Share your Best Fundraiser Ideas

Budget101 Discussion List Archives Budget101 Discussion List Share your Best Fundraiser Ideas

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    • #323065
      Melissa Burnell

      We’re issuing a new Budget101 Challenge, one of our members has PM’d me and her child has an opportunity to travel overseas to Spain for a class trip. Each of the 18 students must raise $3,700 in order to attend the trip.

      Share your best Fundraising Ideas (be as detailed as possible!) for a chance to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card. (See, it really is a fundraiser!)

      (you can read more about Challenges here)

      1. They have 3 Months to Raise the Money
      2. High School Students, mostly juniors/seniors
      3.

      They are fundraising on their own as well as with the school.

      [b101][/b101]

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    • #444023
      Urallee

      More info please. When is the trip, how long do they have to raise the money, will they be working as a group or are they on their own? What is the age of the children and just how hard are they willing to work?

    • #444026
      MrsPaws

      Many moons ago, a local class hooked up with a local Avon Rep, and they had a fantastic fundraiser.
      At the time, Avon offered schools or groups some kind of deal…from what I remember of that one, it was a pretty lucrative deal for both the Rep and class. They easily reached the needed goals.
      I honestly don’t know if that program is still in place.
      Isn’t ‘Mos’ involved with Avon? I’m sure she would know…

    • #444027
      mos

      BORED1 smilieOh, Liss, this is right up my alleygiggle smiley Have the person contact Avon for her closest representative! Avon has numerous fund-raising programs. It is a known product — if nothing else for Skin So Softgiggle smiley

      I have sponsored several projects like this and have helped a lot of causes — from personal health conditions to school projects. The funds raised were $300-$10,000 — depending on the project. Have the person go to Avon.com and select ‘Find a Representative,’ then select ‘Recommend a Representative Near Me.’

      She just needs to follow the prompts and she’ll be given a list of people in her area. Suggest that she contact all and state what she needs to do. Not all reps will do fund-raisers as they are little nervous.

      Me?! Since I was the chair of fund-raising activities for my DD’s entire academic career…I promise you that Avon’s program is a piece of cake and wished that I had known of Avon’s programs for all of those 13 years (don’t forget kindergartengiggle smiley)
      AND thanks Mrs. Paws for remembering and thinking of me…

    • #444037
      jrodgers

      Every Halloween our church puts on a Harvest Festival as a safe, fun alternative with Christian values. When my husband and I were the Children’s Ministry Directors we noticed that at times it was difficult to get enough adult volunteers and sometimes the event lacks the teens and young adults.

      We decided that every ministry in the church could have their own booth (donation $5 to Children’s ministries – the fundraiser wasn’t for us, it was for the ministries sponsoring booths – we just covered the candy and goodie bag costs for the kids with the $5 booth charge)

      Each ministry got to create games that had something to do with their particular ministry and each had a can with a slot in it. For about 2 months in advance we told everyone to save their change (only change counts) and the goal was to give all of the money collected that night to the booth with the highest value in change – as an added twist, if someone dropped a bill in the can it counted against the change total.

      By the end of the night Prison Ministries won with their booth appropriately decorated like a prison cell and a handcuff toss game, that the kids just loved. The Youth group came in second, and even though they didn’t win, there were people of all generations present. Prison Ministries received all of the money, including the bills.

      In one night, with a small church, several hundred dollars was raised.

      The best thing was seeing everyone involved. Even grandparents were slipping bills into the cans of the competition! We had lots of volunteers for set up and clean up, got home at a reasonable hour and no collecting money door to door!

      Give it a try!

      As a fundraiser to benefit individuals – get a school or church involved and make it a carnival theme, sell hot dogs, nachos and soda and all money can be split evenly between the students going on the trip – works for trips to DC, or any other trip and lots of fun!

    • #444039
      jrodgers

      One of the best things about an avon fundraiser is that you can make it both a community and online event. as an online event your avon representative sets up the event on her personal website, shipping is free directly to the customers home, and depending on how generous the representative can afford to be, the amount collected can be up to 50% of the total sales before tax.

