Fundraising is a part of school life. From student-led bake sales to corporate partnerships, there are plenty of school fundraising ideas to raise money through specific events, whole-school projects, or even general funds. According to the National Association of Elementary School Principals, 76% of schools host one to five fundraisers each year. And 48.4% of schools earned more than $25,000 through fundraising. That’s serious money!
Successful school fundraisers:
- Have clear fundraising goals
- Identify a clear start and finish
- Allow enough time for planning
- Maintain high energy
- Engage the community in the purpose, process, and results
- Provide space for saying thank you
- They’re fun!
Check out our list of school fundraising ideas for small one-off events that students can organize, larger events for PTO leaders, and community events that will become events that your school community anticipates each year.
Classic School Fundraising Ideas
These school fundraising ideas are good for any grade level and can be incorporated into your school community to create fundraising traditions.
Casual Day
If you’re in a uniform school, students can chip in to dress down for a day. Even a 50-cent or dollar donation to dress down adds up over time. Sometimes Casual Day fundraisers also support one specific, lower-cost event, like the senior prom or kindergarten graduation.
Opt-Out Letter
Draft a letter that asks parents to donate so they don’t have to bake, run, dance, or do any other fundraising events this year. it’s funny, gets the point across, and could be the perfect way to engage parents who are already busy.
Learn more: Hilarious Opt-Out Fundraiser Letters
Caps for Cash
Offer students the chance to break the dress code for a day—for a price! For a single dollar, a student can wear a hat to school all day long. This is such an easy idea, and you can repeat it every few months with different off-uniform incentives.
Goodsearch
This is like AmazonSmile but for a huge selection of shopping sites. It’s easy to set up the school in the database, so do that first. Then start including links to the site in future newsletters or mailings. Parents are usually happy to support efforts like these—they just forget they exist, so offer plenty of reminders.
Learn more: Goodsearch
Restaurant Fundraisers
These are some of the easiest fundraising ideas for schools. All you have to do is team up with the sponsoring restaurant and choose a day. Then, urge families and community members to eat there at the designated time. Your school receives a percentage of all the sales!
Learn more: Restaurants That Do Fundraisers
Gift Card Fundraisers
Sometimes called scrip fundraisers, these are another simple option that doesn’t require much work on the school’s end, other than getting the word out. Sign up with a company like RaiseRight, and invite people to buy gift cards from popular vendors like Target, Starbucks, or Panera Bread. Buyers don’t pay anything extra, and schools earn up to 20%. So easy!
Learn more: RaiseRight
Box Tops for Education
This program has been around for a long time, but these days it’s gone digital. Families simply scan their shopping receipts using the Box Tops app, and it automatically calculates the school’s earnings (usually 10 cents per qualifying item). This is easier than ever before.
Learn more: Box Tops for Education
Electronics Recycling
The EcoPhones recycling fundraiser collects old cell phones, inkjet printer cartridges, outdated electronics (even if they don’t work!), and more. Schools simply put out the call for donations and collect them, then send them (postage paid) to the company. Each individual item isn’t worth much, but the effort is minimal and the items can add up.
Learn more: EcoPhones
50-50 Raffle
These are popular at sporting events because they’re so easy to do. Donors buy a ticket for a chance to win half the money collected. The other half goes to the school. Simple!
Donation Bins
Ask local businesses if they’d be willing to put bins by the cash register to college spare-change donations for your school. Arrange to pick up the funds on a regular basis. Even if it’s only a few dollars at a time, this one couldn’t be easier.
Pizza Kit Night
Check out Little Caesars Pizza Night fundraisers. The company provides pizza, bread, or cookie dough kits for purchase and schools earn up to $6 for each pizza sold.
Learn more: Little Caesars Pizza Kit Fundraiser
Text-to-Give
Texts are a great way to reach families that you don’t see every day. Use a text-to-give platform like Give Lively or One Cause. You can link the text campaigns to times of year (book fair, the holidays) or to events (the color run, a pancake breakfast).
Learn more: Give Lively and One Cause
Crowdfunding
Use an online platform like Donors Choose or Living Tree to share your school’s story and collect donations from the local community. Having your story online allows parents to share the website, which can increase donations. And update your crowdfunding page often with school updates to encourage repeat donations.
