School fundraising calendars have become more and more popular over the past few years and are known to be a great fundraising tool. Custom school calendars are not only extremely effective in reaching your school’s fundraising goals; school calendars are also great for generating school spirit and community support. When creating your school’s fundraising calendar, follow the following steps to ensure your school calendar is a fundraising success!
- Before you start to create your school fundraising calendar you need to decide when you would like to start selling. This is very important since it takes a bit of time to create the calendar and (hopefully) find sponsors! Generally, the beginning of the school year is a great time to have your fundraising calendar ready, so start planning in spring or early summer.
- Once you have decided when your fundraiser will take place, the next thing you want to decide on is the size and format of the calendar. Although 8.5” x 11” wall calendars are the most popular for fundraising, many people choose to make an easel style or CD case desk calendar. The oversized 9.5” x 12.25” wall calendars are also very popular since they allow you to have larger photos and date boxes, which are great when inputting school events.
- After you have chosen the style and size of your calendar, the fun part begins when you start to build the calendar online. While most photo calendar websites are tailored for personal (family) calendars, some such as custombuiltcalendars.com cater to businesses, charities, schools, churches and other non-profit organizations. These websites generally offer more professional calendar templates and tools, and better pricing. Another thing to keep in mind if you’re building your calendar from your work or school computer is that a computer firewall may prevent you from downloading software, so look for a site where you build the calendar totally online.
- Once you have selected the website that best suits your needs, select the appropriate template, upload your photos and insert the appropriate text. A great way to customize your school fundraising calendar is to use photos of teams, faculty and students as well as insert school events into the date squares.
- When you have completed your school calendar you can either download a proof or order a sample. Some calendar websites, such as custombuiltcalendars.com allow you to order a free print sample to review. This is always your best bet since you can see exactly what the calendar looks like and there are no surprises when you get your order!
- Upon receiving your proof, be sure to review it carefully and make all the necessary changes before you approve and confirm your fundraiser calendar order. Companies, such as Custom Built Calendars allow you to order a PDF every time you make a change. This is great because you can ensure all the changes have been made before your calendar goes to print.
- After all changes have been made and you are 100% satisfied with your school fundraising calendar, you can go ahead and order your calendars. Now get ready to sell sell sell!!