130,500 causes · $320M raised · 4.7 since 2009
Tuition assistance fund auctions
The purpose most preschool fundraising actually has, and almost never names.
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Preschool fundraising is usually described as being for the playground, the classroom or new equipment. In a large share of schools, a meaningful part of it keeps a place available for a family who could not otherwise afford one — either directly, or by absorbing costs that would otherwise raise fees.
Schools rarely say so, for an understandable reason: in a community of forty families, naming assistance sounds like pointing at somebody.
Naming it is stronger, and it can be done safely
"We are raising so that no family has to leave over fees" asks for something a parent can picture and care about. "We are raising for the outdoor classroom" asks them to fund an amenity they are already paying for through tuition.
The safety comes from never attaching it to a person:
- Talk about the fund, never about a family or a number of families
- Publish no count of recipients — in a school of forty, a number is close to a name
- Do not thank recipients, publicly or privately, in a way that identifies them
- Do not let the fund's committee overlap with the people who decide admissions or who see the fee ledger, if the school is large enough to separate them
- Say the criteria are need-based and confidential, and leave it there
Run it as a fund, not as a gesture
A tuition assistance fund needs the same structure a scholarship does, at whatever scale the school can manage:
- A written policy: what it covers, who is eligible, how to apply
- An application that goes to one named person, not to a committee of parents
- A decision made on documented criteria rather than on who asked
- The award applied to the account quietly, without a separate process a child would notice
- A record kept, so the fund can be reported on in aggregate
That last point is what makes the fundraising sustainable. "The fund covered the equivalent of a full year of places this year" is reportable, true, and identifies nobody.
What to tell the parent body
Say it once, plainly, at the start of the campaign and in writing. Something close to: the school runs a confidential, need-based assistance fund; the auction supports it; applications go to one named person; and nobody involved in the auction knows who applies or who receives.
Two things happen when a school does this. Families who need it learn that it exists, which is frequently the actual barrier — people do not ask for help they have not been told about. And families who do not need it give more, because the ask has become concrete.
Grandparents and alumni give to this specifically
A grandparent funding a place for a child they will never meet is a straightforward and appealing proposition, and it is a better ask than the playground. The same is true of alumni families, who remember what the school did for their own child.
If you name only one purpose in the campaign, and your school does run assistance, this is the one that travels furthest outside the parent body.
The awkward version, handled
Somebody will ask, at the event or in a hallway, how many families receive assistance. The answer is that the fund is confidential and the school does not discuss individual circumstances, and it is delivered warmly and then moved on from.
Agree that sentence in advance and give it to everyone on the committee. A well-meaning improvised answer is how a number gets into circulation in a small school.
If your school does not run assistance
Then do not use this framing, and fund the thing you are actually funding. Naming a purpose the school does not have is worse than an unglamorous ask, and in a community this size it will be found out.
It may also be worth asking the board whether a fund should exist. An auction is a reasonable moment to start one, and a documented need-based policy applied without regard to who fundraised is the structure to use.
General information, not tax or legal advice for your school. Whether a payment is deductible depends on the receiving entity's status and on what the payer received — check with your own adviser before telling families anything about it.
Setting the number: how much can a preschool raise.
Frequently asked questions
Should we name tuition assistance as the purpose?
If it is true, yes — it asks for something a parent can picture, where the outdoor classroom asks them to fund an amenity they already pay for through tuition. The safety comes from never attaching it to a person.
How do we avoid identifying families?
Talk about the fund and never about families, publish no count of recipients (in a school of forty a number is close to a name), do not thank recipients identifiably, and keep the auction committee separate from whoever sees the fee ledger.
What do we say when someone asks how many families receive it?
That the fund is confidential and the school does not discuss individual circumstances — warmly, then move on. Agree that sentence in advance and give it to the whole committee, because a well-meaning improvised answer is how a number gets into circulation.
What if our school has no assistance fund?
Then fund what you are actually funding. Naming a purpose the school does not have is worse than an unglamorous ask and in a community this size it will be found out — though an auction is a reasonable moment to ask the board whether a fund should exist.
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Free for up to 20 items · Unlimited bidders · No credit card required