Carlton North Primary School
Like many primary schools, Carlton North Primary school has been running an annual fete for over 20 years. It is a major fundraiser that requires a huge contribution of time from the enthusiastic parent community.
Like many primary schools, Carlton North Primary school has been running an annual fete for over 20 years. It is a major fundraiser that requires a huge contribution of time from the enthusiastic parent community.
Challenge
In the past, communication for this 50+ strong committee was done via email and a series of long committee meetings. Every year, an enormous amount of knowledge was lost as the parent community transitioned through the school.
Solution
After integrating Podio, a platform built for business organisation, our team has streamlined internal communication for the fete committee, allowing Carlton North primary to eliminate the overarching Fete Coordinator role, a volunteer position that demanded hundreds of hours of commitment each year.
The goal
Carlton North Primary school was in need of an accessible digital solution that would organise team communications and internal processes while storing data and content for the annual fete committee.
The committee needed an online workspace that could manage their meetings, stalls, timelines, donations, suppliers, volunteers and newsletters and be accessed on any device by any team member at any one time.
The process
Podio is an incredibly flexible, cost-effective tool for database management, communication and collaboration. Starting from just $9 per month per user, the large parent-run committee is now able to access a cloud-based, real-time feed of activity across the fete’s planning from their mobile phone or desktop computer. Members can see all activity, similar to a Facebook feed, showing them what is happening and allowing for ideas sharing and collaboration at a time that suits them.
In 2017, the committee piloted the use of Podio to solve their communication woes, aiming to streamline the efforts and capture an online manual for running this major fundraising event. We set up an online workspace to capture:
- Meetings: minutes and actions
- Stalls: how to run them, the volunteers needed, suppliers
- Timeline: actions, when they were due and who was responsible
- Donations: a database of all donations, the amount donated and contact details for social media mentions, photos and thank you certificates
- Suppliers: the payment management process for suppliers that needed to be paid for their goods and services
- Volunteers: an online portal for capturing and rostering parent volunteers for the day
- Newsletter: an online area for drafting weekly communications about stall activities and donation requests
Fete Coordinator for 16 years
