Welcome to School Fundraising’s “BIG LIST”.  We have compiled what we think is be the biggest list of school fundraising ideas online.  So if you are looking for ideas for your next school fundraising activity then sit back and read our list of fundraiser ideas.  If you have recently run a good fundraiser that raised lots of money and we haven’t listed below then get in touch and we can add to our list.  The more fundraising ideas we have the better.  Share your experience with other PTA members to enhance their fundraising efforts too.  Get involved….

• Non uniform Day

 

Children love any chance to not wear their school uniform, you can turn this is into a great fundraising opportunity by holding a special dress day for students. Students and teachers make a set donation (£1) to wear something other than their usual uniforms. You can even turn this into a fancy dress event with prizes for the best outfits, no there’s an interesting idea! The children all love a non-uniform day and whilst it’s not a school fundraiser that would make a lot of money, it’s very easy and great fun!

• Bake Sale

 

Involve the children and parents by running a bake sale. The money made from cake sales can be a great way to raise school funds.  Advertise the bake sale within the school and with parents. This can encourage the children to take up baking by including a competition for best cake.

• Easy Fundraising

 

Another fabulous fundraising idea is to signup for Easy Fundraising.  Easy Fundraising send you a commission when your parents shop online through one of your dedicated links.  You can shop with over 2000 online retailers and raise a donation for your school at the same time. The cause just needs to register with www.easyfundraising.org.uk so people can select your cause on their website along with the retailer they wish to shop with, the retailer will then donate up to 15% of your purchase to your selected cause.

• Sponsored activity

 

Sponsored activities are great ways of fund raising in school while giving children a deserved break form their normal school routine. Students collect money from family and friends to sponsor them in a particular event such as a swim-a-thon where they pledge to swim a certain distance in return for donations.

• Talent Shows

Talent shows can be a great way of encouraging children to showcase hidden talents. The school can sell tickets for the show within the local community and to parents. Children will love participating and prizes can be awarded for the best act.  The kids will absolutely love this, the fundraising idea is simple but the children will love to get involved and “put on a show”.

• Christmas Card Project – A seasonal School Fundraising Idea

Another fabulous (and annual) school fundraising idea is to run one of School Fundraising’s Christmas Projects.  These are a great fundraising project and always raise large amounts of money for the PTA.  Children design their own Christmas cards (and mugs, thank yous and other gifts) they and then scanned in by School Fundraising and turned into professional mugs, cards etc for parents to purchase.  The parental prices are set by the PTA and determine how much money is raised.  In fact some schools earn well over £1,000 from these activities, as this recent post on the most profitable fundraising ideas for schools, shows.

• Charity Race night

 

Organising a charity race night for the parents and members of the PTA can be a great way of raising money and having fun at the same time. In fact this is one of the best school fundraising ideas.  Have the races sponsored in advance with the race named after them, this is a great way to get local businesses involved. Get online as there are lots of helpful websites with tips on how to organise a race night, the money raised through ticket sales and betting can be donated to support a school cause.

• Charity Car Wash

 

Charity car washes are fun and easy to organise, you can use the school car park to wash teacher’s and parents cars for a small fee. Raise awareness of your charity car wash by advertising with posters and flyers in the local area in the run up to the event.  All you need is sponges, buckets, water and car shampoo, it’s a simple way to raise funds and have fun.

• Spelling Bee Fundraiser

 

Combine fundraising with learning to raise money. Organise a Spelling Bee and compete in teams or as individuals to spell the most words. There are various ways you can turn this into a fundraising event, by selling tickets, offering a raffle or by encouraging the entrants to get sponsored per correctly spelt word by family and friends.  The words will get progressively harder as the competition develops so this can be a great way to encourage training for the event and develop literacy skills with school.

• School Fashion Show

 

Organise a school fashion evening to have fun and raise money for your PTA.

You can hold the event in the school hall inviting parents, teachers friends and family, and charging for admission. There are several companies that will run the event for you and offer a clothes sale after the show, Smartys Fashion shows (http://www.smartysfashionshows.co.uk) offer 10% commission on sales made at the event. You can also top up funds raised by running a raffle and charging for refreshments.

• Fundraising Tea Towels

 

Personalised tea towels have proved a popular way of fundraising for PTA’s. Some schools have reported great success with these and that this school fundraiser raises the most money for them.  These can be designed as a class or as a school, many opt for the children to draw a self portrait, you could even run a competition in school with the winning design produced on a tea towel. The tea towels are sold to family members, with the PTA keeping any profits. There are lots of companies that offer this service and advice on how to run a tea towel project in school.

• Social Media Money Count – Crowd Funding

 

Using your school’s social media accounts, you could create a following for your schools events/fundraising. Creating a virtual ‘money-meter’ means you can set a target and tell your followers who you are raising money for and what it will be used for. This allows for a visual target and makes supporters more aware and feel more in-part with the fundraising scheme and in-turn should increase the amount of donations made.

