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4 Ways to Ensure Child Safety When Fundraising

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Published: 17Nov2008
Word count: 554
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Seniors need money for their class trip or prom. The school band needs money to travel to a competition. Youth sports leagues need to earn funds for equipment and the PTA needs money to fund a field trip. These are all very real and good reasons for fundraising activities.

When managing any type of team or school fundraising activity we should have the phrase "Safety First" planted firmly in the minds of our player, students and parents alike. Though we as adults may have this type of mindset we especially need to emphasize the value of safety to our young people.

When developing a school fundraising campaign where children will be your primary sales force it is imperative that you take the utmost precaution for their safety. Develop a safety plan and make sure that everyone knows about it and then strictly enforce it.

A.) Focus on Safety First

With chilling stories of criminal minds in the newspapers and TV news we recommend that under no circumstances should your kids be going door-to-door selling for your team fundraiser or school fundraising project without appropriate adult supervision. Honestly, if your school fundraising plan requires door-to-door cold call sales you should completely revise your plan. And this should not be limited to product sales. Other types of fundraising activities such as a car wash or a bake sale outside of local stores should have adult supervision as well.

B.) Develop a written policy concerning school fundraising activities.

All sales activities should require that an adult, preferably more than one, be present. Ensure that everyone involved in your project be aware and conscious of your safety policy. Print your policy and give a copy to each of your kids as well as to their parents.

This will ensure that your parent pool understand that you are not promoting unsafe sales practices, and that their children are not being encouraged to "do what it takes" to make a sale.

Reinforce that your children should be concentrating their sales effort in a safety conscious manner by limiting their sales efforts to friends, family, neighbors, and the coworkers of their parents.

C.) Communicate the need with reinforcement

You might create safety conscious posters to display in high traffic areas of your school. Ask other educator peers to assist you by adding verbal reminders in class. Have "Safety First" or a similar statement printed on all sales materials. If need be buy are rubber stamp with your slogan and use it on all printed sales literature.

D.) Structure your prize program and sales instructions to promote school fundraising safety

One of the best ways to ensure that your kids are safe while fundraising for their school or team is to give the best and most exciting prizes at a level that can be reached without the kids feeling like they have to "sell the world" to get them. Another thing that you can do is during your kickoff, instruct the students or players how they can sell all they need to sell without going door-to-door by asking some of their family friends and relatives to take their brochure to work for them.

Do not put your kids in unsafe situations. There is no amount of money that is worth compromising the safety of our children.

Take the necessary steps to ensure your child's safety while envolved in their school fundraising activities by giving them incentives that promote safe fundraising. To learn more about how you can do this go to AIM Fundraising's website.

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