      There are also Jewelry Parties, and other product Parties that can be done online. Benefits are no collecting, and no delivery of the products for website orders. If you collect the product cost and tax in advance, your representative can put in the order as part of the fundraiser to ship to the customer.

      Major credit cards (except American Express) and PayPal are accepted on the Representative’s website.

      Hi mos, I’m also a ul! good to see another avon isr building the dream!

    • #444040
      bethaliz6894

      Many of our schools will sell pies from a local cafeteria that is very well known in the are. the pies are made and frozen and sold. the school gets 25%.

      2 years ago, the cafeteria had issues and couldn’t supply the pies so they went to GFS. they were given order forms and the hole 9 yards. the pies were much better than the cafeteria.

      again, they came frozen. the school did it in time to have the pies delivered the week before Thanksgiving. Here is the link to gfs fundraiser.

      you can build your own with no up front cost. if they don’t want to do a one for just her. tell them she runs a daycare and they are raising money for the daycare… i have always had my kids in an in-home day care and we always had fundraisers.

      if that doesn’t work, you could make your own order sheet, sell the pies at a mark up and then buy them from gfs.

      good luck with what ever you decide.(you could always do several…one after another). i hope it is successful.

    • #444043
      lmitchell

      Spaghetti dinners are always good. Collecting cans…it adds up. A penny drive.

      50/50 raffles.

    • #444045
      xstepmom

      @lmitchell 341005 wrote:

      Spaghetti dinners are always good. Collecting cans…it adds up. A penny drive.

      50/50 raffles.

      What is a penny drive? Do you have to have a permit for a 50/50 raffle, here that’s considered gambling. .

    • #444046
      RosesBistro1234

      I don’t really know of any fundraising ideas in particular but I do know of some fundraising tips that work on every fundraiser:

      1. know who your target audience is- are you selling whatever it is to high schoolers, parents, or a bunch of grandmas
      2. foot traffic- you need foot traffic so organize the fundraiser around other events like craft shows, fairs, carnivals, sports games, etc- the more people that see it the better off you are
      3. be specific- dont generalize and say things like “bake sale’ say something like “costa rican trip of a lifetime bake sale”- you want people to know what and who they are helping and why. nothing turns me off faster than when i go to the grocery store and there are little beggars on the sidewalk trying to sell stuff and you have to stop and ask what it’s even for
      4. be detailed- make sure things are well organized, have plenty of bright easy to read signs and lots of kids helping out
      5. set mini-goals- especially if you have a large amount of money you have to raise
      6. itemize expenses- if you have something showing an itemized list of expenses for the trip you will get more donations because people will know exactly what their money is going to and it won’t seem like a wasted dollar to them
      7. always emphasize your cause- whether your selling food/drinks at an event, etc
      8. make a facebook page for the cause with a link for people to donate digitally

      hopefully these tips will help your fundraiser!

      oh i almost forgot, i attended a cook off fundraiser that was fun- it was a chili cook-off and each of the contestants brought a pot of chili and paid $10 to enter. Each of the tasters paid $5 each to vote on their top 3 favorites. The winner received half of the money generated by the Entrance Fee and the remainder of the money went to the Charity that held the cook-off.

    • #444048
      Urallee

      Car wash, bake sale (people always like food)

    • #444053
      pblanchard

      I do fundraisers all the time! there are many that you can do.. for high volume return.

      a dinner and auction is a good idea. Golf tournament are also a good one! I am a jewlery rep and offer fundraisers for that to!

      Almost all direct sales companies will do them. just make sure that your initial investment is worth the return.

    • #444061
      mdholiu

      Best fundraiser ever….It always seems that us moms are doing all the hard work so why not make it something we will enjoy. COACH purse raffle. Yes a lot of investment up front $200 for purse and wallet and scarf (of course using a coupon, now available on facebook).

      But you can make big money EASY!!! Sell your tickets $2 each or 6 for $10. Hello who wouldn’t try for a COACH purse for $10.

      We just did this with my sons football team and made $750 after the cost of the purse. You can also use this same concept to raffle off an IPAD mini. Friend is doing this for her sons bball team and they are already over $800 in a week.

      Utilize facebook and all your friends and family. Good Luck!!!

