- Verona Area School District
- Managing Your Fundraising Needs
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The Verona Area School District recognizes that students, staff and school-related organizations may wish to raise funds from time to time for school, extracurricular, or other school-related functions, activities or products that are considered “above and beyond” the District-defined function, activity or product resources allocations.
The term "fundraising" is a catch-all phrase for all school-related activities that generate revenue and in-kind resources to enhance school programs/initiatives. Fundraising activities may include, but are not limited to:- sales of products and/or services
- sponsorships
- paid advertising
- solicitation of monetary and in-kind donations from local businesses/individuals
- grants
- scholarships/fellowships
Frequently Asked Questions
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How does the district manage its fundraising?
- How does the district manage its fundraising?
The Verona Area School District has contracted with Classmunity, LLC for all district fundraising functions (click here to visit our campaigns in progress!). Classmunity is a web-based fundraising management service designed to assist K-12 school districts in doing two things:
1. Provides teachers an easy pre-approval process for fundraising ideas, grant applications, product sales or even local business solicitation for donations -- we no longer rely on using the clumsy one-page fundraising approval document or verbal/email approval of fundraising campaigns. Teachers can quickly and easily create campaigns, and administrators can easily approve/deny/request revisions to fundraising campaigns.
2. To raise money easily, professionally, and securely by offering a specific website for community and family members to donate with ease. Details below...
3.You MAY NOT use Go Fund Me to raise funds...(teachers have been forced to pay taxes on their fundraising income by using their own personal finance information). We encourage you to use Classmunity's fundraising capabilities but you may use Donor's Choose as a third-party fundraising site as well. Go Fund Me is not approved for district use.
- How does the district manage its fundraising?
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How does Classmunity work?
- How does Classmunity work?
As shared above on this page, Classmunity has two specific functions:
•to gain approval from your administrator on your fundraising idea
•to use Classmunity's fundraising function to help raise additional dollars
1. To submit your fundraising idea for approval see steps below (or you can click here for a user guide from Classmunity!):
•Go to classmunity.com - Click the arrow to the right under "Our Districts" (under the landing page photo)
- Click on "Verona Area School District"
- Click on the "Create" button in upper left area of page to create your fundraiser submission.
•If you are doing a campaign that is simply asking for donations toward something, select "Donation Campaign". If it's collecting money for event registrations or selling tickets, select that center button. If your fundraising idea is selling an actual product, then select "Online Market."
•There are a few screens that will allow you to build out our online fundraising campaign. At this point, you can simply just share the basic premise of your fundraising idea by sharing the name of the fundraiser, dates it'll run and your idea in the "campaign description" box with your name listed as the campaign manager. The rest of the pages can most likely be ignored at this time, UNLESS you are using Classmunity to actually help you raise funds, then you can skip to #2 below for additional information.
•On the last screen, when you click submit, your administrator will automatically get an email asking him/her to review your fundraiser...they can approve it, ask for revisions, or deny it.
2. Once your fundraising idea is approved (you will receive an email when that happens), you now have the option of using Classmunity to help you raise additional dollars (if your fundraiser allows for that). REMEMBER...this page will allow you to have a weblink you can forward to your parents or the general public who may not be able to attend your event, or are not interested in buying your product, but they simply want to donate towards your event or your student group (example might be a bake sale or a carwash that is a one-time event).
There are a few screens that will allow you to build out our online fundraising campaign. See the "Cheat Sheet" section below OR Click here to view the Classmunity Basic User Guide OR feel free to contact Marcie Pfeifer-Soderbloom, VASD Public Information Officer, at pfeiferm@verona.k12.wi.us if you have a few questions or desire help to build out your fundraising page.
For those of you who have used Donor's Choose before, Classmunity follows the same premise (still submitting your idea first to your administrator through Classmunity to gain approval). Classmunity allows you to set up your fundraiser, choose donation levels, offer incentives, and even select the account code your fundraising funds should be directed to. It will also allow you to sell tickets for an event and even offer an incentive for people to donate or buy tickets!
- How does Classmunity work?
