Beyond the Bake Sale: The Ultimate School Fund-Raising Book

All the ideas and step-by-step instructions you need to raise thousands of dollars for your school are right here in Beyond the Bake Sale. This comprehensive guide will walk you through:•Setting up a fund-raising team•Finding national organizations that will support your school•Putting on events that leave bake sales in the dust•Finding and keep volunteers•Accounting for and distributing the money you raiseWith school budgets slashed, parent-driven fund-raising is needed to keep classrooms stocked with computers and supplies, school libraries with books and teams with uniforms and equipment. Complete with school year timelines, Beyond the Bake Sale is the only book you’ll need to start making money for your school this year. "A comprehensive guide to adventurous and successful school fundraising. This second, updated edition of Joachim’s (Hanukkah Hearts, 2019, etc.) 2003 nonfiction debut lays out a blueprint with numerous strategies for getting the most out of fundraising for schools. It starts with the basics: Establish good relationships with teachers, administrators, and staff; issue a newsletter to keep parents in the loop and a handbook laying out the dates of various fundraising events; try to create a fundraising reserve fund for unforeseen setbacks; and so on. Joachim raises all kinds of possibilities for events, including car washes, book fairs, and themed dances, including nostalgia-tinged sock hops, and she breaks down the conception, organization, and execution of each with a clarity and enthusiasm that’s encouraging and infectious. She outlines the timing of various types of pledge drives, from the initial announcements to the managing of volunteers to the sending of follow-up thank-you notes. The marvel of this book is how the author seems to forget no detail, no matter how small, and local school administrators and boosters of every stripe will find a wealth of information and innovative thinking in these pages, as well as an extensive, updated list of websites for further research. Joachim’s methods and ideas are premised on the awareness that problems can occur at any time during the fundraising year, and she thankfully refrains from saying that every strategy will be successful. However, the author—who served as a board member of parents’ associations for New York City elementary, middle, and high schools for 16 years—does supply an assemblage of cheerful battle plans, always making sure that the processes are never overbearing or obnoxious. An encouraging, comprehensive fundraising manual. " -- Kirkus Reviews