School fundraising ideas

T

thinsgreat

Cathlete
Hello All,

I'm an elementary teacher. We have lost all funding for our after school enrichment programs-- we need to raise 10k-- any tried and true ideas?
 
I'm not a school teacher, but I do have a son who will be entering high school next year, and we've been through tons of fundraisers. The fundraiser that always seems to be the easiest is the candy bar sales. Hersheys has a great one, and everyone seems to want to buy candy bars! I personally find it very difficult to sell other things.

Other alternatives are possible events at the school, such as a carnival, car wash, etc.

I find fundraisers need to be taylored depending on the demographics the school serves.

I hope this helps a little, and good luck!
 
My school gets a lot of success in selling gift cards. There's a program where you buy the gift card at face value and the business gives money back to the school. It's great because it is for a lot of stores you shop at normally so it's not like you even lose money when you buy them. For example, I bought a bunch of grocery store cards and just used them and the school got 5% of my card's value.

Another one that has done well is cheesecake and cookie dough.

Our middle school is doing a 5K fundraiser for track uniform. I think they hope to raise about what you need and are on track to do it.

It's a hard time of year to start fundraising though since school will end soon. They seem to work well in the fall when everyone is beginning to plan for the holidays.
 
My boy's school decided to forego sales as fundraising this year b/c a lot of parents go tired of their kids having to sell things. In the beginning of the year they sent home forms to donate $ instead. I'm not sure how it went over but I participated.

They used to do a Fun Run where the kids collected donations per lap they could run. The kids loved it. It's an organization that usually has young guys that come to the school and start talking to the kids. On the day of the Fun Run they set up speakers out on the field, play cool music and motivated the kids w/ one guy on a mike and the others running a long w/ them. I always went to it and the kids loved it. I wish their school still did it :-(

As far as things to sell, I liked the wrapping paper. Some of the middle and high schoolers sell cookie dough. We usually buy it from them but then they leave it on our doorstep thawed out when it's suppose to stay frozen. So, it's ruined.

Good luck...I know how important it is for our schools to raise money.
 
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The most fun fundraiser that I went to was a crazy bowl evening for adults. It's basically bowling, but each frame you doing something goofy, like bowling through your partner's legs, bowling with your non-dominant hand, etc. I know kids would have fun doing this as well, but ours was just for the parents. I think they charged about $25 a couple. Not a huge fundraiser, but when you normally pay about $2-3 per game, it adds up. I think they had a silent auction as well. Good luck - trying to raise money in this economy is not fun!!
Paula
 
So sorry you guys lost your funding! That's horrible! My kids' school always has had amazing PTO officers who plan really successful fund raisers. If you can get your school's PTO officers on board, it will make it a whole lot easier for you... Here's some ideas that we have done:

• Get a local restaurant(s) to donate a portion of their sales one night a month to your school. Our local Moe's donates a portion and the school sends out a flyer in the kids' folders or emails the parents to let them know when the school night is so that we can support the cause.

• Get a local skating rink to host a skate night for your school where they donate proceeds one night per month to your school. We do this and each grade is featured each month. The kids LOVE it! If you don't have a skating rink, you can ask a bowling ally or bounce place to do the same...

• SILENT AUCTION! This is the BEST! Your parents at your school have connections you would not believe! Have each class create baskets with a theme, like "sports" or "spa" or "making memories" and then ask families and businesses donate something to the basket (giftcards, other items that go with the theme). Then auction the baskets off at a silent auction. Lots of local businesses will donate goods because it's advertising for them... Like local photographers donate photo sessions, spas and salons will donate services, etc. ...

Also at the silent auction, you can have children in your after school program create art projects: handprint quilts, canvas paintings (stretched canvases are pretty cheap at art supply stores and don't require frames), decoupaged step stools, etc. And auction those items off too. Parents would love to buy those, I bet!

• School festival- Every year we have a school festival... It's either in the fall or spring and we raise a TON of money. Maybe you guys could partner with the PTO and split the proceeds. When we do it, each class has a booth and the parents sign up to man the booths... Face painting, nail painting, cake walk, other silly carnival games. Local businesses (and parents who have their own businesses) can rent "booths" or tables to sell their goods. And each kid pays for a wrist band to attend. (We charge $8 for kids older than 3 with a $16 max.) We also advertise the festival in the community paper to draw more people.

