Using Fundraising to Develop Students

Nathan Burns

An argument for giving students responsibility for school fundraising events to help them develop skills in leadership, organisation, communication, and project management.

Every year, every school will run a fundraiser of some sort. Sometimes this is for a charity linked to the school, something in the community, or even a national event. Charity events often get organised by staff, with some student input. However, charity fundraising offers a brilliant chance to hand over the reins to students. This article will explore what students can oversee and the skills that they will develop.

I’ve yet to come across, work in, or with a school, who does not hold some type of charity event during their school year. Sometimes this may be a non-uniform day, a bake sale, or some sort of teacher centred event (where teachers embarrass themselves to raise funds). Typically, these types of events are organised in conjuncture with big national events, such as Children in Need, or less often, for small local community or school-based causes (for example, linked school charities).

In schools that I have worked in, the input that students have is limited. There is the occasional opportunity to vote for which charity to support (out of a pre-selected group) or the potential to suggest an activity (which may or may not happen), but otherwise students are usually relegated to bringing in a pound or two to pay for non-uniform or buy some cakes.

Often, organisation is left to teachers – adding yet more work to an already stretched to do list. Teachers either end up working more hours, or the fundraising that occurs is not as expansive as it could’ve been, as teachers do not have enough hours in the day to get more organised.

On a completely different note, there is constant bemoaning that students are not learning what they ought to whilst in school. Where is their knowledge of budgeting and purchasing? What about scheduling and organisation? Why can’t they reason and debate? Despite these being things that are taught somewhat in the curriculum, they are often skills that are developed through projects, clubs and other enrichment activities.

Perhaps you can see where I am going here… Fundraising activities occur in every school and are often organised by stretched teachers, being ever-more stretched. Meanwhile, students get little input or opportunity to be involved and could benefit from the opportunity to be involved in enrichment and project type activities. Students should therefore be put in charge of fundraising events!

This article will now go on to explore exactly what students could be put in charge of, and the skills that this would develop. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it gives an idea of what students could be involved in!

Get them to do, what?

 Choosing the charity

The first thing that students would be able to do is choose the charity of their choice. This doesn’t mean choosing a charity from a set two or three that are given to them, either. There is potential here for students to share causes which are close to their hearts and explain to others why they think it is a worthy cause to fundraise for.

It’s still highly likely that you will do fundraising for big events, such as Red Nose Day, but this provides a chance to hear about personal and local causes that may not otherwise find themselves which much publicity.

There are multiple benefits to doing this, too. Firstly, you can find out the causes that students really care about. Students will need to research their chosen cause, and then present it to others, perhaps within their tutor group (to begin with), before the year group, and then maybe the wider school community. It is a great opportunity to develop research, debating and presentation skills for students. Moreover, if students are then voting for a cause that has been presented to them, it provides an additional opportunity to bring in ideas of democracy into the classroom.

Educating the community

Whether you choose a charity through the suggestion above, or through a different means, the next thing that students can be involved with is educating the wider community about the charity, and the cause that they are fighting for.

There are a few ways that this could be done, from something as simple as a poster, through to an assembly or maybe even a video. Once again, students can determine the best way to cut through (TikTok, perhaps!) and reach their ‘target’ audience. Here, students will develop skills of marketing and presentation.

Additionally, educating the community doesn’t just mean other students within their class. It also means teachers in the school, other school staff, parents, carers and even the local community. Can students develop different resources that will be appropriate and reach all of these different audiences? It would be quite a challenge, but one that gets students working with more stakeholders and outside agencies.

Determining events

Kids are typically very creative – I know they certainly seem to be more creative than me, anyway! A bake sale is good, and a non-uniform day enjoyable for most, but are there other things that could be done?

If students are leaders with the fundraising, then they should also be able to engage that creativity and come up with a number of new, alternative and wacky ideas to raise money for their important cause.

This creative licence would be extremely liberating for students, but they will also be challenged with thinking about scope and logistics. Which of their ideas could actually work? Do they have the resources, time or the finances needed to set up some of these things? This would be a great opportunity for students to begin to consider wider project management and organisation.

Contact with stakeholders

Already mentioned above briefly when considering how students would educate the wider community, working on charity events would be a brilliant way to expose students to working with different stakeholders.

Whether it is through educating the wider community, working with catering to sort a bake sale or discussing issues with the site team about table layout, there will be plenty of opportunities for students to work with people, in a range of different roles, that they wouldn’t normally.

Not only is this a wonderful additional responsibility, but it also gives students the opportunity to develop their communication abilities and consider how these need to change depending on the stakeholder to whom they are communicating with.

Running events

The final area that students would have a significant opportunity to develop a range of skills is in the actual running of events. It would be one thing organising them all, but actually running them is a whole different kettle of fish.

Here, students will need to consider issues of logistics, teamworking and clear communication. Equally, they will have to consider their sales, managing money and ensuring that all their events are running smoothly as well. There’s potential for a lot to go wrong, but also for a lot of learning to take place as well.

But, how?

Just saying ‘let the kids do it’, isn’t going to work. In fact, it would almost certainly fail in chaos. There are some small steps that would be worth taking to ensure the smoothest possible running of these charity events, which are outlined briefly below.

Teachers to oversee

Firstly, there are going to need to a set of teachers who will support students in organising these events. It wouldn’t be possible for students to be asking questions of numerous different teachers – they would rather need one, or a handful, who are points of contact.

Additionally, it will also need a few teachers to be keeping an eye on how everything is going with regards to planning and organising, as well as stepping in and offering guidance. It is far easier to have a small number of staff who consistently do this, rather than getting different staff involved at different times.

Organising committee

Secondly, it also wouldn’t be possible for every single student to be involved with every single decision that is made. Ideally, if more students can be involved, the better. But this needs to be managed carefully. One way in which to do this would be to have a main, overarching, organisation committee.

Beyond this, it would be possible to have different sub-groups who are focussing on different things. That could be focussing on different events, or potentially different areas, such as communication or finances.

A timeline

Things like this take a significant amount of time to organise. If you decide to go down this ‘students led’ route, then it will be crucial to firstly take some time planning how it is going to work, and then ensure that there is enough time for students to complete all of the work.

Giving students only a fortnight to get all of this planned just isn’t going to work!

Back up support for illness

On the day of fundraising events, students might be off ill, on a trip, or absent for some other reason. In this scenario, it would be important for there to be back up students who are able to step into the vacant shoes and ensure the smooth running of events.

If teachers were absent, it is far easier to find another teacher to plug those gaps. With students, it isn’t quite as easy, so having a detailed plan ahead of time for any absences that may occur, would go a long way to ensuring the smooth running over events

Time to do this

Everything in education seems to come back to time! Teachers need more of it, and students need more of it!

If teachers were planning some fundraising activities, they may plan it during non-contact periods, afterschool or even outside of school altogether. For this to work for students, though, there need to be dedicated times that they are able to meet up and plan all of their activities.

Break and lunch times jump out as options, but these aren’t great for staff and students alike. Instead, could a tutor time work? Or maybe even a PSHE lesson?

All schools run charity events, typically orchestrated by overworked staff. Rather than carrying on with this status quo, fundraising provides a wonderful opportunity for students to take the lead. Providing students with ownership and creative licence to take the front foot, they’ll encounter a huge number of (positive) challenges, and develop a range of skills, from communication, ot presentation, financial management to working with different stakeholders. Fundraising is a wonderful opportunity to help charity and help students.

You can read more articles by Nathan Burns here.