Fundraising Ideas for PTA?

Todd - posted on 04/06/2013

I found this blog and wanted to share what we do. I grew up with, and am now the President of the Harlem Wizards. We do a fun community basketball game that serves as a fundraiser. You can go to harlemwizards.com to learn more.

Thanks, Todd Davis

Nicey - posted on 03/27/2013

If you're in the Seattle area, www.sigby.com just launched a fantastic program for schools to raise money.

David - posted on 03/17/2013

http://www.extremefundraisinggroup.com was helpful with providing our group with a discount card fund raiser.

Jessie - posted on 02/10/2013

My idea is a sweatshirt-painting-athon. Buy blank, white shirts and fabric paints.
Charge the people for the sweatshirts! Earn money! I think this idea is great because kids love getting new clothes, and being artsy-craftsy.

Thom - posted on 02/10/2013

At our elmentery school, we look for fundraisers that bring the school community together. A lot of the parents are dual workers or single parents, so we keep in mind their time and their budgets.

Since they all need to eat, fundraisers at restaurants are very popular. We use http://www.squidoo.com/restaurant-fundra... to find different restaurants that do this sort of thing. Although most of these are chain type restaurants, calling local mom and pop restaurants is an easy thing to do as well.

We probably raise about $200-$300 a night with a small turn out and do this a few times per year.

Sharon - posted on 12/26/2012

Hi Katherine; we provide referrals for an online GED high school prep program and do very well for not much work; no products to manage, no money to spend, and no real selling. We think this is a lot better, and valuable to prospects, than traditional product-based fundraising. We get registered referrals from all over the country (even one from China recently). Take a look at the program - www.GEDEducationPartners.com - good luck with your fundraising.

Bobby - posted on 12/21/2012

We were looking for a fundraiser and came across a great one that worked well for us! It is selling those sports rope necklaces. The website is http://www.TitaniumTwisters.com
They have about 50 colors of rope to choose from and you can customize each individual necklace with whatever colors of rope you want. There are a bunch of sizes to choose from as well. You can buy product and re-sell it or you can have your group go around and collect orders and then submit it all together etc. All of the information for their fundraising program is at:

http://www.mysportsarsenal.com/fundraisi...

You can go on that page and click on the "apply for fundraising code". They will email you your own fundraising discount code within a day or so and you are good to go. It was really easy and it worked great for our team. There was no minimum order quantity, so it could be used for small or large fundraisers. Our fundraising discount was 40%, so we sold them for full retail price and made $5 to $8 on each necklace/bracelet that we sold. Once we placed the order they had it assembled and in the mail within 3 days. It is a US company, so they are assembled and shipped from the US! Just thought I'd share this with everyone, as it was exciting to find a fundraiser that was different than the usual stuff. The kids absolutely loved these things since they could have them made in their specific favorite colors etc. Here is what their double-strand style looks like:
http://www.mysportsarsenal.com//assets/d...

Joe - posted on 12/06/2012

How about a toilet paper fundraiser?

R - posted on 11/22/2012

New thing check out the bug not try www.bugnot.us

Tina - posted on 11/13/2012

Yes Ben, this is a perfect fundraising tool for PTA groups.

Ben - posted on 11/13/2012

Ben Mortensen

DMI Fundraising

(888) 859-7274



Just updating a few links.



Check out our FAQs http://sharesend.com/i3nys



Program Descriptions: http://sharesend.com/efi12



Fundraising Ideas Book: http://sharesend.com/0ga24





Music Box / Fannie May flyer: http://sharesend.com/h3x2i

Tina - posted on 11/13/2012

Hollie,

We have been professional fundraisers for over 20 years and work with several school districts and colleges. Our company just launched a new fundraising system called www.giveandget.us

This system partners fundraising groups with local businesses. Your organization would receive a unique short code that links directly to your profile page. You do all of your marketing through social media tools, FaceBook, email, Twitter ect... Anyone that clicks on your link and purchases a deal your organization receives 30% of the sale.

Ben - posted on 10/16/2012

I am a fundraising consultant. Feel free to contact me anytime.



Ben Mortensen DMI Fundraising

888-859-7274 direct toll-free

219-246-0381 cell (text or call anytime - even weekends)

303-816-1235

800-628-5905 x18 office

DMIFUNDRAISING.COM



All our fundraising programs can be run w/ no money upfront.



