The first thing we are looking at is the ideal way in which school associations can organize the collections of dues and fees. 

HOW TO ORGANISE ASSOCIATIONS DUES COLLECTION

In a school departmental association, the executives together with the matron are responsible for deciding on the due to be paid by each student of the association towards the smooth running of the association. They also decide on how often this should be paid, whether at the beginning of a semester or the beginning of a session.

Usually, included in the EXCOs of the association will be the treasurer. He is the one to be entrusted with the responsibility of collecting these fees as at when due. He does this in collaboration with the financial secretary who keeps the record.

Once all these arrangements have been made, the next thing is to decide on how to organize the collection and make sure everyone pays. Here is where bulk SMS comes in.

HOW TO USE BULK SMS FOR ASSOCIATIONS DUES PAYMENT REMINDERS

STEP 1: One thing you must remember to do if you want everyone to remember the due for the session/semester and pay on time is to inform them before the commencement of the semester/session in question. Send an SMS informing them of the next due while they are still at home on break. With this, they can remember to add it to the budget from home before coming to school.

STEP 2: After this, the day the school resumes, you will also send a due payment reminder to all the students and give a deadline for payment. This is important because it helps them remember to pay the due first before they push cash into other things that take money, which of course you can get short of in the school environment. Include in this message who the money should be paid to, whether the class representative or the associations’ treasurer or maybe in an account dedicated for that.

STEP 3: By this time when you send the third SMS, people must have started paying already. This will be directed to only those who are yet to pay the dues. This SMS will be sent a few days before the deadline day. Remember to include penalties and implications of failure to pay.

HOW TO GET THE PHONE NUMBERS OF THE STUDENTS

You are going to need a phone number database to do this. This though is a very easy thing to do. Simply get the class representative for each level to compile a phone number list of all the students and give it to the EXCOs. It’s an easy task. Another way to get this is to provide a form where the student input their phone numbers when paying the dues. This will be used subsequently for the messages.

As executives in a school association, you are going to need cash to add value to the association during your tenure. Therefore, if there is anything that ensures you get the all student’s dues and promptly at that, you will want to use it. Bulk SMS is a proven solution.

The good news is bulk SMS service is cheap to use. Register a free bulk SMS right away and get free SMS units to see how it works.