Inpired by the school fundraising thread---what are some GOOD school fundraisers??

[MrsPete]

We're getting the dreaded wrapping paper and jugged cheese fundraiser starting this Friday. I'm joining the PTA tomorrow, and hoping to eventually offer suggestions about better fundraisers out there. What are some of the good school fundraisers out there??? Are there any??

I don't mind paying for spirit wear tee-shirts and sweatshirts -- they're things my kids genuinely WANT. I like the $10 credit-card type that last a year and give discounts at local merchants. I don't mind cutting out Campbell's labels (since I buy their foods anyway -- my problem with buying things is that usually school fundraisers are junk items that no one really wants -- but I want soup!).

 

[Marla Hellwig]

Market Day was good for our elem and middle school, hs doesn't have it

HS marching band holds a 1 day Donation Day, every kid in the marching band in their summer uniform go door to door, they don't sell a thing, don't have to deliver anything later, last year they made almost 20,000 - haven't heard this year - money goes sraight to the marching band

High school participates in earning cash from Meijer's and Gordon Food Service, you apply for a credit like card - it is swiped when you buy your groceries etc and a percentage of your purchase goes toward your group - no clue on what group makes but figure I am at the grocery at least once a week -they will earn something from me -

Her year around swim team sold those discount coupon sheets a couple of years - first year they went over like gang busters - next year it was a big flop

this year the swim team is selling Yankee Candles -

 

[cats mom]

Where I live something that is really popular is the Krispy Kreme fundraisers, and everybody loves them so people are willing to buy that.

I had to laugh when I saw this one.
I felt like such a scrooge when I didn't buy the Krispy Kreme thing the neighbor kids were selling a few months ago, but as much as I like donuts in general... I just have never been able to stomach KK's.
Sure glad now that I said no since all the KK's around here closed down.


At the risk of appearing really presumtuous... I'm going to quote myself.
I posted what our school does in the other thread - so here you go

This is what we do at our elementary school:

First we ask for a $25 per person donation when joining PTSA.
Parents realize just paying that $$ upfront will knock out a fundraiser or two, so we get a really good response.

Our two big money makers are family events that are done every year.
A Fall Carnival in Oct and a Spring Ice Cream Social in April.
We get most everything donated and hold silent auctions along with both of them.

We're also trying a golf tournament and a ladies night out at the local country club this year. Initial response looks pretty good - but you never know for sure how successful something will be until the final totals are in. So I'll reserve judgement on those 2 for now.

We have never had to do a general selling fundraiser at this school.

Now if the kids are involved in extra curriculars all bets are off and the fundraising nonsense is back on.

 

[Breakfast@Tiffany's]

My dd preschool does a "basket" raffle every year, each class has a theme and parents are asked to bring in a donated item relating to the theme. Then they sell tickets to raffle off each basket.

Something I haven't seen mentioned here is Longaberger basket Bingo. My cousin swears by this, she is the president of her PTA and she said one Saturday can bring in enough money to fund half their year. You basically solicit local businesses to donate money for a basket and offer in return advertising during the bingo (as in, now we're playing for x basket donated by ABC Business). She charges $25 as an entrance fee, I think for around 2 hours of Bingo. They also sell concessions at the same time. I do have to admit that she lives in a very rural area where this might be the one and only social event happening for the day! : )

 

[Coll0610]

Here's another vote for Market Day. I would buy the food even if it wasn't a fundraiser. We also make money on t-shirt / spiritwear sales (twice a year). Our carnival is not intended to be a fundraiser but we always make money. We charge 25 cents a ticket and each ticket can be used to either play a game or enter the basket raffle. The kids win points playing the games that they redeem in the store. We shop all year (thank goodness for Target clearances!) to have items that cost a $1 or less for the kids to choose. The items for the basket raffles are all donated, so that is pure profit.

We also do the scholastic book fair twice a year and one of those times, we sell dinner (subs, chips and a drink) and make a little money there too.

The junior high sells Fannie Mae before Christmas and does well with that. The high schools also do the discount cards and those are a good deal too.

One of the schools in the area does a limited scrip program - they have a couple of local stores they deal directly with and those gift cards are available all year. Before Christmas, they offer a wider range of gift cards and suggest that people use them for Christmas shopping and gifts.

 

[texasthree]

My sons school has lost their minds and this year is having only one fundraiser, a car raffle. They are going to buy a car and sell 2500 tickets at $25 each. If it actually works they are claiming to make $40,000. I cant see it being that easy since the school has 99 kids but I guess we shall see.

 

[madge]

Scrip is a good program. Basically people send in $25 to buy a $25 gift card to their selected store and then the PTO/PTA gets back a percentage of the cost. We use Great Lakes Scrip Company. See the website and it will explain further--- www.glscrip.com It can be a big money maker if you get people in the habit. Even if not a huge money maker it is a relatively easy/painless way to bring in some extra for the school.

this is the first year I've ever heard of this program - and I like it! It reminds me of Market Day... buying things I can actually use and giving money back to the school at the same time

In fact, I need to remember to order some Uno's gift cards for our trip - we always eat at the one over at the Crossroads

 

[DebMcDonald]

As the VP of my children's school PAC, we do the catalog thing every year, it's really our best fundraiser, because the school can make anywhere from 40-60%. We've also done yankee candle's, which went over good and David's cookie dough - excellent cookies, Grandma's Pie's, and spagetti suppers with local merchants giving gift certificate's etc that we raffle off and we can make $2000 in one night.

