Thinking about starting a campaign to raise money for the school you love? You’ll need some top school fundraising ideas, so you’ve come to the right place!
If you want to give your school a funding boost to be able to provide more resources and better education for students, a fundraiser is an effective way to get everyone involved. A well-organized school fundraising campaign or event engages students, teachers, parents, and volunteers, making a positive impact on your school as everyone comes together to reach the goal.
However, fundraising with the same old ideas year after year can get boring! You’ll raise more with interesting, unique school fundraising ideas that catch people’s attention. We’ve got plenty of ideas for outside-the-box fundraisers that will produce greater results for your school.
Plenty of these school fundraising ideas are COVID-safe, and others can be used once the pandemic has fully subsided. Either way, your school should be prepared for post-pandemic fundraising, to be better positioned for the inevitable resurgence of in-person events, as well as virtual fundraising opportunities, which are here to stay.
This guide will walk through our top ideas for enjoyable and intriguing campaigns for all ages, as well as a few expert tips and tricks to set your school up for success with any fundraiser. fundraiser ideas for high schools
Our Favorite Fundraising Ideas That Work:
- Most Popular School Fundraiser Ideas for All Ages
- Elementary School Fundraising Ideas
- Middle School Fundraising Ideas
- High School Fundraising Ideas
- Student Group & College Fundraising Ideas
- School Fundraiser Ideas with No Selling
Best Practices for Ensuring Successful School Fundraisers:
- Create a detailed school fundraising plan.
- Build out a comprehensive school fundraising toolkit.
- Take a multichannel approach to promote your school’s fundraising campaigns.
- Boost school fundraising engagement with strategic incentives.
- Set yourself up for long-term fundraiser success.
With these ideas and pro tips, you’ll be able to raise more for your school to help out your students and teachers and create a greater sense of community in the process. Let’s get started!
Our Favorite Fundraising Ideas That Work
Most Popular School Fundraiser Ideas for All Ages
1. Online donations
Your supporters need a place to give money quickly and effortlessly, and your school needs a way to accept those donations. Therefore, your online donation page is the foundation for all school fundraising initiatives.
Encourage sharing among donors’ friends, families, and social networks. Your school’s online giving pages have the potential to go viral—probably not globally, but among the grandparents, aunts, and uncles within your community!
2. Text-to-give
Students, parents, faculty, and staff— almost everyone at your school has a phone they’re practically glued to. Take advantage of the cell phone epidemic with text-to-give fundraising.
Donors simply text a keyword (like “give”) to your school’s text-to-give phone number and confirm the amount. First-time donors will be directed to a brief online form, while repeat donors can complete a donation with only two clicks of a button. It’s a super-easy way for individuals to contribute to the school!
3. Matching gifts + volunteer grants
If you’re interested in increasing your fundraising success without having to find more supporters or ask them to donate more of their own money to you, tapping into corporate philanthropy is the way to go.
The two most common types of corporate philanthropy programs are matching gifts and volunteer grants.
- Matching gifts: An employee makes a donation to a nonprofit, and then their employer matches their gift to the nonprofit.
- Volunteer grants: An employee gives a certain amount of their time to a nonprofit, and then the employer makes a financial donation.
Reach out to the parents and other supporters of your school and find out if they work for a company with a corporate philanthropy program. If you’re eligible to receive matched donations, provide your supporters with the information that they need to complete their match or grant and double their donation!
4. Cookie dough fundraiser
Everyone loves the taste of a warm, freshly-baked cookie. But not everyone — especially busy families! — has time to make cookies from scratch.
You can solve this problem for your school’s supporters by hosting a cookie dough fundraiser!
To get started with a cookie dough fundraiser, you simply need to find a dedicated product fundraising company to partner with, like ABC Fundraising. They can set you up to sell all sorts of cookie dough — from classic flavors like chocolate chip to fun new options like caramel pecan chocolate chip.
From there, you can sell cookie dough for your school in person with customized catalogs, or take your sale online with a custom-designed fundraising web store. Either way, all the heavy lifting will be done for you.
With a cookie dough fundraiser, your students, families, and community supporters will be enjoying their delicious cookies in no time, and you’ll raise more money for your school!
5. Pledge fundraiser
Pledge fundraisers are one of our favorite types of school fundraisers thanks to their ease of planning and universal appeal. To get started, first plan a fun and engaging event that students want to participate in. A walk-a-thon is one of the most common, although you can mix things up with a dance-a-thon, hit-a-thon, or even a read-a-thon.
Then, you equip each participant with their own fundraising page to share with family and friends. These supporters then pledge a certain amount (either a flat fee or per activity completed) that will be collected upon the conclusion of the event. This way, kids get to partake in an exciting event that also raises money for their school it’s a win-win!