Learn more: Donors Choose and Living Tree
Event School Fundraising Ideas
These school fundraising ideas revolve around an event that people can look forward to, make pledges toward, and participate in. Choose the idea that resonates most with your school community.
Trivia Night
Host a trivia night. Parents and students pay for tickets. All you need is a principal or parent to lead the trivia, and purchase some pizza, drinks, and snacks to sell. You keep all the profits.
Read-a-Thon
Challenge students to read as much as they can. You can organize this school fundraiser by student (each student is sponsored to read as many books as they can in a specific time frame), by class, or for the entire school. You can have students read a certain number of books or for a number of minutes. People sponsor the kids and donate according to how long they read or how many books they read.
Dance-a-Thon
In this “a-thon,” students commit to dancing for a certain number of minutes or hours and raise money to sponsor them. Combine this fundraiser with a school dance or parent-child dance to make it a larger community event.
Jump-a-Thon
The same idea as a read-a-thon or dance-a-thon but with jump ropes. The gym teacher can run this one with jump-a-thon competitions in each class. Individual prizes for grade level, class, and student can be awarded.
Volunteer-a-Thon
Students raise pledges to participate for a number of hours on a volunteer project. Then, dedicate a school day or a Saturday to completing those projects. Share the results on social media. This is a great way to earn money while reinforcing your school’s values.
Fun Run
Use your school’s track to your advantage by making it the start and end of a fun run. It doesn’t have to be a big race. Charge for entry, map out a short course, and make sure to have a water stop or two. You can also invite local businesses to set up booths by the finish line (and charge them a small fee).
Walk-a-Thon
If your school isn’t exactly the Fun Run type, sponsor a walk-a-thon. Students, teachers, and parents can collect pledges for how many miles they can walk in a time period. Use the school track, local walking trails, or the neighborhood sidewalks.
Superhero for a Day
Students donate and dress up as a superhero for a day. As principal, dress up as the school’s ultimate fundraising superhero to reinforce what it’s all about.
Board Game Tournament
Students and parents can register and pay to participate in a board game tournament. Create teams and brackets to keep momentum during the event, and invest in a small trophy for the winning team.
Karaoke Challenge
Students can get pledges to participate, and make it a family fun night by selling tickets to participate in a karaoke night. Ask around to see which parents have a karaoke machine that you could borrow for the night.
Parent Party
Connect with a local company to see if they would host a virtual or in-person parent event. The company gets to connect with potential clients, and you get to charge parents a fee to participate. And parents get a fun evening. Everybody wins!
Used-Book Sale
A way to reinforce reading while raising money! Collect gently used books of all types, then have students help sort and price them (or simply charge $1 for paperbacks and $2 for hardbacks). Hold your sale on its own, or pair up with sporting events or other activities.
Dodgeball Tournament
Teams can sign up for a fee, and get a local sponsor (a sports store or local trampoline park perhaps?). Host the dodgeball tournament the same night as another school event to increase attendance overall and create community.
Spelling Bee
A spelling bee provides a friendly competition, a chance to focus on spelling, and a way to raise money by having students get pledges to participate, selling tickets to the event, having a bake sale, or soliciting sponsors, like a local book store.
School Dance
A school dance is a fun way for people to get together, have fun, and contribute to their school. Reach out to parents to see if you have a deejay or decorator among them. Have students plan and organize the dance, from theme to playlist.
Mini-Golf Tournament
Build a mini-golf course, or ask a local business to sponsor one, and raise funds by having families come to play a round. If your mini-golf materials are sturdy, this can become an annual fundraising event that people look forward to.
School Gala
This is an event with a higher ticket price, but it’s also fancier. Invite parents and set the dress code to something fun, like the 1950s or monochromatic. Decorate the gym, partner with a local organization for catering, and find a deejay. Add a silent auction or student performance to this event to make it more fun.
Partnership School Fundraising Ideas
These school fundraising ideas involve partnering with a local business, or more than one local business, to provide partnership, funds, and the ability to attract more people to events through advertising and community building.
