastic ambassadors willing to drum up support for your school in their social networks.

Your school can launch a P2P campaign by following these steps:

• Choose a digital platform: If your CRM supports individual and team pages, it’s perfect for your campaign.

• Set a clear goal: How much do you want to raise, and what are you raising it for? If possible, tie this number to a specific initiative (i.e., a new playground) to generate more support.

• Create templates for your fundraisers: Provide email and social media templates so the fundraisers aren’t starting from scratch.

• Recruit and motivate your ambassadors! Reach out to students, parents, and alumni, and gamify the competition to see who can raise the most. Encourage them to set up donation pages and share them widely.

• Provide recognition and updates: Celebrate top fundraisers, share a progress thermometer on your website, and publicly thank (on social media and your website) everyone who participates.

Beyond P2P fundraising, schools can expand their impact through collaboration. Partnering with other organizations, like community groups, local businesses, and other schools, can open doors to sponsorships, shared events, and a pooling of resources. These partnerships will help diversify your revenue streams and build a broader network of supporters.

4. Tap Into Mobile and Online Giving

School donors increasingly expect a fast, frictionless giving experience, especially on their phones. If your donation process is clunky or confusing, you risk losing support even before they hit the donate button.

Here are some tips to simplify and optimize your online donation forms:

• Keep it short! Limit the required fields to as few as possible. This will lower the chances that donors abandon your form without completing it.
• Make it mobile-friendly. Make sure your form loads quickly and looks great on any device.
• Offer multiple payment options: Donors might prefer to use a credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Venmo. Make sure they can use what’s easy for them.

Since you’re likely promoting your campaign on mobile channels already, it only makes sense that your donation form would be easy to find and use from a mobile device. Make the link to your donation form easily accessible from your email newsletters, text messages, social media posts, and other communications to increase the chances that donors will visit it.

5. Use Data to Make Informed Fundraising Decisions

The most effective school fundraisers don’t rely on guesses or hunches. They let data guide every decision, letting them be more confident in the outcome.

By tracking key fundraising metrics, your school can identify what’s working, pinpoint gaps that can be addressed, and plan more effective campaigns that generate increased support every year.

Here are five key metrics every school fundraiser should track:

• Total dollars raised indicate overall campaign success and whether you’re meeting your goals.

• Average gift size helps you understand giving capacity and adjust your asks accordingly.

• Donor retention rate refers to the number of donors retained each year, which helps determine whether you’re building long-lasting relationships.

• Participation rate shows you the percentage of families, students, or alumni who are involved in your campaigns.

• The number of recurring donors indicates how many donors give monthly. Recurring donors provide predictable revenue.

To make the most of your data, plan regular post-campaign reviews. Determine what went well and where you fell short, and tweak your strategy for next time. The more you review and refine campaigns, the stronger you’ll be.

Remember, you don’t need a massive overhaul to see results. Even small tech upgrades, like centralizing your donor data in one CRM or automating thank-you messages, can save time, strengthen relationships, and boost donations.

When you embrace modern technology and develop smart, data-driven strategies, your school can build a thriving, sustainable fundraising program that keeps your entire community engaged.