When we talk about fundraising for private school fundraising and the role of consultants you need to know that there are different types of consultants and they all bring different things and positives to the table. You can choose from large firms, small companies, and also independent consultants. The kind of consultant that will work best for you will be the one that has had past experience in handling situations similar to yours. On your part, you need to do as much due diligence as you can to ensure that you get the right type of consultant onboard for the job. The first step is to have an idea of your own fundraising requirements; these of course may change after consultations with the experts you bring onboard. A good consultant will ask a lot of questions before he ventures with any ideas on how to raise money. His, in fact, is the hallmark of a good consultant. Your capital campaign will begin to move forward when you have the consultant laying down a plan and a timetable to raise funds. At this juncture, you will get an idea of the expenses involved – fees, operational costs, fixed costs, variable costs,...

Let us continue from the previous article on private school fundraising. The software you put in place will help you develop donor profiles that can be tapped on a regular basis for making targeted appeals for funds. Information is key. Gather as much data as you can and elicit useful information from it to the extent possible. Make sure that people operating the software are trained in its use. Your planning and strategizing for raising funds gain a lot of potency when you know what to ask for and of whom. Be aware of the educational qualification, likes, dislikes, income etc. You will need all the information you can muster. Instead of making a focused appeal towards a particular end; just ask for money. Do this with all your patrons. Each time you ask for money, spell out your needs. Treat this money as an annual fund. Talking about your needs reinforces these in your own mind and will help you talk and write about them in a better manner. Your tone, tenor, pitch of soliciting funds will vary with the people you approach. You can approach friends, parents of students, neighbors, local shops and businesses, total strangers, foundations, charities,...

Any school, private or public, will gladly wrestle with the problem of plenty, i.e. having more students coming to them. The only way to accommodate more students is to expand on all-round capabilities, whether infrastructural or of services. Let us understand how private schools can hope to cope with an increased demand for enrollment. First, adding more students means an increase in costs and these costs have to be covered. Grants are difficult to come by. And private schools have to resort to fundraising and loans to raise money. The big advantage with charity funds is that they do not require repayment and can also be used to repay big chunks of loans taken for construction purposes. The, of course, is getting these funds. As these funds are gifts, they do not involve any purchases by the donors. This saves you the bother of organizing events to sell candy, magazines, and various knick-knacks. The donor gets the advantage of having the donations deducted from taxable income. Be sure to check your eligibility for seeking tax-deductible donations. There will also be some tax benefits in this for you. Look them up. Private schools have a bit of an advantage when it comes...