Top 15 School Fundraising Ideas
Growing up, you probably were a part of multiple school fundraising events, from purchasing a t-shirt in high school down to bringing nonperishables to kindergarten with you to raise funds.
Children love being a part of something bigger and creating a change. So involving them in fundraising helps tremendously and teaches them that it is important to support a cause.
15 different school fundraising ideas:
1. Talent show:
A talent show is a fun event to have students get involved. Host a talent show after school and have students sell tickets to their friends and family to attend.This is a free event you can host, have teachers volunteer to work, and the entertainment is free! For added fundraising ideas, you can ask students who are participating in the talent show to bring snacks or baked goods to the show to sell at a concession stand.
2. Field Day:
Field days are days kids look forward to while in school. A full day of playing at school, what could be better?Charge a fee for children to attend the field day. To create more donations, have the children get sponsors, whether their parents, grandparents, or neighbors.
For each game that is set up for field day, have the children tell their sponsor if they think they will win or not. If the child predicts correctly, the sponsor must donate. If the activities are like running laps or jumping rope, have them sponsor each lap or each minute they jump rope.
There are many ways you can fundraise during a field day; get creative!
3. Penny wars:
A penny war fundraiser is a great way to introduce fundraising to younger children.How a penny war works is there are jars that each represent a different group of kids within a classroom or grade level at a school. Each coin is worth different points; for example, a penny being one, a nickel is five, and so on. But bills create negative points. So children can bring in bills and sabotage their classmates to deduct points from their jar.
The longer you have your penny war, the more money you will raise. Keep in mind don’t have it running for too long because children can lose interest in things fast; typically two weeks is a reasonable time frame.
When the penny war is over and the winners are announced give them a prize, whether it be watching a movie during class, offering pajama day, or if you are willing to spend money on a pizza or ice cream party.
Penny war rules can be tweaked by whoever is playing; they are not set in stone! Change them for what works best for your classroom or school.
4. Candygrams:
Having candygrams during valentine’s day week to fundraise is a fun way for kids to send their friends a lollipop or piece of chocolate with a note attached. Allowing them to send the candygrams to students throughout the school, not just in their classroom, will appeal to them and hopefully send more.This is a low-cost fundraiser; you can have students cut out paper and supply candy to tie onto the note. Leaving it almost free to host.
Let your students know what cause you will donate the proceeds to encourage them to participate more.
5. No uniform days:
No uniform days are very appealing to kids who have to wear a uniform to school every day. Charge a small fee to let kids wear an outfit of their choice. This is a simple way to fundraise that most kids will participate in.Consider having no uniform days every Friday and add up all the earnings at the end of the month!
6. Canned food drive:
A canned food drive is a widespread simple fundraising practice. It is something everyone can participate in for free.Mostly everyone has a can or two lying around in their pantry that they can bring in and donate to a local homeless shelter or food bank, and if they don’t, many canned food items are affordable to buy at the grocery store.
7. Used book drive:
Like the canned food drive a used book drive is something that is easy to obtain for children. Bring in an old book that has already been read or a book from when they were a child that has served its purpose and is no longer needed.After collecting books, it is simple to google book drop off or pick up in your area and you will find many organizations that will help you get the books to the right people!
8. Read-a-thon:
A read-a-thon is a great way to fundraise while encouraging children to read. A read-a-thon gives students a certain period where they can read as many books as possible. Typically, not held during the school year but summer or winter break to encourage children to keep their minds sharp.
You raise money by having friends and family pledge a specific dollar amount for each book or page their student reads. The student who wins the read-a-ton gets rewarded with a prize from the school or teacher.
9. Art auction:
A art action can be held to fundraise by all ages. Having young elementary school children create art for an auction, sell tickets to their friends and family and create a live auction at school would be a fun experience for students.High school students would also really love this idea of showcasing their talents. Have them work on a piece for the semester and hold an art show where some pieces are picked to auction off. Again, it will be more serious and official than the younger age group.
10. T-shirt fundraiser:
Designing a t-shirt for a cause and selling it to friends and family. This is a way for students to get creative and raise money.
You can have the school create a design together. Another option is to create a competition and have each grade design a t-shirt and sell it. Whatever grade, in the end, sells the most amount of t-shirts wins the competition!
11. 5k race:
Many people run to stay healthy or run as a hobby so running for a cause they support is a no-brainer, especially for kids who run around all day! Create this as a community event, and have students and their families participate.5K fundraisers have been a popular fundraising tactic for many years. You can make money by charging a participation fee for runners from $5 to $50, adding an extra cost for t-shirt purchases, having snacks and water for people running and friends and family who came to support, and encouraging donations.
Donations are a significant revenue from 5k races. They come from people participating as well as friends and family. Encourage participants to post on social media asking for support.
12. Class cookbook:
A class cookbook can be a funny sentimental idea. Young kids have wild imaginations; anything is possible to them.Around the holidays, ask your students how to make the best turkey dinner, prepare the best Christmas dinner, or even ask how their family member makes their favorite meal. Their responses are guaranteed to make you laugh, put them all into a book and sell them to their friends and family.
To promote sales even more having an event where the families come in and have the children read out loud their instructions will allow you to sell tickets and the book.
13. Sports Tournaments:
Having any type of tournament is fun for kids and straightforward when arranging.Anything from a tug-a-war tournament to kickball. To raise money, have a sign-up fee for participants, sell refreshments at the tournament and encourage family and friends to come to watch and donate throughout the day!
14. Clothing drive:
Finally, a push to clean out your closet! Bring in lightly used clothes from your wardrobe to donate.Everyone needs to clean out their closet but not everyone has the motivation. This will bring out the incentive for people to donate to a good cause!
Many organizations in every town and city are willing to schedule pick-ups.
15. Bake sale:
There can be no wrong when it comes to a bake sale; they always end up successful. Bake sales are a fun, easy, and delicious way to fundraise.Have each child bring cupcakes, brownies, or any sweet treat they want. The cost of making a box of brownies or buying dough for cookies is very low for the students and their families to purchase and make for the fundraiser.
Remember that many have food allergies, so try to encourage special treats to meet dietary needs!
These events can be donations for the school, community, or cause of your choice.
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