Easy Fund Raising Ideas

Archive for July, 2010

Question: pta Fundraising Ideas?

What are some Fundraising Ideas that do not involve door to door sales or bothering the family with order forms. examples like, popcorn day for the kids, or white elephant bingo, or gift basket auctions. thanks alot for any input

Answer: Congratulations on being an involved parent!

Ideas:

1) One school in our area does a “new to you” sale each year. All the items are donated and they raise about 30k!

The biggest problem with this is it requires a LOT of volunteerism!

I think our school could do it by selling spaces in the playground for $20.00 and letting families/crafters/vendors come sell their own stuff. This way there is NO real work for the school…other than advertising and clean up. All vendors would be responsible for the removal of their own items at the end of the day…contact the goodwill to have a truck there at the end of the day for anyone that doesnt want to cart off their unsellables.

2) Field day!

Have some cheesy carnival games (throw the toilet paper thru the toilet seat, pie toss at the principal, find the candy in the bucket of corn kernals) and hotdog cart.

3) Contact a restaurant (like Friendly’s or Perkin’s) They will have a “family night” where your school can come and a portion (10- 25%) of their sales to your school.

4) Box tops for education

5) Money Market (many of the stores…like home depot..grocery stores) if you buy gift cards thru the school instead of thru them will give you 10-25%.

6) Bowling

Have a fun bowling day at one of the local alleys. See if you can get a reduced rate for booking so many lanes and use the extra as profit. Hold contests during the games.

7) Balloon-day

In advance the kids can order/pay for balloons to be delivered to their friends. Parents can order/pay for balloons to be delivered to their children. The cost of the balloons to purchase and fill would be pennies…but they could sell for .75-1.00 each. (or flowers/cookies/etc)

see if one of your movie theaters..(second run or a big complex) would donate an off hours special viewing of a movie and donate the proceeds to the school…or the proceeds of the snack bar!

9) AUCTION

One of the schools in our area has an annual auction. Its a dinner JUST for the parents at the school. They pay to come (contact the high school or community college to see if the culinary students will donate some of their talents) Have some older students in the school available to be servers.

Enlist the art teacher and go to the goodwill (or ask parents to rummage thru their basements for items) Find a desk or chair.. old picture frames..etc) Have the students in each class decorate the items…(kindergarten parents are the best ones to target because they aren’t jaded yet..hehehe) decorate with fingerprints..handprints…etc.

Other auction ideas:

A parking pass! A special parking spot for parents that pick up their kids that let them go to the front of the line..closest spot to their kids dorr and lets them drive right up pick up/drop off and get out of dodge!!!! (One parent paid $200.00 for this!!)

Older students can make jewelry, purses, ornaments.

Many local museums will donate memberships as will karate schools, dance classes, art schools..etc…

10) Contact your local chamber of commerce, kiwanis, rotary, masons, business counil, moms club, mops club, etc…to see if your school can be the benefactor of one of their fundraisers!!!

11) SILLY PRINCIPAL!

Have the principal offer to do something ridiculous! (Ride a donkey thru the lunchroom, shave his beard, dress up like a leprechan, make a hundred snow angels, eat a watermellon without using her hands..whatever)

In each class room have a giant jar.. the kids can bring in their pennies to vote for which ridiculous thing the principal will do….the winning class gets to choose…or..set a goal..if the kids reach $1000.00 the principal will do the silly thing.

good luck!

Help Us Attain Stadium Status!

Question: Fundraising question – annual report?

Here’s a question for professional fundraisers: in your annual report, do you list donors for the amount they gave in that year, or do you list their total pledges? In other words, if someone has pledge $1,000 a year for five years, and made their first payment in 2006, would you list them in the $1,000 or $5,000 category? Please list the name of your institution or non-profit. Thank you!

Answer: The 1000 received will be classified under unrestricted revenue, and the other amount not received will be classified under temporary restricted, and moved to unrestricted when received.

That person seems to be a generous consistent contributor, I think they warrant an inclusion in the annual report. Include both the total amount they pledged and how it will be distributed.

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