How to Raise Money for Schools and Clubs
Most schools and clubs need to raise funds, either for all their funding or to fill in some budgeting gaps. However, it's time to get corporate America out of school fundraising efforts. Here are some school fundraising alternatives that will keep your children from having to become door to door salesmen.
Bottle Drives
If you live in a state that has a refund on bottled beverages, organize a bottle drive. Some states will refund five or ten cents per bottle. Set up a bottle receptacle at the school. Collect bottles throughout the year or on one day only. Advertise by sending fliers home with the students. Coordinate a weekend bottle drop off day.
After the bottles are collected, they will need to be sorted and turned in for the refund. Coordinate volunteers to sort. Most bottle return companies will ask that the bottles be sorted by type; glass, plastic or cans. Sorting can take a few hours, so it helps if volunteers can work in shifts. Enlist a volunteer with a truck to take the bottles to get the refund.
School-Wide Fair
Some schools are able to raise enough money in a day-long school fair to avoid having to raise funds for the rest of the school year. School fairs are a large undertaking and a team of volunteers will be needed to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Students can volunteer to sell tickets and run games.
Make money by selling tickets to play fun games, like a bean bag toss, basketball shoot and ring toss. Tickets should be inexpensive to encourage the fair patrons to play as many games as possible. Game players can win inexpensive prizes or win tickets that can be traded in for prizes. Refreshment sales and silent auctions are also good money makers at school-wide fairs. Ask parents and local businesses to donate refreshments and items for a silent auction to keep costs as low as possible.
50/50 Raffles
The winner of a 50/50 raffle wins half of the money collected. The organization that holds the raffle gets the other half. The cost for a 50/50 raffle is low. Raffle tickets can be purchased at a variety of places, including office supply stores.
50/50 raffles are fun at specific events, such as sporting events or local festivals. Parent volunteers or older students can sell tickets. The winner is announced at the end of the event. Holding several 50/50 raffles throughout the school year will often raise enough money so that no other fund raisers are necessary.
School fundraisers don't have to be limited to selling products for corporate America. Get creative, enlist some volunteers and raise money without turning your children into salespeople.
Published by Barb Hacker
Lucy is thrilled to be realizing her dream of freelance writing. She got her start at AC, has branched out into a few other content writing sites and has now started to expand into print media. View profile
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- Raise money with a bottle drive.
- School-wide fairs are a lot of work, but often raise enough money for the year.
- 50/50 raffles are a low-cost fundraising alternative.
13 Comments
Post a CommentGreat suggestions.We tried raffles few times. For our school, they set up a school supply ecommerce store. Parents can items through the store fro the school years. prices are comparable to the regular stores. But all the profits goes to the school. I think they set it up with SchoolSupplyNet.com. Not 100% sure.
hi, not that I'm contradicting you or anything but at my school raffles are illegal because its a form of gambling. Yes, i know its stupid. So you should make sure and ask someone before starting that kind of fundraiser, but thanks for the great ideas!
Im a middle school student that needs to raise 400 dollars for a macquerade ball that im trying to make come true any ideas to help raise money?
these are no way to make money for your schools,and clubs im in the 6th grade and im trying to raise money for the haiti earthquake if u have any good ideas to help my make money then write me at becca.rice2@yahoo.com i would really love to here some ways to help the children and familes in need of many items.this has been one of the worst disasters i have ever heard of please help me find some good ideas to help the children, and adults of the haiti disaster thank u write me any time
i am i student in elemetary and i needa raise atleast 200 bucks for camp so any ideas?
hi we want to raise money for our club in school and we don't know how.
50/50 raffle is good but the reality of gathering lots of volunteers for a bottle drive etc is not good use of peoples valuable time for very little profit.
what it do?
Wonderful article*Wonderful suggestions!
Very nice suggestions.