I Need High School Fundraising Ideas!

[BrianaK]

My school is trying to raise money for our exchange program. So far we're selling wreaths, pampered chef, standing outside of stores and yankee candle. Anymore idea's? I'm new to this whole fundraising thing...

[Hypnotic Exotic]

I've had a lot of discussions with people about how schools do these holiday catalog things with gift wrap, kitchen utensels, etc. My son recently brought one home and we sold absolutely nothing. The way to go with fundraisers is cookies and candy, period. Just look at the Girl Scouts. Probably the most successful fundraiser of it's type is their cookies.

[Alexandra V]

x2 for the food. Try a bake sale or something!

[JLC]

Check local restaurants and see if they are willing to sponsor your school's project. Usually what they will do is set aside a specific night where some percentage of that night's proceeds will be donated to the school....then you canvass neighborhoods and all your friends, family, coworkers, church family, basically everyone in your circle and in the circle of all those involved in the fund raising...to let them know about that special night. The more people you can get to the restaurant, the better the donation will be...and it helps the restaurant do well, too. It's a win-win situation and you're bound to find at least one or two restaurants willing to help out if you present the idea properly.

[JLC]

One more idea...host a bbq dinner (or spaghetti dinner...or whatever sounds easy, inexpensive and fun)...and have a silent auction. Go to local stores to ask for donations for the auctions...gift certificates from spas or salons or car washes or other services as well as actual goods from retail outlets. Charge a minimal fee for entry to the dinner...just enough to cover expenses (you can also hit up grocery stores to donate paper plates or drinks or other necessities)....and have a big table set up with all the different items to auction off. (Depending on how many things you end up with and what kind of variety you have, you can bundle things together into basket-sets to make it more manageable) Folks fill out a card with the item # and how much they want to pay for it and put it in a box....highest bid wins each item. OR...you can do a raffle-style drawing for each prize where folks buy raffle tickets and hang out for the fun of drawing numbers.

[JLC]

Heh...I'm just full of 'em....

A FREE car wash. (weather permitting, of course) Before the date of the carwash, have all the fund raisers get people to sign up to pledge a certain amount of money per car that gets washed that day. (ie: ten cents per car) (Have specific forms printed up for them to sign up on) Then, on the day of the wash...everyone gets their car washed for FREE (which is a big draw!)...but they will often donate to the cause as well. And have a form there at the wash that tracks each car and have the driver sign the form to prove the count. Then go back and collect the pledges.

KISS THE PIG .... This is fun if you actually have access to a baby pig...but you can make up any "event" you want...from kissing some animal to shaving a head, to a pie in the face, to wearing a goofy costume...whatever you can get your faculty to agree to. You get several members of the faculty to agree to be a candidate for "kiss the pig" (the more popular the faculty member, the better!)...then set up fund raising jars with each member's picture/name on it. Over the next couple of weeks, people vote with their money...whoever's jar has the most cash has to "kiss the pig". To add a twist...the person with the highest $'s can "buy out" by matching the funds in their jar...then they don't have to "kiss" anything, but the next highest person does..unless they buy out, etc. If all the candidates match their funds, it goes back to the top again until someone gives in. Plan on having the "event" at a function like a pep rally or other scheduled assembly that includes the whole school with the voting weeks leading right up to that day. Jars should be opaque so member's can't tell who might be ahead.

[j_h_smith]

There is a company that sells t-shirts geared towards fund raising. Many of the shirts are school/sport oriented. I did this years ago when I ran a Lacrosse program. It was a VERY big succeess. I don't have the name or web site, but I'm sure a Google search will help. The shirts will sell well, no matter when you have the fundraiser.

If I can think of the compnay's name I'll post it here.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

[j_h_smith]

Found it. I highly recommend using them for a fundraiser. They are easy to work with and ship really quickly.

http://www.fundraisingtees.com/

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

[SpartaDog]

You could host a concert with the school band and/or chorus and charge $5 per ticket. You know the parents and families will flock all over that. In fact my string ensemble class had the same idea, except all the money went to the local animal shelter. From tickets, selling stuffed animals, dog treats, and other things, we made over $3000.

[danneva]

Promote your school by making creative school silicone bracelet. Since silicone wristbands and bracelets are so popular with students it just makes sense to use them in your next school fundraising project. These school fundraising ideas are from schools that have had great success with their school fundraisers.