Fundraiser Ideas for a School

Yankee candle does fundraisers, i used them when I was raising money for breast cancer and raised a ton of money this way.

We just finished ROMP 'N STOMP this past Wednesday. The kids have a pledge sheet and ask for pledges, either a flat fee or per STEP. Each of the grades have a set time (30 minutes) to run, jump rope, play basketball, walk, etc. EVERY CHILD HAS A PEDOMITER. I have a feeling they worked with some hospital to get these. It looks like something that you might get from a hospital at a health fair.

Anyway, each child has an index card safety pinned to his/her shirt (they had shirts made for ALL students on ROMP 'N STOMP day and everyone - students and staff wore. After the time stops, staff, parent helpers, etc. takes a pin and writes the number from the pedomiter on the child's index card pinned to their shirt.

They have contests for the GRADE w/ the most plege $$, most steps, etc. Local businesses donate things like free bowling, pizza, Olive Garden, etc. For every $10, each child gets a ticket to be put into a drawing for these prizes. For every $100, the child gets a chance to have a ticket in for the grand prize drawing. This year there is a bike and ipod touch for the grand prizes.

NO SELLING!!!!! AND.......they get EXERCISE!!! Everyone LOVES IT!!!

We have a Malley's Candy Fundraiser - they give 30% of the sales to the school - we usually do it around Easter. We did a Santa Shop this year - there are companies that will help you with this - all you really have to do is staff the Santa Shop and keep track of inventory. We also do a lucky lotto drawing, where we can sell up to 1000 tickets, for $5 each, pick a month for the drawing, and give away $50 each day that month, based on the ohio lottery evening pick 3 #. You don't have to sell all of the tickets to make money - we've had 2 of these in the last year, and have made over $1000 - we sold between 150-200 each time - this one is really easy to do - not a lot of work.

good luck!
~T.

http://MamaWorksFromHome.NET
http://FamilyBenefitsLive.com

Add up your fundraising goal, divide by the number of kids. $12,000 /414 = $29 per kid rounded up. Then let the parents opt out and write a check for the amount per kid. A monthly fundraiser would drive me bananas and I'd be shopping for a new school.

I've heard there is something that Krogers does where everyone is given a gift card, you put money on the gift card and pay for your groceries with the gift card. Any money spent off that gift card the school gets a certain percentag. SO people are not spending money they don't already spend, there's just an extra step at the grocery store.
We do Kids night Out or Movie nights, where the kids can be dropped off at school for 3 hours and there is supervision. We charge $10 a kid to get in the door and request parents to send in snacks. No money out, all money in.

Be sure to offer an opt out option. Always have a way people can just write you (the PTO) a check directly. 100% of my check goes right to the PTO rather than 15 or 20 cents on the dollar for the stuff that has to be sold. I hate fund raisers/fund raising - I have no one to sell to, my office bans it, and my Mom's response is "don't you be sending me any more junk to fill up my house". As far as different ideas, how about flower bulbs?
http://www.go-green-fundraising.com/flower-and-bulb-fundr...

Hi Jen,
The school my kids go did a Tupperware Fundraiser. The school gets 40%!!! It is an amazing fundraiser! The PTO sends home flyers with the students with selected items (although all the other items can be ordered as well). The flyer has items that school children and their families would use, such as, water bottles, lunch totes and other environmentally friendly items. In addition, Tupperware has a lifetime guarantee, is ecofriendly and much of it can be used in the microwave to reheat items.

Although I was not a Tupperware Representative at the time of my kids' school's fundraiser, it was a determining factor in my decision to sell Tupperware. So, yes, I am a Rep! Please contact me for more information! I actually just started!

