2. Who’s on your fundraising team?

It’s easy to overlook this step in your early enthusiasm to get started. However, it will pay dividends for you to assemble a support team before you do any planning for the playground and how you are going to fund it.

It’s critical to get the buy in of like minded people and the key people that will help you achieve your fundraising goals, right up front. So go ahead and make a list, then get in touch with all the people you need to be talking to.

This may include:

• School staff
• Other parents in the area/school
• Neighbours
• Local community organisations
• Local councillors or members of parliament
• Relevant charities

Start a Social Media group that makes it easy for everybody to keep in touch and up to date. Draw on the team for their particular skills or contacts so they have some “social ownership” of the project.

3. How do we get started raising funds for our new playground?

Of course, there are a multitude of ways to raise funds for any community project. Here are few tips to make it easier for you to get started:

• Start by signing up with The Funding Centre – this is the most amazingly helpful organisation if you are a Not-For-Profit trying to find available grants or raise money. We have no affiliation  and receive no reward of any kind for recommending them. The Funding Centre is a division of Our Community Org that has a myriad of tools to help organisations find grants and raise funds. It will cost you $85/yr to subscribe to their newsletter but it can literally save you days of time trying to find and collate all of the relevant information about grants and funding opportunities.
• Check for any upcoming NSW Government Grants here – NSW Community Building Partnerships
• Check for any upcoming Federal Government Grants here – www.communitygrants,gov.au
• Make careful note of the closing dates for any relevant grants and get your application in early.
• Once you have set yourself up to be notified of any grants, assemble a list of other ways to raise funds – some ideas to get you started here at The Fundraising Directory
• Ideas without a plan of action are just ideas. Create a fundraising activity calendar and share it with your team. Engage your team where they can help the most and keep everybody up-to-date with progress.

Feel free to get in touch and let us help you with your project.