6 School Fundraising Ideas
Whether you need to raise funds for school outings, art supplies, or extracurricular activities (great memories for children), finding the right fundraising idea is key. Discover our 6 best fundraising ideas, to help teachers and parents finance their school projects.
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Organize a Raffle
Although it’s a classic, a raffle remains a great fundraising idea that still appeals to everyone as much for the fun of playing the game as for the prizes that can be won. You can organize your raffle yourself, but there are several variations to consider: ticket sales, box raffle, scratch raffle and more. In order to organize the raffle yourself, you can canvas merchants in your neighborhood for free prizes, or use ready-made raffles or digital raffles to spend less time organizing.
Use Gift Cards
For a school fundraiser, you can also use the FundScrip gift card fundraising program. How does it work? Encourage teachers, parents, and anyone else interested in supporting your school projects, to pay for their daily purchases using gift cards from FundScrip. Each purchase of a gift card includes a donation for the fundraising campaign with no additional out-of-pocket cost. In addition, participants can keep their same shopping habits, since has over 260 of Canada’s most popular brands that makes it possible to buy groceries, gasoline, clothes or even Christmas gifts!
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Sale of Organic and Local Baskets in the Fall
At the very beginning of summer (around the end of June) hire a school gardener who will be responsible for cultivating and taking care of a small organic vegetable garden for a few months, until the last harvest at the end of the season.A sale of organic baskets allows children to become aware of, and learn how to grow local vegetables, to eat seasonal produce, without GMOs or pesticides and how to reduce their carbon footprint by eliminating transportation for the products. It’s also a nice alternative to the oft-used bake sale. You can make a small profit on the selling of each organic basket - a great fundraising idea for your school.
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Prepare a Festive Meal
Whether it’s for a holiday meal, for thanksgiving, or simply to celebrate the return of spring, why not prepare a meal in the form of a buffet or even a giant barbecue that allows you to fundraise for school projects? For any festive occasion, prepare a paid lunch or supper (at a low price) in order to raise funds for your school while sharing a nice meal together. Food and drinks can be purchased or prepared by parents, children and teachers. You can also ask for donations from the nearby merchants, and even ask them to provide you with the unsold products of the week to make your young people aware of food waste. This requires a little bit of organization, but ensures you have a great time sharing!
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Organize a Garage Sale
Another great school fundraising idea, for sellers and buyers alike, is a garage sale. For sellers, a garage sale keeps us busy, introduces us to the art of negotiation, invites us to communicate, and above all, it helps us to unclog our closets of the superfluous while earning a little money. For buyers, a garage sale is an opportunity to leave with bags full of things at unbeatable prices. In these events, we find objects, dishes or clothes and books that we may never find elsewhere. Garage sales also have a nostalgic side that online second-hand sales do not have - we can touch and chat with everyone. Ask the parents to donate items from their closet for a school-wide garage sale!
Sell handmade art by your kids
Because all children enjoy creating and should be able to express their own creativity through activities, don't hesitate to have them make what may be their first piece of art. Selling children's handmade items is a great fundraising idea for a school, especially if it is creative. It's always something that touches parents who will want to preserve that piece created by their toddler. Feel free to be creative and think outside the box to impress parents! You can also add the instructions given to the children during their creation process or add a photo of the artist in action to add an even more personalized touch to this art sale.