If you use a crowdfunding scheme as well as the visual money-meter, then these donations can be monitored by the contributors. Crowdfunding is an easy way to raise funds, however, relies on people making donations instead of creating an event or item for them to buy.

• Teacher Auction

 

This is a great school fundraising idea which would take place during school times. There would be a selection of teachers who are willing to take part in ‘silly ideas’ which include sitting in a bath full of beans, letting the student throw water balloons at them, dressing up in a funny costume to class or all of the above!

Students would be able to ‘bid’ on the teachers and whoever bids the most wins the option to ask the teacher to do anything (within reason – We would recommend writing up a list of approved ideas beforehand). There would be a minimum of 50p bids and with a maximum set-in place, so each student does not bid ridiculous amounts.
This is a fun and very easy idea to raise funds, it also creates a memorable moment for both the students and the teachers. This fundraiser can be used for the school, or can be used to raise money for a charity.

• School Lottery

 

A company called ‘YourSchoolLottery’ offers a service where they run a lottery scheme on the school’s behalf. There is no cost and each week the school receives 40% of all the funds taken from this, it is an easy idea that can be set up and monitored by the PTA’s. This can be promoted in school as well as sending an email out to the parents. Your School Lottery – Helping you put the fun into digital fundraising – Your School Lottery

• ‘Old Book’ Book Sale – An educational school fundraising idea

 

This is eco-friendly take of a regular book sale; this is an easy idea which can be set up with minimal preparations. All you would need is old books (which could be donated by the school or by students), tables and chairs and a hall or large area to host it in. These books would be priced lowly to entice as many people to buy them as possibly.
This is an ‘All-Profit’ Idea which means that there is no pay out to create this idea, every bit of money raised will go towards the fundraising target.

This event can be adapted to use old school uniform to create an easier way for new students and their families to purchase the necessary uniform at a discounted cost.

• Family Bingo Night

 

Challenge the families to Bingo! This is a fun, all ages activity which can be made into a ticketed event for school fundraising purposes, it would be a chance for families to come together to support the school as well as have a fun evening.

There can be extras such as raffles, food and drink stalls, and a photo-booth (which is as easy as giving a camera to a PTA and setting up a dedicated area for the students to take photos with each other) all of this can be at an extra minimal to the students/parents and will be used to top up the funds if needed.

• School Quiz Night

 

This idea is a very similar idea to the bingo night, it would be held in a similar way and will still be a ticketed event to create funds for the school or chosen charity, the quiz could either be held during school hours to the students or can be held after school for the families to partake. The quiz could have small prices and awards which could be handed out at the end of the event to heighten interest and encourage as many people as possible to join. This can be used along side other fundraising events such as a school fete, bake sale or anywhere that the students and their families would be there. This quiz could have a range of question which would make it suitable for all ages and not too easy!

• Buy a Brick

 

If you were fundraising towards a school building or a new addition to the school, you could use this fundraising idea to create a sense of personalization to the target. You would invite the parents and students to ‘Purchase a Brick’ which will then be used towards the new building, this will most likely not cover the whole of the cost but can be used alongside other ideas.

To do this, look into a company called ‘Engrave Bricks’ which provides engraved bricks (can you believe it!) as a fundraising tool for schools and community projects. It is an easy way to get the local community and students families involved in the creation of the project as well as helping them gain a sense of attachment to the fundraiser and project. This will also allow the students to feel as if they are always welcome at the school –especially since their name is now on the side of it! To gain a better understanding of what the ‘Buy a Brick’ project is about, please visit Engraved Brick and Paver Products | UK | EngraveBricks Ltd | Engrave Bricks Ltd

• World Book Day

 

This is a very popular way to fund-raise, this event has a lot of notability already and when it comes to advertising it should be easy to get students and their families involved! You could combine this with a ‘Mufti-day’ or ‘Fancy Dress day’ to increase profits.

The official World Book Day website has lots of resources and advice to help you run this event, this is a great chance for the students to dress up and take an interest in literature. If you combine this with other fundraising activities, you could create a whole day for the students to look back on. The photos taken on this day can also be used in advertising other fundraisers.

• Summer Fete – A summer time school fundraising idea

 

A fun, family friendly event which can be used to raise funds, you would first start a few months ahead, so it gives you ample amount of time to organize everyone needed for the event. The event could be ticketed which would be the main fund-raising way, but you could include refreshment stalls, a fund-raising bake sale, low-cost mini games – all of which will help raise money for your cause.

You could include games such as ‘hook a duck’, ‘beat the goalie’ or even setting up a stall where people have to guess the number of sweets in the jar; you would charge per turn and offer small prizes to those who win. This makes it family friendly interactive way to raise money. The photos taken of the day can then be used in other fund-raising projects.