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How do I set up a Classmunity page?
- "Cheat sheet" on setting up your Classmunity page:
•Make sure to put an “end date” on your fundraiser, which may mean putting the last day of school if the fundraiser is ongoing. You can then cut/paste the page to rebuild it for the summer or following school year to continue raising funds in the next school year calendar.
•You are able to customize "pre-set" dollar amount buttons so your campaign visitors can choose one of the pre-set dollar amounts, or select their own. It's smart to set buttons with a bit of a "span" between the dollar amounts to help you raise additional dollars as people will often pick a higher dollar amount than they might have originally anticipated.
•You are able to customize your receipt for your campaign but please do not delete the receipt default statement that shares a donor must visit with their tax advisor to learn if their donation is tax deductible. You can add a personalized message to that statement thanking them for making a difference for your classroom or organization that is holding this specific fundraiser.
- "Cheat sheet" on setting up your Classmunity page:
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What types of fundraising events are required to be approved through Classmunity?
- What types of fundraising events are required to be approved through Classmunity?
To begin, the Verona Area School District Board of Education has a "suite" of fundraising board policies which includes the official adoption of Classmunity, VASD’s fundraising program. Click on each one to read details on how they all affect district fundraising:
Policy 840 Public Gifts to the Schools and Sponsorships
Rule 840 Procedures for the Acceptance of Gifts and Sponsorships
Policy 850 Sales and Solicitations Involving the Schools
Rule 850.1 School Fundraising and Solicitation Procedures
Rule 850.2 Procedures Governing Facility Naming Rights Associated with Sponsorships
Policy 851 Advertising Involving the Schools
Policy 852.1 Material Distribution to Students Through the Schools
Policy 881.1 Relations with School Support Organizations
Any event that collects funds from parents, community members, or businesses will need to have a Classmunity Campaign created and approved prior to collecting funds. Examples of such campaigns include:
Donors Choose fundraising page built online
Trip Funding Efforts (high school class going abroad)
Carwashes
Football discount card sales
Bake (or product) sales in schools (brownies, flowers, etc.)
Restaurant nights
Sponsorships
Athletic Fundraisers
We encourage PTO’s, Booster Clubs, Charter Schools or other parent-led district groups to also use Classmunity to help raise additional funds (money will go directly to their group account and group leaders should contact the district Public Information Officer for password access and instruction if needed.) Again, this platform can assist in helping groups raise additional dollars online, especially for fundraising events that involve an external site, such as a carwash, where not everyone can attend, but can still donate toward the fundraiser online! More importantly, Classmunity will ensure every dollar you raise safely makes it back to you!
- What types of fundraising events are required to be approved through Classmunity?
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How does a staff member get their funds from using Classmunity?
- How does a staff member get their funds from using the fundraising function of Classmunity?
•One of the fields you will need to fill in on your Classmunity fundraising page will ask you what account you desire your donations to be deposited into. Be mindful of what account you are having the donations deposited into:
---If you are absolutely sure you are spending the funds in the current fiscal school year, the funds may be deposited into a fund 10 or fund 21 accounts.
---If your fundraiser will be ongoing, beyond the current fiscal school year, or if you are unsure whether you will be spending the entire donation amount in the current fiscal year, then please deposit the funds into a fund 21 account. If you do not already have a fund 21 account set up, see your site budget secretary to have this done prior to submitting your Classmunity proposal for administrative approval.
- How does a staff member get their funds from using the fundraising function of Classmunity?
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How can I track my funds to reduce fraud or accidental loss?
- •THE BEST WAY TO REDUCE FRAUD OR ACCIDENTAL LOSS IS TO TRACK ALL YOUR FUNDS COMING IN: You might also be bringing in cash or checks on the side (those who are not donating online through your Classmunity page). Classmunity allows you to build a database of emails of all the individuals who are donating to your event, meaning that if you do this fundraiser again, or desire to reach out to all those who donated to your event, you can utilize the emails tied to all your donations. Each time someone gives you cash or check towards your event (rather than donating online through your Classmunity page), you will need to enter each person's check or cash donation with their email address. Note: you can also just “batch” a collection of cash and checks as one entry into Classmunity (call the line item “Batch”), but understand that each individual's donation won't be attached to an email address for you to contact in the future and they will not be able to receive a receipt from your Classmunity page for their donation.
