Successful school fundraising often relies on the work of parent volunteers, however this poses a problem in the modern era of double working parents who are incredibly time-poor and therefore less able to help organise, run, or attend traditional school fundraisers. A potential solution is to run an online fundraiser. The online nature of the fundraiser means people can access it any-where, any-time, at their convenience. This presentation explores: - problems parents have with some types of fundraisers that lead them to 'opt out;' - what is online fundraising and 'crowdfunding', - how crowdfunding works, and the psychology that drives supporters; - comparison of different school fundraising activities; - additional benefits of crowdfunding in addition to raising money; - how online fundraising can work for your school. Village Raised (www.villageraised.com) is a new online fundraising website designed to help schools & parents to raise money more efficiently.

1. ONLINE FUNDRAISING FOR SCHOOLS

2. A LITTLE ABOUT ME
My name is Luci Temple.
This is my daughter, Lani.
Her education is of key importance to me, and
I support the school when I can...
...However I’m a busy working parent and
some school fundraising activities are difficult
to support.

3. PROBLEM 1: TIME CONSUMING
Some fundraising activities require a small army of
volunteers to organise and run them.
Modern parents are time-poor.

4. PROBLEM 2: HIGH PRESSURE SALES
Some fundraising activities put unfair pressure on kids to
sell large volumes of stuff, that:
• People don’t need or want
• Are overpriced or poor quality
• Are at odds with our values

5. PROBLEM 3: POOR RETURNS
When you consider all the time and money
put in, some fundraising activities have
very little return trickle back to the school.
Professional parents can feel this is a
waste of their time, that these activities
make poor use of their abilities, and simply
don’t make good financial sense.

6. MANY PARENTS OPT OUT
Due to these problems, many modern parents disengage from the
school community:
• Don’t volunteer
• Don’t attend the parents’ committee
• Don’t share their ideas
• Don’t voice their concerns
• Only do the bare minimum

7. SOLUTION : ONLINE FUNDRAISING
Through my career I’ve been involved with,
and following, an online fundraising trend
called “crowdfunding” - which I believe is a
solution to these problems.

8. ONLINE FUNDRAISING: A U.S. EXAMPLE #1
Kickstarter is an example of an online fundraising
“crowdfunding” website in the U.S. that helps people raise
money for creative projects such as films, books, games,
music albums.
Initially it was used by people who could not otherwise raise
money... However it has proven so efficient that now even
some popular bands are leaving their labels to crowdfund the
costs of production independently as a preferred method.
The average amount raised is $10K per project, however it’s
a sliding scale with some exceptional campaigns raising over
$1 million!

9. ONLINE FUNDRAISING: A U.S. EXAMPLE #2
Donors Choose is a crowdfunding website available to US schools. It is
mostly used by high-poverty public schools that have difficulty raising money
or resources from within their largely underprivileged communities.
Teachers create a page listing what they need for their classroom, such as
books, technology, classroom supplies, excursions, or other equipment.
Both ordinary people and wealthy benefactors can see what is needed and
make a donation. Whether it just be $5 or it be millions spread across multiple
projects, every dollar counts. The majority of supporters are first-time givers
to public schools, and one such first-time benefactor sent in a multi-million-
dollar cheque to Donors Choose to cover the cost of all currently listed
Californian school projects!
Donors Choose has raised over $182,467,606 for schools, across 363,454
projects. The average amount raised is $502 per project.

10. HOW CROWD FUNDRAISING WORKS
1) Create fundraiser
• Set your goal
• Tell your story
• Provide gratitude
rewards
2) Share the link
• Tell everyone you know
• They share it with
everyone they know
• Viral spread
3) Receive payments
• Easy for supporters
• Anywhere in the world
• Any time day or night

11. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CROWD FUNDING
During a crowdfunding campaign there is a set deadline (for example 30
days), and money is not drawn down until the goal is reached.
This is part of the reason why crowdfunding is so successful, because –
in addition to being online & universally accessible - psychologically:
1) It lowers donor risk
(People don’t want to donate their money to something that doesn’t
eventuate due to lack of enough funding – this way they only pay if
enough is raised for the purpose given).
2) It creates immediacy and urgency
(They must donate and get others to donate before the countdown
ends).
3) People who donate rally their networks to support the fundraiser
because they become emotionally invested (they want to help you
reach the goal so money is not “lost”).