K. S
###-###-####

Little Ceasar's Pizza had a great program, with Pizza Kits...you make your own pizza at home...check their website...My cousin's football did it and their team got $5 for each kit sold. These are great and interactive and you might want to see if you can do it for a while

EDIT
The Opt Out feature is great and I know alot of schools are doing it more and more. Remember too that if the school is a Not-For-Profit and is a 501(c)(3) registered with the IRS then the FULL AMOUNT of the checks/monies that are given DIRECTLY to the school for fundraising is TAX DEDUCTIBLE. This does not count for monies given to purchase items, in those cases it is only the amounts after the Fair Market Value of the item are subtracted that are deductible (ie $15 for a Pizza Fundraiser - $10 Fair Market Value of the Pizza = $5 the Actual Charitable Deduction) I only say this b/c IRS is cracking down alot and I know most people would rather get a tax deduction than more "stuff"

Do a garage sale. Have the parents donate stuff.

magazine orders and renewals

Five Below has fundraising offers... my daughter's preschool did one in december, before the holidays when everyone is out shopping anyway, might as well look there for some presents!

chick-fil-a

50/50 raffles

there is a book kind of like entertainment book, but it's mostly kid-related stuff. Love it! http://www.kidstuffcouponbook.com/

My husband and I used to live in Saint Louis, and there were a lot of Trivia Nights there. Don't know what those are? You can google it and get some great ideas. Besides that, it would be cool to organize something with the kids like a play night and silent auction. I know that I was in plays starting in second grade, and it was awesome!

you could try some sort of silent auction. I know some places that have each class make up a basket, something fun, like a spa basket or movie basket, or whatever and then auction them off, or maybe raffle them off?

check with local restaurants and see if they will do a "dine and donate". Your families take a flyer in and the restaurant donates 20% (usually) of the total to the school. These are my excuse to not cook at least once a month :-). Applebee's is one chain that does them.
Go to www.ptotoday.com for lots of ideas, especially movie night, game night, and other nights out.
A "no bake" sale is another idea. Instead of having a bake sale, you ask parents to send in the money that they would have spent.
Here are other ideas:
Shirts with a school logo
____ a thon (walk, read, hop, etc.)

Go to www.capecuties.com (she's also listed on the mamapedia site as a "mom owned" business in Fort Wayne, IN). This is my sister's business...all her own ideas and designs. While she does individual orders her main goal is to do school fundraisers. She has two young kids and of course has sold all the things you talk about above. Her idea is to bring something to school fundraisers that the kids would actually enjoy. Doesn't every kid want to be a "superhero"? Of course all superheros need a cape!!! It's a super cute idea...I hope you like it.
D.

***Oh, I forgot!!!**** My daughter's school does a "Spirit Night" once a month at different local restaurants. The school gets 15% of every purchase. They send home a flier each month and when you present the flier to the assigned restaurant, they know to give 15% of that sale to the school. Like last night....it was spirit night at Chick-fil-a. So, we drove thru the drive thru and grabbed dinner for our family of 4 and our daughters school benefitted from that. =0) That's a really good one! The kids look forward to it b/c it's always somewhere different. I bet if you contact some local restaurants, they would be able to help you.

Gosh....there are so many different things I've come across over the years. But, most of them involve the kids selling. I'll list some that I have been involved in and maybe there will be a few that are new to you???

Krispy Kreme Donut Day (http://www.krispykreme.com/fund.html)

Scholastic Book Fairs or Book Orders

Pennies for the Playground (jars set at front door for parents to drop all extra change in for new playground equipment)

BoxTops for Education

Campbells Labels for Education

Smartcard Sales

J.,
As an Independent Scentsy Consultant, I donate my entire commission, supply all materials and package all orders for any fundraiser I do. I'd love to talk with you about what I could offer your PTO!
J.
www.ByeByeWicks.com

Our building has a Dairy Queen night once a month where we get a percentage of the profits from that night. Other schools have had nights at different restaurants. I hope this helps.

M.

look into doing a scrip program, people buy gift certificates to thing they would already be spending their money on like groceries, gas, restaurants. I think people love when they don't have to buy something they don't really need!

I would google something involving Catholic or private school fundraisers. They are always doing stuff. I know my SIL was room mom for my niece and coordinated a big picture/collage w/each kid's artwork (all hearts in this instance) and auctioned it off during a function. I think ea class did something similar.