 

[StephMK]

One we've done that I don't see mentioned is Original Artwork. It has to be coordinated w/the art teacher as they require a specific size paper though. The artwork is sent home w/an order form - you can order anything from coffee mugs to garden flags or quilt blocks. It gets sent to the company, they transfer the art & return it all in a few weeks. It's been very popular & we do it in time for Mother's Day. Very good response & good company to work with!

They also do the basket raffle & each class collects items from each student. They turn out really cute & have been given away by silent auction & ticket raffle. Our preschool did the Longaberger basket raffle & did very well. I had no idea bingo would get such a turnout.

 

[sbpuckett]

Where I live something that is really popular is the Krispy Kreme fundraisers, and everybody loves them so people are willing to buy that.

this is my fave as well. I sent out an email to all of my customers and family and ended up selling over 100 boxes in one day. Very easy and noone minded being "asked" since we didn't really have to ask. There are no KK's around here. Also, instead of the horrid overpriced junky catty's from the past we are doing a PL fundraiser instead. I'm giving the school my entire profit form the sales plus some so they will make like 50%. I could also suggest a bingo type thing but get various crafters and direct sales people involved to donate bc not everyone loves Longaberger!

 

[MsLeFever]

Market day rocks!

 

[ilovejack02]

Tupperware does an easy fundraiser... great products 40% goes to the school. Easy as pie and it sells itself.

 

[Pigeon]

I vote for the direct appeal.

No selling of overpriced crap, no wasting educational time with BS assemblies to try to get the kids psyched for selling said overpriced crap, minimal parent time involvement, no need to take time off work to pick up frozen overpriced food crap during the day, and best of all, 100% of it goes to the cause.

 

[dzorn]

This year we are selling Mackinaw Island fudge. Seems to be going great. Church did the cook book thing. Got local merchants to put ad in and it covered the cost of printing. So Everything sold was pure profit.

Denise

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

My kids have been in a few different schools, some of the fundraisers I liked were:

Fall festival

penny drive (not actually raising funds for the school, the school does it to raise money for the leukemia and lymphoma society since we always have quite a few kids at our school battling that)

selling entertainment books

selling candy bars

PTA sells popcorn after school for .25 a bag after school on Fridays, the only thing is that they've been making flavored popcorn and my kids don't like it.

Movie night at school, they showed Madagascar in the gym and sold hot dog, chips and juice. The kids brought in blankets and pillows, they had alot of fun.

 

[ktglads]

One of the easiest ones that I have heard of was done at a friend's school. They set aside a day where the gym was booked for the entire school. Each class then got 45 minutes or so in the gym where the kids were encouraged to bring in coins to do "artworks" on the floor. Once the time was up, the kids were sent back to their classrooms and the gym was cleaned up. The coins were all then kept by the school as part of a fundraiser. Even the older (8th graders) kids had a blast doing this and they raised quite a bit of money with very little work

 

[marshallandcartersmo]

OP here---love love love these great ideas!! It seems like a fund raiser is something we can't get away from, but there are a lot of good choices out there. thanks!

 

[puffkin]

I sell Tastefully Simple and we do fundraisers for organizations. PM me if you want more information.

 

[mom2alix]

Probably too late for this fall, but high schools around here hold craft fairs. Some limit it to homemade crafts, others have Pampered Chef, Avon, PL, etc. One lady was there selling homemade pies and jelly, lots of quilters, jewelry, etc. Essentially the school charges for "booth space" in the gym. The sellers have to bring their own set up. The school group handles promotion of the event (some also charge $1-2 admission) and usually they run a Snack Stand with drinks, baked goods, hot dogs, etc. (I think this is highly profitable).

This draws a LOT of community support. Everyone looks forward to doing a little early holiday shopping in the fall when these come around and the crafters like having a marketplace for their work.

 

[sacall]

I'm not sure if any of these have been mentioned, but our school does:

1. asking for a donation instead of selling - $40 per child
2. Campbell Soup labels - I think you get playground equipment by turning in labels. I hear we get quite a lot of stuff from that idea.
3. Box Tops for Education - I can't think off hand what we get, but I know we get stuff.
4. Target Visa card - you can designated your School to receive a percentage of what you charge on your Target Visa card. I think I looked on the website and saw that our School had received over $5,800 from Target. I think our school has only been doing that for 2-3 years.
5. Marketplace - I don't do this but I hear a lot of people really like the food.

I do not sell the fundraising stuff. I can't stand that junk. I usually send in a donation. Plus, I probably have given most of the Target money from my Target Visa

Stacy