Steps to Fundraising the SAFE way…

 We are all aware of the good that fundraising does, but is it worth it at your kid’s expense? Going from door to door, handling money, and consistently approaching strangers are all very common and dangerous practices of traditional fundraising.

Following are a few tips to help navigate through fundraising in a safer manner:

Step 1: ALWAYS have an adult present when going door to door. Going with your child when they are selling fundraising products seems obvious, but there are many incidents where parents will let their children go out and do this on their own carrying cash, checks and products can  leads to things as extreme as abduction and other very serious crime.

Step 2: NEVER let your children walk around with their fundraised money as they are selling. Every time your child makes a sale make sure as the parent or guardian with them that you are collecting that money from them so they aren’t forced to walk around with large sums of money.

Step 3: ALWAYS make sure that your child is with at least one person when going out to do their fundraising. It’s not practical to assume that all parents can help all children with their fundraising, which is understandable, so if that is the case be sure to find an older family member or someone older that you trust to go with them.

Step 4: BE SURE to do a little research when picking an area to do your fundraising. In other words, don’t send your children to knowingly unsafe neighborhoods, store locations, etc. By simply doing this step you can eliminate a lot of common worries when it comes to your children addressing strangers, especially when asking them for money. Try to target areas where there are many families and even elderly folks, people that may have dealt with school fundraising at some point.

Step 5: LAST, BUT NOT LEAST, still try to have a little fun with it! Fundraising is something that we will always have to do and as the years go on it gets harder and harder so make sure that your kids are still enjoying themselves. The world is increasingly becoming a more dangerous place, especially for children, so by following these steps you should be able to avoid them and enjoy yourselves!

The dangers of fundraising are getting higher, and the funds collected seem to be getting lower. So, what do we do? Is there something out there that allows us to raise the money we need, but not have to worry about our children getting hurt or violated? Fortunately, the answer is yes! 

Recently, online fundraising has become something that has been getting a little more attention and for many good reasons, such as the following:

Reason 1: There is no door-to-door. Period. This alone is something that will revolutionize traditional fundraising. With online fundraising your children aren’t forced to go out into the community and ask people for money, they simply will either handout flyers or do everything online through family members and people you already know.

Reason 2: No cash handling. Walking around with large sums of money is dangerous on its own, but especially when a child is in charge. Online, people choose how much they want to pay and do it all through the online credit/debit system of which I’m sure we are all familiar with.

 Reason 3: Parents aren't forced to help their children at certain times when fundraising is safest. With doing everything online parents have the leisure of helping their children on their schedule, how convenient!

Reason 4: Its fast! Your fundraising is always a couple clicks away which eliminates the immense time commitment that traditional fundraising requires.

Have I convinced you yet? If not, you are more than welcome to read through one more time and change your mind. Happy fundraising!