    • #444066
      mariepierre

      Hello,
      Our fundraiser is to organise a baking competition where the cakes are sold after being judged and the winner gets part of the sales money as a prize.The entry fees and the rest of the sales money are for the school.
      It does’nt need any funds to start off and the prize intices more people to enter.
      All the best in your venture.

    • #444069
      annemf

      What about a school wide penny war? Classroom against classroom. Each classroom decorates their own jar.

      For every penny you have in your jar you get a point…for every silver amount you subtract points (example…a quarter is -25 points). The idea is to fill your own jar up with pennies for points and your opponent’s jar with silver (to take away points). A little friendly competition and bragging rights could get the whole school bringing in their loose change.

      You could offer a pizza party or sundae party to the winning classroom.

      1/2 and 1/2 raffles are good. They involve very little investment (cost of raffle tickets) which you can make yourself. The more you sell the bigger the jackpot…winner gets half the amount raised, the other half to your cause.

      It also depends where you live…we live in a pretty rural area…so it is quite safe for our kids to set up car washes, door-to-door empty can drive etc… I wouldn’t want to do that in the inner city however 🙂

      Just a few thoughts off the top of my head, I will keep thinking!

    • #444074
      drea

      You could host a Coffee House Poetry Slam, these seem to be getting really popular. If you know someone that has an espresso machine (or if you can rent one cheaply) you can serve espressos, lattes, flavored syrups,regular coffee etc. Set up a karoake mic and invite members of the crowd to recite their favorite poem (their own or another authors).

      Charge a cover fee for coming or just mark up the espressos and pastries.

      This one is usually a hit with High school students

    • #444076
      Ketsyc

      What an awesome opportunity for the kids! There are several ways they can fund raise. One way is to approach local businesses and seek sponsorship funding to help the kids meet the goals.

      Another is to ask for permission to fund raise at the local big chain stores as a team, people that don’t normally get to help would love an opportunity to give there 50 cents to a worthy cause when asked.

      Another way is to do a “sock hop”, “rocking around the clock” type fund raiser. This is a fundraiser where the kids go out and accumulate pennies for minutes for completing a challenge like: dancing through the night, rocking in a chair, walking for funds, etc. You can be creative.

      For instance with this fund raiser they could do a Walk to Spain fundraiser, for every mile they walk they would recieve a donation of $$ for their efforts. If the quota is 1 miles (for every 1000) they could start with $0.20 cents a mile donation. If the student walked 10 miles over the next 3 months (or however long they have) the donator for the $.20 cents/mile has now donated $2.00.

      Twenty donations of $2.00 is $40.00 toward the trip and 20 kids making $40.00 is $800.00. This will add up quickly.

      Another idea is to bag for tips at a local market (we had a church group do that locally and they were able to raise funds for a summer mission trip.)

      Good Luck!

    • #444079
      angelsvn24

      When my son went to Italy for his junior year, we raised money the old fashioned way…he got a part time job and saved every penny. If you don’t have that much time however, a holiday craft or rummage sale is a great idea. Call vendors and let them purchase a table on which to display their merchandise for a set price.

      The bigger the better, you could also organize a 3 or 5 k walk, sell bracelets or candies, the options are endless. I would also make sure the child has some spending money for the trip, meals and hotels are included, but not snacks and money for other things that pop up. Also, many restaurants will let you hold a fundraiser there.

      You get tickets and for each person that goes and uses a ticket part of their check is donated back to you. 99, texas roadhouse, and Uno’s are options. Good Luck!

    • #444085
      Vicki1947

      Of course a Budget 101 household/recipe book a perfecy wedding shower gift

    • #444089
      rompa728

      I wrote a church like cookbook with all my familys favorites and donated the proceeds to the Cancer Society.

    • #444091
      pugranch

      Canvas rental complexes- preferably- on Saturday or Sunday near the lunch or dinner hour by selling candy bars or candy in bags or boxes .People who are working outside-gardening,washing their car, sunning,sitting etc… will be willing to buy a candy box or bar for a quick pick me up.This works great/best with town homes or condos-adults can follow along on foot or car for supervision.

    • #444114
      fallendestiny

      1. Set up a gofundme.com fundraising page for your group. You can then use facebook to link your page and explain that your raising money for your group trip to Spain.

