School Fundraising Ideas

Why do fund raisers?

Raising funds is for a good cause but can also be quite stressful to organize for a teacher. It is also important to teach children the value of giving to others and strengthening the community but also having fun whilst doing so. With the global pandemic fundraising has been made much harder, increasing the pressure on teachers to find the time and energy to organize an event as options are limited due to the pandemic. However, we have overcome this challenge and created alternative fundraising activities that are safe and socially distanced. 

Non-uniform days

These are a good way to raise money easily without much organization. It is where children get to come to school in their normal clothes but pay a donation like a couple of pounds which can help raise large amounts for charities if all students make a small donation. To take fundraising to the next level you could make it a fancy dress day and charge a few more pounds for students to dress up as a character of their choice or whatever pleases them. You could make a theme for the fancy dress day such as decades day where students dress according to a decade such as the 90s.

Bake sales

Bake sales are an easy way to raise money for charity and involve not only students but also teachers and parents can participate and bake. You can bake anything from cakes and buns to biscuits and sell them at whatever price you like. You can host bake sales at school and invite other students or parents to donate for some cakes. Another idea is a bake off where teachers and parents show off their best cake creations and people can vote their favorite by donating a small amount such as a pound and this goes to charity. Themed bake sales are also a good way of raising money all year round, for example you could organize a Halloween bake sale where students bring in their best Halloween treats and sell them. Chocolate sales on Valentine’s Day is a good way to raise money as students can purchase chocolates for each other not only spreading love within school but also giving the profits to charity.

Raffle and bingo

Raffles are probably one of the easiest ways of fundraising in school, all you need is to sell tickets at a small price and give out prizes for winners. These prizes can be anything from chocolates to an elaborate hamper of goodies, depending on how much you want to spend. Bingo is another easy fundraising game you can host at school where students and even parents can play and try to win a prize. To make this even easier you can find already made bingo templates online so you can raise money for charity without selling. A quiz is also another easy fundraising game that you can do without selling. You can host quizzes in school or even online and invite students and parents to play at a small price of a couple of pounds. Themed quizzes for example, Disney or sports can make it more fun for different ages and offer prizes for the winners.

Car boot sale

Car boot sales are an easy and fun way of raising money and giving your unused belongings to people who need them more. Instead a car boot sale can be held in school where families donate clothes, DVDs, toys and other nicknacks and put them on tables for people to buy. Not only do you raise a lot of money for charity but you can grab a bargain at the same time whilst having a lot of fun. Considering covid you can do a socially distanced car boot sale where parents post unwanted items online and people bet for them on the school website and then donate any money made.

Talent show

Schools are filled with talented children and adults and the best way to showcase this talent in your very own show. Anyone can participate in a talent show and can perform anything they want from singing and dancing to a comedy act as long as they make a donation. Considering covid a in person talent show may not be possible and so instead parents can post videos of their children performing and post it on the school website. Hosting a school disco might also be a fun way of raising money. All you need to do is set up a disco ball in your school hall with some music and invite students and families for an evening of dancing and having fun. You can charge a fee of a couple pounds, sell snacks and drinks for when people need some more energy for dancing but also raise a little extra to go towards a charity. A karaoke night would also be a fun way to raise money for those who love a good sing along and dance. You could host a karaoke night in school and invite students and families and charge them per song.

Host an art exhibition

Children love to get creative so hosting an art exhibition is the perfect way to raise money easily. This could include sketches, sculptures or even paper mache or anything to simply showcase creativity. There could be an entrance fee of a couple of pounds and owners of the art could hold auctions and let people bet on their art pieces. Due to covid and social distancing this may not be possible but instead the art pieces could be posted online by parents on the school website for people to bet on and purchase the art pieces. A school craft sale is also a fun way for children to get creative and show off their craft skills. You could even allocate a theme to each class and students will get cresting based on this theme. Parents or teachers can then purchase these crafts and any money raised will be given to charity.

Read-a-thon

Stories and books offer a really good school fundraising opportunity. By picking a book day, students are asked to read their most favorite books and stories throughout the day. Students may approach friends and family members and ask them to sponsor their ‘read’, with the more pages read, the more money that they will have to give. For more information on how to run an effective read-a-thon at a school, visit https://www.futurefund.com/read-a-thon-fundraiser/.