Soapbox Engage Blog

If you're in the development department at a charter school, you know how challenging fundraising can be. Yes, there's public funding, but so much of the great work you're doing for your students comes from additional funding sources, and those sources are being more scarce each year. In fact, most charter schools now rely on fundraising efforts to cover building expenses and subsidize their operating budget.

Many charter schools rely on major annual fundraising events like a fun run, golf tournaments, a glamorous dinner with live music, or a gala and silent auction.

No matter how your charter school decides to go about fundraising, there are many challenges to navigate and overcome. Here are some practical ideas and apps that are sure to help you conquer your fundraising goals and minimize the difficulties.

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Take charter school event fundraising to the next level

Dinner fundraisers, talent shows, galas, silent auctions, and other major events are time-tested events that often raise large sums of money. Many charter schools host creative, fun activities that bring their school communities together while accomplishing their fundraising goals.

The Soapbox Engage Events app helps charter schools streamline the event registration process. Whether you sell tickets or have free events, this app simplifies or eliminates clerical work, freeing your staff to focus more time and energy on fundraising. This app integrates with Salesforce to keep all the registrations organized and updated.

Provide top-notch registration experiences

Impress your guests with a beautiful custom event page that outlines all the essential information and lets them register online without having to visit another web page to buy the tickets. Eliminating the hassle of a multi-page registration process improves registration completion rates, meaning more ticket sales and more money for you!

Using the Soapbox Engage Events app gives you power over your event registration page. A beautiful event page with your own charter school branding improves the registration process. People are more likely to finish the registration process when the event page includes your branding and matches your website design. If your event registration page looks different, it can lead to confusion.

Have you ever offered group rates, early-bird registration specials, or other discounts? These promotions often boost ticket sales, but they can cause some seriously complicated paperwork. Ditch the administrative nightmares and make your next fundraiser a sellout event by letting the Soapbox Engage Events app keep track of who took advantage of what discount.

Many charter schools also add the option to make an extra donation while purchasing their tickets. Goethe International Charter School, for example, invites gala and silent auction guests to "sponsor a teacher ticket."

Can your registrants share your event on social media and invite their friends? Take advantage of social networking that can lead to more ticket sales without any extra overhead!

These features might seem minor, but they improve the overall quality and impact of your fundraising event--and your bottom line.

Eliminate fundraiser check-in stress and greet your guests appropriately

When the day of your big fundraising event finally arrives, ease the burden on your staff with the free Soapbox Engage Check-in app! Welcome your guests electronically to speed the process and eliminate that ancient process of crossing names off a paper spreadsheet.

Imagine how much better the check-in process will be when your staff or volunteers instantly know essential details about the person they’re checking in. Board members, major donors, sponsors, and other VIPs will receive the appropriate greeting and treatment right from the start! This is another critical way to build trust and show appreciation for your donors.

Gather valuable contact information digitally

Fundraising events bring in large sums of cash and invaluable contact information! Many organizations overlook the long-term financial value of contact information. After all, many groups actually pay top dollar for a list of contacts! (We aren’t suggesting that’s a good idea...but it is a common practice.)

Our Soapbox Engage Events app automatically saves and updates contact information from your event registration list to other services, like Salesforce. You’ll be able to stay in touch with your guests long after your event, without adding administrative tasks to your to-do list.

Your fundraising event was just the beginning. Following up well after the event often leads to more substantial donations and builds strong relationships with current and new supporters.

Use the registrants’ contact information to send a follow-up card or letter to everyone who attended your event, including their guests! Send a short note to "no-shows," letting them know they were missed and provide a brief recap of the event. Including any materials you handed out and a personal invitation to your next event. Saying thank-you increases the likelihood that your supporters will continue donating or attend a future event.

Maintaining a good contact list also lets you connect with people who may be interested in getting involved in your charter school (potential board members, volunteers, prospective students, and their parents, and other valuable connections). You will also be able to identify major donor prospects and follow up appropriately.

Raise money faster online for your charter school

Most charter schools rely, at least in part, on online fundraising efforts to close their budget gaps. KIPP Charter Schools offer a variety of online donation options, which helps them provide high-quality education to over 100,000 students at 242 schools.

