PTO fundraising ideas?

[Claudia1]

Our neighborhood pizza parlor sells 2 for 1 cards at $10 each. For $10, you get 10 free pizzas as a 2-for-1 purchase (buy one pizza at the regular price and get the second one free). It is a great deal and very easy to do.

I think that the $10 is split 50/50 with the organization. You would be suprised at how many folks never use their card, too, so it is not a major hit to the pizza place. It is a simple "punch" card that can be easily printed.

 

[barbeml]

I don't have kids but can share some ideas from my nephew's school and other parents I know:

1. Auction Night--all items up for bid were donated by parents and teachers (one teacher donated a night of babysitting and my Dad won it for my brother and sister-in-law--everyone had a great night because my nephew got to have his very favorite teacher visit his house).

2. Wine Tasting--My DH's boss's wife is head of their PTO and we went to this event. It was fabulous. I think the tickets were $50 per couple and included the chance to try three very generous samples of some excellent Italian wines and a "heavy hors d'oeuvres" buffet (enough to call it dinner). They also had a raffle (I won the DVD player!). We purchased some excellent dessert wine, as did many others. This was a great success.

3. Another friend said they did very well with the Pampered Chef Cookbook fundraiser. It was "something different" from the usual high-calorie candy sales.

Good luck!

 

[snuggles]

Our school does a discount card and it makes a LOT of money. It has discounts at different restaurants and stores around the area.

 

[tiggerlover]

Our most successful fundraisers are bake sales as there is no cost involved. You ask the PTO members/parents to donate baked goods and then you sell them for donations. We have found when you put a PTO donation jar out folks tend to give more than if there was a set price for the baked goods.

 

[tiggerlover]

I almost forgot, another successful fundraiser for us was an "orphan" gift auction. Teachers, administrators and parents donate wrapped gifts and or toys and you have a blind auction where folks do not know what they are bidding on. It is a lot of fun because of the unknown and some folks end up with some really neat things. I bid $15 at our last auction and I won a BBQ rib dinner for four prepared and delivered by one of the school parents. We raised almost $1000.00 from this event in January (and we are a small school, only 50 students). We held it after the holidays and when we were advertising we told folks to wrap up any unwanted presents they received at the holidays....what one person thinks is junk, others may really enjoy.

Good luck with your fundraising efforts.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

We also do a basket raffel and Triva Night. Always fun! Last year for the 4th grade basket I did a Summer Fun theme. Our local Six Flags donated tickets, as did a local golf course and the St. Louis Zoo. I included some outdoor games, towels etc. and placed it all in a cooler. Very cute and it did well. Every year the teachers do a money tree. Always a winner and easy too.

 

[pammypooh]

Our big fundraiser is called "Tricky Tray". We have the parents donate items worth about $20. Then the volunteer committee comes up with a catchy name for it and packages it on a tray with colorful shredded paper and wraps it with clear wrap and puts the name tag on the tray. Some of the past trays - "At the Carwash"- carwash supplies in a bucket. "Feeling Lucky?" - $20 worth of instant lottery tickets, "Snuggle up and get Cozy" - blanket and a bottle of Butterscotch Schnapps (with recipe for hot choc. & butterscotch schnapps.)
We sell tickets to the event. That gets you in the door and gives you a set number of tickets that you can place in any of the tricky tray raffles jars that you want to win. (Always have had well over 100 trays) We also sell extra tickets for the tricky tray raffle at the event.

In addition, we have a silent auction of the bigger ticket donations - vacation homes, autographed sports jerseys, etc.

The other component was that each class (K-8) makes something together to be raffled off. examples - A book of "Our Letters to God" from the 3rd grade, a kids rocking chair with the Kindergarten handprints all over it, An area rug with the Kindergarten footprints - and the phrase "Following the steps of our Lord". These are separate tickets from the tricky trays and the parents go nuts over them!

We provide drinks and meatball sandwiches & roast beef. We ask for people coming to bring a dessert and/or appetizer - then we reward them with bonus tickets to put in their favorite tricky tray raffle jar.

Of course we also do a 50/50 at the event and last year we also did a tuition raffle.

We have an MC that acts as the host and keeps everything moving.

Sorry for the long post. Just got on a roll!

BTW - Our school is small Catholic elementary school.

Good luck! Pam

 

[Maleficent2]

Here is what we did last year...

We are a small school (270 students-public-elem-k-5) and we are new starting from scratch we had nada in our ck bk last year. We put together a spring carnival and Auction all donations, everything from hotdogs to furniture, and a new canoe.

My DH and I were the Auction chairs and the Auction netted a little over $4,000. I alone solicated donations from students families, business and alumni and we did baskets(did not sell as well as I would have liked-although others have had better response from theirs-we did have some great baskets some worth over $100.)

The other component was that each class (K-8) makes something together to be raffled off. examples - A book of "Our Letters to God" from the 3rd grade, a kids rocking chair with the Kindergarten handprints all over it, An area rug with the Kindergarten footprints - and the phrase "Following the steps of our Lord". These are separate tickets from the tricky trays and the parents go nuts over them!

We did this too my DS was in K and all 3 K painted furn. and sold it they were a big money maker!


We had a local celeb do the auction, don't know if I would recommend this I think we would have made more if we had used a real auctioneer.