      Ask them to share it with their facebook friends.

      2. Hold a bake sale with traditional baked goods like they have in Spain. Make sure to use big colorful signs to attract peoples attention.

      Have at least one sign that explains exactly what you are raising money for.

      3. Hold an all-ages dance in your high school gym and charge a $5 or $10 cover charge. I’m sure that you could find a DJ that would be willing to donate their time and skills to provide music for your event.

      4. Ask around at local businesses to see if they would be willing to donate an item, basket or gift card and hold a raffle. You could also hold a spaghetti feed (donations only for their plate of spaghetti) and have the drawing for the raffle prizes at that time also.

      5. Depending on the weather, hold a car wash. Make sure to have those big colorful signs with you and have some kids out by the road, holding the signs to attract people.

      I hope this helps you with ideas on how to do some fundraising for the big trip!

      Good Luck!!!

    • #444375
      JVallaincrt

      This one is really popular at schools- let the seniors auction themselves off to play the role of a butler for a day.

      Some of the responsibilities of the butlers could be:

      1. greet their “employers” as they arrive at school
      2. carry books around
      3. Go Get lunch
      4. Open Doors for them

      You’ll need to find a group of volunteers willing to do this such as the football team, cheerleading team, Spanish Club etc, and you can then auction them off to the highest bidder.

      Decide whether the butlers will have to dress a certain way- silly garb, suits and ties, etc before hand and lay down some rules- no test taking, for example.

      As all of the students would still be expected to attend class, butler duties will have to be suspended during actual class time.

    • #444117
      BaconEater

      We actually just took our dog to a “Dog Wash” Fundraiser a few weeks ago. It cost us $10 and we were thrilled to have a nice clean dog afterwards. The kids that put on the event put a tarp down then towels on the tarp so the dogs wouldn’t slip around.

      It was still fairly warm out so I don’t know how well this would work in the fall now unless they had a place to do it indoors. Some kids were walking dogs, others were washing, others were drying & brushing. Just a thought!

    • #444118
      asimplehomestd

      If they can find a good location, a car wash might be a good way for them to raise money. In our area people seem to sell butter braids for fundraising a lot (to the detriment of my waistline)

    • #444123
      Donna-M

      Give someone the chance to win a free homemade dinner of your kitchen 50 first prize. Homemade cakes for the next 25. Win starters for a month.

      You get the picture. I hope you like this idea. You must have some help you do this.

    • #444125
      hepzie

      My son’s school does a carnival every year, they always have a great turnout. They provide games and bounce houses and treats like cotton candy, popcorn and drinks. Some of the games can be bag tosses, shooting hoops, archery, face painting, and many other options.

      They have it where you can purchase a game bracelette that is good for so many activities, or you can pay per activity. A fall carnival would be well timed.

    • #444135
      Kinikia

      Get with a local restaurant that will have a certain night set aside that every dinner sold will give cash to the students. This can be a community event with fliers. I know that Fuddruckers does this.

      The students could also get together to do a talent show with all the proceeds going to pay for their trip. Everyone has some kind of talent, just highlight it and sell tickets.

    • #444139
      carriekasch

      One of the easiest fundraiser ideas, I learned from a good friend. We spend our spare time during the week making up all kinds of goodies for a bake sale. We set up a table on the sidewalk outside of church.

      We put our wares up right before church is out and within about 15 minutes, we are sold out. The thing that is really nice is that, start to finish, the selling part only takes 20 minutes and the work of baking is spread amongst many families. Granted my kids go to a parochial school that is partially funded by the church so it works out well for us.

      Another thing that we do is that we prepare bake sale items in $1 packets (a couple of cookies, a cupcake, some trail mix, etc.). The students sell the items on Fridays during lunch recess. We put it in our school bulletin so parents are aware of it (it’s a pre-K thru 8th school).

      It is very well supported by the students and the parents. We easily make $50 in about 20 minutes (there are approximately 80 students). We live in a small town “where everybody knows your name,” so after school, the students go to businesses downtown and sell whatever may be leftover.

      We also sometimes freeze leftover bake items for the next week.