Check out our FAQs

http://sharesend.com/i3nys



Program Descriptions:

http://sharesend.com/9s2i5



Fundraising Ideas Book:

http://sharesend.com/d15uw



Music Box / Fannie May flyer:

http://sharesend.com/h3x2i



Aspen’s Gourmet Creations (CinnaMonster)

http://sharesend.com/i54g1

Stacie - posted on 10/14/2012

Absolutely! Dip Mixes make great fundraising products and they are so easy to sell. All of the dip mixes sell for $5 each and the group keep $2.50 each or 50% profit. Free shipping and 1 day turnaround. Check out www.gourmetcreations.net for more info. You can run the fundraiser whenever you want to raise money for whatever cause you want.

Chet - posted on 10/11/2012

A few more ideas:



Ice cream social: This is super easy. Buy the large tubs of ice cream and toppings from a restaurant supply store. The same for the spoons and cups. At our school the teachers and the principal did the scooping. We held it in the early evening so families could come for dessert. Profit margin was very high. Setup and cleanup was simple.



Penny War: Little or no cost to run. Potential for huge profit. Can be a lot of fun. You need daily volunteers though. Each class has a large jar to collect coins. You get one point for each penny in your jar, but you lose five points for every nickel, ten points for every dime, and twenty five points for every quarter. Basically the idea is for each class to bring in as many pennies as possible to fill their own jar, and nickels, dimes and quarters to put in the jars of other classes. Point totals are posted daily so students know which class to target the next morning with high value coins. After a week or two a prize is given to the class with the highest score. This is can be a lot of fun since the "winning" class can change every day.



Fifty Fifty Draw - The dance studio our kids go to does this. I think they usually make about $1000, and again, it's super easy to run.



Movie Night: Show a movie in the gym. Charge $1 to get in and $1 for a cup of popcorn. Buy the popcorn in bulk from a restaurant supply store. Again, our school did it in the evening and opening it up to families they got a good turn out and raised $400 without a huge amount of work.



I have to say that I don't really like the jewelry, wrapping paper, magazine and giftware sales. They don't build school community the way a movie night, fall fair or ice cream social would. Part of the profit goes to the company selling the stuff. The prices are generally high for what you get (that's how they can afford to give the school 30% and print glossy catalogs).



We have also done a Halloween dance and haunted house: music and disco lights in the gym, haunted house to walk through on the stage, and stations like crafts, fortune telling and cookie decorating the classrooms. We ran a canteen that sold hotdogs, chips, pop, etc (not super healthy, but brought in a good amount of money). Students, parents and siblings pay to get in. It's a lot of fun, but it's a lot of work and requires a lot of volunteers.

Jeanette - posted on 10/11/2012

Hi Hollie,



There are so many fundraisers out there but Not many that require little work and are actually fun! However, 2400Degrees is trying to change that. 2400 degrees F is a Murano Glass Jewelry Line. We have a store in Mystic, CT however our core business is Fundraising. We have recently taken the avenue of Virtual Fundraising where a group of women can go online and shop for the cause, when they are ready to check out they use an assigned code for their cause or charity in the shopping cart which then allocates 20% of gross sales to go right back to their cause! It's very simple and easy. We just raised $250 for a children's soccer team in Long Island through a virtual fundraiser. This is the short version. You can call or email me anytime to have a Fundraising event.



Jeanette@2400degreesf.com

cell (860)856-1928



The more detailed version if you are still interested is:



How to Begin a Virtual Fundraiser:



After the Chairperson (the host of the event) selects a date & time, we send out an email invitation to the participants/supporters.

On that specified date and time the chairperson as well as each of the invited supporters logs into our website for the event through a specified link that connects everyone live. (if you want to use a webcam for it to be more interactive you can, that is up to each individual).

During the half hour Virtual Fundraising event, one of our representatives will give a brief live presentation of our site to everyone, including information about the products, how to browse the site and of course the chairperson or any other supporters can discuss the Cause.

The Best part is that after the supporters and the chairperson finishes their shopping they input a code in the shopping cart that then allocates 20% of the gross sales to go directly to the cause.



2400 Degrees F then sends a check to the chairperson for the cause as well as a detailed list of what everyone ordered, for accuracy. We ship each order individually to each person's home, so there is No extra work for anyone involved in the fundraiser.





Our jewelry is amazing in person!! All of the glass is imported from Murano Italy, we create and design all of the jewelry in our studio in East Haddam, CT adding in Swarovski crystals and .925 sterling silver.



