Fundraising Guide

Fundraising Tips for Your LEAD Conference Trip

Getting Started
There is no better way to improve your leadership skills than to attend LEAD conferences that connect you with other student leaders and offer you experiences and information that are relevant to your ambitions and duties as a student leader. You can be assured that you will return with ideas that you can use to positively affect your school and community.

The first challenge for you though is to figure out how much it will cost for you to attend the event and how to raise the funds you need. We have put together some ideas and suggestions that will help.

How much does it really cost?
You have two or three major expenses to consider when you apply to attend a leadership conference—Registration, Transportation, and Housing. You may also have some additional expenses depending on how many meals are included in the registration package and any personal expenditure that is often associated with travel (souvenirs, snacks, personal items, etc.) Always read and know exactly what is covered by the registration fee so that you can plan to estimate and include any additional expenses in your fundraising totals.

$	=	Cost of Registration
$	=	Cost of transportation
$	=	Personal spending money I may need during travel and while away
$	=	Total estimated amount of money that I need
$	=	Amount of money my family and I can pay
$	=	Amount of money I need to raise($ need minus $ I can pay)

Where Do I Find Money?
Finding people, businesses or groups willing to contribute money may not be all that hard to find. Always remember to start with family. Parents, grandparents, and other relatives might be disappointed if you didn’t ask them first. Next, work with your adviser to see if there is any money available from the school or district that could be given.  Your guidance counselor or principal may know of federal programs that have grant money that can be used for at least part of your camp costs.

The next step is to approach civic and service groups whose members include community leaders. Your local yellow pages and the Internet are useful tools in finding out how to contact them. Before contacting any of them, you will need to collect some names of their officers, their titles, addresses, phone numbers and emails. Don’t rule out lesser known community groups or clubs either.  Even the local garden or bridge club could be a good source of support.

When you are ready to start contacting local businesses and companies, start with those where your parents, neighbors, or family friends have ties. For a list of others, you will want to visit or contact your local Chamber of Commerce. They may also be able to suggest specific businesses or companies that have histories of supporting students and schools.

Letters vs. Person-to-Person Visits
After identifying people, businesses and groups as possible contributors, you need to decide how to approach them. Family, friends and neighbors are the easiest contributors to contact. Simply call them and arrange a time to sit down and make your pitch. For family members, you may find that an informative phone conversation will be enough to persuade them to contribute.

Contact with civic groups and businesses usually begin with a letter that requests a contribution and an explanation of how the money will be used. You should also be prepared for a follow-up phone call or a meeting with possible contributors to answer questions and explain further why you came to them for financial assistance.

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
In order to write an effective letter of request, it will be important that you can introduce yourself and express the reasons you want to attend the conference or program in a concise way. This includes an introduction of you, the purpose of the letter, explaining a little about the event, why you want to go, and the specific amount of money you want contributed. Another key to your letter is to keep it to one page in length. Most leaders in the business community, because of the demands of their jobs, consider communications that are short and to the point to be the most effective.

Here are some questions to help you begin thinking about what information you should include and a sample letter that you are welcomed to use as a model as you write your own.  Start with an outline to help you organize your thoughts, then compose your letter:
What school do you attend?
What student group do you belong to and what is your leadership role?
What leadership skills, activities, and knowledge do you expect to explore during the event?
What are some of your leadership goals and how do you think going to the event will help you reach those goals?
Why is it important for you to have the opportunity to spend time with other student leaders?
How do you plan to use your experience to help your leadership group?

Every letter should provide basic information about the conference, including some of the skills taught and who sponsors it, to help the contributors understand the importance and value of their investment. This information can often be found in the conference brochure or on the LEAD website. You can make the process simpler by using the same format for all of your letters, but if you are very familiar with an organization you can personalize the letter to make a stronger case for their giving you financial support.

Be sure to make a list of all the people you send letters and keep a copy of each letter.  This is important if you need to refer to the date a letter was sent or any specific information you included in it.

Timing is everything with your letters.  Civic groups may only meet once or twice a month. To increase the odds of getting a timely response, you should find out when groups meet and time the mailing of your letters to arrive within five working days before their meetings. This will help ensure your request makes it onto their meeting agenda.  Remember that similar timing is true for businesses as well. Depending on the time of year, businesses may be hectic, making it hard for management to act on your letter.

It is very important to get your letters out on a schedule that provides sufficient time for the recipients to consider your request and respond. Make follow-up calls to your letters approximately one week later. The purpose of the call is to confirm that your letter was received and to draw attention to your request, not to get an answer regarding a contribution.  Introduce yourself, and ask to speak with the person to whom you sent your letter, and state why you are calling. In your conversation, ask if they need any more information pertaining to your letter. Keep your calls brief.

Everyone Deserves a Thank You
Immediately after you receive notice that your request was approved or turned down you should send a letter thanking the organization for making a contribution or for taking the time to consider your request. Again, be specific and brief in thanking them for each part of the process – considering your letter, speaking with you on the phone, contributing X dollars, and for providing you with a response to your letter. Sincere thank you letters demonstrate your character and leave the organizations with a positive impression of you.

After the Conference
Following your return from the conference, you will want to send each of your contributors a letter briefly telling them about your experience and thank them again for making it possible for you to go.  This will confirm that they made the right decision in making a financial investment in you and may increase the odds that they will contribute to future requests from student leaders.

Sample Letters
(Request for Funds, Thank You, After the Conference). Sample letters are located below.