12. Crowdfunding is well suited to work for schools because schools have an:
• Existing tradition of fundraising
• Existing committed core of organisers
• Large body of parents who are willing to help (albeit on their own terms)
• Parents are the first to donate towards their own children’s benefit, & tap into
extended family for support.
• Large interested community around schools, including alumni, local
businesses, philanthropists.
CROWDFUNDING FOR SCHOOLS
Average Kickstarter
Project
Potential Average Online School
Fundraiser
Organisers 2 4-20 from parent & teacher committees
Helpers 3 10-400 parents, teachers, & community
Network effect 1000 5,000+
Average pledge $50 $50
Average # of pledges 200 200 – 1000+
Average amount raised $10,000 $10,000 - $50,000+

13. A CROWDFUNDING WEBSITE FOR SCHOOLS
I have built a crowdfunding website –
Village Raised - so we can improve
fundraising at my daughter’s school.
Talking to other school parents I realise
they have the same needs, so I am making
it available to other schools.

14. WWW.VILLAGERAISED.COM
The demo site is live, and accepting applications. The first school
fundraisers will launch in third term 2013.

15. VILLAGE RAISED: FIRST SCHOOLS
During this initial ‘startup’ phase I am offering to
personally support the first 10 schools to get best
possible results. I’ll work with you through:
 set up
 goal setting
 telling your ‘story’
 brainstorming ‘rewards’ to encourage higher
donations
 promotion, social media strategy, PR

16. VILLAGE RAISED INTO THE FUTURE
I have a big vision to help schools, and the long term plan includes:
• Resources, online learning, case studies & workshops to help
schools improve fundraising & grants.
• Online community forum so that parents and teachers from
different schools can communicate and trade tips and advice to
help with fundraising, grants and other P&C/P&F issues.
• Gain grants & investment to allow Village Raised to:
– hire more people to help more schools hands-on;
– develop the platform further to add extra features as required
by schools.

17. HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO USE?
• No upfront fees
• No cost if fundraising campaign is unsuccessful
• No risk
When a campaign is successful:
- Payment processing fees charged by PayPal/Visa/Mastercard
(approx 3%)
- Admin fee to Village Raised of 5%
This is the same fee structure as Kickstarter uses, while DonorsChoose asks
supporters to pay DonorsChoose 15% on top of their donation to the school.

18. COMPARE OPTIONS TO RAISE $10K
To raise $10K: # items sold Cost to parents & community School
Profit
Village Raised 218 $10,900 92%
Bake sale 5,000 $14,000
($10K sales + $4K ingredients)
71%
Sausage sizzle 5,000 $15,000 66%
Tea towels 2,000 $24,000 41%
Chocolate bars 15,000 $30,000 33%
Crowdfunding provides an easier way for parents and community to
support schools, and provides a better financial return than many
alternatives.

19. BUT IT’S MORE THAN MONEY
“To save Erskineville
Public School... the key
goal of fundraising
activities was community
outreach.”
Adrienne Jerram, previous President of
Erskineville Primary School P&C Committee
School fundraising is not just about raising money.

20. 1) Raise awareness of your school’s “story” & cause
2) Rally support around your school through trusted sources
including parents’ own social networks
3) “Good news” PR stories
4) Reconnect with ex-students
5) Reach new philanthropists & donors
6) Build a larger community of advocates who publicly support your
school
ADDITIONAL SCHOOL BENEFITS:

21. I would appreciate it if you could help us identify:
 First 10 schools (to use Village Raised July/August 2013)
 Schools who will consider using Village Raised within the
next 3-12 months (validation of need will help us in gaining
grants & investment).
 Principals, teachers & parents to fill in our quick 5
question survey, even if not interested in Village Raised
http://bit.ly/1b2Yksj (will help us to better understand
needs).
 Sign up for the newsletter, read the blog, follow us on
twitter for advice and ideas about more efficient school
fundraising – and tell other people about it!
HELP US MAKE IT HAPPEN:

22. VILLAGE RAISED TEAM
Luci Temple, Founder
 Parent to a 3rd grader
 Marketing & Communications Strategist, 12 yrs
 Crowdfunding Workshop Facilitator, AFTRS
 Recent experience in the K-12 education sector
Sasha Gerrand, Developer
 15 yrs+ experience as senior programmer
Team of Interns
 Tertiary trained in marketing, communications,
PR & social media

23. VILLAGE RAISED SUMMARY
 Raise money efficiently
 Promote your school story
 Enable busy parents & the community to champion your cause to
their networks
 Contact us for a demonstration, workshop or a chat
 Sign up at www.villageraised.com to gain support
 Complete our quick survey http://bit.ly/1b2Yksj
Email: hello@villageraised.com
Follow us: www.twitter.com/villageraised
Like us: www.facebook.com/villageraised
Luci Temple 0414 583 924