St Paul’s High School, Glasgow’s Parent Council were aware that fundraising can be very difficult in secondary schools. Parent Council member Leanne McGuire describes the situation:
“Many of the techniques that we all used in years gone by, like sending home a strip of raffle tickets to parents in an envelope for them to return the money, weren't as effective as they previously had been, possibly down to families' budgets getting tighter. We decided that we needed to find a more flexible and discreet way to ask families to contribute.”
The Parent Council and school discussed what the pupils wanted, which was more ‘fun’ at school. To facilitate the fun the Parent Council set up a Go Fund Me page which made clear what the money would be used for.
This method worked really well – the transparency suited everyone and there was very little work involved for Parent Council members who only had to share a link, one which could go to the wider community as well, rather than only school families.
Offering a link this way also provided some flexibility. The Parent Council ran the campaign for a few months so there was plenty of time for a family to donate when they could afford to, rather than missing out on one opportunity to do so. Leanne describes one of the clearest advantages of working this way:
“most importantly, it allowed those who could afford to donate to put in as much as they could afford. And any family who couldn't would be under no obligation.”
St Paul’s Parent Council raised just over £1000, and the money went to the school to use for 'fun week' where they put on a day for each year group with games, activities and food.
Leanne says that:
“This was a great idea because many times I haven't had money on me to contribute to fundraising at the time, then I feel guilty because I can't contribute but when I get paid, I'd be happy to put some money in. The fundraising link also allows me to contribute how much I can afford, rather than being told how much to pay. It also gives me the anonymity to not donate, if I don't feel I can afford to this time, without feeling it will be noticed.”
