Fundraising Ideas

[antree]

My sisters Cheer leading group does a few a year to raise money to go to competitions. They do great at Boston Market. They also have a spaghetti night and auction. You pay $7.00 to get in for a spaghetti dinner, you get a salad, dinner, rolls, dessert {that the parents make} and soda/bottle water you pay for, Ice tea is free.
Then they sell tickets {$20.00 for a strip} and auction off baskets that they put together or had donated, after dinner.

They just had another one at bowling, you sponsor off the lanes they made baskets again and did great on it.

Good luck!

 

[5stljayhawks]

I was in Domino's yesterday and they have a program where you make 80%. The customer buys a $10 card for buy one item at reg price and get a 1 topping med pizza or sand for free. Seems like a alright deal, not overly pricey to purchase and there is alot of margin.

 

[floydfamily4]

Avon products make a great fundraiser since its things most people need and would buy anyway! I've done a couple and its worked out very well for the organization.

Dawn

 

[3mickeymom]

Pies before thanksgiving, evergreen wreaths or poinsettias before Christmas, chocolate candies before Easter, flowers(for planting) in the spring. In other words, things I would buy anyway and don't mind paying a LITTLE extra for. Around here, the teams and schools use local bakeries, nurseries and a local but very good candy shop. I don't know how much they make but they are the type of things i don't mind buying and I would think others wouldn't mind so much either.

 

[DisneyNutMic]

Our cub scouts had a softball tournament. The teams who played, paid $250 to play. We got the field for $50 for the day. We bought winner and runner up t-shirts for the whole team. We bought three trophies and the top team won I think $500. And during the tournament we had a snack stand and sold hot dogs, snacks and drinks (needed a TON of Gatorade though). We made over $3000.

 

[Vijoge]

I don't want to buy any stuff! I don't want cookie dough, magazines, candy bars, gift wrap, spaghetti, pancakes, cookware, cosmetics, pizza, hamburgers, jewelry, greeting cards, Christmas ornaments, candles, etc. But, if you're selling raffle tickets I'll buy a couple and if you stand in front of the grocery store in your uniform holding a coffee can with your name on it I promise to drop a few bills in your bucket. That's just me, though. I'm sure there are others who want something more tangible in exchange for their donation.

 

[Ericandjenng]

Last year (and I hope they do it again this year) my DS's PTA did a fundraiser where each child's artwork was put on different items like mouse pads, mugs, mini-garden flags, christmas ornaments, tshirts, stickers. I don't remember all the items available. But the great thing about this was it was personal. Yes, we still bought things. Some were decorative but some were quite useful. We bought mugs for friends of the family. After receiving the items, I made little labels and put them on the back/bottom of each with "artwork by ____"

If you are interested, I will contact the fundraising coordinator and get you the info.

 

[2thfairy]

Thanks so much for all the ideas! I now have some info in hand to take to the meeting! So many great ideas! It seems like everyone is doing fundraisers now that school started so we just wanted some ideas of something different to do.
Keep the ideas coming!!
Melinda

 

[Magical Mama]

Thirty-one Gifts. I am an independent consultant and always donate my 20% commision for all the fundraisers. PM me if you want more info!

 

[descovy]

As someone who hates buying fundraiser "stuff" (especially when highly marked up) I do enjoy buying Entertainment books...

Also restaurant fundraiser nights... where you eat, and the proceeds that tuesday night go to your group.

Our preschool one year did a spaghetti night. The bulk of the sales didn't come from those who stayed to eat, but those who took it to go. Just another thot...

 

[descovy]

I don't want to buy any stuff! I don't want cookie dough, magazines, candy bars, gift wrap, spaghetti, pancakes, cookware, cosmetics, pizza, hamburgers, jewelry, greeting cards, Christmas ornaments, candles, etc. But, if you're selling raffle tickets I'll buy a couple and if you stand in front of the grocery store in your uniform holding a coffee can with your name on it I promise to drop a few bills in your bucket. That's just me, though. I'm sure there are others who want something more tangible in exchange for their donation.

See, I'm a bit opposite. It bugs me to no end to have children who can afford extra-curriculars to PANHANDLE like street bums. Shoot, sell me a cupcake, offer to wash my car, or even have a raffle. But don't just beg for money.

