7 Quick and Easy Fundraiser Ideas for Schools
We all know that public funding and tuition aren’t enough to cover the costs of providing our children with the education they need and deserve. Fundraising is an important part of ensuring that every school is fully funded to carry out its vision.
Does the idea of selling another box of candy bars, roll of wrapping paper or tin of popcorn feel daunting to you? Are you looking for a fresh infusion of ideas to boost your fundraising campaign that is quick, easy and requires minimal effort and cost to your teachers, administrators and PTO? We’ve got 7 quick and easy ideas that can help you get started TODAY!
1. Host a Walkathon or Run
This is a great fundraising activity that can get the entire family involved. Set a date – a Saturday morning is a great option – and start planning! Provide a pledge sheet for each participant that invites people to donate a flat amount or an amount per minute spent walking/running. Map out a one mile course on your school’s property, get out the PA system, secure donations of bottled water and fruit and walk/run/dance to some great music! If it ends up raining that day, just move your event to your school gym! Not able to gather as a group, allow families to walk on their own and record their time and post a leaderboard online.
2. Display My Art
Fundraisers come and go and often don’t leave much of a mark on our memories. Looking for a lasting fundraising option that includes your students in the process AND provides a collectable item that is unique and personal? Then, you should definitely check out Display My Art! Display My Art has been turning student art into custom keepsakes since 2001. Your students create art that can then be sold and displayed. This is at no cost to you and there are no minimum purchase requirements. What family members wouldn’t want a beautiful and unique piece of art designed by a child in their family!
3. Partner with Local Restaurants
Who doesn’t love going out to eat! Many restaurants love partnering with schools for fundraising nights! Get a night on the calendar and encourage all of the families in your school to have dinner out for a good cause! Here is a list of 37 popular chain restaurants that offer fundraising opportunities. Or, feel free to reach out to the owner of one of your favorite local restaurants and see what they are willing to offer. You’ll never know if you don’t ask!
4. Bake Sale
The bake sale is the most classic fundraiser. Just like a 50/50 raffle this can be added on to just about any fundraising event. The beauty of this, is that it can even be done during the school day! Invite your school community to donate baked goods or packaged items (make sure you follow your school’s rules) that can be sold over the course of a week in the cafeteria during lunch time or delivered daily to classrooms on a cart. This would be a great opportunity to include your Student Council or student leadership group to help plan and orchestrate this fundraiser in conjunction with your faculty sponsor or PTO!
5. 50/50 Raffle
This is a great add-on to a walkathon or run…or really any fundraising activity you are doing. Pick up a couple of rolls of raffle tickets at your local party supply store or Target. At your event, allow people to buy 1 ticket for $1 or 6 tickets for $5. When the winner is selected, they receive half the money raised and your school gets to keep the other half. It doesn’t get easier than that!
6. Garage Sale
There are a couple of ways you can approach this. You could host a school-wide garage sale on your school’s parking lot or in your gym. Invite families to reserve a table for $10. For everything they sell, 50% goes to the school and 50% goes to the family (or if they are feeling super generous they can opt to donate all of the proceeds to the school!). This event would be great to pair with a bake sale!
The other option would be to invite families to host their own garage sale at their home and give all of the proceeds to the school. If you wanted to make it a real community event, you could also include a directory of addresses that are participating (you can leave out the names) then publicize this info to everyone in your school and within your community.
7. Host a Pajama Day!
Everyone loves to spend a day in their PJ’s! Invite the entire school to an all day pajama party! Any student or staff member who donates $5 gets to wear their PJ’s to school. You could also coordinate to have the food service staff serve breakfast for lunch and see if you can find a local author to come in for a special storytime.
