Starting a fundraiser for a school program can feel overwhelming if you have never done it before. There are approvals to get, tools to choose, communications to send, and dozens of small logistics questions that nobody tells you about in advance.
This guide walks through every step of starting a school fundraiser from scratch — from the first conversation with your principal to collecting final payments. It is written for coaches, activity directors, and booster club leaders who are doing this for the first time or who have done it before but want a more organized approach.
Step 1: Define what you are raising money for
The most important thing to clarify before anything else is what the money is for. Vague fundraisers underperform specific ones.
"Support our team" is harder to donate to than "We need $8,000 to cover travel for three tournament weekends this season." The second version tells donors exactly what their money does. That specificity builds trust and drives higher average gifts.
Before you start, document:
- The specific expense or set of expenses the campaign will cover
- The total dollar goal
- The timeline for when the money is needed
Keep the goal realistic but ambitious. A goal that feels within reach tends to generate momentum. A goal that looks impossible before the campaign starts leads to low participation.
Step 2: Get the right approvals
Most school fundraising requires approval from the school administration before any funds are solicited. Trying to skip this step — even with the best intentions — can create problems that derail the campaign entirely.
Find out:
- Who approves fundraising at your school (usually the principal or vice principal)
- Whether there is a formal fundraising request form
- Whether your district has a calendar for school fundraisers (many districts limit how many campaigns can run at once to avoid community fatigue)
- What financial reporting is required at the end of the campaign
Get this approval in writing, even if it is just an email confirmation. This protects you and the program if questions come up later about where money came from or where it went.
Step 3: Choose your fundraising format
The format of your fundraiser determines how much work it takes, how much community involvement it requires, and how much money you are likely to raise.
Online donation campaign — The simplest format. Set up a campaign page with a goal and a deadline, give athletes personal fundraising links, and run a communication plan to drive donations over 2–4 weeks. Works well when families have a broad network to share with.
Pledge-per-unit event — Athletes recruit sponsors to pledge per lap, per free throw, or per any measurable unit they complete during an event. Higher revenue ceiling than flat donation campaigns, more event logistics required.
Product sale — Athletes sell physical items (food, merchandise, discount cards). Familiar format with high participation rates but lower margins and more volunteer overhead.
Event fundraiser — A community event (trivia night, golf outing, silent auction) where ticket sales and add-ons are the revenue. Higher revenue ceiling with more planning required.
For most school programs launching their first modern fundraiser, an online campaign with personal athlete pages is the best starting point. It is fast to set up, easy to manage, and produces results that justify the investment in better tools going forward.
Step 4: Select your platform
Choosing the right platform matters more than most first-time fundraisers realize. The wrong choice adds friction for volunteers, reduces the donor experience, and in some cases, takes a significant cut of every donation before you receive it.
Key things to evaluate:
Fee structure. Does the platform take a percentage of donations, or does it cover fees through optional donor contributions? A 15% platform fee on a $10,000 campaign means $1,500 that never reaches your program.
Athlete pages. Can individual athletes get personal fundraising pages? Programs using personal pages can raise more than those using a single team page.
Mobile experience. Most families will interact with your campaign on a phone. If the platform's donation page is slow or hard to navigate on mobile, conversion rates drop.
Payout speed. Does money transfer to your account throughout the campaign, or does it hold until the campaign ends? Knowing this upfront matters for budgeting.
Ease of setup. You are a coach or program director, not a software engineer. The platform should take under an hour to set up without technical help.
Step 5: Set up your campaign
Once you have chosen your platform, setting up the campaign takes 30–60 minutes for most programs.
What you will need:
- A campaign title and description (see Step 1 — use your specific goal)
- Your fundraising goal amount and end date
- Your roster (names, and optionally email addresses so athletes can receive their page links)
- A photo or image if the platform supports it (team photo, logo, or action shot)
- Your bank account information for payouts
Write the campaign description the way you would explain the campaign to a parent in person. Keep it short, be specific about what the money funds, and give donors a reason to act now rather than later.
Step 6: Launch with a communication plan
Sending one announcement and waiting is the most common reason school fundraisers underperform. A fundraiser without a communication plan is a fundraiser that will fade out after the first week.
A basic 3-week communication plan:
Week 1 — Launch
- Day 1: Email to all families with campaign link and ask to share
- Day 1–3: Athletes make personal asks to 10–15 contacts each (text or in person, not just social media post)
- Day 3–5: Social media posts from the program account and athlete accounts
Week 2 — Momentum
- Mid-week update: Announce progress toward goal, recognize top fundraisers
- If you have leaderboards: share them publicly to create friendly competition
- Second round of athlete outreach to contacts who have not donated yet
Week 3 — Final push
- "One week left" message to all families
- Personal follow-up from coaches to athletes who have not started sharing
- Final 48-hour countdown message with specific dollar amount still needed
Every communication should include the donation link. Do not assume families remember it from a previous message.
Step 7: Support your athletes through the campaign
Most athletes — especially younger ones — need guidance and encouragement to fundraise effectively. They are not naturally salespeople, and many feel awkward asking for money.
Help them by:
- Giving them a specific script or template for personal asks
- Setting a clear participation expectation ("we want every athlete to reach out to at least 10 people")
- Celebrating progress publicly (leaderboards, shoutouts at practice)
- Connecting their effort to the goal they care about ("every dollar gets us closer to the tournament")
Coaches who check in on fundraising progress at practice — even briefly — see significantly higher participation rates than coaches who launch the campaign and then go silent.
Step 8: Close out and follow up
When the campaign ends, there are a few critical things to handle:
Acknowledge every donor. Send a thank-you to every person who donated. This is both good manners and a foundation for future campaigns. Donors who feel appreciated are far more likely to give again next year.
Report on results. Share what was raised and what it funded. A brief end-of-campaign message to families — "We raised $9,500 and that covers our tournament fees for the season, thank you" — closes the loop and builds credibility for next time.
Document the campaign. Record what worked, what did not, which athletes performed best, and what you would do differently. This documentation is invaluable when you plan next year's campaign.
Distribute funds. Follow your school's process for allocating the raised funds. Keep records that match the original approval request.
What to expect the first time
The first fundraiser a program runs on a new platform is almost always below what later campaigns produce. You are still learning the tools, families are building trust in the process, and athletes are figuring out how to share their pages effectively.
Results vary widely by team size, network, and effort. By the second or third campaign, many programs see meaningful improvement as families and athletes learn the process.
The key to improvement is reviewing what happened, adjusting the communication plan, and building on what worked.
A platform built for school programs
HometownLift is designed for the exact use case described here — school sports teams, booster clubs, and youth programs that want a straightforward fundraising system without a vendor taking a percentage of every donation their community gives.
Setup takes under fifteen minutes. Athletes get personal fundraising pages. Donations go directly to the organization. And the admin tools give program directors the visibility they need without requiring a background in fundraising software.
Start your school fundraiser on HometownLift — your first campaign is free to set up.