I like to give to charity. Like the foodbank, the crisis shelter, etc... But paying for "your team to go to nationals" is not my version of charity. "Earn" the funds, don't just panhandle infront of the grocery store...

(btw... not at all implying that OP was considering panhandling)

 

[pennymom]

Our soccer club has a great car wash every year at the town fire department and ask for donations instead of a specific amount. The firefighters hook a fire hose with a splitter to four garden hoses. Each team is assigned a specific hour to help. A coach/parent hoses the car down, the kids go to work with sponges and a lot of fun (and get soaked!), and then the adults rinse the cars. Some of the kids make posters and stand at the corner with adults to bring in cars. Everyone has a great time, and it usually brings in a good deal of donations.

 

[zoemurr]

Not to be pessimistic, but how much $ are you trying to raise? Here we pay $65-$90 a meet each and there are about 30 boys on the team. I couldn't imagine raising enough $ to take them all to one and this year we have 8. (One of them is at Disney!)

We also have registration fees and coaches fees. (I try not to add up how much $ we pay to the gym..) No one here wants to fundraise and just chooses to pay.

I would go with something where the team gets all the $, and not selling things and only getting a %. I once heard of a team going out in public and charging for back-handsprings and other fun moves.

I'm not sure I would want to spend a lot of time if it was only going to fund one trip anyway.

Just wondering..

 

[DSNY4ever]

Maybe I missed it, but how old are the boys? Would they be willing to do a baby-sitting type fundraiser? We used to do this at our church around the holidays. Parent's could drop off their kids and go get their Christmas shopping done and we had an hourly rate and some parents paid more to be nice. It was a great one and parents loved it.

This might be a stretch, but if they could do it at the gym and the boys could supervise kids and teach them a few little tumbling things and parachute games, stuff like that- it might be a good fundraiser/good publicity for the gym...?

You would probably need the coach to be there to supervise especially if it was at the gym, but it could be fun and it could be a good lesson for the boys to watch the kids and to come up with activities to entertain them.

 

[2thfairy]

Again great ideas...I know from doing fundraisers that my kids have brought home from school that some people would rather just give money and some want to receive something. I usually just give money to the organization. I figure by the time i buy something they are only making a percentage and if I give a donation they are probably making more.
We are raising money for the boys team as a whole to help offset the price of going to competitions all season. Our meets around here generally cost us between $100-150. There are typically 6 meets. We are all in this for our boys and would figure out a way to pay this but if we can help offset this then why not. We have some families that have a hard time paying the monthly tuition besides paying extra to compete but want to do it because their boys love it.
Any money raised would go to competition fees and then any remainder would stay in the booster club fund that would help support the gym.
Thanks so much...cant wait to go to the meeting and see what everyone has come up with and what we can do to start raising money.

 

[scbelleatheart]

Reverse raffles and a "Howl at the Moon" party. Depending on where you are located, the original "Howl at the Moon" guys are reasonable to get and we cleared $8,000 each time. Reverse raffle a little harder but it cleared $15,000 in one night and gave out $10,000 in cash and prizes. I like easy, all over in one night. The catch is you have to have facilities to hold the event. Local fraternal places usually donate the use to us.

 

[cheriemek]

We did candy bars for DD's Irish Dance group. They sold for $1, and I would leave them in the break room with a picture of my daughter and an enevelope. That way I was not bugging anyone - if someone was hungry they bought chocolate. I sold tons of them.

 

[Teacher03]

When my DD danced, her studio worked a concession stand at the Cleveland Browns stadium. Most of the concenssion stands were worked by schools, dance studios, youth groups, etc. Of course the parents had to work, not the kids. Hard work, but extremely good money (we got a percentage). You had to commit to every home event, so you have to have parents that could work every game. I know other professional stadiums do the same.

 

[neatokimmo]

Host a consignment sale. Keep 30% of the sale price. Charge each consigner $5 too.

 

[hffmnheidi]

What about doing a calendar with pics of your local places(not just the kids)? Everyone needs a calendar and if it's local, people will probably be more inclined to buy them. Have a parent take the pics for you and there's no charge for the photographer.

We did this one year in Girl Scouts and people LOVE to buy something that they know they will use and is practical.