Our website is 2400degreesf.com

Carol - posted on 07/20/2011

We've done raffles from area businesses. A friend and I split the yellow pages (we lived in a really small town) and cold called all of them. I seemed to get better luck with small businesses. The chain stores all had to fill out forms to go to corporate... Every bit helped. After about 6-7 hours of work on the phone and another 3-4 hours collecting, we had about 90 things to raffle off. We paired it off with the Spring Festival. We also had games for a quarter with prizes from Oriental Trading and free crafts (using some of the donations).

We held McDonald's nights for both my PTO and my CubScout Pack. They were soooo easy to work with. I just called and arranged a time, send out flyers and talk it up with the kids (the PTO sent out stickers the day of the event) and collect a check in a few weeks. McD's gave a percentage of all customers between the agreed upon hours. Our new school has Chik-fil-A nights and they only receive a percentage of the receipts from students.

Good Luck

Liz - posted on 07/01/2011

Mia Bella Candles and Melts are an Earth friendly, low soot, healthier candle choice - a lot of people buy extras to have on hand as holiday/teacher gifts.

If you would like a brochure/fundraiser packet, please email me at lizbronson1@gmail.com. Check out the products at http://www.TheCandleQueen.com and enter daily to win a candle and soap in our weekly drawing!

Best of luck with the PTA - you folks do so much to help make our schools a better place.

Liz Bronson

Justine - posted on 06/12/2011

Our school "Quest 2 Learn", just got involved into a fund raising program that allowed us to have our own web portal at no cost: http://www.marketamerica.com/q2lstore. We get all the proceedings and our supporters get up to 50% cash back and .5% for referrals, which is great.
Here is the program: http://marketamerica.adobeconnect.com/np...
If you think this can be an asset to you, Please leave me a message.
Best of luck.

Heather - posted on 04/26/2011

I own a child-centered company, www.Zearly.com, and would be happy to provide a gift certificate that can be auctioned and 50% off coupons that can be added to gift bags. We've done that for several PTAs this year. You might consider putting out a call for items that can be auctioned and having a silent auction in conjunction with anything else you put on. I don't know what city you are in, but I respond to all PTA calls for help put out on Jen's List, Los Angeles's biggest mom blog. Feel free to contact me via my site if you are interested in a gift certificate for a give away or auction. Good luck!

Jackie - posted on 11/03/2009

I loved what we did...We had a back to school supply program with 1st Day School Supplies www.1stdayschoolsupplies.com ...Complete turnkey and had coupons for discounts at Macy's and FinishLine...I am pretty sure the school made 10% of the sales...Required little work just some promotions!

Jaime - posted on 10/22/2009

Our school seems to be always fundraising to some extent. In the past we have done:

magazine sales (this is a yearly event), hot luch days (every wed of the month), selling christmas ponsetta's, school clothing, and our big end of year Fun Fair (games, silent auctions, guessing jars, jumping castles, face painting, bake sale- we probally raise $5000 on this even alone)

OUr fundraising is great for a school of about 300 children.

Mary - posted on 10/21/2009

I'm not sure what you do at your schools Fall Festival, but at our Fall Festival we have a huge Auction. Different classes in school has a basket and has a certain type of basket and each child that is able brings something to go into the basket. For instance, my sons class had a camping basket so he brought fishing stuff. The other class had a chocolate basket. Others had baby basket, UK basket, and different places around our community will donate items or a basket of thier products. A coffee house was a good one too. These are very good ideas and you can be creative too with what is in your community. This really raises a lot of money! Good luck and I hope I gave you a good idea.

Adella - posted on 10/14/2009

How about an auction?



I used to do the donation end of the auction set up. I would go to stores, restaurants, fast food, hotels, massage, chiropractors, beauty shops, entertainment places like Golf, Bowling, Skating, amusement parks, and get them to donate coupons for free meals, games, stays, whatever they could.



Some people would make craft items, there would be a spaghetti feed $1.00 a plate, $5.00 a family of 6. (spaghetti donated along w/bread & sauce, volunteers to cook, clean & serve) just before the auction so ppl could walk around & look at all the prizes. We even gave away a car in a silent auction.



People love the excitment of it. It takes a little bit of work, but the money that comes in at the end is amazing.