I have some questions about some of the ideas above...barbeml

Wine Tasting--My DH's boss's wife is head of their PTO and we went to this event. It was fabulous. I think the tickets were $50 per couple and included the chance to try three very generous samples of some excellent Italian wines and a "heavy hors d'oeuvres" buffet (enough to call it dinner). They also had a raffle (I won the DVD player!). We purchased some excellent dessert wine, as did many others. This was a great success

this sounds like a great money maker did your PTA solicate a local Liq.store or how was this handled? Please help I love this idea!!!!


snuggles

Our school does a discount card and it makes a LOT of money. It has discounts at different restaurants and stores around the area.

this was one of my suggestions at our last board meeting would love more details on how your PTA made this one happen and what did you sell the card for etc.


Thanks OP for a great thread

Mal

 

[ripleysmom]

I always thought this was a nice fundraiser and it doesn't seem to be too much work.

http://www.humanitees.com/

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Originally posted by tiggerlover
Our most successful fundraisers are bake sales as there is no cost involved. You ask the PTO members/parents to donate baked goods and then you sell them for donations. We have found when you put a PTO donation jar out folks tend to give more than if there was a set price for the baked goods.

Oh I know that would make so much money! We can't do bake sales anymore due to the HepB disease. (waaah)

I remember doing bake sales as a kid. My mom of course still bakes like a fiend. She started them up at her nursing home where she works and they put the stop on her because of HepB.

I miss doing those.

 

[barbeml]

Maleficent2--They actually used a company that imports a certain vinyard's wines from Italy. They set up the tasting, had experts to explain where the wines were from and what foods they went well with, and sold anything from a bottle to cases on the spot. If DH's boss's wife can remember who they used, I will post. What was especially nice--it was elegant but not "wine snobby."

Incidentally, the most popular food station at the event was a "mashed potato martini bar." They had 3 kids of spuds, served to you in a big martini glass, and you added your own toppings--sour cream and cheddar, beef burgundy, and broccoli cheese sauce etc. It was sooooooo good and different.

 

[Maleficent2]

thanks for the info....it sounds great I would love to know more about it in Detail...We are in TN so would be no competition to your PTO/PTA.


Thanks again

Mal

 

[Maleficent2]

thanks

Mal

 

[Tiger Fan]

I have to say that we had a very creative idea last year at my DD's school. They were raising money for additional computers for the computer lab. They sold "Techno Toads". The little rubber frogs cost .25 each and they sold like hotcakes to the kids each day. I know that they bought these little toads from Oriental Trading for $3.95 a GROSS!! That's a profit of $32.05/per gross. I was stunned. It's wasn't a big deal for us to give the kids a dollar here and there and they had so much fun buying these silly little things. Just another idea for you.
Lisa

 

[MerryPoppins]

Our elementary does the basket thing as a silent auction. People donate baskets and classes each put together a themed basket. In fact, our Scouts are planning to do this as a fundraiser, too. I'm interested in basket themes that you can think of. I'm putting together a list for our Scouts to give them ideas of what each patrol (or family) could put together.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Tiger Fan that is cool!
You know, I don't know if the principal would go for it. That would mean the kids would have "toys" in school. How was that handled? Did the kids bring them home the day they bought them & when did you sell them?
You know I am really enjoying this thread. I love to hear all of the great ways to help the school.

 

[Maleficent2]

1.Summer Fun
2.Vacation Car Trip
3.Movie
4.Garden
5.Take me out to the Ballgame-including Lookouts tickets,Chattanooga Chew chewing gum etc.
6.Mothers day spa
7.father's day handyman
8.Doggie Goodies
9.Kitty Goodies
that is a few I can think of right now if I think of more will post in all we had about 20.


Mal

 

[MerryPoppins]

Thanks Mal. Great ideas!

 

[Cinders]

Our school of about 585 students makes thousands from our Club's Choice fundraiser. The kids take orders for frozen pizzas, garlic bread, soups, cheesecakes, pies, apple dumplings, candy, cookie dough, nuts, snack mix, cheese spreads, and summer sausage. Prices range from $5-$15. Best sellers are the pizzas, garlic breads, and apple dumplings. Their website will show you what states they service. We use the "Family Night" brochure. Kids take home a brochure, order form, prize sheet, and deadline sheet. They sell for 2 weeks, then 2 weeks later we have a product pick-up immediately after school in the gym. We line the products up (the driver and rep will help you line the products up in number order) then set up a rolling assembly line. We usually pre-box huge orders (ones over $200). The rest simply come into the gym pickup their order form and a box (provided) and start reading off their order form while a volunteer (PTFO) "fills" the box. At the end someone double checks the box and then the students have about a week to turn the money in. Prizes are only awarded once a student has turned in their money.

This is a great fundraiser and people actually buying these products since they are such good quality.

 

[Tiger Fan]

They only sold the little frogs before and after school. This was a huge incentive for the kids to get to school on time too - ! I didn't hear of any problems with the frogs at school. Emily said they were told to put them in their backpacks and take home. Each day I would remove a few little toads and even over the summer those little things kept showing up. I think we made almost $3,000 on that fundraiser. We've also done the basket ideas and those go over great as well, although I hate to solicit businesses for those. We just turned in our Sally Foster order forms today and we always do well on that too. Good luck. I'm Emily's gradeparent again this year so it means I"ll be up at the school boxing up all these things
Lisa