School Fundraising Goes From Dreadful to Enjoyable

In most cases, fundraising goes hand in hand with going to school. The point of fundraising is to have added money that can be used for extracurriculars, fun activities or something that comes up that wasn’t considered when creating the budget for the school year. 

Depending on the school, they may find themselves with a very tight budget, that gives no wiggle room. This is where fundraising comes into play, as it assists these schools to give back to the students. This could be as simple as new books in the classroom, new sports jerseys or an educational assembly that has a guest speaker.

The good thing to keep in mind is that the money really is getting good use. Parents should feel confident that the hard work of fundraising will pay off to benefit their child in the long run. 

From school to school, it may vary but sometimes there is an entrance fee to a sports game, which could pay for the maintenance of the field, the bus drivers to take them to the game, free dinners for the kids if it’s a long night, etc. 

There are other instances where schools may have a flower sale for Valentines Day. The flowers need to be bought first. This means that the cost of each sale will first have to cover the out of pocket expense, and then benefit whomever at the school is selling them. Let’s say in this case it’s the Drama Club.

Are you starting to see a trend? Fundraising in schools is just one of those things that has to exist. 

Fundraising Ideas 

While you are able to use some older trends of fundraising like, selling cookie dough, a car wash, bake sales or a Chinese auction, there are some unique fundraisers to switch things up. 

The above are all great ideas, and there is no wrong or right idea that will make your school fundraising more successful, but let’s take a look at some more unique ones that could possibly get more donors involved. 

• Penny Wars: For this fundraiser, each classroom in a school is given a jar that they are to fill with pennies. Each penny is equal to one cent. However, a quarter cancels out 25 pennies and a dollar cancels out 100 pennies. For example, if Mrs. Smith’s classroom has 200 pennies, and Mr. Bell’s classroom put 2 dollar bills in the jar, Mrs. Smith’s class would be down to zero dollars. (Obviously there is now $3 in the jar,  but theoretically there is $0.) This creates the urge to want to keep adding more money to sabotage other classroom’s jar so that your classroom  wins! 
• Shoe Drive: Have all students bring in their used or gently worn shoes to be collected at a  shoe drive. There are companies that will pay schools for their shoes, as they give-back the shoes to children in need. You’re not only raising money for your school, you are helping a great cause. 
• Restaurant Nights: This is always a great event because it just requires participants to show up and order food. Depending on your community, some restaurants will agree to host a fundraiser with you, by having a percentage of their total sales to go to your fundraiser. Gather your family and friends and pack the restaurant! 
• Principal Punishment: A principal is seen as head of the school, creating a fundraiser that has them get ‘punished’ will not only fill the kids with some humor but will get a lot of money raised. Set jars around the school that accepts donations, if the donations reach the goal, have your principal do something crazy, like shave their head as the whole school watches! 

Visit Capital Business Solutions for other unique ways to fundraise for your school! 

Meeting Your Financial Goal and Having Fun

Just because the typical Bake Sale Fundraiser at your school didn’t excite you, doesn’t mean all fundraisers have to be boring and overdone. Explore the options on the above website to see what unique idea works  best for your school! Good-bye Bake Sale, hello Penny Wars!