How Zeffy Helped the Dearborn Educational Foundation Save $2,812 and Simplify Events.

For over 30 years, the Dearborn Education Foundation has supported innovative educational practices in Dearborn, Michigan. They build relationships with local businesses and individuals who care about education, helping fill the gaps between the funding that exists for Dearborn Public Schools and the education system they want to see in their community. 

The dollars raised cover classroom and extracurricular materials and projects, including books, musical instruments, microscopes, computers, athletic equipment, art projects, and student competitions, that would otherwise go unfunded. In addition, the foundation partners with individuals and groups who wish to share their legacy with Dearborn’s schools and students. The foundation is equipped to establish naming rights, planned/legacy giving, scholarship funds, and endowed funds and to tailor each to the donor’s vision and wishes. - The Dearborn Education Foundation

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Background

Every year, the Dearborn Education Foundation hosts several events to support its students. Between their golf tournament, Mardi Gras celebration, Green Tie Dinner, and Spring Bazaar, the Foundation is constantly juggling event logistics. Before each of these huge events, they have to figure out locations and meals, ticket sales, a raffle system, and prize donations. After they pull off a meal or tournament, Foundation staff have to figure out prize disbursement, thank you notes, in addition to any other donor cultivation systems and follow-up activities. It’s a heavy lift for a small team. 

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The Foundation supports passionate teachers by providing grants for education initiatives and classroom supplies. They help students and parents fundraise for things like conferences, facility updates, and even senior lock-ins. 

And the team knows that education doesn’t end with high school graduation, so the Dearborn Educational Foundation wants to support students through the entire education pipeline. While much of their work is focused on creating a thriving K-12 system, they also help connect high school graduates with more than a dozen scholarships to facilitate their continued education. Many of these scholarships were founded in memory of Dearborn residents who cared about the continuing legacy of their city. 

Altogether, the Foundation has raised over $3 million to help Dearborn Public Schools students have access to the tools and educational systems that will empower them to succeed in whatever arena they choose after school.

The Dearborn Educational Foundation used PayPal to raise those millions, and the PayPal fees were monstrous. Every time they made significant gains to help students learn, they paid out equally significant portions of the donations in PayPal fees. 

And that was just on the fundraising side. Since PayPal didn’t offer many integrations, the Foundation had to pull in other platforms for things like ticketing and raffles. Adding more hoops and fees to jump through for each event was a drain on their resources, both in man-hours and money. 

‍If you’re facing similar challenges with PayPal fees, check out our detailed comparison between Zeffy and PayPal. We get into everything from platform trustworthiness, customer support, and, of course, the difference in PayPal fees and Zeffy’s fee-free fundraising.

Chastity Townsend, the Foundation’s Executive Director, was determined to find a better system. She turned to Google, hoping someone, somewhere, had designed an actually free fundraising platform, and found her way to Zeffy. Chastity was ready to try it immediately…

…and she knew they’d found the solution to their problems nearly as quickly. At a base level, Zeffy just means Chastity and the Foundation gets to keep more of the donations they receive. 

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“With Zeffy, 100% of our funds raised online or in person via credit cards makes it easier for us to support our district more,” she says.

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Getting rid of those PayPal fees may have been the main thing on Chastity’s list for a perfect fundraising platform, but Zeffy fulfilled even more of her hopes. Zeffy can take on generating and selling event tickets, erasing several steps from the organization’s to-do list in the weeks leading up to an event.

And then, in the weeks after an event, Zeffy can take even more tasks off the Foundation’s hands. Zeffy’s donor management system can help Foundation team members keep better track of who gives what with fewer hours of admin, and it has been exactly what Chastity wanted. 

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“With Zeffy, I love the receipt feature and email reminders as well as being able to export contact information to be used for our newsletters,” she says.

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Even though they were only looking for a way to collect funds raised with no fees, the Dearborn Educational Foundation found their perfect ticketing, donor management, and fee-free fundraising partner in Zeffy.

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“We are able to give 100% of funds raised back out as well as cut back on administrative duties,” Chastity says. “Zeffy has helped with using Excel to keep track of registrations for events and allows less data entry into quickbooks.”

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Zeffy lets them spend less time and money on fundraising, so the Foundation can spend more of both on the schools and students they love.