    • #444140
      carriekasch

      My daughter’s 7th grade class did a chili cook off one year (which she won – go Creamy White Chili)! They made $300+ for disaster relief. I can’t remember now which disaster, but I believe it the major tsunami that occurred several years back.

      They charged for entering the chili and voting on the chili. The students also donated condiments, and we used our school’s kitchen. All the chili was donated so there were no expenses involved.

    • #444141
      carriekasch

      I know I’ve already posted a couple of ideas, but I have another great idea that we have used several times for fundraising. We put the word out that we are looking for items for a charity yard sale. It’s unbelievable how many things are donated. Sometimes we indicated that the price is by donation (whatever the purchaser wants to give) but you do get taken on that by some people. On the other hand, you run across many people who are willing to pay a reasonable price and then give an additional donation to boot. It does take some organization but for very little expense, you have the potential to make a good sum. We made over $2000 for a senior fun night fundraiser all with donated items. Any leftover items can be donated to a local thrift shop.

    • #444143
      carriekasch

      @xstepmom 341093 wrote:

      What is a penny drive? Do you have to have a permit for a 50/50 raffle, here that’s considered gambling. . .

      A penny drive is just to request that student, teachers, communities members, etc. donate their loose pennies (though we ask for loose change). It’s amazing how much can be collecting. Some people collect change, and look forward to the opportunity to donate it to a worthy cause. It saves them counting and rolling – though the truth is that you can just take it to a bank, and they can dump it into a change sorter. We have even had students go door to door in our community (small town). We can have 50/50 raffles in Idaho (or at least we do it and have never had a problem). The students do it quite often at basketball games.

    • #444162
      HerbLady

      Host a Spaghetti Dinner at the school. Kids will need to pre-sell tickets. This helps with planning for food costs. Approach grocery stores asking for donations. Seek out sponsors who will do matching funds up to ‘x’ amount.

    • #444177
      CharlieChick

      A while back my daughter’s school needed to do a fundraiser. My mom and I were making soy candles at the time and hooked up with our supplier and we hosted a fundraiser. The kids did an amazing job selling the candles and made more money than they needed. The only drawback to this was that the kids didn’t get the standard rewards like a lot of the standard fundraisers offered. So for every milestone the kids, as a group, met we did a class pizza party, an ice cream social, a movie day, things like that. This way everyone benefited and no one left out.

      Here is a site that does soy candle fundraisers: Soy Candle Fundraising It seems that there are a lot of them out there. I have to admit that I really like the soy candles better due to the fact that they are a sustainable product, burn at lower temperatures and you can use the melted was as a lotion LOL.

      Another option is for the kids to set up individual Raise Money for YOU! Crowdfunding & Online Fundraising Websites! accounts (the parents need to set this up of course) I used this when my daughter was supposed to go on an orchestra trip to Ireland. Basically you set up the account either as individuals or as a group and pass the link around. That way people can donate from out of town or without the pressure of having to buy stuff. My daughter earned enough from friends, family and complete strangers to go on the trip, only the trip got canceled so I transferred the funds to her college account.

      Just a few ideas.

    • #444179
      Dreamcatcheramy

      I think an excellent fundraiser is a MOVIE NIGHT. Use your church that more than likely has a projection system. charge $2 to get in and $1 popcorn and $1 drinks. It’s almost all profit!

    • #444180
      ladyredhat

      Whenever I need a great fundraiser, I use Joe Corbe Pizza! Everyone loves pizza, and this is selling pizza kits! They come frozen, have all kinds too! The money comes easy, and the kids have a great time. Good Luck!

    • #444181
      carriekasch

      One more fundraiser and then I’ll stop….I think. Check out donorschoose.org. The music teacher at our public middle and high schools uses donorchoose.org quite regularly to fund her projects. Often, there will be a matching offer so that whatever is donate to the cause is matched requiring us to only have to raise half the amount needed for the project. I have not been closely involved in this fundraising, but she has done it about four times over the past two years. Every project has been fully funded. I took a look at the sight. The matching offers vary by state. There are rules and requirements for funding projects for public schools but field trips was on the list. I’m not sure if this is actually a field trip, but it would be worth a look.

