The success of every educational institution relies on its ability to organize, build, cultivate and leverage its network of supporters.
How To Choose a Fundraising Platform for Your School
First and foremost, to build a strong foundation, you need to form a solid network of students, parents, volunteers, and donors. Those are the ones who benefit the school the most and create a positive change.
If you happen to work in the education sector, you know that almost all schools rely on fundraising to support their budgets and that this has a significant impact on the quality of education students receive.
Image source: www.chaptermentalhealth.org
Fundraising helps raise awareness of a particular cause and brings everyone at the school together to work toward the same goal.
Finding the right fundraising platforms for schools and universities is important for providing chances for collaboration and bonding, and also for being more efficient and effective.
In this article, we share some tips on how to choose the right fundraising platform for your school.
How Donors Give Their Money
An online fundraising platform is the best option for meeting your engaged supporters no matter where they are.
A good online fundraising platform should include donation buttons or forms for your website, donation pages, and integrations with well-known payment methods such as PayPal, Stripe, among others.
If you’re active on social networks like Facebook or Instagram, it’s useful to have a platform that integrates easily with those networks.
However, if you raise most of the funds through specific events or old-fashioned methods like e-mail communication, there’s no need to get too involved, but it’s always a good idea to broaden your reach.
It’s also wise to have the platform offer diverse payment options, such as credit card processing and direct debit processing.
Credit card processing is a much-favored method for donors on the go as they just have to type their card information and billing address, making it very convenient.
Direct debit processing works perfectly for recurring donors who want to donate regularly.
Image source: www.philanthropy.org
Tech and Design Skills of Your Team and the Size of Your Operation
When looking at a fundraising platform, consider how tech and design-savvy your fundraising team is and whether they’re good at working and building relationships with people.
A platform might provide you with the tools to create your own site with a minimum level of technical knowledge and skills, which might work out fine since you can focus on other things instead.
Another important aspect to think about is how big your operation is. If you’re a small school with a small budget, then you would need a basic fundraising platform.
On the other hand, if your school is larger with many donors and the eagerness to grow, then you should look at options that will efficiently manage your data and list of contacts.
Think About Your Time
One of the biggest considerations when choosing the right fundraising platform is time. The right tool will be the one that will, in fact, save you valuable time. If a platform is too complex, this might present itself as an obstacle for adoption.
When choosing the fundraising platform for your school, make sure it is one that you and your team will use effectively, while also not requiring a lot of time to operate.
Image source: Taylor Wilcox from Unsplash
The Tools That You’re Using
Nothing is more irritating and exhausting than trying to get all your different apps, programs, and tools to communicate with each other and if you are planning to invest in a fundraising platform and unite all of your efforts, then you should be certain that it will allow you to do that.
The right fundraising platform will sync up with all programs and specialized apps that you’re using, allowing the operation to run smoothly.
Along with this, always think about what tools you would want to use in the future as the very last thing you want to see is your platform clashing with the fresh and exciting initiative you just came up with.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the right fundraising platform for your school requires a lot of research but the above-mentioned ideas and tips may serve as a good starting point.
One thing to remember is that not all tools are the perfect fit for you and that the best fundraising platform is the one suited to your school’s particular needs and strategy.
Pick a user-friendly platform that will make parents and donors feel good and sure about supporting the school’s efforts, making it easy to raise money without adding to the workload.
___________________________________________________________________________
Some other articles you might find of interest:
Have you ever wondered how the internet of the future looks like?
What is the Metaverse, and Are You Ready For Its Arrival?
https://www.alltop9.com/what-is-the-metaverse/
Boost your Android Performance with these tips:
Essential Tips to Increase Android’s Performance
Explore more earning opportunities through your writing skills:
Top 10 Affiliate Marketing Programs for Blogs in 2021