Matching Gifts
Local businesses are often eager to partner with schools because it gets their company in front of potential clients. Check with local businesses to see if they have a matching-gift program. Then, tie in fundraising to raise enough to earn the matching amount.
Corporate Partnership
Local businesses may be interested in partnering with your school in exchange for their logo on school merchandise and event banners. If you have an upcoming fundraiser, see if a local business will sponsor it. For example, if you have a fun run planned, would a local sports store donate money in exchange for being a sponsor?
No-Bake Sale
Partner with a local bakery. Pick up their day-old goods and resell them for a profit.
Grocery Store Fundraising
If your local grocery store chain partners with schools to funnel donations your way, make sure your parents know about it! Make it easy on parents by providing directions for how to sign up to have a portion of grocery purchases go to your school.
Learn more: How To Land a Corporate Donation for Your School
Creative School Fundraising Ideas
These clever school fundraising ideas are unique and fun! Tap into your school talent and come up with ideas that show you’re thinking outside the box.
Principal Stunts
Will your students pay for the chance to see the principal kiss a pig, get covered in silly string, or spend a night on the school roof? We bet they will! Some principals have raised a lot of money for schools with activities like these.
Learn more: Best Principal Stunts We’ve Seen
Shadow a Hero
In this fundraiser, students bid to spend a day (or part of a day) shadowing a local “hero.” The hero could be a doctor, nurse, firefighter, the mayor, or anyone else you can think of. Of course, get your hero’s permission before putting their name on the list.
Principal for a Day
Auction off the ability to be principal for a day. This is a good fundraiser for smaller projects, and it can be repeated throughout the year.
School Art Auction
Each class works together to create a special collaborative art project. Then, all the projects are auctioned off at a gala event to raise money.
Learn more: Unique Art Auction Ideas
School Staff Talent Show
Let your teachers, custodians, administrators, and other school staff show off their unique talents! Students love realizing the people they see every day have abilities they never dreamed of. (Tip: Offer video teasers during your morning announcements to drum up excitement.)
Mile of Pennies
How many pennies does it take to add up to a mile? Find out with this clever idea, inspired by a teacher in Illinois. (OK, we’ll tell you: $844.80!) This is a fun twist on a penny fundraiser. Challenge your students to bring in enough to go even further.
Gift-Wrapping Service
Stock up on wrapping paper and ribbons (plan ahead for next year by hitting after-holiday sales!). Then, offer a gift-wrapping service one weekend at your school. Students wrap gifts for donations per item, taking care of one of the holiday chores many people abhor. You can also set up a booth to sell hot chocolate and holiday cookies while people wait.
Spirit Shirts
Hold a contest to find the best new design for a school spirit shirt. Then, make those shirts a reality, and sell them to raise funds.
Learn more: Best Places To Buy Spirit Shirts
Family Photo Day
Find a professional photographer (or talented amateur) willing to volunteer their time, then arrange a day when families can gather and have their photos taken for a donation. They receive the photos digitally to do whatever they like with them, so all you need is the time of the photographer and a nice place to take the pics.
Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament
Students make a small donation to enter the tournament, then compete in heats until there’s one final champion. You can offer a cash prize or other options like homework passes, pizza for lunch, etc. Break it down like this: First, students compete in their classrooms or homerooms to find a winner in each. Then, those winners face off in a public competition assembly. The competition can be fierce!
Paint the Tiles
Chances are your school ceilings are made of those lightweight tiles. Turn them into works of art with this unique idea! For a donation, families get one tile to decorate any way they like. Put them back up, and you’ll have a colorfully decorated school in addition to some extra funds.
Haunted House
Turn your school’s classrooms into a Halloween adventure. Students will have fun coming up with themes and decorations, and they can serve as guides or scary monsters too.
Teachers vs. Students Game
Whether it’s basketball, softball, or trivia, anything that pits teachers against students is sure to be a hit! Charge admission for the game, and don’t forget to set up a concession stand.
Recipe Book
Ask students and their families to contribute their favorite recipes, then combine them into one big school cookbook to sell. Make it even more special by asking talented students to illustrate some of the dishes, or include photos instead.