    • #444193
      Catherine64

      As the Second Vice Commander for our local American Legion, it is part of my job to hold fundraisers. The past three years we have held highly successful golf tournaments. The last tournament raised about 10,000 dollars. My husband and i have a hot dog cart that we donate food from, about 50 businesses in the area donate items for the golfers, and the round of golf includes a cart and greens fees. We get together when it is over and celebrate with prizes and food for everyone. It isn’t the easiest of events to put together, but if you have enough golfers in the area, it can be done!

    • #444201
      LilStickMom

      My SIL’s son’s baseball team used a local Pampered Chef rep and raised about $5000. I was able to order from Alabama! (they are in OHio), so the kids were able to get all their relatives to purchase something.

    • #444205
      Mullarney

      A quesadilla booth at a fair. White or wheat tortillas. Cooked ground beef and/or canned chicken (from Sam’s) with taco seasoning. Pre shredded cheese, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, jalapenos and shredded lettuce. pre portion condiments in salad dressing containers with covers and store in iced coolers. Pre cook meat (usually has to be done on site) and hold in crock pots. Get a gas grill with a side burner to cook the meat onsite. Line grates with heavy duty aluminum foil. Here you will heat the quesadillas and melt the cheese. Put tortilla with melted cheese, add a scoop full of cooked meat, fold in half and cut in thirds. Put shredded lettuce on the empty side of plate and add condiments as requested. We sold these as a school fund raiser this summer. We charged $5 each (we probably could have charged more). We sold out in three hours – 200 hundred quesadillas. Ages 10-70 worked the booth. After deducting our original costs, we earned close to $700. You will need a food permit from the dept of health. They’re a little tedious at first but keep copies of your paper work and it’s much easier the next time. Also, Dept of Health will waive fees if it’s educationally based and try and get a tax exempt # too. I use my school’s. Good luck! Buena Suerte.

    • #444206
      Mullarney

      A French fry booth. Get a fryer with veg oil to use on site. We live on the Canadian border so “Poutine” is very popular up here. French fries with melted cheese (mozzarella works well, cheese curd is more traditional) and brown gravy. Also offer chili and the liquid can cheese bought in bulk. Gravy, chili and cheese can be held in crock pots. Fry your fries, offer the toppings and serve chaud (French for hot). I haven’t tried this one yet but I really think it would work. Food permit required.

    • #444212
      valisyoung

      When I was in school, we sold candy bars, which was easy if you take a gallon ziploc to school & have it out on your desk the whole day. People can’t resist them.
      Also, the school had a tax deductable donation pamphlet we could take to get people to donate money and have up to $250 deducted from taxes, which was most effective on family members and close friends.
      There was a Oktober Fest that we could volunteer to work the booths for. The city, or whoever put the festival on, paid the band for the shifts we worked, but they saved $ by not having to pay full wage because we were “volunteering”, but we raised money, each student got a certain amount per hour they worked.
      For a camp I went to, some girls would sell baked goods by passing around an order form and filling the orders, like cookies by the dozen, pies, and so on.
      Hopefully something in there helps :o)

    • #444220
      ArtCityChick

      Hey there! My children aren’t HS age yet. But I do have a fundraiser idea that could work for any age group. My daughters’ dance studio boosters just recently held a fundraising yard/bake sale all in one day. I don’t know if yard sales are a popular thing in the area of the challenge seeker’s but this is the best time of year where I’m from to do them especially with all the fall festivals and milder weather.

      Have items donated by all the students and their families. Person in charge will need to send home flyers with details about what to donate (don’t forget to include the baked goods). Pick a traffic heavy location, maybe the high school. This is also the time of year for homecoming weekends–lots of traffic at the high schools then! Get all the students involved but have one central cash station/check out area and extra table by check out area for the baked goods.
      Only drawback might be what to do with the extra stuff at the end of the day so be specific about the donated items coming in–that people should only bring stuff that they do NOT plan to have returned. Just in case you want to donate all unsold items to local shelters. Same thing with the baked goods. Be sure to remind folks to bring baked goods in disposable containers that they do NOT want returned. It will take some planning but could be quite worth it. If the money is not going into a collective pot then you could color code the items at the sale or just have a huge parking lot sale full of individual sellers.