•If you are using a third-party fundraising page, such as Donor's Choose, or doing a fundraising event such as a bake sale, you MUST come back to your Classmunity page once your fundraiser is over to ensure you enter a batch line item of your final dollar amount you raised from your campaign to close out the event. We will be reporting all the great fundraising efforts happening each year to the Board of Education through reports that can be run through Classmunity, so final dollar amounts showing your success is a MUST!
If you are using a third-party fundraising platform (such as Donor's Choose):
•Then you are only using Classmunity to simply gain approval from your administrator. Once he/she approves the idea, you can set up your Donor's Choose page (since you are utilizing a third-party fundraising function).
•When you submit your Donor's Choose fundraising idea to your administrator, the title of your fundraiser on Classmunity can actually say “Donor’s Choose Page for XXX" and you can simply make mention in your notes that you are utilizing Donor's Choose to assist you.
•NOTE: FOLLOWING YOUR DONOR'S CHOOSE CAMPAIGN, YOU STILL MUST GO BACK TO YOUR CLASSMUNITY PAGE AND ENTER THE AMOUNT YOU RAISED (simply enter it as one batch entry as if you are donating to your fundraiser).
•You can ignore utilizing the customized receipt option since no one will be submitting funds through the Classmunity page.
•You do NOT need to enter an account code since you are not receiving money from Donor's Choose.
•You have no need to select dollar amounts for various donation buttons since donors are giving through a 3rd party website.
- •THE BEST WAY TO REDUCE FRAUD OR ACCIDENTAL LOSS IS TO TRACK ALL YOUR FUNDS COMING IN: You might also be bringing in cash or checks on the side (those who are not donating online through your Classmunity page). Classmunity allows you to build a database of emails of all the individuals who are donating to your event, meaning that if you do this fundraiser again, or desire to reach out to all those who donated to your event, you can utilize the emails tied to all your donations. Each time someone gives you cash or check towards your event (rather than donating online through your Classmunity page), you will need to enter each person's check or cash donation with their email address. Note: you can also just “batch” a collection of cash and checks as one entry into Classmunity (call the line item “Batch”), but understand that each individual's donation won't be attached to an email address for you to contact in the future and they will not be able to receive a receipt from your Classmunity page for their donation.
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Can I request donations from Miller & Sons?
- Requesting donations from Miller & Sons grocery store:
Millers currently donates more than $20,000 of cash and in-kind product donations to COUNTLESS student groups and parent-led organizations throughout the district. The district has met with Millers to develop a more concerted effort to control the amount of donations being requested of the store. To make a donation request, PLEASE VISIT THE STORE IN-PERSON (NO EMAILS OR PHONE CALLS) DURING MORNING OR EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS AND ASK FOR KEVIN STEINER OR DANA KNUDTSON. You may call 845-6478 ahead of time to ensure they are in the store before you make the visit.
- Requesting donations from Miller & Sons grocery store:
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Can I request donations from Epic?
- Requesting grants from Epic:
Epic wonderfully supports our school district in multiple ways, annually donating, through grants, between $75,000-$100,000 a year. Please DO NOT approach Epic for grant opportunities. We desire all grant ideas, even outside of Epic, to be approved through Classmunity BEFORE you apply for the grant (just like all fundraisers). We certainly do not want to over extend the number of requests being presented to Epic from VASD and risk losing the major funding we are already receiving. Epic will forward any VASD requests to the VASD public information officer which are not run through central office first, so please be mindful of not reaching out directly to them. We apologize for the inconvenience.
- Requesting grants from Epic:
Need Assistance?
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Please contact VASD’s Public Information Officer Marcie Pfeifer-Soderbloom at pfeiferm@verona.k12.wi.us or 608-845-4337 or Classmunity’s Willow Macy at willow@classmunity.com or 855-698-3839.