Rubber Ducky Race
You’ll need a moving body of water for this fun fundraising idea, and a whole lot of rubber ducks! Participants purchase a duck and write their name or number on the bottom. Then, all the ducks are set loose at the beginning of the course. The first one to cross the finish line wins! Offer a cash prize, or get a local business to donate a prize instead.
Buy it: Rubber Ducks at Amazon
School Anthology
Gather up your students’ best writing into one beautiful volume, and offer it for sale to parents, families, and the wider community. This is a lasting way to share students’ talents and gifts, while raising money for your school at the same time.
Community School Fundraising Ideas
Go beyond parents and grandparents and invite the whole community to participate! These school fundraising event ideas can also be a great way to show off your school to neighbors and families without kids.
Sales Fundraisers
Choose an item that you think will sell well in your community and have students sell anything from candy to coupon books for movies. Tie the fundraising sales into the curriculum by having students write their sales pitch, engage in presentation practice, and calculate how much they’ve earned so far.
Here are options for sales fundraisers:
Raffle
This is an old standard fundraiser, but it remains popular for a reason. Make yours special by raffling off something unique, like dinner with a local celebrity or a VIP experience at a local attraction.
Student Artwork Store
Have students make decorations for fall, the holidays, or another event. Then, create an online platform for parents to purchase the art they like best.
Fundraising Meals
Invite the community to join you for a pancake breakfast, spaghetti supper, or chili dinner! These are especially effective when you hold them right before a major event like a football game. Get students and parents involved in the preparation and cleanup, and ask local businesses to donate ingredients and other supplies.
Raise Craze
Raise Craze is focused on helping private schools raise money. Their online platform allows you to set up a website and host a fundraiser that involves completing acts of kindness. Those acts of kindness add up to money for schools.
Learn more: Raise Craze
Craft Sale
Have students make crafts as part of their art class or classroom activities. Then, hold a sale so the community can come and buy their wares. Try these around the holidays, when kids can make tree ornaments, or as a school spirit fundraiser with items made to celebrate your institution.
School Cookbook
This is a great fundraiser if you have a diverse student body. Students submit recipes that showcase their favorite foods. Then, print and bind them into cookbooks and sell them at school events.
Car Wash
This is another standard favorite, one that’s perfect for the warm days at the beginning or end of the school year. Here’s another idea: Set up a self-cleaning station near your school’s pickup/drop-off line. Provide trash cans, a shop vac or two, and some window cleaner and cloths. Parents can give the inside of their car a once-over while they wait for their kids, and donate a few dollars when they do.
Silent Auction
Silent auctions are fun and generally much easier than a live auction because you don’t need an auctioneer. Gather a variety of items from donors, then set them up on tables with bidding sheets nearby. Participants have a set amount of time to circulate and make their bids, perhaps while enjoying snacks or entertainment. When the time is up, the highest bidder on each item wins.
Multicultural Fair
This is a nice way to bring in some extra cash and celebrate your community’s diversity at the same time. Students can display their own culture’s favorite foods, customs, music, dances, and more. Charge admission for entry, or have booths where guests can buy treats or souvenirs.
Bingo Night
The classic kids game takes on a whole new personality when you pair it with exciting prizes! Make money from this popular entertainment by charging participants by the card.
Movie Night
Show a movie in your auditorium, or host an outdoor screening in nice weather. Charge admission, and sell concessions like popcorn, candy, and other treats too. (You may need a license for this fundraiser; learn more here.)
Concession Stand
Whenever groups gather, set up a concession stand nearby! Think athletic events, concert intermissions, and even PTA meetings.
Donor Wall or Fence
Local businesses make a donation and earn a spot on your donor wall or fence. They can hang a banner, paint a brick, or add a stepping stone—whatever works for your location.
Painted Rock
If you have a large rock (or wall or something else that can be painted over and over) outside your school, allow parents to rent the rock. They pay a fee to paint the rock on a set date, often a child’s birthday.
Dog Wash
Set up dog wash stations and recruit students who love to get soapy. Set a sliding scale for each dog wash—a pug would cost less than a Great Dane, for example.
