Good fundraiser ideas?

[luvmyfam444]

Tell me what you've done that was quite successful?

Or even what was unsuccessful that you'd never do again (so we can stay away?)

 

[TanyaS]

Fundraiser for what sort of group? How many volunteers? Kids or adults? How much do you hope to bring in? How many hours would volunteers be able to work?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I sanction competition mud racing events, primarily for charity groups like the Jaycees, Community Clubs, etc. If it's kept to a local type of event, the ROI is usually very, very good. Ratcheting up the purse to attract traveling pros usually results in a great show, but you typically actually make less money at the gate AND spend more in the process

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VWO6Frq_GI

 

[luvmyfam444]

kids - 50 - colorguard....@ least 2k - more would be great

 

[happygirl]

I have no idea if this would work at your school.

Every month the the school gives permission for kids to wear hats for a dollar. The money goes to different groups/clubs at the school. You night talk to the school to see if you could do something like that

 

[Acklander]

Have a raffle for the parents. Who ever name is picked, doesn't have to do any more fundraising for the rest of the season.

 

[happygirl]

Have a raffle for the parents. Who ever name is picked, doesn't have to do any more fundraising for the rest of the season.

LOL that sounds like a winner

 

[luvsJack]

You are hoping to raise $2000 with one fundraiser?

The best thing we have done is sell candy bars. It sounds like the same thing everyone does but the kids sell to other kids at school. At our school they could sell before school starts and during car/bus line. We also sold them at every event we could get a box or two at. We made well over that amount but it does take time.

As for one time events, our schools have had the best luck with softball tournaments and golf tournaments.

Another idea, and one we are hoping to use next year is a street fair. Our high school is in a tiny town so it will actually be on the main street but it could also be done at the campus. Selling food, games with prizes and lots of musical acts (we are lucky to have several bands that are willing to donate their time to the school). We are hoping to raise money to finish the renovations on the school auditorium.

 

[powellrj]

I agree with the candy bars. Back when my kids were in grade school, when I was in charge we did the $1 candy bars and always did really well and it was really easy. You sell a box and bring in the money, you get another box if you want one.

We made as much with our $1 candy bars as they did with the junk sales and it was so much easier.

If you want an actual fundraiser, what about a car wash? We always did pretty well with those too.

 

[jen0610]

Our color guard fundfraising is done right along with the marching band. The easy things we do.

Car Washes. With roughly 120 kids in the band, we do 3 car washes on 1 day, spread out over 3 different locations. The kids have to do the work washing.

Restraunt nights. These are the easiest fundfraisers for us. Last time we did a 3 hour one at McD's, we made just shy of $500.00 for almost no work. The kids were there and cleared tables and helped out, but other than that it wasn't much work to be done. We just did one with Panda Express, but not sure how much we made on that one just yet.

We do "guess the number of" games at both the football and basketball games. We have glass jars that we fill with goodies that the kids have to guess the number of. We have filled it with just M&M, cookies, suckers, mix and match candy, gum, tootsie rolls. We get local business to donate items that the kids win for guessing correct amount in the jar. $1 a guess. We have had movie tickets, restraunt gift certificates, DVD's, CD's, sporting tickets, Vera Bradley bags donated as prizes. The goodies are the only thing that cost us money and the kids also win that. After 4-5 football games and 7-9 basketball games, we can easily clear $1000.00.

 

[masonjar]

(We live in a rural area)

Our varsity cheerleaders have a cowpatty drop.
They each sell 100 tickets at $5.00 each. Each ticket represents a square on the football field (and other area inside the fence). We then randomly assign the tickets to the squares. The size of the square depends on the total number of tickets sold.

The day of the drop we release a cow onto the football field. The cow does her business (eventually) and we measure whos square(s) it landed on. If it lands on more than one square the amount is divided appropriately between the squares. The winner receives $500. We don't allow noise makers or individuals near the field.

They have been doing this for years so everyone knows that the first of each summer to be ready and it is very easy to ask for a $5.00 "donation". Depending on the number of cheerleaders we have that particular year, after the $500 is awarded and the price of printing the tickets is deducted, each girl has approximately $450 in her account to help cover costs for the year.