The Soapbox Engage Donations app allows KIPP charter schools to create beautiful donation pages to highlight their specific fundraising campaigns. A well-designed donation page lets you describe the services your charter school provides and helps supporters connect their donations with particular outcomes, which improves donor retention rates.

Most people prefer to make donations online, so it’s essential to offer your supporters that option. The Soapbox Engage Donations app is mobile-friendly and fully customizable, so you can make your donation page look just like the rest of your website. Consistent branding gives your donation page a more professional look. It reassures your supporters that they are in the right place (and not some random site on the wild wild web).

Monthly donation programs are increasing in popularity, especially among GenX and Millennial donors. Using the Soapbox Engage Donations app, you can create or update your monthly giving program. Most monthly giving programs rely on the ability to make automated recurring donations on a monthly or quarterly basis. With the Soapbox Engage Donations app, your charter school can easily and safely accept automated recurring online donations. Offering these giving options increases overall giving without any additional overhead costs!

Does your charter school run a variety of fundraising initiatives throughout the year? Soapbox Engage lets you set up a unique donation page for each campaign. This helps your donors give to the program they want to support and simplifies the accounting process. Soapbox Engage's Donations app also automatically matches donations with an existing contact in your CRM system or creates a new contact, so your database is continuously up-to-date.

Custom donation fields and secure online giving

Soapbox Engage's Donations app gives you the freedom to customize the donation page. Only ask your donors for the information you actually need and provide different suggested giving amounts. Offering suggested giving quantities can increase the average donation size for your charter school. It gently encourages people to increase their gift to the nearest recommended amount.

For example, if a supporter visits your donation page intending to make a $75 donation and they see suggested amounts of $30, $50, $100, and "Other," they are actually likely to choose the $100 option and increase their giving by $25, rather than choose "Other" and type in their giving amount.

Of course, you’ll need to do a little experimenting to find the right suggested giving amounts for your specific donation page, but our app lets you update your donation page any time you need to!

To keep your fundraising team happy, the app processes online donations safely and saves the information to Salesforce, reducing or eliminating paperwork and administrative tasks for your team. The secure donation process reassures your donors that their data is safe, builds trust, and allows them to have a positive giving experience.

Gather relevant information and reduce administrative tasks

Fundraising is both an art and a science. Every organization should track data about new donors and other information about each fundraising effort.

Soapbox Engage's Donations app also helps you identify lapsed donors (people who stopped giving). Connecting with lapsed donors lets you reestablish the relationship, find out why they stopped giving, and invite them to support your charter school again. Learning why people stop giving will help you assess and improve your donor care and retention strategies.

You will also be able to identify the average lifetime value of a donor (the average dollar amount each of your donors gives your charter school). This is especially helpful if you track how much it costs to acquire a new donor.

For example, if your charter school spends $300 to gain one new donor through your fundraising efforts and the average lifetime value of a donor is $1,000, then your charter school actually raises $700 per donor on average. Those are excellent margins! On the other hand, if the average lifetime value of a donor is $500, then your school is only raising $200 per donor. That’s still positive cash flow, but it’s an opportunity to figure out how to increase the lifetime value of your donors.

Soapbox Engage also help you segment your donors based on the size of their gifts, how often they donate, and other valuable data. This enables you to understand the giving capacity and habits of your supporters so you can fine-tune your asks, set reasonable fundraising goals, and improve the overall effectiveness of your fundraising efforts.

Tribute and memorial gifts are meaningful for donors

The National Charter School Institute and many individual charter schools offer their donors the opportunity to share a dedication with their contribution. Your donors appreciate having the chance to honor the memories of loved ones and community leaders through charitable donations.

Whether you are fundraising through major gifts, one-time contributions, monthly donations, gifts in kind, or other types of donations, the Soapbox Engage Donations app lets you provide a meaningful way for your supporters to continue the legacy and memory of leaders and loved ones. Your donors will appreciate the more personal connection to your charter school.

