Top Fundraising Ideas for Schools

Coming up with the perfect school fundraising idea can be a big headache, particularly when it seems like everything has been done before. From chocolate drives to charity auctions right through to trivia nights, if you’re a parent within a school, you’ve probably attended your fair share of school fundraisers.

School fundraising committees year in year out have the hard task of creating ideas for fundraisers that are eas and will bring in cash for the school and raise greatly needed funds, but are there school fundraisers that are more successful than others? The simple answer is yes.

The focus for school fundraising is two fold:

1. Bring in funds to help support the school but also;

2. To bring the school community together through a fun and engaging activity or event.

If you’re looking for some ideas for your school fundraising calendar, here are some of our tried and tested school fundraisers that are worth considering in your event calendar.

Talent Night

Who doesn’t love a talent show! Whether you create an event similar to one of the many talent shows on TV, or you create a format that is a little more free range, a talent show is an entertaining way to hold a school fundraiser.

Use your school hall, set up some basic catering, round up some parents, students and teachers who are willing to take part in the ‘talent’ acts and source an MC to host and you’ve got yourself a really fun night out.

You can either sell tickets for a small entry fee, or you can accept gold coin donations on the night plus proceeds from catering, raffle tickets and any other auctions you might have during the evening to go towards your fundraising kitty.

School Cookbook

What parent wouldn’t love a book of great recipe ideas? A school cookbook is a simple and easy way to raise some fundraising dollars.

Put out the call to the school community for copies of their favourite recipes, collate the recipe book, print with glossy photos and then sell to teachers, parents, the community and students. All the budding chefs in your school community get a chance to share their favourite recipes, and you can sell a great resource that will be useful for years to come. Win win.

Morning Tea Morning

Often some of the simplest ideas are the best, such as a bake sale or a morning tea morning.

Consider setting up a stall with morning teas and cakes that are baked fresh and donated to the school and sell to the school community, teachers and students. You can do this as a one off, or set up recurring date every couple of weeks so that the school community is aware of the event and brings along their money for morning tea.

If you have a coffee machine in the school or a local coffee van that might be willing to come along and donate proceeds back to the school that’s even better and can help you towards your fundraising goal.

Shave for your school

We’ve all seen charities do this one, and it works for school fundraising as well, and it is super simple to set up and execute for fundraising committees.

If you can convince a member of the school community such as the principal or the head of school to shave their hair off for fundraising for the school you could be onto a winner.

Try and find someone within the school community who is well known to shave their head and either ask the school community to sponsor the shave or ask them to donate towards a goal, once the goal is reached the individual will shave their hair off at a specially hosted event.

Take lots of photos at the event, and make it a fun occasion that brings the school community together (plus has the added bonus of raising greatly needed funds for the school).

Personalised calendars

As part of the school photo process, consider setting up a fundraiser for personalised calendars or promotional items, where a percentage of the item goes directly to their school.

It’s hard to say no to a personalised calendar or anything personalised with their gorgeous child’s artwork or face and these sort of items are a great idea ahead of Father’s Day, Mother’s Day or Christmas for a gift that also helps to raise funds for the school.

Choose some items such as personalised key rings, calendars, coffee cups, mouse pads and even Christmas tree ornaments which can all be custom-made with a school photo and create a fundraiser out of them.

Uniform-free day – Mufti Day

If your school gives you the green light, another successful way to raise funds for the school is through a uniform-free day.

Students who wear uniforms love a day of casual wear, and by asking for a gold coin entrance fee to the school you can raise funds for causes within the school.

Simply choose a date for your uniform-free day, advertise it through the school communications channels and have volunteers posted on the school gates the morning of the fundraiser to collect donations.

Online charity auctions

While a traditional auction is always a great option for school fundraising, a digital or online auction opens up school fundraising to a whole new level. A digital auction can also bubble away behind the scenes of your fundraising activities without needs too much assistance or volunteers.

The first thing to consider is drumming up auction items of value such as memorabilia, signed and framed sporting items, experiences or vouchers for holidays and any other item of value that the school community might be interested in bidding on.

Once you have your items, plus their descriptions and starting bids ready you can create an online charity auction either through eBay or similar and share the links to your school community.

Consider creating a digital booklet with all the items and a description and sending it out in advance to drum up some interest and let the school community in on what you’re doing as well.

Spring Fair

A Spring Fair involves a little bit of organising, however, it can provide a big return to your school. Fetes and fairs are annual events and once you have set up one, it’s more than likely going to be easier for subsequent years for school planning committees.

A Spring Fair needs stalls, catering or food trucks, entertainment and some ways for your school to fundraise. Stalls ideally can be set up by each class group so that you’re engaging with all the students, however, you can bring in some external help such as food vans and catering to make it simpler to co-ordinate.

Consider stalls such as cake stalls, fairy floss, games and activities for gold coin donation, ‘Dunk the Teacher’, fortune-telling, bookstall, lucky dips, candle making, face painting, popcorn and trash and treasure. The more items you can encourage your students to make or get donated, the more successful your fundraiser will be.

Activities you can put on for entertainment during the fair include egg and spoon races and three-legged races.

The key to Spring Fairs is to engage with each class to take part in the fair, and ensure there are plenty of fundraising ideas incorporated in the event, so you get a good return for your efforts.

Summary

There are thousands of ideas for your school fundraising and each school will be unique when it comes to what will work. Keep in mind that simple is often better and when you are relying on a team of parent volunteers to create and roll out fundraisers, events and activities should be easy to co-ordinate with maximum impact.

For more help and information, check out our free tools, school fundraising products or get in touch and we can help you come up up with a quick, simple and profitable solution.