Click Image To Visit SiteAs many of you have probably experienced, budget cuts have forced many schools to curtail or even eliminate funding for extracurricular activities in schools today.
To make up the difference, a lot of schools have had to drop certain activities or entire programs altogether. Others have gone to charging ever-increasing participation fees that prevent at least some people from participating or participating in multiple activities.
…because these activities are often once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that, in my own experience, build self-esteem, discipline and character and contribute tremendously to the well-roundedness of a young person’s education.
…because these activities are often once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that, in my own experience, build self-esteem, discipline and character and contribute tremendously to the well-roundedness of a young person’s education.
In fact, in my high school, it was equally as cool to be in the boy’s chorus as it was to play football.
In chorus, which involved 120 guys…half the male population of our school…we recorded albums, went on an annual tour, sang for the Vice President in the White House and opened the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC my senior year.
In football, WE NEVER LOST a game and won state championships in all of my four years. We were so good in fact, that my high school coach was named National High School Coach of the Year my senior year.
I knocked on many doors. But instead of selling restaurant cards, coupon books, plants, mulch and water softener like kids do today, we sold boxes of candy and did a variety of other, more familiar, fundraising activities.
When I was a junior, I was the top salesperson in my high school for one of the activities I participated in. I sold over 2,000 boxes of candy that year.
But in my senior year, I didn’t want to work that hard. I wasn’t lazy … I just got smart like kids are supposed to do from year to year!
So, instead of going door-to-door in the dead of winter like I had the year before, I devised a new – and what turned out to be a much better – fundraising strategy.
In fact, I netted more than double the funds I’d raised just a year before. And rather than knocking on over 3,000 doors, I called on just 6 people and all told, it took me less than a day.
When I was in college, I was a successful middle school and high school coach. In fact, the football teams I worked with in the two years I coached never lost a game. During that time, I also raised money and was able to provide my team with all new equipment and uniforms, which was accomplished with just 2 calls.
So I learned very early on how to raise a lot of funds with very little effort and how to build and sustain winning programs too.
When I finished college, I was recruited to become a Development Director – or chief fundraising officer – of a high school.
I was tasked with all fundraising, public relations and student recruitment activities. And, like… Read more…
