Fundraising For Students
From AFSWiki
Fundraising for Students
Due to increased financial barriers for families and limited scholarship funds, we expect student fundraising to play an increasingly significant role in covering tuition for AFS sending programs. In response, will be increasing emphasis and support of volunteer and student fundraising activities, including a [RSVP_for_Sending_Training_and_Volunteer_Calls]] series of webinars focused on best practices for volunteer teams to support student fundraising.
Many volunteers have experienced supporting student fundraising efforts as an important tool for applicant retention. Moreover, we know that volunteers have great ideas about ways to support student fundraising and insights into what does and does not work well for local fundraising. So we've incorporated many of these ideas into the following resources that we hope will be of some assistance.
- Fundraising Volunteer A job description: Many Teams find it is most helpful to assign one designated volunteer to supporting student and AT/Chapter fundraising
- Covering Your Tuition A very helpful section on the AFS Website that outlines every resource AFS provides to help students with their tuition.
- AFS Fundraising Wiki This wiki contains a dynamic collaboration of over 40 ideas to raise funds locally. It is monitored regularly by Nick Triolo on the Digital Marketing team.
- Sponsor an AFSer: A project developed December 2008 designed to increase grass-roots fundraising by participants and AT volunteers by connecting future AFSers with a network of potential sponsors.
- Tips for approaching businesses A helpful flyer to get students started soliciting funds from local businesses. Feel free to print this out!
In March 2011, AFS conducted a volunteer survey to assess the state of fundraising efforts, and learned the following:
• Volunteers estimate that 1 in every 4 students fundraise part of their tuition
• Time constraints, lack of ideas, and timidity are some of the biggest barriers for students
• The most successful activities were tailored to community interest and values
As a result of the survey, AFS also discovered that there are many ways for volunteers to be involved in student fundraising, ranging from less to more involvement:
Students are encouraged to begin fundraising as soon as they’ve submitted a pre-application. They will also be encouraged to connect with local volunteers and explore what support options or existing fundraising activities are occurring in their area.
Ideas:
Students who have successfully raised money to cover their AFS tuition have done both group and individual activities. Some examples include:
| Group Activities | Individual Activities |
|---|---|
| Concession stand | Babysitting |
| Car wash | Gift-wrapping over the holidays |
| Christmas tree recycling | Yardwork |
| Barnes and Noble book fair | Local business donation requests |
| Pizza sales and delivery | Dog-walking |
One AFS Team has an Annual Chocolate Dessert and Gourmet Coffee Tasting, which raises about $1,500. They keep the entrance fees low to encourage more people to attend, and it’s a great way to spread word about the AFS mission, as well as a fun way for students who are interested in studying abroad to meet and network.
The potential drawbacks to group fundraising activities include:
• Group scheduling conflicts • Require more coordination • Potentially less money per student
But some of the benefits are:
• Community efforts have more momentum and give access to bigger networks • Teamwork gets more accomplished • Creates a sense of camaraderie among students and volunteers
An example of a successful individual event is a themed-dinner party that one AFSer hosted before going to Argentina. In an evening of Argentine-themed food and music, she raised $925 toward her tuition.
Some of the drawbacks of individual activities could be:
• Requires students to stay motivated • Students may not have wide enough social networks for fundraising • Difficult for shy students to reach out and ask for donations and assistance
While some potential benefits of individual activities are:
• No need to coordinate multiple schedules • Can be built around a student’s personal interests and strengths • May require fewer start-up costs
Whichever type of fundraising students and volunteers decide to focus on, students should plan to do as many activities as possible. A combination of activities will be more successful than just one. For example, a student who chooses to start babysitting will likely earn more money toward her tuition if she also sets up a Sponsor an AFSer account and shares information about it with her babysitting clients and their friends. This is a great opportunity for students to learn more about networking, a skill that will continue to serve them throughout their academic and professional lives.
