YouTube makes sharing video easy. Creating a YouTube account for your club, you can help showcase the work of participants, benefactors, and volunteers. Filming, editing, and posting videos takes time and energy but there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit -- simple videos that booster clubs can make. What’s great about YouTube is what’s great about online video in general. Ditto for what’s not so great. PROs Easy to digest. Videos grab attention in a way that an 800 word blog post with … [Read more...]
posted on March 4, 2014 by
Innovation in Fundraising: Overhead, Risk, and Pancakes
Booster clubs I speak with tell me that they have to raise more money than ever before. More than ever, school districts depend on booster clubs to fill the ever-growing gap between after-school budgets and actual student need. How can booster clubs radically increase revenues? Does reducing overhead mean more money for programs? When does fundraising clash with a club’s mission? Experts address these questions in very different ways. In this post I borrow points from Dan Pallotta’s TED talk … [Read more...]
posted on February 14, 2014 by
30 Things to Tweet your Booster Club
You understand Twitter, you want to make it a part of your booster club's social media strategy, but you're hitting some writers block? Don't dismay, we've got a huge list of things to post. Photos of your participants doing things Rainouts Photos of sponsors and/or their business Playoff schedule Arch rival updates Articles about your club in the local paper or segments on local television Photos of volunteers doing things Updates on alumni (Did they get a music scholarship? … [Read more...]
posted on February 13, 2014 by
Twitter Lingo and Etiquette for Booster Clubs
What the #@”RT? With all of the signs, symbols, and jargon, Twitter can feel like a new language. Luckily, you only have to learn a few terms to effectively manage your Twitter account for a booster club or other small nonprofit. This post is a primer on the most essential ones, and has links to the more advanced stuff. See our previous post on Twitter for Booster Clubs. # (Hashtag) is a keyword that organizes content and codes conversations. On first glance, hashtags are just like blog … [Read more...]
posted on February 6, 2014 by
Social Media Strategy for Booster Clubs
With booster club board members in mind, we recently began reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of social media platforms. As we researched tips and tricks for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and others, we realize that there is some social media strategy that applies to all of them. Our response is this post on audience, account maintenance, administrators, and the age-old question of what to post. However, before we jump into the great things you can do with social media in booster … [Read more...]
posted on February 4, 2014 by
Should Your Booster Club use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, etc?
So you want to use Social Media for your booster club... You connect through social media networks in your personal life, so why not use those tools for your booster club? Creating an account on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other social media feed is very easy. Yet maintaining those feeds efficiently for a small nonprofit presents a number of challenges. On the surface, it seems like the hardest part is choosing which platform (Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest) is most suitable for the … [Read more...]
posted on December 31, 2013 by
Everything Booster Clubs Need to Know About the Fiscal Year
What is a fiscal year, in a nutshell? A fiscal year defines the start and end dates for an organization’s accounting. Annual and quarterly reports to donors, as well as tax filings, all flow from the fiscal year. So do budgeting and revenue goals. While the majority of U.S. companies’ fiscal year perfectly overlaps the calendar year (Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st), deviating from those dates is more common than you’d think. For example, check out the fiscal years for these organizations: Feb. 1st … [Read more...]
posted on December 17, 2013 by
Passive Fundraising With Scrip: Little effort, big donations
There are two primary kinds of fundraising that organizations use to increase donations: active fundraising, which requires large amounts of time and resources (like a car wash), and passive fundraising, which goes on in the background and requires little effort on your club’s part. Traditional scrip fundraising falls somewhere between active and passive. Clubs are required to purchase gift certificates or cards from participating merchants at a discounted rate, then sell them at full value to … [Read more...]
posted on November 26, 2013 by
Booster News: Giving Tuesday (Dec. 3rd) Could Raise Funds for Your Booster Club
Harness the holidays for your booster club this year by publicizing “Giving Tuesday.” Unlike shopping focused Black Friday or Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is all about charity in the local community. It’s a great opportunity to raise awareness about your booster club’s needs, and make a year’s-end ask of your supporters. How can your club associate itself with Giving Tuesday (December 3rd) and raise funds effectively? There’s still time to issue a press-release (or simply make a phone call) … [Read more...]
posted on October 15, 2013 by
Booster News: Tax Alert!
While some booster club board members are focusing on recruitment, funding requests, and fundraisers, treasurers should take a minute right now to think about tax filings. Nonprofits are required to file a tax return, even if they don’t owe any taxes. Small organizations with under $50,000 in gross receipts have to file, too. However, they can use a 990-N “postcard,” which is more simple than regular nonprofit filing. Either way, it’s time to start gathering receipts and training new volunteers … [Read more...]
