Fundraising Safety
| Summary: Fundraising safety is important to any youth
group. Tips on how to fundraise safely and still achieve your fundraising
goals. The buddy system, parent escorts, and providing written selling
guidelines are all important safety factors. |
When your youth group is doing a fundraiser, it is imperative to make
sure that the proper safety precautions are followed.
Never allow door-to-door sales without direct adult supervision.
Period.
In a sad case, an 11-year-old boy selling candy for a PTA fundraiser
came to the door of a 15-year-old boy who was home alone at the time.
The youngster was invited inside, sexually molested, and then murdered.
This is not an urban legend.
The murder happened in Freehold,New Jersey on September 27, 1997
and it raised the fundraising safety issue to national prominence.
I'm not usually an alarmist, but I included the example above to
heighten awareness of the safety topic.
I am by nature a trusting person, but not when it comes to my children!
Nothing is worth such devastating consequences.
Develop An Appropriate Safety Focus
So, how do you build the appropriate safety focus into your program?
You start by stressing safety from the top of your organization
to the bottom. You have to make sure that safety is a focal point
in all your communications.
1) Use written selling guidelines
Put it into writing that all selling should be supervised.
Your organization needs this as a protective measure and so do
the children. If an adult cannot commit to accompanying a child,
the child must not perform that type of sales activity.
Make sure that each child's parents are aware of these
guidelines. Get the message to them that their children are not
being encouraged to sell outside their comfort zone by your group.
Tell them that they should focus on their core contacts - family,
friends, neighbors, and coworkers of parents. In other words,
e safe by selling only to individuals who know your parents.
2) Repeat the message
Put up fundraising safety posters at convenient locations to
remind young sellers. Make them friendly, but firm.
Example:
"What's the last thing you do in a fundraiser? Sell without
an adult present."
Print a safety message on all of your sales literature. Look for
this from a quality supplier. Put the "Keep It Safe" message on
all communications.
Repeat the safety message at every opportunity. Cover it in your
kickoff meeting, during sales brochure distribution, in the take
home package, etc.
If your fundraiser is school-based, have teachers reinforce the safety
message in the classrooms.
3) Put safety into practice
Don't encourage inappropriate behavior such as risk taking,
unsupervised sales, shopping center sales activity without prior
approval and adult supervision.
Your group's policies and procedures may vary from this approach.
The important thing is to develop a written policy and make sure
those guidelines are followed.
Summary
The best way to avoid an unsafe situation is by not going there.
Many other youth programs also carry a strong safety message.
Make sure yours does too.
Related Pages
Capital Campaigns - Capital campaign
strategies for non-profit groups to increase their donor base.
Donor Recognition - How to use donor
recognition to increase your capital campaign results.
Fundraising Letters - See what fund
raising letters work for other non-profit groups.
Fundraising Letter - How to
generate the best response with your donation request letters.
Objectives - The importance of having the right
offering and getting your message across.
Maximize Results - Five tips for maximizing
your fundraising results, regardless of the size of your group.
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