Your school is bursting with potential. From dedicated staff to curious and committed students, you likely have big plans to continue academic excellence. But, you need a reliable funding source to provide your students and faculty with the best experience.
That’s why a thoughtful, well-executed fundraising plan should never be underestimated. Effective school fundraising can drive massive improvements from updated technology to increased extracurriculars and facility upgrades. Not to mention, your school community can learn valuable lessons from planning and executing different types of fundraisers.
To kickstart your fundraising efforts, we’ve listed our top ideas based on category and age group:
- Our Top School Fundraising Idea
- School Fundraising Ideas for All Ages
- Elementary School Fundraising Ideas
- Middle School Fundraising Ideas
- High School Fundraising Ideas
- Online School Fundraising Ideas
Be sure to read through the whole page, though. Any one of these ideas might spark your next breakthrough! school fundraiser ideas
In a hurry? Check out our top school fundraiser pick right now. Funds2Orgs can help conduct your school’s most successful fundraising drive ever!
Our Top School Fundraising Idea
#1: Shoe Drive Fundraisers
Cost: $
Works Great With: Any other fundraising events!
Shoe drive fundraisers are an extremely effective school fundraising idea! They’re a fantastic opportunity for your school to raise impressive profits and engage your community with an exceptionally unique fundraiser. They are also eco-friendly and do not require you to sell goods or ask for monetary donations!
You might be asking, though, why shoes? There are a few reasons:
- Kids outgrow shoes so quickly! Many families will have plenty of pairs to donate.
- Donating and repurposing shoes sets a great example of environmental responsibility.
- Shoe drive fundraisers provide a lesson in small-scale global philanthropy.
- As a top shoe-drive fundraising provider, Funds2Orgs will facilitate your campaign at no cost, provide you with marketing materials and fundraising coaching, collect your donated shoes, and send them to micro-entrepreneurs in developing nations. Finally, your school receives a check!
Ready to run your own shoe drive fundraiser? Here’s how to get started:
- Partner with a shoe fundraising provider like Funds2Orgs to assist with your shoe collection processes.
- Collect gently worn, used and new shoes from your school community by marketing your shoe drive fundraiser in your school communications and setting up physical collection boxes. You could even host a competition to see which class can collect the most shoes!
- Coordinate pick-up with the Funds2Orgs logistics team and your fundraising coach within 1 to 45 days of the end of your campaign.
- Receive your check from Funds2Orgs within 2 days of receipt and processing of the shoes.
With Funds2Orgs, schools, and organizations have raised thousands of dollars after just six weeks. Not all shoe drive fundraising providers can offer this level of success, so check out our explainer video for more information:
Best of all, you could easily combine a shoe drive fundraiser with other school fundraising events—both in-person and virtual! Just tell your invitees to bring their spare pairs for in-person events or set up drop-off locations around the community for virtual events.
Partner with Funds2Orgs to get all the resources you need to execute a revenue-generating show drive fundraiser. From collection materials, strategy sheets, and pre-structured social media post, you’ll be collecting shoes (and funds!) in no time. You can also trust our expert YouTube explainers to answer any questions you may have.
School Fundraising Ideas for All Ages
#2: School Picnic
Cost: $$
Works Great With: Scavenger Hunt, Obstacle Course, Field Day, T-Shirt Fundraiser
Perfect for the springtime, when students become restless to get outside, a school picnic is a great way to raise some funds while bringing your school’s community together.
A picnic fundraiser is also very adaptable, so your picnic event can be as large or as small as you’d like. You could pick a Friday and offer students tickets to enjoy lunch outside in a practice field. Or you could invite parents, let them register to bring food, and arrange a memorable field trip to a community park.
#3: Library Fundraiser
Cost: $
Works Great With: Raffle, Teachers in Jail Fundraiser
Another easy educational idea, a library fundraiser, involves asking your students to raise donations to access to their favorite books! Students solicit donations from friends and family through your peer-to-peer fundraising tools or a dedicated library fundraising platform.
Based on how many funds they collect, students can receive chapter books, graphic novels, and other exciting titles either digitally or in person. You can even reward your top fundraisers with additional prizes or enter them into a raffle.
#4: Scavenger Hunt
Cost: $
Works Great With: Field Day, Obstacle Course, Fall Festival
Take the time to plan out a great scavenger hunt that is not too easy or too difficult, and write some clever clues. Then, have your students form teams and compete in a timed scavenger hunt competition across the school!
Scavenger hunt events can be hugely successful, especially when incorporated into other large outdoor fundraising events. Just be sure that the treasure at the end (and whatever reward you offer to the winner) is exciting for the student teams.