Right now my daughter's school is doing Reading Olympics. They get sponsors to pay by the minute for every minute that they read over a 3 week period. Most people will sponsor like $0.25 a minute or something like that. It promotes reading and helps earn money for the school.

They also did a fundraiser where they sold trash bags...I don't have the name of the company on me right now but they are really GOOD trash bags and are thick. I liked this fundraiser because it is actually something that people can use and not the typical "junk" (no offense intended by the term "junk").

Good luck.

I did not read the other answers, and you might have gotten this already, but I would suggest that you look for a local restaurant who would be willing to have a "family night" for you. We have a locally owned pizza joint and on a usually slow tuesday night every month, we get all of our parents to go eat there, and he gives our PTO 15% of the sales. We make stickers using mailing lables and microsoft publisher, and we hand them out to the teachers to stick on the kids that day on thier way out the door, then we hang a large sign at both entrances to remind parents, and put it in our news letter. We actually have two events like this a month, one is a breakfast place on the one day a month that our school opens one hour late, but it could be done on a regular day too. We are adding an ice cream night too, with the local ice cream shop. The restaurants LOVE it, and we get about 200 dollars per month with very little work. The parents like not having to really buy anything that they don't buy otherwise.

Another that we have tried is Little Caesar's Pizza, it is pretty easy, very good frozen pizza, and most people buy it. It seems a little more doable since it is a single item sale, and most people like the pizza.

I have been leading for a couple of years, and we have noticed that we do much better these days with "event" based fundraising, our school carnival, spagehtti dinner, winter arts festival, and spring cookout do really well. We are looking at adding an early summer flea market, and selling spaces on the play ground to the community to sell thier own stuff, then selling conssions and pulling out some of the games we have for the carnival.

Our middle school does a night at the very begining of the holiday season called "Shop and Dine" and they found a local steak house to help them. They sell dinners (kind of pricey at 15 bucks, but it is steak, and really good) and then they ask every bussiness in the area to come sell gift cards. The kids staff the event, and the bussinesses kick back 15-20% of the gift card sales. It is pretty sucessful, but again, it takes a lot of work and someone to go out and solicit the bussinesses.

Hope some of this works out for you!

M.

LOL... I would have done Karen B's exact list!!

For the PNO, you might also consider having that be a once a month event.

My company has a great program for nonprofits. If you would like, I can email you a presentation to listen to to find out if it is appropriate for you.
Victoria

Tupperware offers a great fundraising program ... 40% of the sales go to the organization! The products are practical and backed by a lifetime warranty from a company that's been around for 64 years. I'd love to provide more information ... www.my.tupperware.com/KJThomas

Tastefully Simple offers a fundraising option. Great company, great food, and a fun way to earn money for the school! People love the food and love to eat so it is easy to sell! It is much better than the "gift" catalogs that the kids bring home that are full of poor quality items! Contact me if you would like more details.
www.tastefullysimple.com/jhood

If you are allowed to use the kitchen and cafeteria, you could have a spaghetti dinner. Maybe time it before a big game/family conference/school performance (so families will be at the school anyway), get the pasta, meatballs, etc. in bulk, and ask parents to donate dessert.

Maybe have a school supplies sale just before school starts - put together packages of supplies for each classroom, let parents order it, and have it ready for their child (maybe include a little something special like an invitation to a pizza party at lunch that day) on the first day of school.

Hope this helps!

Scentsy!!! Wickless/flameless candles! Wax warmed by a 25-watt light bulb! Safer Candle Alternative with over 60 warmers and 80 scents. I would love to talk to you about fundraising possibities!!! www.janenebrunson.scentsy.us

Fall Festival - Each class is in charge of a different "booth" and the kids buy tickets to play the different games. Also, local restaurants bring in food (pizza, hot dogs, etc.) to be purchased with tickets. Have a cake walk (parents donate the cakes).