Hope these ideas help! Good luck!! :)
 
My daughter's middle school did well last fall selling magazines and cookie dough. They raised over 20k (about 1,000 kids in the school). The spring fundraiser will raise only a fraction as much, maybe $1500, because it's an ice cream social that's more of a community building thing than a big money maker.

Another idea is getting community donations for raffle prizes and selling raffle tickets. What's nice about this is that it's 100% profit. If you ask each child to sell, say, $20 worth of tickets, and you have 500 students, there's your $10,000. (Of course some kids will sell way more, and some won't sell any, but the point is for things to average out to your goal.) Be public about what your fund raising goal is, for example have a "thermometer" graphic showing how much you've raised, what the money is for, and how much left to reach the goal, etc. it tends to get kids and parents more invested.

Good luck!
 
Things our school has done in the past:

Friday fish fry....this takes a lot of parental support to make it successful.

Candle Sale.....we sold a lot of these going door to door

Popcorn sales at school

Spirit ribbon sales at school before big games

Flower sale (single rose or carnation with personalized note).....done before sweetest day, valentines day, prom, homecoming, etc. They get delivered during lunch hours or at the end of the last class period.

Sub sale.....this also takes a lot of parental support to get orders beforehand and deliver the subs after they are made.

Pie sale.....again, takes a lot of support to make pies and get orders beforehand.

Car wash

Returnable bottle/can collection day - kids go door to door asking for cans and bottles. An ad is listed in the local paper to drop off cans and bottles at the school parking lot or to call for pick up.

Hope this helps.....
 
Wow, so many great ideas! The HSA in my district is very involved and creative, and they've done a few of those mentioned here. In the past, they've also done a ladies spa night, gala dinner, and a dine out night in conjunction with the restaurants in town. Love the crazy bowling night idea!

One that we did this year that was successful was with Mixed Bag Designs (really cute reusable shopping bags, lunch totes, etc.)

Good luck!
 
My all time favorite is the "nobody comes knocking" fundraiser. They simply ask for a donation instead of all the gimicky fundraisers. I love it!
 
My son's school did a school wide Spell-A-thon.
Each grade level got their own spelling list with 50 words, kindergarten less.

I ended up giving a flat fee, but we could also donate an amount (your own choice) for each word spelled correctly.

Top earner won an iPod Nano
Students donating $100 or more had their name entered in a raffle for a $100 visa card.

This is a very easy and inexpensive way to raise a decent amount of money.

Pia Roo
 
Our school got charity status last year and this year we did a Poker Room fundraiser. Several PTO memebers volunteered their time to work in a charity poker room-collecting and doling out poker chips and tallying the money. At the end of 3 nights, our school got a portion of each night's profit. We made about $4000 in 3 days and the only thing we had to pay for was a gaming license which was about $200. We also host a walk-a-thon in the fall. The kids collect donations for participating. We do some of the other things mentioned too-Restaurant Nights, shopping at a local grocery store that gives us a kickback, etc. I'm all about just donating, not buying stuff! Good luck!
 
wow-- so many great ideas-- however, i teach in a very low income neighborhood- not sure how any fundraising would go over-- many can't afford our $7 uniform shirt -- so we pay for them.

also-- people have mentioned raffles-- i don't think they are legal, at least in CO--would love to have one though.

really not thrilled with the idea of little kids knocking on stranger's doors to sell candy-- even when we tell them to only go to people they know, kids still venture out-- trying to win a token prize.
 
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Probably one of your best bets, then, would be to encourage local businesses to sponsor you guys or "adopt" you guys... or ask local restaurants to give proceeds from one night a month to you guys.
 
Tricky Trays seem very popular, people like to win stuff, I went to a really good one that was a fund raiser for a local private school, this one was not in a lower income neighborhood, but many are. It does require a lot of commitment to go out and get the donated baskets, and I imagine the school would allow the use of the cafeteria or gym for the event.
 
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