    • #444221
      liniweenie

      When my children were younger, their school would hold a mini family fun fair for the kids and craft fair for the adults. To make money, the school would rent out craft booths in the cafeteria for crafters to sell their goods(perfect time since it’s almost the holidays) & also have local food businesses come and rent space too. Then outside, they would have different game booths for the kids to play. You would have to purchase tickets to play at each booth. Most of the prizes were donated by local businesses and parents. Could be simple ring toss, darts, etc… There was even entertainment, which I’m sure was also donated time. Not sure how much money the school made, but I was really surprised how many people were there.

    • #444219
      czcoots

      Some of the best ways to raise money is to use different types of resources. One of our local schools actually contacted the local newspaper who wrote and article and received grants through donations by the public to obtain a trip for the children at a school.

    • #444226
      czcoots

      Be careful how much time is spent on little bits of fundraising. While selling items like candy bars will raise a little bit, it takes a lot to raise money with small dollar amounts. My husband and I wrote a book on cost savings called Stop Wasting Money.

      The reason I bring this up is we have been willing to donate up to $10 per book sold when used for fundraisers. The topic of the book is something anyone can use, saving money. Using an item like this can supply a lot more money in a shorter amount of time.

      Our book is Stop Wasting Money Book. Another idea is ask for everyone that uses aluminum cans or donation of other metal extra items and take them to a paid recycling place. If someone is planning to buy a new refrigerator or stove that can amount to a lot of metal also.

      Another idea is a multifamily yard sale with proceeds donated to the trip. One of our schools does this yearly with the money gong towards something for the children to attend. Thinking outside the typical fundraising item can provide more attention and more attention can mean more money.

    • #444234
      bjprine

      A family wide rummage sale with all of your extended family pitching in items to sale worked for us and brought in $500.00.

    • #444237
      MaureenS

      See if your local transit company has a bus you may borrow. Fill it with Balloons and sell tickets to see who gets the right or closest number of balloons in the bus! (or a school bus)

      a company online Mabels labels they do fundraising and it sounds like a great idea

    • #444251
      LauraC72

      Donation/Consignment Sale, everyone wins! Have the students make flyers asking for donations (clothing, household items, etc.). Have the flyers explain the sale and what the proceeds will be going for.

      Have the students choose a “pick-up” day when people can put the items at their mailbox, front door, etc. The students then pick up the items and then have the sale on a specific day, advertised on craigslist, with flyers etc. Promote how people will have FREE pick-up of their unwanted items, and it will go to a good cause!

      All unsold items can go to charity afterwards. Clutter reduction and free pick-up for the people who donate, money from the sale for the students, and charity recieves unsold items. It’s a win/win/win 😀

    • #444283
      vpnmore

      “Stone Soup Supper” has always been a big fundraiser, with little or no expense. Google the story of Stone Soup…a traveler enters a village carrying a medium size stone in his pack. the villagers all tell him variations of “you’ll fine nothing to eat her, keep going”.

      He calmly builds a fire, places the stone in a pot of water and starts commenting on how the soup will be., but how much better it would be with a bone, bit of meat, potato, carrot, etc. One by one the villagers add the other ingredients and all share a wonderful supper! My youth group would perform the skit on one Sunday, then invite the congregation (villagers) to bring 1 thing for the soup pot on the next Sunday.

      The youth sort the gifts and decide what soups to make–we made sure one soup was vegan. While the soups were simmering, I taught the kids how to make fresh bread in the shape of stones (use a pie plate instead of loaf pan). We served all the villagers that evening with tons of soup, bread, and beverages.

      There were donation baskets on each table, plus we sold the extra bread and soup leftovers. I’ve never failed to make at least $300 with only $50 or so for the bread supplies, although one of the villagers did supply some flour and yeast. A little work, a lot of fellowship, and LOTS of good soup.

    • #444285
      Scraper

      We’ve always had good luck with bowling fund raisers. The local bowling alley will usually rent the lanes for almost nothing. $25 couple entry fee.

      Also have a fifty-fifty raffle, donated gift basket raffle, and strike pot tickets at the end of each of the games.

