Our PTO seems to be in a bit of a rut doing the same fundraisers over and over. It's usually a catalog in the fall, frozen braided bread/cookies in the early winter, SquareOne Arts later winter, a calendar that raffles prizes daily in the spring and also a scholastic bookfair.
Does anyone out there know of a cool/good idea for a different kind of fundraiser that parents liked? We're all so bombarded with the same stuff all the time I'd like to give our PTO some new ideas....but I'm in a brainstorming rut myself.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Wow you guys!! Thanks for all the ideas!!
The festival, crafts night and penny drive (contest between pennies/paper and silver) all sound pretty different and different is always good.
I saw some other real good ideas too, but they actually do a couple of them already I forgot about (monthly night at a local restaurant, SquareOne arts is all about buying your child's art work and our school district has an educational foundation that is coming up on their 5th annual trailrun....you're right, that's a BIG money maker!).
I totally hear you on the fact you'd just rather give money than buy all that crap. When the Boy Scouts come around selling popcorn I just cut them a check.
Our PTO puts out a letter in the beginning of the yer stating what they were able to purchase/provide the previous year, but that's a good idea to state ahead if time what each fundraiser is aiming to raise money for.
That's all I can come up with to say at the moment, I'll probably remember something I wanted to say after I re-read all if your posts! Thank you everyone! Have a happy and safe school year.
The best fundraisers are the ones NOT selling something.
Like a fun run, etc.
Those are the only ones I like.
Barnes and Noble bookfairs are great - if you have a very good PTO. You get one day to shop and you can have the school band play or the kids put on a play or display artwork….anything you can come up with to get the parents in. You then get a % of the sales or the library can get the % in a gift card so they can add to the library.
After years of hawking wrapping paper, potted plants, candles and other overpriced stuff to realtives & friends I'd rather just write a check to the PTA and buy the candles & wrapping paper at Costco.
Why not have an "unbanquet" or "non-selling fundraiser"? Market it like this: "Instead of hitting up your in-laws and coworkers to buy overpriced wrapping paper and silicone oven mitts they'll never use - be a part of building our new playground / library (whatever it is you're raising funds for this year) Price out things - $50 per swing on the new swingset, $25 per step on the new junglegym ladder, $250 per bench in the playground, $10 per kickball, $5 per shelf in the new library, $20 for software, etc.
Then create a brochure to honor all contributors - those who make sizeable contributions can pay an extra $5 for their name on a plaque in the hallway by the office.
It's a lot less work for the moms too!
Our school has a high percentage of families where both parents work outside the home, so they'd prefer to write a check instead of spend time selling stuff. So our main fundraisers are:
- School-wide "Annual Fund". at back to school night, reps from the annual fund committee show the parents what the typical school schedule looks like, and what it would look like without the items funded by the city-wide nonprofit educational fund and without the schoolwide annual fund (i.e., no library, art, PE, music, etc.). There's a "recommended" per-child donation for the annual fund, and one way the reps put that number in perspective is comparing the cost of private school (tuition *plus* inevitable fundraising appeals) to the cost of an annual fund donation.
- Events - Dad's Golf Tournament, Mom's hike, Fall Pumpkin Patch festival (each class hosts a booth with a simple DIY carnival type game, like bounce the ping pong ball into the goldfish bowl, cakewalk, "fishing" game, bean bag toss, etc.), other social events hosted by parent volunteers (chili cookoff, etc.)
- our school lunch program is also a huge fundraiser for the PTO - we have a small army of volunteers who help make this happen.
I've never done this but there are pizza places here where people can go on a certain day and mention the organization name and get a percentage of the meals bought. So you tell everyone to go get pizza on Tuesday and some of the profit will go to the school. You can look around to see if anyone does this. Also, Fry's Food has a card that when purchased, 10% of everything bought at this popular grocery store goes to the school etc. That way people can give just by doing their normal grocery shopping.
Our school makes a bundle by hosting a Fall Festival every year. They have booths staffed by each class that have simple games, bounce houses, silly string battle zone, etc.. Also do a raffle and bake sale. Our kids love going every year because it's so fun. We pay something like $15 for a pass for the kids for all of the activities.
My daughter's pre-school had a parent who was a professional photographer and she came in during the year and snapped photographs of the children in school, playing, drawing, painting, etc. Then the school put together a calendar, mugs, mouse-pads and sold them before the Christmas break. The parent's snapped them up has christmas gifts. They also turned one of the children's piece of artwork into a refrigerator magnet, plaque, etc that went over really good. Who wouldn't buy their children's art work?
Our organization just did the Yankee candle fundraiser it went great. One family raised $800 in profits for their family. You get 40% of profits and most people said they like doing the Yankee candles better than the popcorn and wrapping paper. They do a spring and fall fundraiser.
I get the "saving dinner" emails and they state that they have a "menu mailer" fundraiser, where your school get 60%.
Our Elementary school does two really fun things. The first is 2-3 times a year they host a "Parents Night Out". It is basically a happy hour at a bar/restaurant where you buy a ticket and get two free drinks and heavy appetizers. Our first one is this Thursday - $20/person. Children are not allowed so my husband and I alternate. We like that we get to meet the other parents and socialize.
