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Frequently asked questions
What is PTA Planet?

PTA Planet is a FREE National Fundraising Scheme for Schools, designed specifically to assist PTAs and PTFAs in the UK.

How does it work?

We have set up commission schemes with over 800 popular online retailers. When you join our fundraising scheme and promote it to your parents, any shopping they do through PTA Planet earns a commission payment, which is then shared with our member PTAs.

Where does this commission come from?

Retailers have to spend a significant portion of their profits to constantly market their products to potential customers. Our relationship with them means that we are bringing them sales beyond their current reach, so they are happy to 'kick back' to us some of their marketing spend.

So parents don't pay any more than they usually do for shopping?

Far from it. Parents are buying at the same price they would have done if they had gone to the retailers' site themselves. The only difference is that your school wouldn't benefit from the commission.

Do parents have to put in a code before shopping?
No they don't. See the next question for information as to why this is the case.
Do you track my parents' spend?

We don't. Our scheme is deliberately different to any other school fundraising scheme in that commission payments are all fed into a national fund pool and then shared out very equitably between our member schools. This means that schools also benefit from any unrelated passing trade that we get as a result of general internet searches.

So how do you distribute the fund to my school?

Our method is based on dividing the fund by the total number of the pupils in all our member schools. We then multiply this figure by the number of pupils you have at your school, and pay you the resulting figure. Payments are made, by cheque at present, every term.

Couldn't my PTA just do this ourselves?

Yes you could, if you were to invest significant time, expertise and effort into it. But remember there is a lot more to making this work than signing up to an online affiliate programme.

We have a team of marketers and web developers totally dedicated to streamlining and developing our fundraising scheme to be really appealing to parents and customers, rather than merely providing a selection of links to stores.

Our mission is to maximise your fundraising, whilst minimising the work you have to do to promote it.

So do you make money?

Yes, we do. We are a commercial organisation, and we believe that by making a reasonable profit from these activities, we are in a far better position to provide and extend excellent customer service to your PTA and school. We have many innovations planned that will enhance and grow this scheme, and remember, because we are motivated by the percentage we make from the scheme, the more money we make for PTA Planet, the more your school will make.

How will you help my PTA continue to raise funds?

As briefly mentioned above, we are committed to providing you with all the support you will need. For instance:

  • We provide you with a regular supply of marketing materials to promote the fundraising scheme.

  • We have designed a range of attractive and functional homepages that your parents can set as their first internet browser page, which acts as a constant reminder to always buy through the scheme.
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