Recycling - My kids' school collects aluminum cans every Friday. They weigh each child's donation and keep track of the class that brings in the most. The winning class gets a pizza party.

Silent Auction - mentioned previously, each class creates a theme basket through parent donations and then parents bid on the basket that they would like to purchase. Also ask local businesses for gift certificates that can be auctioned off as well. Our school auctions off a prime parking spot that the family gets for the year.

Parent's Night Out - (this was done by my children's preschool/daycare) have activities planned at the school for students and siblings. Charge $25 per child and allow parents to have a night out. Provide crafts, movies, etc. for the kids.

Good luck,
K.

First of all, congrats on getting your fundraising started! Raising support for a worthy cause can be super rewarding. But obviously, if you're not an official non-profit, it can be really tricky finding a good way to build support for your cause.

One route you might want to consider: setting up a homepage for your group on a fundraising website. Having a group homepage online makes organizing and fundraising infinitely easier ... And though the majority of fundraising sites require you have official non-profit status, many good ones only require that you are a group - and will give you plenty of the tools you need.

For example, one good site is Meet Up (www.meetup.com), who allow you to fundraise directly to your account, and register a group without having an official non-profit status - and they cover groups around the world, while giving you some tools to do event management. But the tools they offer are a little limited outside of fundraising.

Another good option would be Empowered.org (www.empowered.org), a platform that also helps small groups fundraise and organize (regardless of non-profit status). They also work for international groups - and offer a fair amount of useful tools, like the ability to organize your group or to create volunteer activities and fundraising campaigns for more targeted ways to raise support.

Or you could always try to send up your own PayPal account to link to you directly to help you fundraise, but this is a little trickier and a bit inflexible.

Good luck getting started moving forward! Hope that helped.

What about holding a consginment sale. The church where my kids attend preschool have them twice a year. They offer two payout options for the consignors to choose. 1) The church keeps 60% of the profits and the individual consignors keep 40%. 2) The church keeps 100% of the profits. You would need volunteers for set up, organization, item sort (at end of sale), clean up as well as to cashier. You could offer to sort items at the end and have consignors pick up unsold items. All items not picked up get donated.

ADDED:
What about putting one of those paper recycling bins on the school property? Google "abitibi" or "paper retriever" for more info.

I sell Tupperware and we have an awesome fundraiser program in which the organization receives 40% of the profits from the retail sales prices. You can email me at ____@____.com if you would like more information. I have done fundraisers for all types of programs and they have always been profitable.

Stella & Dot Jewelry Sales Fundraiser
By having a Stella & Dot Jewelry Fundraiser party, the host/hostess (event participant or school) would receive a donation of 20% of their total party sales.

For Example:

Percentage Donated: 20% (from my 25% commission)
Total sold during jewelry party: $1000
Total donated towards your fundraising goal: $200

Stella & Dot is unique in the direct sales industry; there is no formal presentation and no pressure, just beautiful fashion editor coveted jewelry from our vintage inspired line.

Home show
Invite, family, friends, neighbors, co-workers. Independent Stylist C. Dofelmier will display sample pieces of Stella & Dot Jewelry, circulate catalogs, help your customers make selections and take orders. C. could even attend a fundraising event and display jewelry there.

Catalog party
Stella & Dot Stylist C. would send you catalogs/order forms to distribute to your family, friends, neighbors and coworkers. You would provide them with a due back date, collect the completed order forms and return them to C. for processing.
Online
If you are not in the Seattle or WA area, we will conduct the fundraising online.Your school's name will be entered as the Hostess (donation beneficiary) and all online and/or catalog orders filled out by individual shopper will occur online.

NB: ALL jewelry is shipped within three (3) business days and is in a gift box by Stella & Dot.
Other Beneficiaries: Surgery patients, Cheerleading/Sport Groups etc

How it Works:
If you would like to host a party, please contact Independent Stella & Dot Stylist C. Dofelmier today at ###-###-#### or email ____@____.com.
Visit and bookmark my vintage inspired Stella & Dot website at www.stelladot.com/cdofelmier.