4 Things Parents Need To Know About Online Fundraising

You have enough worries about your kids’ safety online; your school fundraising platform shouldn’t be one of them. Here are 4 things parents should know when it comes to school fundraising:

1. Fundraising platforms are very, very different from each other.

Some companies would have you believe that the only difference is the price, but the back-end practices of fundraising companies are night and day. Other companies, especially those that promise “cheap” or “free” fundraising services frequently handle money and data in sketchy ways they don’t want you to know about:

Co-Mingling Funds: a risky but common practice in which donations from different campaigns and schools are all lumped together in one account. This makes it far more likely that dollars end up in the wrong campaign, or that campaigns lose everything in a security breach, company failure, or fraud. Snap! never co-mingles funds. Every fundraising campaign has its own dedicated financial account, and we guarantee every dollar.

Data Selling: buyer beware, fundraisers that promise free or suspiciously cheap services make their money by selling your information to unknown third parties. Your info can be sold again and again, and eventually land in the hands of a bad actor. This can lead to years of unwanted spam emails and texts, making donors regret participating and less likely to support a future campaign. Kids are just starting their online lives, so it’s critical to keep out the spammers and scammers who are desperate to build a profile on your child. At Snap! Mobile, your data does not leave our hands. We don’t sell or share anything about you, your kids, coaches, or donors to anyone.

2. Data breaches have serious consequences.

If you’ve ever used an airline, insurance, or social media, you’ve probably been part of a data breach, where hackers took records of whatever they wanted to know about you. The more data leaks you’ve been involved in, the easier it is for someone to steal your identity—and that’s where things get serious. Since minors don’t have any financial history, they are prime targets for identity theft. Data such as the school your child attends, the sport they play, their birthday, their schedule, and their photos can fall into the hands of bad actors—and it often goes unnoticed until it’s time to apply for colleges, jobs, or credit. Meanwhile, Snap! Mobile guarantees that your data and your kids’ data are secure. We’re focused on the highest level of compliance, such as being fully compliant with NIST CSF 2.0 standards and many others.

3. Most fundraising platforms are banned by school districts.

This is because the district knows that many fundraising platforms may sell or share student and donor data. Administrators and IT departments provide an important tech approval process to maintain standards of safety and security. Knowing that school administrators and IT teams will say no, some fundraising platforms try to get around the school’s tech safeguards by going to someone who isn’t necessarily an expert in software security: the coach. Coaches play a huge role in successful fundraising efforts and already manage a demanding workload. Choosing the wrong software can unknowingly risk student information, funds, and possibly their own jobs if the platform doesn’t align with school policies or meet data security standards.

At Snap! Mobile, we’ve prioritized security and privacy by partnering with the Student Data Privacy Alliance—the gold standard for student data privacy.

4. Good tech gets better results.

Safety is important, but a fundraiser has to raise money. Snap! Raise is the number one school fundraising platform—not because we’re the safest, but because teams and programs raise more money with us.

• Our average donation is $14 higher than our next closest competitor
• Our average campaign raises $1,900 more than our next competitor
• We guarantee your funds, something not all platforms can promise
• We prioritize data safety to give you peace of mind
• We never sell or share information, offering privacy levels many other platforms can’t match

The cheapest way to fundraise isn’t always the best way to fundraise.nap! Raise offers a better tool that’s easier and more rewarding for group leaders, students, and donors—raising more money safely and guaranteed.

As parents, we’re used to advocating for our children. If you want your school to start using Snap! Raise for its fundraising campaigns, drop us a line and we’ll introduce ourselves. An informed parent is the best protection from predatory tech, and the best resource for helping school programs be successful. Keep up the amazing work.