Event-Based vs. Passive Fundraising: Which Model Is Right for Your School?

At a Glance

• Event-based fundraising creates a clear, time-bound campaign that can generate immediate income and bring the school community together.

• It usually requires significant planning, volunteer coordination, and administration, with income ending once the event is over.

• Passive fundraising uses an ongoing digital membership model, allowing supporters to join at any time and contribute without attending an event.

• Membership-based platforms can automate sign-ups, payments, fund allocation and reporting, reducing the workload on volunteers.

School fundraising committees often return to familiar activities such as fun runs, sausage sizzles, raffles and fetes. These events are well understood, have a long history in school communities and can bring families together around a shared goal. In many cases, they are repeated simply because they have worked before.

However, familiarity does not always mean the model is the best fit for the school’s current capacity. Volunteer numbers may be smaller, families may have less time to attend events, and committees may be managing more administrative work with fewer people.

Passive fundraising gives schools another practical option. Instead of concentrating fundraising on a single event, it allows supporters to join and contribute through an ongoing model that can operate year-round.

What Is Event-Based Fundraising?

Event-based fundraising is organised around a specific activity, date, or campaign period. Common examples include school fetes, fun runs, trivia nights, raffles, sausage sizzles, stalls and product drives.

Because the fundraiser is tied to a defined event, promotion is usually concentrated around the lead-up to the event. Families know when the activity is taking place, what the school is raising money for and how they can participate. This makes it easy to connect the event to a specific goal, such as purchasing new sports equipment, improving playgrounds, or supporting extracurricular programs.

These fundraisers also bring parents, students, teachers, and local supporters together in person. The event becomes part of the school calendar and often serves both a fundraising and community-building role.

Most of the income is generated during the lead-up to the event and on the day itself. Once the event is complete, the school can calculate the sum and allocate the funds to the intended project.

Running this type of fundraiser involves planning and coordination across several stages. Committees may need to arrange suppliers, brief volunteers, promote the activity, manage registrations or ticket sales, handle products, set up the venue, clean up afterwards, and reconcile payments.

The workload often builds over several weeks or months and may fall to a small group of parents or committee members. Revenue is also tied to the event period, so once the activity ends, fundraising income stops until the next campaign is organised. Attendance, weather, calendar clashes, and volunteer availability and fatigue can also influence the total funds collected.

When Event-Based Fundraising May Suit Your School

• Your school has strong volunteer capacity: Events are more practical when enough parents, staff and committee members can share planning, promotion, logistics and delivery tasks.

• Community participation is part of the objective: Bringing families, teachers, students and local supporters together in person builds relationships and school spirit. 

• Your school has an established event format: A familiar annual fundraiser may be easier to organise when the school already has suppliers, processes, promotional materials and community awareness in place.

What Is Passive Fundraising?

Passive fundraising refers to an ongoing model that can continue generating funds without requiring the school to organise a new physical event each time money is needed.

A digital membership-based fundraising platform is one example of passive fundraising. Supporters purchase an annual membership, choose the school or community organisation they want to support and receive access to member-only offers from participating businesses. A portion of the membership fee is then allocated to the selected fundraiser.

Because participation takes place through a digital fundraising page, families do not need to attend an event, sell products or volunteer on a particular day. The school can share the link through newsletters, email, social media and community networks, allowing parents, grandparents, alumni, extended family, and remote supporters to join at their convenience.

The platform also manages the operational side of the fundraiser. Supporter sign-ups, membership payments, fund allocation and reporting are handled within a single system, while the school can monitor memberships, funds raised and payout activity through a central dashboard. This reduces the need to collect cash, maintain separate spreadsheets, or reconcile individual transactions manually.

Revenue builds as more supporters purchase memberships and can continue when those memberships are renewed. This creates a more sustainable income pattern than a physical event.

However, the supporter base usually takes time to build. Schools still need to launch the fundraiser, explain the membership value, and share periodic reminders with their community. The model can continue operating in the background, but participation still depends on people knowing about it and choosing to join.

When Passive Fundraising May Suit Your School

• Your school has limited volunteer capacity: A digitally managed fundraising model can reduce the amount of planning, coordination, and administration required of parents and committee members.

• Supporters need more flexibility: Online participation can suit families, alumni and extended networks who cannot attend events or contribute on a fixed date.

• You want fundraising to continue between events: An ongoing model allows supporters to join year-round rather than only during a short campaign window.

• The school wants to reach beyond current families: Shareable digital links can extend the fundraiser's reach to former students, grandparents, local supporters, and people living outside the immediate area.

• You are comfortable building participation over time: Passive fundraising may not deliver one immediate result, but the supporter base and revenue can grow progressively with consistent promotion.

Swoodle is one example of this model. Schools can create a digital fundraising page at zero cost, share it with their community, and receive 40% of each annual membership purchased by supporters who select the school as their fundraiser. Members receive access to offers from participating businesses, while sign-ups, payments, allocations and reporting are handled through the platform.

Event-based and passive fundraising serve different purposes.

Events can deliver concentrated income, strong visibility and valuable community interaction. Passive fundraising offers greater flexibility, broader participation and a way to continue raising money between scheduled campaigns.

For many schools, the practical answer may be to use both. An ongoing fundraising model can provide a steady income, while occasional fetes, fun runs or trivia nights can be reserved for specific projects or community-building opportunities.

This approach allows schools to retain the traditions families enjoy without making every fundraising target dependent on volunteer availability, attendance or the success of a single event.