 

[jen0610]

(We live in a rural area)

Our varsity cheerleaders have a cowpatty drop.
They each sell 100 tickets at $5.00 each. Each ticket represents a square on the football field (and other area inside the fence). We then randomly assign the tickets to the squares. The size of the square depends on the total number of tickets sold.

The day of the drop we release a cow onto the football field. The cow does her business (eventually) and we measure whos square(s) it landed on. If it lands on more than one square the amount is divided appropriately between the squares. The winner receives $500. We don't allow noise makers or individuals near the field.

They have been doing this for years so everyone knows that the first of each summer to be ready and it is very easy to ask for a $5.00 "donation". Depending on the number of cheerleaders we have that particular year, after the $500 is awarded and the price of printing the tickets is deducted, each girl has approximately $450 in her account to help cover costs for the year.

OMG.....LOVE this!!! I know some rual schools that could make a killing off of this. What a fun, easy way to raise some money.

 

[famousmockingbird]

Oh, I love a cow pattie drop!!!!! I'm also from a rural area and we had these all of the time when I was growing up!

I have to second the restaurant nights. We have a local mexican place that donates 20% of the checks to the charity of the night. You really don't have to do anything but hand out flyers and show up!

Car washes are always successful. Do you have a Krispy Kreme in your area? We used to sell donuts all of the time.

 

[Lovin' Disney]

Oh man, the cow patty suggestion is already on here! A school a couple hours away from us did this last week. However, they charged $100 per square & sold 300 squares. The winner took home $5,000 and they kept the other $25,000 for next year's booster club.

We are very much considering doing this at our school (but for a much cheaper price point, probably $25 per square or so) as we are trying to come up with fundraisers to purchase new desks & chairs for our school. They've literally had the same desks/chairs for about 50 years now and they're all squeaky and cracked. We figure if we have 1-2 of these every year, we should be able to raise enough $$ to get the entire school outfitted with new desks & chairs.

The candy bar idea is also a good one. Just be sure to get the money in advance, before you give the chocolates to the girls. You may end up getting stiffed otherwise.

One more idea is our PTO puts on a fall festival every year and we clear about $1500-$2000 between games, food, and prize raffles. It's a few weeks of work, but the payoff is great!

 

[Fire14]

Things I'd buy: Gift cards to biz I use anyway ( kohls, Mcd's, Gas cards. ) Candy bars, local coupon card( like save 2.00 on lg pizza at this place, oil change for so much at this place) i've seen at various times. I personally am not a car wash girl but those seem to be pretty good. I'd also do rest nights where you go eat at this place certain night, biz donates so much of sales. Another thing I personally love is the magizine subscrpition sales, I just renew my mags every year and in my case it's cheaper and school/group gets something out of it.
I really need to find a local school that does scrip program.

 

[bettymae1121]

My local high school's cheerleaders do a car wash a few weekends every spring. Since they do it every year it must bring in a decent amount of money, I would assume.

 

[Tosie]

DD's school Tricky Tray (basket raffle) just raised $5000, DS' school raised $11,000.

They've also done:

School Spirit wear (t shirts, hats, etc. with school logo)
Yankee Candles
Gift Cards
Market Day
Golf Outing (with mini golf for the kids)
Discount cards to local business ($5 for the card gets you 10% off at about 25 local businesses)
Bulb Sales
Entertainment books
Restaurant Nights

 

[HannaBelle]

25 years ago when I was in HS , our band sold carnations every Friday morning for $1 per stem. They made tons of cash!

They sold them before school, in the cafeteria, right out 5 gallon paint buckets. It was a very low effort fund raiser. We had about 3,000 students at our HS.

 

[luvmyfam444]

This is FULL of great ideas!
The problem is every school sells something - there are 4 schools in the area & they each sell @ least 2 large fundraisers. Then you've got 3 schools doing silent auctions - those all go to the PTC.

I was hoping to find something like Tervis cups which could be sold - since everyone totes those cups. But on Tervis' site they don't show fundrasiers.

We did the carnations when I was in highschool - but it was just Valentine grams...

 

[Acklander]

My local high school's cheerleaders do a car wash a few weekends every spring. Since they do it every year it must bring in a decent amount of money, I would assume.

Yeah, our cheerleaders do this too. But guys are willing to spend big bucks to watch the cheerleaders wash their cars. Not sure if the color guard would have the same success.