Community Yard Sale
You can do this in one of two ways: Collect items from donors, then get students to volunteer to help sort, tag, and sell them at a massive sale. Or sell individual tables or spaces for a small amount ($10 to $25 each). Participants bring and sell their own items, taking home any extra profits for themselves. (Tip: This is a great way to get rid of items that have built up in the school lost and found!)
Farmers Market
Host a farmers market on school grounds. This is a great way to get local companies involved. Reach out to parents, local businesses, and, if you have them, local farmers, to come and sell everything from produce to honey to baked goods. You charge a fee for use of your parking lot.
Bake Sale and Bake-Off
This is an old standby, but many people still love them. Make it even more exciting by combining it with a bake-off event. People buy tickets that allow them to sample the goodies and cast their votes. Yum!
Iron Chef Bake Sale
Instead of a typical bake sale, do an Iron Chef bake sale. Choose a secret ingredient (cayenne pepper, zucchini, etc.) and tell everyone that their baked good has to have that ingredient. Then, students purchase items to try. Include a space to vote for the best item.
Carnival
We won’t lie: This takes a lot of work. But it’s so much fun! Turn each classroom into a different “carnival booth,” with food for sale, entertainment, or games with small prizes. Sell tickets that folks can use to visit each room, or charge admission at the door to cover all the activities.
Yearbook Pages
Raise money by having pages in the yearbook that local companies and parents can purchase. Local businesses will submit ads, and parents submit notes and photo collages of their students.
Naming Rights
This is the ultimate in sponsorship—the ability to name an auditorium, sports field, library, or other school facility. This can be for a year or for all time. Just price your sponsorships accordingly. Open it up to businesses, organizations, foundations, or families.
Penny Wars
A penny war, or coin drive, is easy to organize and creates friendly competition between grades or classes. Each classroom or grade gets a large jar. Students bring in change from home over a week or two. At the end, the class with the most money earns a prize. You can also make this more challenging by having coins be positive points and negative points, and allowing students to drop coins in their competitors’ jars. So, if nickels are worth negative five and grade 1 has 100 pennies, but grade 2 drops two nickels into their jar, grade 1’s “total” would go down to 90.
Service Auction
Students volunteer their time to complete chores or other activities for bidders. For instance, a student might offer up three hours of yard work, an afternoon of housecleaning, five beginner piano lessons, or a night of babysitting. This combines service learning with fundraising and gives students a sense of ownership.
Guessing Jar
Get a large clear jar and fill it with candy, beads, marbles, or any other small item. Keep the jar in one area of the school (the cafeteria, a well-traveled hallway, the front office) and have students guess how many items are in the jar. Students can guess for a fee ($1 for three guesses, for example). Put all the tickets in a jar. Then, randomly choose five tickets. Order the tickets from the closest to the furthest guess and have prizes for each winner.
Plant Sale
Start plants from seeds, or purchase them wholesale from a local grower. Then spend a spring day selling those plants to raise money for your school.
Pumpkin Patch
Work with a local farm to sell pumpkins and other fall squash in your field. Families can get all their Halloween jack-o’-lantern needs and you earn profits.
Christmas Tree Fundraiser
Another seasonal fundraiser, bring in trees and wreaths and let parents know when to come and shop for their holiday trees. (Plus, the air around your school will smell amazing!)
Parking Fundraiser
If your school happens to be close to a community center, like a baseball field, a convention center, or another event space that requires parking, organize parents to direct cars into your parking lot and field, and collect a fee for every car parked.
School Performance
Turn your school play into a fundraiser by selling tickets (depending on the population of your school, consider giving a number of free tickets and having families buy extras to make sure that every family can come). You can also sell photos with the performers after the show, or sell concessions to earn money.
Lunch and Learn
Find out what your school community is interested in learning about (video games, raising kind kids, etc.) and bring in a local expert. Parents pay to attend. Or the speaker can be geared toward kids, and students can pay to have lunch with the local expert.
Screen-Free Week
Have parents sponsor screen-free time. Families pay pledges for every hour their kids spend off screens. Make this a whole-school event by hosting after-school activities and an end-of-the week carnival to celebrate time together, and make more money.
School Spirit Store
Set up an in-person or online school spirit store. Have students create designs for T-shirts, sweatshirts, stickers, water bottles, and more school merch. Then, sell it for an upcharge that profits the school.