Annual campaigns, peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, and other fundraising

Many charter schools rely on annual giving campaigns to raise millions of dollars to support their educational programs and offer valuable resources to their students and families. The Soapbox Engage Donations app gives lets you collect donations online for your annual campaign, classroom sponsorships, and other fundraising initiatives at the same time. You will have the ability to maintain separate donation pages for each campaign, so your donors know exactly what campaign they are supporting.

Do you have class fundraisers? Some charter schools invite each classroom, grade, or individual student to participate in the fundraising efforts. Soapbox Engage Donations is so flexible that you can even allow each student, family, classroom, or grade level to set up their own fundraising page (just like a peer-to-peer donation campaign)!

This is a fantastic addition to events like Trillium Charter Schools "Runnaisance Festival." You’ll be able to have your students collect pledges and donations for their school without the agony of counting bags of change or deciphering scribbled handwriting.

Does your charter school offer monthly donor or membership programs as part of your annual giving campaign? Nearly 50% of millennials and GenX donors enroll in monthly giving programs annually. Offering the opportunity to set up recurring donations and automatic drafts are convenient for your donors and encourage a long-term partnership with your charter school. Supporters appreciate that they won’t need to log into their donation page every month or remember to send a check.

Benefiting from matching gifts, legacy donations, stocks, etc.

Many charter schools offer a variety of legacy giving options. For instance, KIPP Charter Schools provide a variety of ways for donors to make planned gifts that match their financial and philanthropic goals. Some of the planned giving options KIPP Charter Schools offer are bequests as part of an estate, retirement assets, life insurance policies, and stock transfers. These options allow your donors to add your charter school to their will, trust, or other financial plans.

Charter schools are public and not-for-profit, meaning they qualify for matching gift opportunities! Soapbox Engage and Double The Donation work together to support matching gift donations to your charter school. Many companies match their employees’ contributions to charter schools, increasing the impact of each donation.

Everyone wins with match gifts. Your charter school receives more funds, the employees can make a more significant impact with their donations, employers appreciate the tax benefits, and your community benefits from local charitable involvement!

Recurring donation programs provide stable, predictable financial income for your charter school

Soapbox Engage lets you establish a recurring donation program for your charter school without spending hours trying to figure out how to set it up or shelling out tons of money to hire a web designer.

Whether you call it the LEARNers Program, or something else, most charter schools offer some kind of monthly giving or recurring donation program as part of their annual campaign. Recurring donations create a predictable income stream throughout the year to help cover operating costs and offer more financial stability.

Offering recurring donation programs can increase overall giving! It allows supporters to plan and give throughout the year. Many people cannot afford to give thousands of dollars in a single donation, but they can provide several hundred dollars each month.

For example, someone might not be able to give $1,000 in a single donation, but they can rearrange their budget to give $100 each month, which is actually a more substantial total annual gift ($1,200)!

Soapbox Engage benefits charter schools beyond fundraising

The Soapbox Engage apps benefit charter schools far beyond your fundraising efforts! We are in the business of making the day-to-day running of your charter school easier for everyone.

If you are like most schools, you deal with all kinds of field trip permission slips, sports team registration, and other forms throughout the year. Our Forms app lets you create all the forms you need and put them online for parents to access and fill out quickly. Your staff will appreciate having everything in one, easy to access location, and parents or guardians will love the convenience.

Our Directories app helps you keep parent/guardian, students, teachers, and other group contact information updated and accessible to the right people!

Do you have school uniforms, spirit shops, or other items you sell to students and families? Our Soapbox Engage Shop app is an affordable e-commerce site that anyone can set up and manage! Your students and families will love the opportunity to purchase school attire and branded swag. Having it available for purchase throughout the year or online will help increase your sales and revenue.

Keep an online calendar of all the upcoming school events and let people sign up online with our Events app. Even if you aren’t selling tickets, it’s nice to know who is planning to attend so you can prepare accordingly.

Overall, Soapbox Engage equips charter schools to earn top marks in fundraising as well as day-to-day tasks and administration. Our team understands the unique needs of charter schools around the country. We are honored to partner with many schools, including KIPP Charter Schools, to ensure they have the best online tools and resources to serve their students, families, donors, and staff.