    • #444295
      DianeB

      Our library just finished a fund raiser that worked out extremely well. It was called The Champagne and Chocolate Gala. Local business and patrons were solicited for donations in both food and auction items. The room was decorated with tablecloths and candles, servers from the library board were dressed in formal wear, a musician playing the piano was performing, the silent auction was held in an adjoining room.

      It was very elegant, but not “stuffy” as everyone had a great time visiting and sampling. There was plenty of chocolate left at the end of the event and boxes were sold for an additional $10 each for people to fill on their way out. Much money was raised for this fund-raising event and everyone had a great time.

      There were so many people that it was difficult to find a parking place outside! I know this would not be for every vicinity, but it worked well for our.
      The billing read as follows:
      “Join us for an evening of sparkling champagne, specialty chocolates, silent auction, artistic chairs auction, and bags of jewels. Tickets are $20.00 in advance or $25.00 at the door.

      Tickets are available at the library. Proceeds will support library services.”

    • #444296
      DianeB

      Our Parent-Teachers Organization has an annual garage sale in the gym every year. Parents and community members bring in tons of stuff, lots of clothes, toys, books, cookware, even appliances for two weeks prior to the sale. everything must be gently used, clean, and in working condition.

      the sales starts on friday and ends saturday evening. it is highly advertised for both donations and the sale dates. volunteer parents come in to sort, organize and sell.

      it is a major fund-raiser and provides much revenue for the pto to use.
      whatever does not sell is donated to a local charity.

    • #444308
      Leslie AK

      The best fundraiser I did was pizza, but the catch was that I have Sam’s club make all the pizza’s. NOT the take and bake ones. Actually go to the lunch counter and order all the pizza’s but tell them not to bake them.

      There pizza’s are anywhere from 9.99 to 12.95. if you charge a even 18.00 for each one, you have made a profit without any work but ordering and delivery. I have found that most people will pay that much when it involves kids.

      Hope that helps you out.

    • #444309
      Leslie AK

      This is from my husband: get the local law enforcement, fire fighters. with regardes to the law enforcement have them mock arrest somebody for a fee. go the whole nine yards hand cuffs etc.

      and just take the person for a little ride and let them go. for the fire department rides in fire trucks etc.

    • #444325
      KBJTAA

      If they are from the same area, a Navajo Taco dinner can go over pretty well. Our youth group had a mom who did the cooking (she did have a catering business), there were cookies and drink with a suggested donation of $5 a plate. You can set your own price though.

      Another big one we did was to have a silent auction on baked goods. This was done in conjunction with a bake sale. Find an event and see if you can share the space then have many different baked goods people can bid on

    • #444344
      jessieof5

      we just did a kickball tournament for our adoption- it was $10 a person to play and we had 2 games going at a time, so four teams. Everyone brought potluck desserts. We also had a donation jar set up and we raised $1000. It was a really fun time and people felt like they were really getting something for their money too.

    • #444345
      jessieof5

      Our friends had a dinner and auction at church for their siblings who our church supports as missionaries in Guatemala. So many people donated things- handmade, food items, gift certificates, gift baskets, or “time” doing things- haircuts, “dates” dinners, etc. It was so much fun- we had a good dinner and lots of laughs.

      You could buy tickets, and then every item had a “ticket price” and you dropped however many it required into the envelope for each prize. There were some funny stories with some of the prizes and it was really fun seeing who one what. They made over $2000 in just a couple hours with hardly any cost to them

    • #444355
      cmeans23

      This may sound corny, but you can go to the fabric store and purchase fleece the yard for around $5.00. Cut the fleece in 9 inch wide strips and fringe 3 inches on each end. Sell each scarf for $5.

      You will make $15 off each yard of fleece. Takes hardly any time at all to make and so many colors of fleece out there. For printed scarves, charge $1 more.

    • #444376
      Melissa Burnell

      Thank you all for the Fabulous Fundraiser Ideas! Our randomly selected lucky recipient out of all the entries was #23 Jvallaincrt! Congratulations!

      Congratulations and thank you to everyone that participated! Good Luck on the Next Challenge!

      What are Budget101 Challenges? Read More Here
      how are challenge winners selected? Read More Here

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