Elementary School Fundraising Ideas
These school fundraising ideas are best for elementary students, who love the energy and commitment but aren’t ready to organize like middle and high schoolers.
Letter-Writing Campaign
Have kids write a letter about what the school is raising funds for and why. Then, share their letters on social media and with parents and the community to raise funds.
Pajama Day
Students can pay a small fee to wear pajamas to school. Pair this fundraiser with a pancake breakfast or waffle Wednesday to raise even more money.
Parents’ Night Out
Get teacher or parent volunteers to host a parents’ night out. Parents pay a fee for children to stay and be supervised and entertained for a few hours. Plan fun activities for the kids, and build community with parents who appreciate the opportunity to run errands or go to dinner while their kids are entertained.
Classroom Decorating Challenge
Choose a theme, and challenge students to decorate their classroom. Parents can buy tickets to attend a gallery night and can use their entry ticket to vote for their favorite classroom. The winning classroom can earn lunch with the principal or another prize.
Family Day
Invite families to the school for a few hours. Parents can visit classrooms and have lunch with their children. Have a photo corner for parents to take pictures with their kids, and have games set up around the gym. Parents can contribute to tickets, pay for pictures, and chip in for games.
School Sleep-Under
Similar to parents’ night out, turn the gym into a sleep-under. Students bring their sleeping bags and snacks to share. They play games and watch a movie. Parents pay for students to participate.
Toy Makeover
Have students bring in old toys and give each toy a makeover. Then, post the toys on social media and have people bid for the best toy makeover. The school gets the proceeds and the winning toy can be put on display.
Middle School Fundraising Ideas
Middle schoolers have all the enthusiasm but none of the planning skills. Harness their energy and help them plan one of these school fundraising ideas.
Color Run
Like a Fun Run but with color. Create a track for students to run around. Students raise money for each lap they can run. So, parents may sponsor them for $1 a lap. And as students run, teachers throw colored chalk on them—the more laps they run, the more covered in chalk they are.
Buy it: Colored Powder for Events
Scavenger Hunt
Students form teams and have a set amount of time to complete a scavenger hunt using clues. Students earn money by getting sponsored for how many clues they solve. This is a great fundraiser to tie in with academic content.
Poetry Slam
A great middle or high school event, students can prepare in ELA classes and either write their own poetry or practice delivering a famous poem. Then, charge admission fees and take the opportunity to have a silent auction or another fundraising opportunity at the same time.
Check out this Free Poetry Bundle to get students writing, or check out Robert Frost poems or Emily Dickinson poems for students to orate.
High School Fundraising Ideas
Organizing and leading a car wash is a great opportunity for students in an economics class, or a grade level, to learn how to plan and manage an event. Students figure out the up-front cost to purchase buckets, soap, sponges, and more. Then, figure out what they need to charge to make back those costs plus make money for the school.
Cook-Off
Instead of a bake sale, have students compete in a cook-off. Students are given a set of ingredients and have to make a dish. Then judges decide who wins. The fundraising comes in when students and parents buy tickets to attend. Or see if a local restaurant or grocery store is interested in sponsoring the event.
Prom Dress Drive
A prom dress drive raises money by selling gently used prom dresses. Collect prom dress donations a few months before prom season and publicize the event. Proceeds from dress sales go to the school.
Auction Off Parking Spots
For high school students, auction off a parking spot. Choose a few parking spots that you don’t mind reserving and auction them in a live auction or silent auction. Consider putting a cap on the price, or hosting multiple auctions so more students can participate.
Candygrams
Print hearts and attach a piece of candy. Students buy the hearts, write a friend’s name on them, and the student council (or student reps) deliver the candy grams at a set time of day.
Red Roses
Similar to candygrams, students buy single roses that are distributed to friends and crushes during Valentine’s Day week. You can also align this fundraiser with another week in the year, like when the juniors read Romeo and Juliet or in January for the Rose Bowl.
Study-a-Thon
When it’s finals, SAT, ACT, and AP test time, sponsor a study-a-thon to add some excitement to what students have to do anyway. Students can gather pledges and earn money for every hour studying or working on college essays.