Direct mail fundraising has incredible potential to form personal connections, making it a classic fundraising strategy.
With personalized fundraising appeals, you can build relationships and send truly personal messages!
Consider partnering with a direct mail service provider to free up your team’s time to craft creative and heartfelt mail appeals without worrying about whether or not your letters will make it to the post office.
Are you tired of selling the same t-shirts for all of your PTA and school fundraisers? It’s time to spice things up with the newest, most practical product for your school store— face masks!
As we adjust in preparation for a post-coronavirus world, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that face masks will be an important part of that transition. Why not make the most out of a difficult situation by turning this need into a face mask fundraiser for your school?
Students and teachers will likely require masks upon the reopening of schools anyway, so this is a great way to boost school spirit at the same time!
Your PTA and PTO parents are already dedicated to supporting your programs and the children who benefit from them. But do they know that they could make their donations go further with the help of their employers?
With providers like Double the Donation, you can provide your parents and donors access to a comprehensive database of corporate philanthropy information that allows them to determine if their employer will match their gift, and then support them in filling out the appropriate forms!
Don’t forget to educate the parents on these opportunities by including matching gift information in emails, newsletters, and mentioning them at meetings.
Many PTAs opt to run school auctions as a way to raise money because parents, faculty, and the community can get involved in supporting your cause.
Since schools have families from different socioeconomic backgrounds, hosting a silent auction is your best solution because supporters will be more comfortable as they don’t have to publicly announce their bids.
To host a silent auction, you’ll need to procure items your attendees will be interested in bidding on and volunteers to help with the check-in and check-out process.
From faculty and staff to students and parents, everyone enjoys kicking back in a comfy t-shirt. That’s why t-shirt fundraising is the perfect idea for your PTA!
To bring this fundraising idea to life, you’ll need to find an online t-shirt fundraising service that provides you with the tools you need to design, sell, and promote your custom apparel.
Be sure to advertise your t-shirt sales in school newsletters, in your PTA Facebook group, and at events. Not only will you raise more money for your PTA projects, but you’ll also spread awareness for you school with every t-shirt sold.
If your PTA or PTO has dedicated volunteers, like many do, consider how you can leverage their gifts of time and effort into donations for your cause as well!
Many people are eligible for volunteer grants but don’t know it. Send your volunteers a message asking them to use a matching gift database or their company’s intranet to determine if they are eligible for volunteer grants.
If they are, ask them to submit the appropriate forms so that your cause benefits! They’ll be happy to learn that they can support your cause more, without having to turn out their own pockets.
Growing students always need new clothes and shoes. You can take the items they’ve outgrown and start a shoe drive to raise money for your cause.
This PTA fundraising idea will require you to set up drop-off locations where students and parents can place their donated shoes.
Additionally, you’ll need to find an organization, like Funds2Org, that will pay for your donated shoes. Look for an organization that will pick up the shoes as well so you can focus on more important things.
Everyone can get on board with saving money! That’s why selling coupon books is such a great idea for parent-teacher associations to raise money.
For this fundraiser, you’ll need to locate a coupon book provider. Look for one that offers discounts on local businesses so that you’re not only raising money for your cause but also supporting the community.
You can ask parents and students to sell the coupon books; just make sure they explain to supporters why you’re raising funds.
More than likely, your school is made up of students from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Why not celebrate that diversity while raising money for your parent-teacher association?
Encourage all students to bring a dish or sweet treat that their families love to make at home. (The foods don’t have to be fancy!) Then, charge a small fee for families to attend the multicultural fair.
You can turn your event into a competition by offering a prize for the most-loved dish. Or, keep it simple and declare everyone a winner!
Every now and then parents need a break from the children to enjoy a night out. Use this opportunity to your advantage and host a parents’ night out.
Round up a couple of volunteers and see if you can use your school’s gym to play games and keep the children in one location. Parents can make a small contribution in return for a few hours of free time.
Make sure you have enough games and activities available to keep the children preoccupied. And have fun!
Every PTA member is familiar with the tried-and-true bake sale as it’s a great way to raise funds for any project or cause.
