How to Get Free Advertising for School Fundraisers

Advertising does not need to be big and expensive to be effective.

A school fundraiser helps local centers of learning raise money to provide additional services to their students. Many times, these funds go to buy additional books, equipment or fields trips. Through the use of multiple streams of media, anyone can effectively advertise a school fundraiser for free. As with any fundraiser, the less money you spend on advertising, the more of the money that is raised goes toward the cause.

Instructions

1. Utilize your local media. Have a volunteer writer create a press release for your event. This is a one-page document that outlines the important details of your fundraiser. Include the date, time, location and reason for your fundraiser. Email, fax or hand deliver this press release to every local TV, newspaper, magazine and radio station in your area. Most forms of local media will at the very least list your event on a local calendar of events, while others may highlight it in an article or on-air segment.

2. Create a simple flyer on your home or school computer. Be sure to include all the relevant information, just as you did for your press release. Use the copier at the school to print off several copies and ask local businesses to put the flyer in their window or on their employee announcement board in the break room.

3. Utilize social media. Ask students, teachers and parents to post the event on their Facebook wall or tweet a link to an online advertisement on the school's webpage. Create an event on Facebook and invite friends, while encouraging them to invite their friends as well. Consider sending out Evite requests if you have a large email database of students, parents and teachers associated with your school.

Tips & Warnings

• Contact local businesses and ask them to sponsor advertising for your event. In exchange for placing their logo in the advertisement as the sponsor of the event, the business will pay for the advertising in local media.

• Free advertising does not always mean good advertising. If you have a high-dollar fundraiser, such as a formal ball with ticket prices above $150, you may not want to rely on social media and flyers as your main avenues of advertising. Consider having tickets printed and asking each volunteer to sell a number of tickets to help advertise in that situation.

References

• Social Media 4 Nonprofits: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media
• NTEN: Effective Uses of Social Media for Fundraising