US Flag Program Fundraiser

Across five holidays in 2023-2024, Franklin Band families placed 6250 flags in our community raising over $70,000. Flags are placed at subscriber’s homes before dawn and removed before sunset. Volunteers took our flag program beyond our community by placing flags at Titan’s Stadium to honor veterans. For ten years, we have honored veterans with flags on the route of the Wounded Warrior Soldier Ride. We loan flags to schools for special events, including Veterans Day, and install flags at the homes of families celebrating military weddings, the homecoming of a soldier, or the swearing in of new US citizens.

1. Connecting the Franklin Band members with their broader community. This is achieved not only through the placement of the flags in the community, but also through engaging community partners in the endeavor. The flags our band program places were donated by the Franklin Noon Rotary.
2. Honoring the US Flag and those that have served their country. In placing the flags, the students and families learn about the US flag code and the procedures and traditions involved in honoring the US flag.
3. Ensuring students in the program appreciate that they are part of something larger than themselves. Placing the US Flags is a weighty experience for students and it is inspiring to see them take their task so seriously.
4. Modeling the importance of service to one’s community. One of the highlights of participating in this program is engaging with community members during the pickup and drop off of flags. In 2023-2024 we placed flags for free at the homes of Gold Star Families, as we have done since the inception of the program.
5. Raising funds for the operation of the Franklin Band.

Participation in the US Flag program is one of the many ways The Franklin Band honors their core values. Our first and most valued core value is community; the band program, which includes parents, students, alumni, and staff influence and are influenced by their school and broader community. As such, our primary goal in participating in the US Flag Program is to support our band family engaging in a synergistic way with the Franklin, Tennessee community. This enables our engagement with the community to shape the choices we make in guiding students through their time in the band program. Members of the Franklin community look forward to the appearance of flags each holiday.

The Flag Program is a fundraiser. In considering ways to apply these funds; we again return to the core values that shape our program, which include stewardship, excellence, and enjoyment. We abide by a commitment to be strong stewards of our financial resources and marching equipment. We support student’s endeavors to achieve excellence in their musicianship by applying funds to ensure their instruments and other equipment are in good working order and they have access to expert musicians as they learn both concert music and drill for marching shows. These investments pay off in students’ participation in honors and all-state ensembles and the high achievements of our marching program. We also are committed to enabling a rich and joyful experience by providing students with opportunities to engage with their music and artistry and each other across a range of venues. Of course, a central goal here is cultivating a life-long love of music and performance and enduring commitment to connecting with others through music.

Prior to the first flag installation (at Memorial Day), there are many stages to the planning. The beginning stages include a refresher of the US Flag Code to insure our flags are being handled with respect and in accordance with these guidelines. The next step includes determining target areas for the sales of new flag subscriptions (we try to cluster these so that groups of flags can be installed at the same time). We work to ensure we have proper storage available for the flags which involves meeting with Booster Board to request funds and storage sites as necessary. We coordinate with local organizations (including the Franklin Noon Rotary) to solicit financial donations for supplies. Our flag install procedure involves flags being attached to PVC pipe that fits neatly over a stake in the ground. We take a day to construct the flags. Additional time at the juncture is used to create marketing materials and subscription forms. We then create and manage a financial database of new members (we work with band volunteers at this point as well). Once we know where flags will be installed, we plan routes, and recruit volunteers to ensure successful installation across the five holidays (Memorial Day, Flag Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Veteran’s Day). Volunteers are all band families.

Volunteers for the flag team are responsible for advertising the program, soliciting new subscriptions, organizing flag routes, soliciting volunteers to place the flags, communicating with subscribers, providing education and instruction to volunteers, and constructing and organizing the flags and stakes that are necessary to place them. Volunteers for the Flag Team dedicated themselves whole-heartedly to the program: Across the band season, flag team members devote an estimated 185 hours of time to ensure success of the activities outlined above.