If you want to add a twist to your bake sale, you can create a theme to make it unique to your cause.
For instance, if you’re fundraising to cover the costs of a field trip to the zoo, you can organize a jungle-themed bake sale with animal shaped cookies and colorful cupcakes.
Walkathons are smaller-scale marathons that are perfect if you want to promote healthy habits and raise money for your cause.
For your walkathon, you’ll need to map out your route and find a location to host your event. Pick a day with warm weather and make sure to have plenty of water stations available on your route.
You can raise money with a walkathon through sponsorships and by selling school spirited products at your event.
You’re probably familiar with a raffle, but have you heard of a reverse raffle? Here’s how it works: you can sell tickets and then draw the corresponding numbers out of the bowl. The person with the last ticket is the winner!
The reverse raffle works best when combined with another event like an ice cream social, carnival, or field day.
Keep this fundraiser inexpensive by asking a local business or individual to donate a prize for your event.
Students will jump at the opportunity to support a cause if it means they get a free period. The teachers in jail is a fun and exciting fundraiser that can raise a lot of funds for your cause.
At the beginning of class, the students have to raise a certain amount of money (like $100). If they can raise the money, their teacher will be placed in “jail” for the rest of the period.
Not only does this help you raise money for your cause, but it also gives teachers a chance to catch up on grading papers.
The giant sundae is a silly fundraiser that involves students working together to purchase sundae toppings that are then placed on their principal.
For this fundraiser, you’ll need to purchase ice cream and a variety of sweet, messy toppings. Choose a location that’s easy to clean (like the cafeteria) to host your event.
Set a fundraising goal for each topping and raise the stakes so that each topping is more expensive than the last. For example, students need to raise $100 for a scoop of ice cream and $150 to add chocolate syrup.
A scavenger hunt is a great PTA fundraising idea because students and their families can work together to win a prize, and you can raise money for your project, event, or club.
Have your PTA members hide items and create clues and makes sure the scavenger hunt is challenging for students of all ages.
Charge a small fee for those who want to participate, and don’t forget to offer an awesome prize to the winners!
Looking for a way to raise money in the fall? Why not create a haunted house fundraiser? Not only is it fun for children of all ages, but you can also raise a lot of money for your PTA.
To save on money host your haunted house at school and have each class decorate their room in a spooky Halloween theme.
To enter your haunted house, charge guests an admission fee. Have a donation table at the end of your haunted house so that guests can give more or learn why you’re raising funds.
Having a car wash is a simple—and inexpensive—PTA fundraising idea. You can charge a fee for the car wash and encourage people to make additional donations.
All you need to host your fundraiser is car cleaning supplies and a few students to help you.
To ensure that you get a lot of interested customers, promote your event a couple of weeks in advance. During the event, you can have a few students stand beside the road with signs to encourage even more people to participate.
Creating and selling school calendars is a simple, unique way to raise money for your PTA. Plus, it gets the whole school involved!
Pictures are the first thing you’ll need to make your calendar a reality. Once you’ve collected or created the content, you’ll need to find a wholesale provider that can print customized calendars.
Ask students to sell calendars to their friends and family and get the parents involved by asking them to sell school calendars at work.
A field day is a surefire way to raise money for your PTA’s cause because students, parents, and teachers will love to spend a day playing games and eating delicious food.
You can host your field day during the week or on a Saturday so the most people possible can attend. For your field day, you’ll need fun games and concessions.
Instead of charging a fee to enter the festivities, you can raise money by selling food and drinks and asking attendees for a fee to play the games.
If you have a local restaurant that students and community members love to dine at, you should consider partnering with them to raise money.
Ask the restaurant if they’d be willing to host a fundraising day where a percentage of the day’s proceeds will be donated to your cause.
Just be sure to choose a day where you can rally supporters to come (like after a football game). Promote your event by making an announcement at school and posting flyers around the community.
Compared to other crowdfunding websites that charge 5% and up, Fundly only charges a 4.9% platform fee along with any third-party payment processing costs.
