Unfortunately, making the playground of your dreams a reality can be very expensive. High-quality playground equipment can be expensive, especially when factoring in shipping, installation, and other costs. Luckily, you are not alone. AAA State of Play is here to help, and so are the members of your community. Providing children with a fun and safe place to play is something that nearly everyone wants, especially parents and kids, which means that it isn’t hard to find others who are willing to make contributions toward this goal.
There are a lot of different ways to harness this support, which include both physical and virtual efforts. The best strategy to maximize your earnings is to do some of each. Real, physical events are a great way to earn funds, one or more fundraising events, which are detailed and publicized through online media. The majority of donations usually come in the form of small contributions from individuals, so reaching as many people as possible is crucial.
Before beginning, it’s a good idea to have your playground planned out as completely as possible, with sketches or representations of the finished product. This will make it seem much more grounded and credible. It may also help to raise funds for specific sections or components of the playground individually, to make people feel more like they have a direct influence.
Crowdfunding has completely revolutionized the way that fundraising works. People use it to gather funds for just about everything from creative projects, to travel plans, to important medical procedures. These can be a great way to publicize and organize your fundraising efforts. You can direct people to a single page which explains your goals, shows your progress, and allows them to make donations.
These strategies are great at convincing people to donate for a number of reasons:
Kickstarter and Gofundme are both good options for crowdfunding. The most important difference between them is that Kickstarter, funding is all or nothing. This means that if your funding goal isn’t met, donors will have their money returned to them. This is nice sometimes, because potential donors won’t feel like there is a risk of wasting their money, and you won’t be pressured to complete the project with a reduced budget. Gofundme is not all or nothing, which allows you to use your earnings to build a more modest playground, even if your full goal isn’t met. There are other crowdfunding platforms as well, but these two are the most well-known and trusted at the moment. It’s a good idea to look at pages for similar funding projects for ideas before creating your own.
Of course, even with a crowdfunding page the project still needs to be publicized. A crowdfunding page is a great start, but pointless if no one hears about it. Luckily, benevolent strangers on the internet are once again the answer. The internet is the fastest way to spread information, and almost everyone uses it. A single link to your crowdfunding page provides everything that a potential donor needs to know, and is much easier to make and distribute than something like a flyer. In fact, most publicity for large crowdfunding campaigns comes not from the organizer, but from the sponsors. Those who can’t afford to contribute money will often assist by sharing a link to the page on social media instead. This allows all of their online followers to see it, which could potentially lead to more donations and publicity. Even the loftiest funding goals are possible if the cause goes viral, and it just might surprise you how interested and generous people can be. Make sure that your project’s page mentions that ‘shares’ and monetary donations are both appreciated.
Other forms of publicity are still effective as well. If possible, post flyers around the school or in important community locations. The project can also be brought up at school or city council meetings. A playground is something central to a specific area, which means that people in that area are the ones most likely to contribute.
While most of the information about your project can be posted on a crowdfunding page, it is not a bad idea to create some additional social media presence as well. While it might not feel immediately effective, social media is a fast and free way to spread awareness of your project.
Facebook is probably the best online platform for organizing around. You can make a group page, and have everyone involved with the project join it. This makes that involvement visible to all of their friends, and facilitates easier communication between them. A facebook page can also consolidate other information, including links to your crowdfunding page, contact information, and upcoming events.
Speaking of which, it is a good idea to make an event page on facebook for any fundraising activities that you plan. These pages allow you to easily send invitations (and for invitees to send further invitations) and show how many people are planning to attend. They also send out automatic reminders when the event is coming up.
Twitter and other platforms are not quite as well-suited as facebook for this kind of organized effort. However, a few tweets here and there might reach a few people who hadn’t heard about the project, and draw them to your pages and events. Making a dedicated hashtag for all tweets related to your project will help organize them so that they can be found in one place.
Some other good ideas of things that you can put on your social media:
While an online presence can be central to fundraising efforts, sometimes it pays to do things the old fashioned way. Hosting fundraising events shows that you are serious about your goal, reaches out to potential donors who aren’t likely to give over the internet, and can be a lot of fun. Here are just a few ideas to consider:
Car Wash - Car washes are a great fundraising opportunity because of how little the materials cost. Water and soap are basically free, and cleaning supplies can be borrowed. Best of all, kids are happy to supply the labor if it means getting a new playground.
Bake Sale - This usually means more work on the part of the parents rather than the students, which is fine. Bake sales are delicious events which require minimal preparation for the organizers, as long as there are plenty of people bringing treats. Consider making a sign-up sheet beforehand to see who all is planning to make what. This can help to estimate turnout and ensure that everyone doesn’t make the same thing.
Recycle - There are a ton of recycling programs worldwide which pay significant amounts of money for things like used batteries, phones, and printer ink cartridges. The amount of money raised per recyclable is relatively small, but if word is spread to enough families in the district, surprising amounts of recyclables can be gathered. Some states even offer as much as 10 cents for each returned aluminum can or plastic bottle.
5K Run - People are more inclined to give if they see that others are making a real effort, and 5Ks or ‘fun runs’ are a great way to show effort. Make a sign-up sheet, plot a course for the runners, (school running tracks are great when available, but you may be able to use streets with permission from local authorities.) and the rest is easy.
Festival - This combines a lot of fundraising ideas into one event, and can include a bake sale, fun run, or any combination of other ideas. Festivals require a lot of work and organization, but can be a great way to raise a large amount of money from a single event. Try to plan around a day that you’re confident will be available and have pleasant weather, or base it around a holiday like the 4th of July or Halloween.
Cell Phone Recycling:
Ink Cartridge Recycling
Clothing:
Find more about the author: Kristen Breedlove