If available, you can also reach out to local business’ and media stations in hopes that they offer sponsorship or even to offer some of their products to auction off to help raise funds. Reaching out to radio stations and newspapers will help raise the publicity of the event and hopefully encourage more people to come along and enjoy the day as well as supporting your cause.

• Raffle!

 

This is an all-round great fundraising tool; this can be used in most events as an easy-to-organize addition to help top up the funds. It is important that you encourage people to purchase the tickets and not just have a stall set up in hope that people will come to you.

The best way to do this is, to have one person walking around the events offering tickets as well as one person in a prominent spot, such as the entrance, to offer tickets on arrival. These tickets do not need to be expensive as by lowering the cost means you should be able to sell multiple at a time and therefore increasing your profit on this idea. The prizes could be provided by the school or can be sourced by asking parents for donations and even asking companies to sponsor the event.

• Skills Auction

 

Much like the teacher auction, this would be a chance for people to place bets on people and the skills they offer. Partakers could offer up their gardening skills, cleaning services, computer lessons or even as simple as helping someone with their dog walking! There are plenty of useful things that the community would be prepared to pay generously for at a local skills auction!

This event could be ticketed to help raise funds and you could include a refreshment stall as well as other small fund-raising ideas to help top up the profit made for the cause. As this would be aimed at parents and the local community, you would be able to increase the minimum bid and hopefully raise a substantial amount for your cause by doing this.

• Sponsored Clean-Up

 

An environmentally friendly fundraising idea! Rally up students and their families and encourage the local community to get involved, you would have to plan this a few weeks in advance and reach out to the local business’ and councils to ask them for sponsorship as well as asking the students to get their families and friends to sponsor them when they take part. You can even invite the student’s families to take part!

You would organize a safe area to help clean such as a creek or playground and spend the day collecting recycling and litter, you could include a refreshment bench as well as providing music to help the day be more interesting to those who attend.

This is a brilliant way to help the local community and give back at the same time as collecting money for your cause! It is also a great time to get some photos of all the good your school does for its local environment and eco-system!

• Tea and Coffee Morning

 

This can be organized very quickly and sorted on a minimal budget which means maximum profit for your cause. Students and their families can enjoy a relaxed start to the morning with their peers over cake, sandwiches and soft drinks, it is a chance for the families to catch up as well as share stories about their time at school and about the cause.

You can make this a ticketed event or free-to-attend and use the funds taken from selling refreshments alone as the profit raised. You can add specials to the menu such as Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows as well as selling the baked goods as a single unit to increase profit.

• World Food Day

 

A day where all ethnicities are celebrated where you offer up authentic dishes from each culture, you can ask families to partake or alternatively reach out to local restaurants and vendors for sponsorship for this day. This will be a tasty fundraising adventure allowing everyone to try something they may not have had the chance to try before. You can sell individual items or alternatively turn this into a ticketed event in which you provide a dinner for the attendees.  Selling individual items would allow for a greater profit as well as making it a more open event to hopefully encourage more people to attend.

• Sell Preloved School Uniform

 

This is a great way of promoting sustainability and recycling, saving parents money and raising money for your school.  It’s a win/win/win!  Setup a second hand school uniform shop in your school.  Parents will need to donate preloved school uniform for resale.  The school or PTA resells the uniform in school raising money for the PTA.  It’s a great fundraiser because not only will it raise funds for your school it will also help promote recycling and sustainability in school (a valuable educational lesson for children) and help all parents by providing a source of quality school uniform at reduced prices.

• Walking History Tour

 

If your town is renowned for its history and gorgeous architecture, why not make use of this!

This is a simple idea which uses the surroundings to its benefit, offering a Walking History Tour allows you to show the hidden gems which many people would walk past and never know existed, you can showcase your town and get brilliant photos to use for other fundraising events.

You can ask for donations to attend as well as offering a refreshment stand and even selling prints of the photos taken after to raise extra funds, alternatively you could do this as a ‘Sponsored Walk’ where students ask for sponsorship to walk a certain distance, this is a healthy, minimal cost and resourceful way to raise funds.

• Sponsor a Pet!

 

If you have a class pet then this is one for you! Take photos and videos to encourage people to support your school or cause by sponsoring the mascot! You can set up a social media pages for the animal, ask for donations for extras such as taking a photo with the mascot and having it published onto their social media page. Why not sell photo prints of the animal ‘signed’ to increase fundraising profits or alternatively you can even have small promotional items which can be gifted after a certain amount has been donated.

This will work best if you are raising funds for an animal charity but can be easily adapted to a school fundraising project.

• Supermarket Packers

 

You will need to find out from your local supermarket on whether they allow charity packers, if they do then the next step would be to sort out a Rota for volunteers. You will need to ensure there is adult supervision for each shift and that the donation buckets used to collect the funds are clearly marked, it would be best if the volunteers had jackets or shirts stating what they are collecting for.