Storme - posted on 10/14/2009

Tuppaware!! Contact your local distributor ask for catalogues.
Say you have 10 people on the fundraising committee. give them a catalogue each and get them to sell $100 worth of product each to their family and friends. Thats $1000 worth of sales which qualifies you for a great pack full of tuppaware goodies for free. More sales more free stuff. Your committee can raffle it all off and make some extra cash. We qualified for a great picnic pack worth 1500 FREE and raffled it off at $10 a ticket. 100 tickets got us $1000. bigger the school more tickets to sell??

April - posted on 10/13/2009

My daughters school does jewelry funraisers particularly from ITs Just Jewelry. I know Amy Stokes who does these and the % that she gives to the schools are awesome.. Also, I heard Mia Bella Candles are good too... Something out of the norm because really I get tired of the same thing.. At least for me..

April
www.april56.fourpointmoms.com
www.mykissid.com/april

Diane - posted on 10/09/2009

Hi Hollie,

I work with a company that allows me to help set up fund raisers for non-profit organizations. This is a unique fundraising opportunity and can be done along with any of your other fundraising events. It's also very different from any other fundraiser, in that, this would not be a one time fundraising event. Your organization would generate ongoing proceeds. I know fundraising is tuff, at this time , since most people are concerned with spending any extra money even if it is to help a good cause such as their child's school. That's why this fundraising effort has been so successful, since people taking part in this fundraising, would not be asked to spend additional money, yet a contribution would be made to your organization every time they did things that they are already doing.

As of now, thousands of churches, ministries, charities, and youth groups have incorporated this type of fundraiser into their fundraising events, and are earning funds that are really helping to support their organizations.

If you are interested, just message me and I can share more details with you.

Good luck to you Hollie.

Angela - posted on 09/29/2009

We are so fortunate to have a terrific school, PTA, and parents. Every year, we have an annual "RUN." Cougar Run is our only fundraiser, probably because they raise over $60,000 each year. Yeah, can you believe it!? The first week of school flyers are sent out about the date, usually a month later. Pledge Sheets go out soon after. Kids ask friends and family to give a flat donation or any amount for each lap they walk/run. They have a flyer with levels of money and prizes they could win. Usually all the prizes are Cougar logoed. The whole school buzzes about Cougar Run. Reminders of the event in Friday's folder. The teachers and parents really pump it up for the kids! 4th graders enter their Cougar Run T-shirt pictures and all grades vote on the best one. The winner's drawing is used on that years t-shirt. The marquee in front of the school counts down the days. "How fast can a Cougar run? Find out in X days!" Memos are sent home as to when your child runs and when they go to lunch. Parents are invited to come watch their children take part and also to have a picnic lunch with them. Parents pay $5 for lunch. Each class makes a special t-shirt to wear on the BIG DAY. The day arrives. The entire day is set aside for the run and festivities. The parking lot is marked off for the run. Popular music is playing while marathoners walk/run to get in their laps in the allotted time for their grades. Volunteers mark the taped paper on each childs back when they make a lap. In the fenced playground other classes are having lunch with parents and friends. A tent and tables are set out, a dj is hired to play popular music, kids are running and playing. It's really great! Bag lunches are served in the cafeteria and the Basket Balooza is going on down the hall. (Donated Gift baskets that are raffled for $1 a try). It's an awesome day. The kids have been pumped all month by parents and teachers. Then in Novemeber there is an Awards Night when prizes are given and the Big $# is announced. The grand prizes are a girl and boys bike given to the two who sold the most in the entire school. Prizes are awarded to each class for the child that sold the most, ran the lmost laps, etc. Every child that participates gets something. Dinner is served (Pizza) and cookies and desserts are sold. The desserts are sent in by any parent in the school who signed up to make a dessert for Awards Night. So, you can imagine how much dessert in there. Whole cakes, brownies, you name it. Anyway, it's a big deal! The big prizes are cash donations by local businesses (The PTA likes to purchase the bikes themselves and the bikes are pretty sweet!). I think this all works so well because there is such a big fuss made in the very beginning all the way up til Awards Night; and of course great teachers and parents working together and supporting the kids. We have sold wrapping paper, Little Ceasar's Pizza, Cookie Dough, etc. Nothing compares to Cougar Run! {For rain outs( we have been fortunate so far) the kids are bussed to the local college gymnasium for their class run and bussed back for the festivities. The show must go on!!!!!}

Quiana - posted on 09/26/2009

You can find a local hoagie shop or deli and see if they would allow a fundraiser, You can have a Santa Work shop where Items are made and sold or you can purchase items and have the kids buy them. You can have a dance and charge a small fee.