Learn everything you need to know about running a virtual PTA fundraiser and how to improve your PTA fundraising season.
PTA fundraising season is here! If you’re looking for modern, high-impact virtual PTA fundraiser ideas, you’re in the right place. While selling candy or wrapping paper still exists, online and peer-to-peer fundraising is now the smarter, easier fundraising path. With Mightycause, your PTA can host walkathons, read-a-thons, virtual auctions, and even more without the barrier of geographical lines.
What are the benefits of running a virtual PTA fundraiser?
- Going virtual means anyone can donate from anywhere. Aunt Sherida may live in Tucson, but she can donate to her nephew’s walk-a-thon happening in Charlotte.
- Processing donations online translates to money in the bank AND avoids the cash flow from donor to student to teacher to PTA. Save steps and reduce error.
- Fundraising platforms like Mightycause make mobile giving easy and accept a wide variety of payment processors including: Credit Card, ACH, Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal, and Venmo. Does it get any easier than that??
“We used the Mightycause platform to host our PTA Dolphin Color Dash event. And your customer support was so helpful! I’ve heard several comments from parents and teachers on how much they liked the website & how easy it was to share and donate during the campaign. I’m certain our PTA will be recurring customers!”
— Beth Spillman, Dolphin Dash Fundraiser
What to do first when planning a virtual PTA fundraiser?
Everything you do when panning your fundraising calendar is going to tie back to three questions. Once these questions are answered you’re ready to move forward.
- What are the funds going toward?
- How much do we need?
- When do we host our fundraising campaign?
Look back and then look forward. Are there yearly initiatives that need funding? If so, how much was raised in the past and what price fluctuations may have occurred since?Consider the future needs of your school and when you need certain campaign funds to be available. This will dictate when you host your fundraiser. Now, work backwards to build your preparation timeline.
A couple of tips here:
- Review the federal and state guidelines for PTA fundraising and reporting. You don’t want surprises.
- Make sure your PTA votes and documents the priority of your fundraising needs.
- Be willing to make changes. Just because you have done something for the past 5 years doesn’t mean you need to keep doing it if it doesn’t fit your PTA priorities.
- To avoid donor burnout, balance your fundraising campaigns. For example, if you put on a Spring Carnival consider hosting your virtual event in the fall.
- Consider your community calendar and how you can partner with community activities already in place.
- Check out the Mightycause PTA Fundraising Guide for more guidance.
What’s your PTA fundraiser’s angle?
Running a virtual PTA fundraiser is about more than just raising money. You want to build community, school pride, and student ownership of their school. You’ll find that families and teachers are willing to participate as long as your fundraiser is easy to understand and there is ample time to prepare. This means it’s up to you to create a campaign that is easy to set up, promote, and execute.
Let’s work for it!
Walk-a-thons, read-a-thons and fun runs are a hit because the students are earning their donations in a healthy way. And you can get your kids participating in a variety of ways. Walk, bike, read, swim, dance – you choose or let the students choose. Allowing your students to choose their activity can be a lot of fun. They can express themselves and they don’t feel forced to participate in something they don’t like.
First decide your breakdown, are you going to raise money per student, class, or grade level. If per student, are you going to ask parents to build out a page for their child or are you going to build out each page? You also have to keep in mind that parents may not want their child to have a web page.
As an alternative, consider creating a page per class. Each student provides their class page to friends and family. Remember, teachers usually don’t mind helping. But their plates are already full. It can be your gift to them to create the class page. These pages are great because the students still take part in the activity, they are encouraged to work toward the benefit of the class, and parents only need to send out the link.
Do you hear a higher bidder?
Virtual auctions open a world of possibilities that can’t be had in person. A buyer can be anywhere. The event can take place over a few days because it’s not in-person. The advertisement for community supporters reaches far and wide. And you don’t have to be an auctioneer to make it happen.
Get your community merchants involved. Instead of asking for monetary donations, reach out to businesses in your community to auction off services, meals, items and experiences. Not only do you receive the proceeds but they receive the advertisement and you build community. Start by finding your virtual auction platform, then gather the “items” to be auctioned and advertise, advertise, advertise!
Save Time With Ready-to-Use Fundraising Templates
Planning a PTA fundraiser from scratch can feel overwhelming – but with Mightycause, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Our fundraising templates make it easy to launch a professional campaign in minutes.
With pre-built layouts designed specifically for schools and PTAs, you can:
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Quickly customize pages with your school’s logo, colors, and messaging.
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Choose event-specific templates for fun runs, read-a-thons, giving days, or general PTA campaigns.
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Save time on design and setup, so you can focus on rallying parents and students.
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Ensure a polished, mobile-friendly experience for every donor.
These templates are flexible, too – you can add images, videos, team fundraising options, and goal meters. Whether you’re running your first PTA fundraiser or hosting a large annual event, Mightycause templates give you a strong starting point to grow from year after year.
What else you need to know for running your virtual PTA fundraiser.
Communication!!
Teachers and parents are your biggest advocates when it comes to fundraising. Make sure you have a plan in place to communicate throughout the campaign. Have all your information ducks in a row before you begin your promotions. If you are going to host a read-a-thon in which each student has a fundraiser page, have clear instructions for each parent. Create a fundraiser page template and provide wording suggestions.
Your teachers need fast and easy. The more you can do for them, the better. Your communication should be precise, not too much and not too little. Too many emails or flyers and people will stop reading them. But too few and people will forget about deadlines and promotion. To find this balance, it can be helpful to ask a few teachers for their input.
Share your success!
You’ve worked hard. Your students, their families and donors have worked hard. Tell them about it! Saying thank you and sharing your results is one of the most important parts of your campaign. People need to feel a part of the accomplishment just as much as they feel a part of the process. To not share the success is like a story without an ending. And in the future, people will be less likely to get involved. Even if you don’t hit your fundraising goals, still share.
Stick to your deadlines, but be flexible.
Deadlines keep things running smoothly. Virtual platforms and vendors have deadlines in order to provide you services. Missing deadlines within your campaign can cause added fees or delays with your vendors. That said, when running your first virtual PTA fundraiser, build in some wiggle room. This gives you a cushion for the “just in case. . .”
Research and Record!
There are many fundraising companies offering fair profit margins. Others offer free products but cut into your profits per donation or sale. Be careful to find the balance between workload and payoff. While weighing your options, be sure to do your math homework and document what you find.
And then record what you did, how you did it and what you would do differently. Include in your results different facets of your fundraising: How much did you raise? How many students participated? What complaints were raised and what aspects did your teachers really enjoy? The more you can record now, the better it will serve your PTA in the future.
Remember, fundraising is more than just raising more. Your PTA is here to support your students, families, teachers and school community. Keep the bigger picture in mind, but allow your creative juices to flow. Running a virtual PTA fundraiser does not have to be scary or overwhelming. Take it one step at a time.