How to turn your campaign into a communitywide fundraiser.
Your students deserve to have every option open from elementary to high school. Unfortunately, it can be challenging to make that a reality when you have a lot of students and little funding. This is why fundraising for schools is so important.
Getting your community involved in giving back to its students, who are the community's future, is crucial but can be difficult — especially if you've done the same three fundraisers for the past several years. Excitement and involvement can drop off quickly if your calendar becomes repetitive or boring. While you'll always want to follow a few best practices for school fundraising, you don't have to host the same types of events all the time.
There are many ways to raise money or adapt old fundraising techniques to make them more exciting. We've included ten exciting ideas for school fundraisers to get you started and make this your most successful fundraising year yet!
Text-to-give
This fundraiser is exactly what it sounds like. Participants text their donations directly from their phones. While this method may seem new, it has been a popular choice since 2010, when The Red Cross collected relief funds for Haiti via text. If you choose a reputable text-to-give platform, all transactions will be secure, and you can start collecting donations immediately.
The ease of text-to-give (and the prevalence of cell phones) makes this the perfect fundraiser to do among parents or even among high school students. Snowball's guide to text-to-give can help you run a successful first-text fundraiser.
Social media fundraiser
It should be no surprise that many students middle school-aged and up, as well as their parents, are on social media. Your fundraising efforts can take advantage of this! There are many fun ways to get students to raise money on Instagram. You could keep it simple and have them spread the word, or you could get more creative.
For some fundraisers, individuals post a virtual "scratch-off" on their Instagram stories and then do something funny, like posting an embarrassing childhood picture, every time someone donates X amount of money, effectively "scratching off" part of their virtual scratch-off. You can get as creative as you want!
Auction
Auctions are a tried and true fundraising method that can be adapted to your needs. You can run an auction with auction items donated by local businesses, donated services, or even student-made projects. Particularly at smaller schools, having classrooms collaborate on a project that will be auctioned off is an easy way to promote creativity and teamwork. The students will enjoy working on a unique project that parents want to take home. Snowball has even more ideas for how to procure auction items.
Another bonus to an auction fundraiser is that it can easily be made virtual or hybrid with the right tools. While many people are craving in-person events, the right software can allow you to offer an option that works for everyone.
Fun run
This is a great fundraising activity for parents and kids to do together. Fun runs are another fundraising idea that can be done in a hybrid or virtual format to accommodate everyone. Consider offering families the option to do a virtual fun run around their neighborhood or local park while tracking their time.
Fun runs are usually pledge-based or raise funds through an initial registration fee. Either way, tallying the total hours run is a motivating metric of how your participants did.
For younger children, it might be a good idea to make the event less focused on time or distance. Instead, consider setting up fun activities or obstacle courses at intervals with running in between.
Balloon pop party
A balloon pop party is a unique idea that your students will love. It works by putting a prize into each balloon, like a homework pass, a treat, or whatever else you'd like. You then allow students to select a balloon, buy it, and then pop it to get their prize.
The entertainment and anticipation of revealing the prizes will keep the energy high while quickly raising funds as more and more students want to participate. This can be done as an event or folded into another fundraising event as an activity and additional fundraising project.
Host a drive
The possibilities with a drive are endless. Some drives are classics, like shoe drives or canned food drives. But you can do drives for all kinds of things. For example, if your teachers need help stocking their classrooms, a drive of classroom supplies is an excellent choice.
If you're hoping to raise funds rather than items, you could turn a book drive into a book swap where students (and their parents) buy the gently used books that have been donated. This type of drive can also be done with toys, clothes, and more.
Talent show
Talent shows are excellent school fundraisers because they're fun for all ages, kids love to show off their talents, and parents love to watch them. There are several ways to make talent shows a profitable school-friendly fundraiser. Entry tickets are probably the most obvious way to raise funds. Still, you could also consider charging a participation fee, running a concession stand, and filming the talent show to sell copies to parents.
This type of event can easily be made virtual, with kids performing their acts at home and sending in recordings to be live-streamed during the event.
A pledge-based fundraiser
Similar to a drive, a pledge-based fundraiser can take many forms. Read-a-thons are a popular choice, as are basketball shoot-a-thons, where pledgers donate a dollar amount for every basket a kid shoots. However, you don't have to stick to these ideas. You can turn almost anything into a pledge opportunity if it can be measured in time or amounts.
If your school has many clubs, have each club set up pledges for their activities? From chess games won to hours spent dancing or knitting, everyone can collect pledges for things that they already love doing.
Principal challenge
Thanks to the scenes of a pie to the principal's face we've seen in movies, these always feel a bit goofy. However, they can be very successful if your principal is willing to have a little fun. These work because the principal agrees to do some challenge (think dunk tank or pie to the face) if you reach a specific fundraising goal.
If your principal is really into it, you can set different fundraising goals associated with different challenges. Kids won't want to pass up the opportunity to see their principal get a pie to the face, or whatever the challenge may be. Their excitement for this kind of fundraiser is sure to bring in donations!
Giving Day livestream
A giving day is designated when an organization or school collects donations all day. Often, a fundraising thermometer is used to monitor the progress and share how much has been raised. Because many companies offer programs to match employees' donations, many of your parents can likely double their donations on giving day instantly. They may not even be aware that their gifts get matched! This makes a giving day a great idea to easily collect funds as well as an opportunity to encourage your parents to check their company's policies.
While it may seem like there's nothing inherently exciting about a giving day, a live stream can change that. Your live stream can update parents on the progress and include messages from the administration and the PTA. Including a live stream makes it more interactive for parents at home or work while allowing you to update your progress in real-time to keep the momentum going.
Bonus tip
Remember: Promotion is one of the most important things you must do for any fundraising event. Not promoting events enough is a fundraising mistake that can cause even the best event idea to fall flat. If you don't properly build up excitement leading up to the event and give people time to sign up or plan to attend, it won't matter how well you planned the event.
Additionally, you should be prepared to be flexible regardless of what kind of fundraisers you choose to do. If the pandemic has taught us anything, things can change very quickly. Coming up with a backup plan is always a good idea, and it's essential now.
Having a virtual version of your fundraising event-ready or offering virtual accommodations to make it hybrid is essential for ensuring everyone's comfort.
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One of the most significant benefits of fundraising for a school is that donors are usually already invested in your success since it directly impacts their children and their community. The challenge is to find exciting ways to engage this community for multiple fundraising events throughout the year.
The key to maintaining dedication and involvement in your fundraising events is constantly innovating and developing new types of events. These ten additional creative school fundraising ideas are more events your school can host to reach your fundraising goals. With some strategic planning at your next PTA meeting, you'll be well-positioned to have your best fundraising year.
Guest Author Bio
John Killoran is an inventor, entrepreneur, and the Chairman of Clover Leaf Solutions, a national lab services company. He currently leads Clover Leaf’s investment in Snowball Fundraising, an online fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations.
Snowball was one of John’s first public innovations; it’s a fundraising platform that offers text-to-give, online giving, events, and peer-to-peer fundraising tools for nonprofits. By making giving simple, Snowball increases the donations that these organizations can raise online. The Snowball effect is real! John founded Snowball in 2011. Now, it serves over 7,000 nonprofits and is the #1 nonprofit fundraising platform.
