A Year of Fundraising Ideas

Every school is different, but it’s important not to overwhelm families with too many fundraising events each year. A good rule of thumb is to have one major event each year (which may be a parents-only) plus one or two other small fundraising events each term.

Here is a list of fun school fundraising ideas you can hold throughout the year.

January

Back to School Labels and lunch boxes (send email links to the parent body for your passive fundraising partners who sell name labels and personalised items for school.)

February:

Welcome Picnic – sell raffles/icy poles/cake stall. Make the raffle prizes a little special by having things like ‘chose the theme for a free dress day’ or ‘sit in the principal’s chair during assembly’ or ‘win a class party’. These great prizes don’t need to cost anything but could potentially raise a lot of money and create lots of excitement for the start of year. Find great tips for running a raffle here, and read more about cake stalls here. Get the teachers, P&C or school board to cook and serve hot dogs to the school families. A great way to get to know people.

Establish your passive fundraisers – learn more here.

Get the students to vote on one child-led fundraiser they want to hold during the year. Learn more here.

March:

Celebrate Harmony Day with an event that celebrates diversity – check out some great ideas here.

Set up a weekly tuck shop or ‘Friday Feast’ with classes taking turns to run little cake stalls during lunch, or having a different theme each week.

Ride2School Day – celebrate with an early breakfast or best-dressed-bike parade. Learn more here.

Register for a Bunnings  Sausage Sizzle for later in the year. Learn more here.

April:

Easter fundraising events – see some ideas here.

Easter hat ‘free dress day’ for a gold coin donation to charity.

Indoor/outdoor movie night – make it more special by having a VIP section. Learn more about running a movie night here.

May:

Mothers’ Day A morning tea, raffle hamper, customised tea-towels or run a stall with cute DIY crafts made by the kids.

Crazy sock ‘free dress day’ for a gold coin donation to charity

Quiz Night or Bingo Night for parents. Learn more about running a quiz night here.

June:

Winter Wonderland themed Disco – check out theme ideas here.

Soup Kitchen/Hot Chocolate before school – get each year group of class to make and sell homemade soup or hot chocolate at lunch or before school every Friday for the winter months.

July:

Family Challenge Night – a great indoor DIY event for when the weather is cold and wet, family groups compete against each other in a series of fun challenges. Learn more here.

Pyjama ‘Free Dress Day’ for a gold coin donation to charity

Remind everyone about your passive fundraisers.

August:

Book Week Readathon.

Second-Hand Book Stall

Book Fair.

Food drive for Homelessness Week – awareness raising for homelessness.

September:

Fathers’ Day Stall/Raffle/BBQ

Colour Run/Fun Run – as the weather begins to warm up it’s a great time to organise a colour run, Learn more here. 

October:

Grandparents Day Morning Tea  – combine with other small fundraisers such as raffles, an art auction, Book Fair, tote bags, sponsoring a brick/tree, or a school recipe book. You can even start a few months early and ask grandparents to contribute a recipe for the book.

Halloween Disco

November:

‘Spring Clean’ Car Boot Sale – encourage families/local community to do a spring clean and then run a car boot sale on the school oval. Learn how to run a car boot sale here.

The Friday Freeze – during the hot months towards the end of year, get each class to buy and sell icy-poles in the playground during lunch or after school.

December:

Christmas Fete – check out some great fete stall ideas here.

Art Auction – collaborative art projects made by each class during the year.

Carols by Candlelight

Graduation fundraisers – whether the graduating students need to fundraise to pay for a gift for the school, or the school is fundraising to help pay for a special send off, there are some great graduation fundraising ideas here.

Written by Shannon Meyerkort