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Middle school is the perfect time to get children actively involved in their own fundraising campaigns. It teaches them at an early age how good it feels to help others and how much fun it can be! When involving parents of middle schoolers in your fundraising, you need to work around demanding schedules that include ballet practice, soccer games, homework, and dinner. Parents love getting behind the right project for their kids as long as you have a solid plan and there is a lot of communication. A great fundraising method that helps middle-school fundraisers achieve all these objectives is peer-to-peer fundraising.
Teachers and parents just need the right idea to get their kids motivated and excited. Peer-to-peer fundraising is a fantastic way to get students involved with helping others while doing some good for their community. Explaining the story behind the cause for which you are raising money and the direct impact of how the money is spent is an important step in getting parents involved early for a successful middle-school peer-to-peer fundraising event. Invite them to a kick-off planning meeting (serve beverages and snacks) and set up goals, an activity, and a social media presence.
How peer-to-peer is effective for middle-school fundraising
Peer-to-peer fundraising is both customizable and engaging, which makes it fun for students who get involved. Parents and students can organize an activity-based event to raise funds. This is not only a blast for the kids but is also a great way to involve the community and, in turn, gathering more supporters. Bowl-a-thons, runs, or bake sales are just some of the activities students and parents can put together for their fundraiser. These events give students a sense of inclusion, with strong lessons to be learned from helping others (all while having fun, of course!).
Social media can also help keep this network of fundraising going strong by enabling donors to create their own personal fundraising pages. This builds a sense of trust and reliability with whom they share their cause, especially if the funds are being raised by and used to benefit students.
Not only is this simple, it is also cost effective, making fundraising easy on the parents’ wallets.
Gamification keeps middle-school students actively involved in their fundraising
The gamification of peer-to-peer fundraising makes giving and raising money enjoyable and entertaining for middle schoolers. Setting a clear goal for a campaign will help students and parents meet their expectations. Including a fundraising thermometer on social media pages creates an exciting visual element for the students. It gives them the competitive drive to continuously raise money networking with their supporters while watching the thermometer rise and meet the established goal.
Gamification also encourages friendly competition, which is a great way to reach a goal in activity-based events. Adding incentives creates exciting and tangible milestones for students to reach. Whether they are winning a t-shirt or medal for their active involvement in raising funds, that feel-good emotion and lesson in helping others is strongly engrained at a young age. That’s a win-win!
Middle-school fundraising involves parents: don’t forget to say thanks!
Don’t forget to thank the parents! Without their efforts, these fundraisers wouldn’t come to fruition. This can be done in a post to your Facebook group or a written note the kids take home. Be sure to include details on the total money raised for the cause and how it will be used. All of this will go a long way towards gaining continued support in your ongoing middle-school peer-to-peer fundraising activities.
We hope this breakdown of peer-to-peer fundraising for middle schoolers inspires you to take on your next rewarding project at your school. Qgiv loves helping schools raise money effectively, and we’d love to help you with your next peer-to-peer fundraising event. Call us at 888.855.9595 or learn about our P2P platform online
