OT-Easy Fundraising Needed for PTA

[puffkin]

I do fundraisers for my business, Once Upon a Family. It is set up as an online party and customers order through a link to that party. A % of the sales is given to the organaization. The % of sales is not as high as with wrapping paper and candy, but the products are amazing! PM me if you would like more information. Good luck!

I was going to post the exact same thing except my business is Tastefully Simple. We do the online thing as well. You can contact a local rep or myself to set it up.

 

[JohnsonsRUs]

Thanks for the great ideas, keep them coming. We are planning to do SCRIPS and we have had some limited success with the dining out at various places. Our biggest problem is lack of volunteers and the small size of the school in general.

I knew I could count on DISers to help out!

 

[JohnsonsRUs]

bumping

 

[MDTerrapin]

I don't know if these are easy ideas but at our school we have a silent auction which includes dinner, drinks and desert for adults only at a local place. We also have a golf tournament in the spring. There is always the obligatory gift wrap fundraiser but we offer parents the option of donating 35.00 per child instead of selling gift wrap.

Karen

 

[pink223]

Hi, at our school we have run into similar problems as many schools (no one wants to even look at wrapping paper anymore) Last year we tried a walkathon, very easy little expense and we made more than if we ran a catolog sale. Any student who came in with atleast a $5.00 donation could walk. (and actually we let everyone walk) Our costs included 25 cases of water at $5each=$125, also for each class with 100% participation received icecream cups, and we asked local companies for prizes. Our Gym teacher provided the music and our principal came up with our route. It was done during the day and the kids walked the route in and out the school and back to the Gym where the Gym teacher would play a song for the kids to dance to (YMCA, Cotton Eye Joe, etc) The response from the teachers and parents was great. Everyone is looking foward to this year. We were pleasantly suprised by the response from families. We even had several parents who approached teachers and sent in money for those students who could not afford to. It was a great way to get everyone involved and get the kids up and moving.

 

[barkley]

I am looking for some easy ways to raise funds for DD's elementary school. We do a basket raffle each year, but I am looking for some new ideas to raise additional funds. Anyone have anything that has worked for your school?

Thanks.

the schools near our former home did raffle baskets but instead of just having them at the school (where those of us with no kiddos never saw them) they arranged with several local buisness to rotate all of them, one buisness at a time in their locations. so one week you would go to the credit union and they'de be displayed and you could buy tickets, the next week they might be at one of the local beauty shops, the next at a dentist's office. definatly exposed them to more people.

the schools also did a 'free carwash'. they would do sign-ups like a walk a thon. people would pledge so much per car that the kids washed. then they set up at a local grocery store that donated a chunk of their parking lot on a busy weekend day and the kids had big signs saying FREE CAR WASH. it never failed that they did'nt get at least a few bucks from every car owner who took advantage of the free wash-so combined with their pledges they did fairly well.

 

[InstImpres]

the schools near our former home did raffle baskets but instead of just having them at the school (where those of us with no kiddos never saw them) they arranged with several local buisness to rotate all of them, one buisness at a time in their locations. so one week you would go to the credit union and they'de be displayed and you could buy tickets, the next week they might be at one of the local beauty shops, the next at a dentist's office. definatly exposed them to more people.

This is a neat idea (though I am not sure how that would work with our local permit laws). Could you give a few more details, I am trying to get an idea of how it worked. When we do a Tricky Tray we usually have about 250-350 baskets. Did they just select a random few to put on a display at each location? Did they than hold an event to pull the tickets? TIA

 

[BKMETV]

I'm not if this would work in your school but we have access to a kitchen during the school day and sell banana splits on special occasions. We call it Bring Your Own Bowl Days and the kids bring a bowl & spoon and we "fill it". We get ice cream donated from a local company and then just buy bananas, choc & strawberry sauce and sprinkles. We charge $3/split. The kids love the treat days.

We also have caesar salad and pasta BYOB days as well.

 

[hopesmommy]

My DD's school is raising money for an outdoor classroom by selling flowers. It is going over GREAT! They are selling begonias, petunias, impatiens, and moss rose by the flat. I don't know the details, but I would contact a landscaping company and see if they would give you a deal on them. We are collecting orders (money up front), then the PTA is going and buying what we need. So the only money the PTA is spending is the flyer sent home.

 

[ptlycloudy]

In addition to what has already been mentioned. We also do a Barnes and Noble fundraiser. This is a great way to raise money for the library. We advertised to the whole community, the local paper ran a blurb, we put it on the district newsletter, etc. We also set up a table at the store with suggested books to buy if they wanted to donate a book to the school , and the kids did a spelling bee etc. to bring in parents. B&N was fantastic and asked every single customer if they would like their purchase credited to the school. It didn't cost people anything and the school received a % of the total sales. This counts everything including Starbucks, and gift cards etc. We had kids rotating in shifts out in front with big signs that said "THank you".Any way we raised almost $6,000 for the school as well as 10 boxes of books that were purchased as donations. It far exceeded our expectations!! It really revitalized our library and it was great to see the community support. Not just the same parents donating. We were also fortunate and had a very busy Sat. at the store.