Students would help the store customers pack their shopping and make small chit-chat while their shopping is being processed, encouraging the students to talk to the customers about the charity and what they are collecting for will increase the chance that they will donate the cause.

Reaching out to local news stations will hopefully be low-cost advertisement for the event as well as encouraging people to carry a few extra coins to donate to the fundraising project. This can be done at a minimal cost which helps increase the fundraising profit!

• Charity Boot Sale

 

There must be bits and bobs laying round the house that you do not use anymore, why not sell it on so it can be helpful to someone else!

A Charity Boot Sale is a great way to have a spring clean as well as helping other families and students, you can gather whatever you can find that you think might be helpful to someone else and set it up on a stall with prices on. It is up to the organizer to say whether all donations are made to the cause or whether the sellers take home a percent and donate the rest to the charity or school.

You can have refreshment stalls and seating areas which will top up the profits as well as combining this with other ideas such as a raffle to make as much profit as you can for the event. This will need a lot of organizing as well as a large space such as a school football field or playground, you can hire a space for this event but remember that will lower the profits made!

• Shaving Heads

 

This is a traditional fundraising idea. You primarily would ask for a volunteer, the volunteer would then be sponsored by the school, families, friends and the local community. Remember to reach reach out to the local newspaper and radio stations to gain media coverage which hopefully will bring in more sponsors and donations.

Use the school’s social media page to increase publicity of this event and use posters and leaflets to send home with the students. We would recommend having a few weeks before the shaving to raise donations.  When the day arrives for the shaving, you could set this up in the hall and record it; you could also make this a ticketed event so people that want to attend and watch would donate to be in the hall at the time. The video would be posted onto the social media pages as a last chance to gather late donations.

Depending on who the volunteer is, you could combine the shaving with donation of hair to a company such as ‘The Little Princess Trust’. Therefore helping two causes at the same time!

• Movember!

 

Opposite to the idea above, this is where a chosen volunteer – or volunteers! grow as much facial hair as possible throughout a chosen month (Typically November but this can be any month you choose!), they will document themselves throughout the month and gather as many donations as possible. You can even turn this into a small competition, both who can grow the best moustache and/or beard – Or the most hair growth ! and who can gather the most donations.

You can do weekly updates with photos and post these onto the school’s social media page to gain publicity and hopefully gain more donations, this is a very minimal in costs and can be planned with minimal time.

There can be a big event at the end which shows the volunteers shaving off their beards/moustache, this can be ticketed and have refreshment stalls to top up the funds at the end.

• Read-a-thon

 

Challenge yourself to read as many books as you can! This can be done by teachers; students and you can even reach out and make it a challenge to the local community. Getting as many people involved will increase the amount of funds raised.

This can be recorded via the school’s social media page and can even post pictures and videos of the ‘top runners’ in the challenge to increase the publicity around the event. You can give small awards to the winners and runners-up of this challenge and can make this a annual event and can be used in future fundraising efforts.

• Treasure Hunt

 

Create a treasure hunt on the school field or throughout the local park. You can make this event a donation entrance, so that anyone that would like to take part would donate what they can – which also means that low-income students will not be left out!

There would be pre-printed treasure maps which would show clues, there could be multiple prizes in the spot so that every team that takes part gets a prize. These can be minimal cost prizes from packets of sweets, paper awards and mini toy medals/ gold coins.

You can also take photos of the event and use these as publicity for the school.

• Green-Fingers Party – An Ecological School Fundraising Idea!

 

Use this fundraising idea as an eco project also, you can rally a team together of volunteers who will plant tree’s or tend to the school’s garden. This can be a sponsored event by the local community, and you can ask for donations throughout the weeks before. You can also make this event during school time and ask for donation for the students to attend – this can even be combined with a mufti-day.

Students could take away small plants from the event to plant at home as well as the school using any photos of this event as future fundraising publicity.

• Craft Fair

 

This can be an exhibition of all the student’s artwork; these can be sold to the families to raise funds. Alternatively, you can set up stalls like at a school fete where you would sell art supplies, you can invite local art high schools or colleges as well as reaching out to any art centres for potential sponsorship or even just to invite them to come along to top up their own supplies.

This is a great chance to showcase young artists as well as gaining publicity for your school and the cause you are supporting.

• Hog-Roast / Cookout Party

This is a traditional addition to any local fete; you can reach out to local butchers and ask for them to sponsor the cause or to supply the meat. This will not only convince people to source produce locally but will also give publicity for the butchers as well as the school and cause. This idea is very popular; however, it is important to have a vegetarian option available to make this as widely accessible as possible to gain the most funds for the cause.

This can be used in conjunction with a school fete or even a local village fete where you can have a fundraising stall with your cause and school.