3 Top Fundraising Ideas for Environmentally-Focused Schools

Drive home the importance of demonstrating sustainability through your school fundraisers.

Your institution is in charge of educating growing minds, and you must impress on them the importance of being sustainable. Environmental conservation has become increasingly relevant in today’s society. Going green and being eco-friendly are being discussed now more than ever, and new initiatives for protecting the planet are coming into effect.

While you can teach environmental conservation through lessons, drive home the importance of these lessons by demonstrating sustainability through your school fundraisers. This guide will discuss why you should host eco-friendly fundraisers. Then, we’ll dive into a few fundraising ideas for environmentally-focused schools. Let’s get green!

Three reasons to host environmentally-friendly fundraisers

Much like hosting any other fundraiser, an environmentally friendly fundraising event allows you to generate the revenue that your school needs. Providing new opportunities for your students requires funds, and eco-conscious fundraisers are just as effective at bringing in revenue.

Some other reasons for schools to host environmentally-friendly fundraisers include:

• Improved reputation. Showing parents that your school cares about the environment leads to an improved reputation. You’ll be demonstrating the values of your institution, creating a more positive community event, and may even inspire other schools to follow in your footsteps.
• You are protecting the environment. Conserving the Earth’s resources to ensure it remains healthy and habitable is no small task. Everyone must do their part, and your school can take the first step by hosting environmentally friendly events, including fundraisers. Then, you can expand your green initiatives to encompass other parts of your operations.
• You are educating your students. It’s a cliche to say that children are the future, but it’s true. As a school, you must host kid-friendly fundraising events that your students can attend. Leverage these fun occasions to educate your students on the importance of being eco-friendly. By learning about these concepts and forming environmentally friendly habits at a young age, your students will be able to help secure the future of our planet.

These events help to raise awareness about sustainability and inspire students and their families to implement more environmentally responsible practices in their personal lives. Remember that the first step to creating a change is acknowledging a problem—with an environmentally-focused fundraiser, you can show students that changing their environmentally damaging habits is crucial.

Three environmentally-friendly fundraising ideas

Whether you craft a fundraising event completely around sustainability or adjust your approach to make a traditional fundraising idea eco-friendly, your school has a lot of options. For example, you could host a bike-a-thon where you challenge supporters to travel by bike everywhere for a set period. Or, you could turn your next gala green with biodegradable silverware and plant-themed decorations.

To help you get started, we’ve put together a few fundraiser ideas that you can use for your school:

1. Recycling Drive

For this environmentally-friendly fundraiser, you’ll ask students and their families to donate recyclable goods to your school. Then, you’ll take these items to a nearby recycling center, which will pay you per pound of recyclable materials.

Everyday items that are perfect for recycling drives include:

• Paper. Examples are newspapers, magazines, cardboard, paper bags, and office paper.
• Plastic. In the United States, we reuse only 30% of recyclable plastic. Encourage students to do their part by collecting plastic bottles, bags, and containers to donate to your school.
• Clothing. The United States alone produces over 17 million tons of textile waste yearly, and clothing makes up at least seven percent of the total waste in global landfill space. Ask families to go through their closets and donate clothing they no longer want or need to be recycled.
• Metal. Standard recyclable metal products include aluminum and steel cans and aluminum foils.
• Electronics. As our world evolves to become increasingly technologically focused, electronic waste also rises. Ask students and their families to return old cell phones, computer parts, and printers to your recycling drive.
• Printer cartridges. Some recycling centers can recycle old ink and toner printer cartridges. Double-check that your local recycling center can accept these items before requesting them during your fundraiser.

Use your recycling drive as a learning opportunity for students and their families. For example, as they collect items for your fundraiser, show them how much waste the average household produces. Challenge them to think of ways to reduce waste and implement tactics to lead more sustainable lives.

If you’re worried about storing and transporting all the recycled goods, you can partner with an organization that picks up recycled goods for you. For example, Phill the Box helps schools fundraise by setting up clothing boxes where students and parents can drop their clothing. Then, Phill the Box representatives remove the contents and send your school a check for every pound of clothing you collect. That way, your school won’t be burdened with processing and transporting the items you collect.

2. Clothing sale

Empower your community to declutter their closets with a clothing sale. This type of fundraiser is especially great for schools because students are constantly outgrowing their clothing, which means that you’re more likely to receive clothing donations that are in good condition, just too small for the previous owner.

These are the steps to hosting a clothing sale:

1. Collect donations of new and gently used clothing from students and parents.
2. Sort through these items and determine which items you can resell.
3. On the day of your clothing sale, display items for attendees to purchase.
4. After the event, sell any leftover items to a recycling center.

To simplify the closet-cleaning process for families, lay out clear rules on what they should donate. For example, let them know what types of clothing you can resell, such as t-shirts, dresses, and pants, and what types of clothing would have to be recycled, such as underwear.

You’ll also need to promote your event thoroughly to spread awareness for the initiative. According to Swaim Strategies, the time to create your promotion strategy is while you’re planning your event. Before your clothing sale, create marketing materials asking for clothing donations and explaining the rules for acceptable donations. Establish an event timeline that gives your school enough time to process the donated clothing and generate excitement with your second wave of marketing materials.

3. Community Clean-A-Thon

You’re probably already familiar with the idea of a walk-a-thon, where participants get donation pledges for the distance or duration they walk. A clean-a-thon is similar, but instead of receiving pledges for walking, they receive pledges for the time they spend cleaning up the community.

These empower students to form volunteer groups and make a difference in their local community. Not only will they be engaged by the spirit of teamwork, but they’ll also be able to see the impact they’re making visually.

Popular locations to host community clean-a-thons include:

• School grounds
• Streets and sidewalks
• Neighborhoods
• Parks
• Beaches
• Hiking trails
• Rivers and creeks

After your event, thank your student participants and their pledge sponsors to show your appreciation for the work they’ve done. For example, you can shout out your cleanup crew at the next school assembly and send a thank-you email to donors. That way, you can positively reinforce eco-friendly behavior with your students and demonstrate your gratitude to the individuals who are contributing to your school’s fundraising efforts.

As you consider ways to incorporate an environmental sustainability focus in your fundraising events, don’t hesitate to get creative with your ideas. Filling your event calendar with new and exciting ideas helps increase student engagement and draw more donations. And it’s a great way to do your part in creating a better world for future generations.

Author Bio

Donate This Recycle That has spent 30 years helping charities strategically collect and recycle clothing and household items from local communities. The organization keeps tens of millions of pounds of usable items out of landfills annually by organizing clothing drive fundraisers for nonprofits.