Another popular fund raiser is our school olympics. They set up fun simple events like obstacle course, sack races etc. Hand out medals and the kids get sponsers for participating. I am always surprised at how well this does, but people like to donate to things that kids actually do themselves.

 

[zoemurr]

and it has gone over very well. Of course you would need all the teachers onboard.

Each teacher "raffles" something to do with their time/interestes. They can do something simple like bake a cake, or as most did, they can give of their time. (My DD won a scrapbooking hour with 2 of her friends that they did one day before school.) Other kids won a lunch with a teacher, a special painting by the art teacher, chess game with a teacher.. etc. Every adult can make it as easy/simple as they want to . For fifty cents kids buy a ticket and put it toward the teachers prize they want to win. It was "different", had no starting $, and it was nice to see all the extra talents/interests of the adults at the school.

Good luck!

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

I just wanted to post that I got a letter from dd's school yesterday it's from the PTA and parents can order t-shirts. The design for our school is a school of fish and the writing is Your Future is in School on the front and on the back it has the graduation cap and scroll and says Class of 20** and the schools name. Each shirt is 9.00 dollars. If any one is interested more info from what the paper says just PM me and I will type it up for you.

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

the fundraiser Ive heard of are thru

Chuckie Cheese
http://www.chuckecheese.com/parties/school-fundraisers.php
Oberweis Dairy
http://www.oberweisdairy.com/web/fundraising.asp
Tyson Chicken
http://www.tyson.com/projectaplus/

 

[Lara 2]

Interested in fundraising? I have several types of fundraising to offer through Home and Garden Party and basically any type of group, for example~church group, school group, can use it. I would love to share more with you if you would like.

 

[Girly_Qs]

One I haven't seen mentioned, that I think is SUPER helpful/necessary with school-age kids:

LABELS! Such as stuckonyou.biz or mabelslabels.ca, both offer all sorts of great name labels (dishwasher safe vinyl stickers, clothing labels, bag tags, etc) and have *very* easy fundraising programs.

 

[carren66]

Chick-Fil-A has a great fundraising system. Our school spirit nights there are always a big it.

Another I read about in PTO today is holding a crop at the school on a weekend. You can almost always find one or two moms at the school who sell Creative Memories and are willing to help organize it and be there with supplies.

The great thing about scrapbookers is that they are very social and usually willing to pay $20 or so to get away for a solid 8 hours to scrapbook without kids. And one scrapbooker knows at least two others. It's not hard to organize a crop for 100 to 150 women in the school gym. A bake sale can go hand in hand with this one. Pretty simple way to raise $2000 or in one day.

 

[blackforest]

I'm not sure how they went about it, but DD6's school at her Kindergarten screening, had a table with school Crocs. They matched our school colors and had the school name and a picture of our mascot on the strap. The smallest size was too small for DD6, but I did get a pait for DD13. There were all sizes for kids and adults. I think they were $32.00 or so, however I don't know what the profit was, but they were selling like hot cakes!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

subbing

 

[imthatgirl]

every chain restaurant will set up a fundraiser night. people go with a coupon and anywhere from 10-20% of the cost of the meal will be donated to the school.

ice cream socials. get big buckets of ice cream some chocolate sauce and jimmies. charge 1.00-2.00 per bowl.

yard sale. through the year have people bring in gently used or preferably new items. the key to this one is marketing. the entire city needs to know about this.

bake sales

have a fair. make games like ring tosses, balloon popping, lolli pop trees. rent a moon walk or obsticle course, charge to get in it. chinese raffles. these are great all kids love them. get the items the same why you get the yard sale items. people are always looking to get rid of things.

 

[tripplanner]

Our elementary school does only a single fund raiser. It's a fun run. Each kids entry fee is $25.00 (those that can't afford it get to run for free). The kids all get T-shirts (there is a design contest) as well. We get local company's to sponser the t-shirts so there is no cost involved, they get the advertisement and the shirts are free. The majority of the kids participate. Parents donate water, donuts, and fruit for snacks after the run. The top three boys and girl runners in each grade get awarded medals. Parents volunteer for registration and are setup over the course. Our school is in the middle of a great neighborhood, so we can block off streets with the help of a couple of police officers. The principle runs with the kids. It's a great activity and it raises thousands of dollars every year. The best part is that it is the only fund raiser needed. The kids don't have to sell magazines, etc.