Crowdfunding is one of the quickest ways to raise money, and Fundly’s platform makes it even more convenient with a fast and simple process. Plus, Fundly offers additional resources to help you raise money when you’re on a tight schedule.
A full support team is always there when you need help building your page or even after your campaign is launched. If you encounter any challenges, Fundly’s team can help resolve your issues quickly so you can get back to fundraising.
With Fundly, you won’t pay any upfront costs, so you can create your campaign without spending a dollar. Fundly will only charge you if your campaign raises money.
Following the keep-it-all approach, Fundly doesn’t require users to reach a specific amount by a set deadline. No matter how much a crowdfunder raises—whether they exceed their goal or don’t quite reach the mark—they’ll keep all the money they raise minus any fees.
Every crowdfunding page includes social sharing buttons and space for crowdfunding updates, which will automatically post to your connected Facebook account.
The PTA at Roger Sherman Elementary created a crowdfunding campaign to help fund a new committee called Interactive Technologies for Enhancing Classrooms, which will use the money raised to purchase interactive white boards for all the classrooms.
The campaign raised over $39,000 from 218 donors. The detailed crowdfunding description and photos that show students using the interactive white board helped this campaign exceed its goal of $34,000.
Members of the Ridgecrest PTA created this Fundly crowdfunding campaign to raise money for enrichment programs for their elementary school. The online fundraiser is paired with a jog-a-thon that the students will participate in.
This campaign describes the four programs that the money will fund, and it’s a great example of how parents, friends, and community members united to support a common cause. The Ridgecrest PTA was able to raise $2,451 from 70 generous supporters.
Taking pictures and posting them to your crowdfunding page is a creative way for PTAs to show how the funds will be used and why raising the money is important to students. Additionally, visuals will help donors build a connection to your cause.
Learn more about shooting and posting great crowdfunding photos.
Let other parents, teachers, and even students know why you’re fundraising by including a crowdfunding description. Your copy doesn’t need to be long; in fact, successful campaigns have between 300-700 words.
Check out these examples of great crowdfunding descriptions.
Sharing your campaign is the only way you’ll spread the word about your cause. Use your social media to ask for donations, share significant milestones, and acknowledge your donors. The more exposure your campaign has, the more funds you’ll receive!
Learn more about sharing your crowdfunding campaign with your network.
When you post updates on your fundraiser’s progress, your campaign stays relevant and donors are more likely to contribute if you’re close to reaching your goal. Plus, you can publicly acknowledge your donors, which shows supporters that you care about more than just the money.
As a part of my son’s middle school PTA, I’m always looking for new ways we can raise money. Fundly was the perfect option when we needed to raise money to keep our after-school program running. It’s easy and inexpensive to use!
We always host an annual school carnival to raise money for our school’s football team. This year we decided to raise more money by running a Fundly campaign. It was the best decision we made!
Fundly has been a great resource for our PTA because we constantly have projects we want to raise money for. We can create as many campaigns as we need and it’s free.
Every crowdfunding campaign can use a little help every now and then!
Whether you need advice about shooting and uploading crowdfunding photos, writing descriptions and updates, or sharing your fundraiser with your friends and family members, we’ve got your back.
Click below to learn more about the top seven crowdfunding tips that can be used for all types of fundraising efforts and campaigns!
You’ve heard the stories about fundraisers surpassing their goal, but how often does that really happen?
The answer? More frequently than you might think! In fact, individuals and organizations often meet and exceed their goals when they use Fundly to set up a fundraiser and share it with their friends and family members.
Check out these ten crowdfunding campaigns that all exceeded their fundraising goals by sizable margins in just a matter of weeks!
Crowdfunding has been used to raise money for everything from creative projects to medical costs and more!
Why is it so popular? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that a crowdfunding campaign is insanely easy to set up and share with your friends, family members, coworkers, and other peers.
See for yourself! Take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Crowdfunding and learn how you can make the most of this fundraising craze!
Fundly is dedicated to providing you with the tools you need to raise money for whatever your cause may be.
