Proven school fundraising ideas
Fundraising is a key part of the academic year for schools. Many schools hold events regularly throughout the school year to raise funds for charities the children have decided to support.
Fundraising can be difficult as overworked teachers and PTA members have to put fundraising event ideas into action, on top of their normal job!
As well as this, parents that are supporting the school fundraisers are also busy. Speaking from experience, it’s often a struggle to keep up with all the requirements for the school.
With this in mind, it is important to keep school fundraising ideas simple. Try and reduce the time taken to set up and maintain school fundraiser activities.
We’ve pulled together a list of easy school fundraising ideas, for children of all ages to implement in schools.
1. Dress down days
One of the simplest fundraising ideas for school is a dress down day. Children can come to school in their own clothes in exchange for a donation, or alternatively, a small gift that can then be used in a fundraising raffle.
This usually produces some lovely prizes, and gives you the opportunity to clear a cupboard!
2. Raise funds while you shop
There are several websites that will donate a percentage of your order value to a charity. You are buying the goods at a standard rate. As a customer, you are not being penalised by having to pay more as you are donating to charity.
Organisations that run these schemes include online retailers such as Amazon Smile or loyalty sites which allow you to shop at multiple retailers while donating money to your favourite charity like Give as you Live: https://www.giveasyoulive.com/
Once the user has set up their account, every time they shop through the link their favourite charity will automatically be funded.
3. Recycling drive
With the ever-increasing war on plastics and waste going to landfill there is the opportunity to raise funds for your charity while collecting recyclable items. You may choose to collect crisp bags and tooth paste tubes or any number of other items.
Why not put a collection box up in the school lunch hall?
Instead of crisp packets going to land fill they can be collected and exchanged for cash for the charity of your choice.
Terracycle have a simple user-friendly scheme available – https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/about-terracycle/points
4. Beetle Drive
A classic school charity fundraising idea is a good old Beetle Drive.
For all of you out there that don’t know what a beetle drive is:
The aim of the game is to roll a dice and draw a beetle. It’s as simple as that. The outlay for this activity is minimal and great fun.
5. Race night
Horse racing nights are very popular. there is an outlay for the DVD for the race but there are lots of opportunities to raise funds by betting on the horse. This requires a bit more administration, but the results are well worth it.
6. Great school bake off
Personally, I lack some skill when it comes to baking… but there are lots of budding cake bakers out there.
Run a great school bake off following a theme and the cakes can be judged to pick winners.
The rest of the students have the opportunity to buy slices of cake once the competition is over. Win win! Who doesn’t love a bit of cake?
7. Colouring competition
Always a popular primary school fundraising idea, and easy to weave into a seasonal piece of activity. Colouring competitions can gain donations for each entry with a certificate and small prize for the winner.
For older children, it could be to design something related to the topic or build something more elaborate. The options are endless and give children an opportunity to get creative.
8. Use your schools’ strengths
It is always a good idea to use a school’s core strength to focus a charity event around.
The Royal Shrewsbury School Boat Club is nationally recognised as one of the leading rowing schools in the country and boasts an impressive 14 Henley Royal Regatta wins.
They based their latest charity event around, you guessed it, a rowing challenge.
Not all schools will have a rowing team at hand but there are other simple activities to focus on. The Welland Academy completed our “Mile for a Meal” challenge where children were sponsored 50p to run, walk, dance, cycle or even swim a mile. 50p buys a delicious and healthy school lunch for a child at our high school in Haiti.
“Mile for a Meal has been one of the simplest fundraising events I have run. The event takes very little planning and organisation, requires limited resources and outlay and can quickly engage an entire school community in supporting a highly worthwhile cause”. Andy Jeffery-Clarke, Principal of The Welland Academy
9. Reading challenge
Reading is a key part of the curriculum and can sometimes be a struggle to engage the children.
Why not set up a reading challenge where the children can compete against each other to read the most books and get sponsored for their hard work at the same time.
Summary
School fundraising can be difficult, coming up with new fundraising ideas is tough – especially when you want to keep children and parents happy.
We hope you found our fundraising event ideas interesting and easy enough to organise yourself. We also hope the children and parents can get behind and support you!
If you need more help, why not download our free Fundraising Pack for some extra ideas and information. We’d love to know if you have any other great fundraising ideas for kids too.
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