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Faculty Essays

Raising Money without Donors

Written by James Kolakowski on December 3, 2024.

One unadvertised benefit of attending Heights teaching conferences is hearing from school leaders about their own fundraising efforts. For me, it’s always a source of energy to “talk shop” with other fundraisers. While our work shares many of the same characteristics, every school’s fundraising situation is unique and talking with others about current issues presents a new perspective on the work we do as well as highlights the essential elements we hold in common.

At our last conference, I was asked a question about how to raise money when the pool of parent and alumni donors is insufficient to fund ongoing capital needs. What a great question! (Conversely, I’ve heard of several schools that intentionally limit the number of donors they solicit…more on that in another article.) Although it’s certainly not the first time I’ve heard a fundraiser complain about having too few donors, what is interesting here is the way in which these folks went about solving this problem. 

Here are three examples of how schools (two in the US and one in Canada) have gone about raising money without donors. Spoiler alert, they created new ones. 

 

Arkansas

A teacher from Texas moved to Arkansas to lead a small independent school and explained the situation when he arrived. Expenses were growing and fundraising efforts were not keeping pace with need, let alone enough to take the school to the level he desired. His first thought was simply to recreate the environment that worked for his school in Texas, that is to grow community engagement through live music and line dancing. However, he was quickly informed that he’s not in Houston anymore!    

Apparently, what works in Texas doesn’t necessarily work in Arkansas. The solution? Bingo! In Arkansas, you don’t dance, you play Bingo. So that’s what he did. 

He advertised a community-wide Bingo night and quickly filled the school’s multi-purpose room with previously unaffiliated members of the community who liked nothing better than to play Bingo on Saturday night. Most never knew the school existed, but soon were given a complete introduction to the school’s mission and philosophy in between rounds. Not only that, but the evening brought in over $10,000! The school’s head immediately made plans for more Bingo nights. This unique insight opened the school to the wider community and a brand new pool of donors. And you can bet they were all added to the school’s solicitation list! 

 

California

Bingo and line dancing may work in the south, but what about in coastal California? 

Another school head at a small Christian school in southern California shared how he approached this conundrum in much the same way as the folks in Arkansas, but with a flavor appropriate to his own community. 

Larger financial support was available, but the particular challenge was selling the neighbors on the school’s ethos and drawing them in as potential parents too, and hopefully as donors. 

This school head boldly invited prominent California intellectuals with a national audience to come and give a lecture at the school. He then invited the entire community to attend free of charge (or with a modest request). The neighbors may not have shared the same worldview as the speakers, but they welcomed the opportunity to hear the unique perspective of a public intellectual.  

Soon enough, the school was packed and he found that many of the neighbors had more in common with the school than they thought.

 

Canada

I can’t speak to the larger fundraising challenges of Canada, but one teacher I spoke with mentioned his own situation up north. His school has around 60 students, or about 30 families supporting the school’s funding gap. 

This school is located in a relatively isolated part of the country, without which there are very few other schooling options available to parents. His school does not have the money to bring in prominent speakers nor perhaps the enthusiasm for Bingo, but has found success by looking to the already established infrastructure of local businesses for help. 

While these businesses might otherwise have little interest in the school, the fact that they were “partnering” in the growth of their small community by supporting the school gave their corporate philanthropy an immediate impact and with long term prospects. Twice a year, this teacher organizes phone-a-thons and visits to area businesses to share their work. Efforts are still new, but solicitations have already netted repeat donors! 

 

The essence of fundraising is building a community. This is as true today as it was in 1966 when Harold Seymour defined fundraising as “building continuity with the past and making people feel that they are a worthwhile member of a worthwhile group.” Fundraising is a personal business. But how this work is done is often best determined by the particular niche and needs of your own community and moving forward with confidence and friendship. 

Do you think we should include a specific talk on fundraising at our next teaching conference?

 

Connect with me on LinkedIn to continue the conversation.