Families who volunteer to place the flags are given their flags and route information the evening before flags are placed. Before dawn on the morning of the flag installation they drive to each house and place a flag in the subscriber’s front yard. That evening before dusk, they drive to the same houses, retrieve the flags, wrap the flags, and return them to storage. Band Families also individually dedicate their time to the endeavor. Each member installed flags twice in 2023-2024 which amounts to 9 total volunteer hours per student per year.

The operation of the US Flag Program requires use of a medley of resources that include Sign Up Geniuses to organize volunteers for flag installation, TrackVia (to organize the operation of the program), Excel (to keep records of flag subscribers and to communication information about flag routes to volunteers), GroupMe and Email for communication with volunteers, and use of the band’s three social media accounts for advertising and sharing thank you’s to subscribers. In addition, the program relies on a high level of participation from our families – and they deliver. Each year, every single band member installs flags for two holidays. Parents of band members are also involved (as drivers along the routes) and as members of the flag team.

In advertising the US Flag program, we use a mixture of online promotion and grass roots connections with individuals in the community. Our online promotion includes posting on the bands three social media accounts and the positioning of the flag program on the band’s webpage. The social media posts include a note of thanks and pictures of students in the program placing flags. An innovative strategy for advertising the program in 2023-2024 was placing tiny US flags in the yards of individuals in our school area with a note that they could receive a larger flag if they enrolled in the program. These efforts sustained the size of the subscriber pool in 2023-2024 at 1250 families.

• Plastic Wrap and Bags for flags (supplies): 234.92
• Rental Fee (85$/month) on storage container for flags: 769.00
• Monthly Fee (50$) for TrackVIA (mapping app): 600.00
• Purchase of permanent storage and buildout: 15,621.36*

*In typical years, the flag program costs approximately $2000.00 to run. In 2023-2024, the booster board voted to pay for a permanent storage solution for the flags that included purchasing two shipping containers and paying a contractor to install shelving for storing the flags. This was a one time expense and is not necessary for beginning a flag program.

A challenge we face is that the flag program is so popular that it places a heavy load on our pool volunteers. In 2023-2024, 195 adults and 131 students participated in the operation of the fundraiser. This requires a great deal of coordination and motivation. We have overcome this challenge by asking each family in the program to participate in placing flags twice during the marching season. We are fortunate to have enthusiastic and committed volunteers in our band family and met our goal in the 2023-2024 marching season.

We measure the success of our program not only in terms of meeting our fundraising goal, but also in terms of the impact on our community and engagement of our members. In 2023-2024 all of our band families participate in placing flags in the community across the five holidays. Many participants report having meaningful interactions with community members when picking up and dropping off flags and response to our social media posts about the flags is resoundingly positive. A few examples from our 2023 Fourth of July Flag Install: “So thankful. Many thanks to The Franklin Band, ” “Thanks to the Franklin Band members. I love the flags,” and “We used to live there and always loved the flags.”

One of the biggest impacts of the US Flag Program is that it connects students and families in the band program with their local and broader community. As one of the first organizations to establish a flag fundraiser, we are frequently asked for guidance by other schools. Our team happily shares a manual we created to help others get started, and offers support and advice to fledgling programs nationwide. Within our own county, eight additional high school band programs have established US Flag fundraisers based on our model. The NFL, along with USAA, encourages military appreciation through the NFL’s Salute to Service, the NFL’s year-round commitment to Honor, Empower, and Connect our nation’s service members, veterans, and their families. As a result of our participation in this event, not only have families had the opportunity to place flags in their Franklin, TN community, but they have also placed flags at Titans Stadium in Nashville, TN during November for their annual Salute to Service events.

Pick a good team.

Be in frequent communication with your band family and community members. A strong team will make the entire process much easier.

Respond quickly to unexpected events (e.g, broken stakes) on the morning of a flag installation.

Remember to thank your subscribers and volunteers.