The second one is a penny game - there are two jars outside of each classroom in the morning. One for pennies and one for silver. Pennies and checks are positive and silver is negative. The classes compete to have the highest "score". Yes, it is basically just the parents donating money but the kids love it and are involved!
Good luck! C.
Our School does a 5K Road Race called "Race for Education". We are on our 3rd year doing this race and itis usually very well supported. We also do a fun run for the young children to do. The race reg. is usually $10-15 for the 5K if early reg. and $20 on the day of the race. The fun run is $5.
My nephew's old Daycare use to do the Little Ceaser's Pizza fundraiser. You caninfo on their website. It was a great one. We sold alot of pizza and cookies with this one.
Hope this helps.
scrips.com
restaurant night where % of proceeds got to school
Class T-shirts and then designate a day for everyone who purchases one to wear it
labels for education
boxtops for education
Carrie, if you can hold out for a while they have expanded Winterfest to Thursday-Saturday. I'll bet there is a great opportunity there to do something. Sell cocoa, coffee, baked goods, mittens, something. Call them and ask.
My daughter's school did an "Italian Night" in the cafeteria where volunteers cooked simple spaghetti, sauce and garlic bread and had the KIDS work as wait staff. It was so great because not only did I not have to cook that night, my husband and I enjoyed having my 5th grader wait on us and liked seeing her in action with the other families as well. We had to pre-purchase tickets to the dinner that went toward the PTO. It was actually a great experience!
Our school does a huge shoebox auction that people love - they can put raffle tickets in for the things they want and skip the things they don't want. Saves all that door-to-door selling too! They combine it with an ice cream social so it's a community event too.
For the educational foundation, they used to do a spelling bee but now they've shifted to a trivia bee. Teams of 3 from local businesses or teams of parents get involved, many wear costumes to suit their team name, and it's pretty silly and entertaining but also intellectual in that the winners are extremely knowledgeable - so it fits in with education!
Our local Pizza Hut had something on the table about fundraising....it was something like sell a $10 book of coupons....receive something like $7 of the profit for the school, and the buyer of coupon book has coupons for 10 personal pan pizzas! Sounds like win - win to me.....but my daughter just brought home the dad gummed wrapping paper and over priced kitchen junk fundraiser brochure last night! I used to sell Avon...they have a fundraiser program also...contact a local representative.(one of my Avon friends did it for her daughter's class and they raised $1500. for the class,the principal was so impressed he opened it up to the whole school and they raised something like $25,000) It's very cool because you can sell from the whole Avon book....(adds more work for everyone though) or they have a mini brochure or 1 page fundraiser brochure available. On the mini books or 1pg they feature the most popular items, and bundle them like 3/$5, 4/$10 etc so the math is easy for kids...and the items are regular Avon products that people know and love and the price is not exorbitant, everyone can feel like they can contribute, even it it's only $5.... for 3 shower gels that they can then turn around and use for teacher gifts at Christmas! Good luck!
Our school also has a Spring bash...like some one else's fall festival with games, food etc...except that our armbands are only $5. Every classroom has a basket that everyone has donated to and the baskets go in the cafeteria for a silent auction. They all have "themes"...... Gardening is a big one with the basket being a wheel barrow filled with stuff, spa packages, restaurant gift certificates, movie baskets, sports themed baskets, tailgate party themed basket with a cooler etc. Last year we raised over $18,000 in one afternoon!
We've tried to cut back on stuff and make it more about community building events. We do an ice cream social (where people just drop donations and we raffle a bike), Fall Carnival (raffle themed baskets built by classrooms, penny games and a cake walk), a jog-a-thon the kids run, and a spring auction with both live and silent items. The last one raises the most money, as we hold it off campus and sell alcohol. I think people like to feel a part of things and have fun, not just buy or sell stuff all the time.
Also, our Dine & Donate program brings in quite a bit: partner with local stores and restaurants, each person brings in a flyer and the restaurant gives 10% of proceeds to the school.
And definitely look into the eScrip program if you're not already on it (and if you are, promote it heavily). Last year I think we earned almost $5000 through that alone.
Pizza Kits are the only fundraising things I buy! Joe Corbi is the brand I think.
A friend of a friend has a vacation home in Costa Rica and he offers a week's stay for fundraising purposes. If any of your parents have a nice destination vacation home, that might be a good idea. One of the organizations raised over $4,000 on just that one raffle item. See if parents have other things too like sporting tickets to offer up for a raffle item. Good luck!
PTO Today is a great resource . . .
I have two ideas that were VERY popular! One at a church and one at a school.
1. Hold a Kids' Sale. Use the cafeteria and hallways if necessary and rent out spaces to people who want to sell their outgrown kids' clothes and unwanted toys. The school collects the rent fees. It is a great thing to do in the early fall or spring. It's a lot of work, but so worth the money generated and the opportunity for the community to have an event like this. I think at our school they charged a $1 entry and gave a fabric tote bag with the school's name on it.
2. Hold a scrapbooking/crafters' event. Set up tables and chairs for people to scrapbook or craft. They pay for the day $35-$50 and it includes lunch, dinner, and snacks. You could also invite local vendors to donate items for drawings and possibly food.
I've gone to both and LOVE them.
If you have space how about a craft fair...very easy to set up and easy money!
