Cents in Action: Champion Families Take The Lead
For this week’s 'Cents in Action' post, we have the pleasure of sharing a narrative from Nina Liou, the treasurer of the Friends of Bache-Marin School in Philadelphia, PA. Due to their success with fundraising on PledgeCents, teachers of Bache-Martin have already raised over $8,500 for various classroom needs, and the Friends of Bache-Martin group has raised over $8,700 for the school. Enjoy :)
My name is Nina Liou and I am the treasurer of the Friends of Bache-Martin, a 501c3 organization formed to provide support to Bache-Martin Elementary School in conjunction with the school’s administration in ways that the school district is unable to. I am also the parent of a 3rd grader at Bache-Martin.
The Friends group knew about PledgeCents from other campaigns that teachers at the school had put forth and successfully funded. We liked the fact that as a 501c3 organization, we could pass on the tax benefits of our organization if we were use PledgeCents as a fundraising platform, and also that if we didn’t raise the full amount, we would still be able to use the funds raised to address the needs at the school to whatever extent possible.
The Friends of Bache-Martin provide numerous opportunities for real-world exploration.
With that information, the Friends of Bache-Martin decided to take our first plunge into using PledgeCents to raise funds for the band program. With a financially strapped school district and significant budget constraints over the years, “specials” like band have simply not been given the resources needed to replace/repair band instruments as needed and/or purchase consumables like reeds and music books. Either the band teacher had to pay for it herself or the students needed to provide it themselves. With a student population where over 90% of the students are from low-income households, this was simply not feasible for many students.
Setting up our PledgeCents campaign was super easy and we got helpful emails from PledgeCents on how to promote our campaign. Within two days of starting the campaign, we got a message that our campaign was among 25 others that was selected to participate in their #EveryCentCounts contest whereby the campaign raising the most funds during each of three different time periods on a single day would receive an additional donation from an anonymous donor up to a total of $2,000. We were stoked and ready to win the extra funds for our school.
On the day of the contest, we got the word out about this opportunity via social media and email, sending reminders when each of the three time periods started for our supporters to donate. The response we received was simply amazing. People shared our Facebook posts and emails with friends and family. Donations from as little as $5 to as much as $1,000 came pouring in throughout the day. Our supporters not only included current families at the school, but also grandparents, friends of parents, former parents, and neighborhood residents who didn’t have children, but valued the school and understood the importance of music in a child’s life. All together, we raised over $6,000 for our band program - $2,000 more than our initial target of $4,000 – within 4 days of launching our campaign. As an added bonus, we won all three rounds of the #EveryCentCounts contest for an additional $2,000. The success of this campaign greatly exceeded our expectations for being able to raise these much needed funds, not only with how much, but how quickly and how easily it happened. PledgeCents also provided great support throughout the day – giving encouragement and tips for spreading the word.
As a result of our success, we have now purchased new instruments for our band program as well as reeds, music books, instrument stands, and much, much more. Additionally, we now also have a kitty of funds available to meet future needs for the program for the rest of year and for years to come.
We are currently exploring other opportunities to use PledgeCents as a fundraising platform for other critical needs at Bache-Martin, and once identified, will be ready to do it again in a heartbeat!
*Nina was not compensated for this post.
If you have any questions, email us at info@pledgecents.com.
