HELP.. School fundraisers, suggestions

[isabel]

I'm on the PTO board at school and need some fundraising suggestions. Our school has less than 200 students, most are from low income families and we get maybe 20 parents that will help with fundraisers on a regular basis.
Here's the problem. Last year was the first time we helped raise money for our 4th & 5th graders to go to Washington, D.C. That worked out fine, especially since an anonymous parent donated a grandfather clock for us to raffle tickets. But this year our students are going on another big field trip and we need something that is going to fill the gap from the clock. The clock brought in about $2500. We hope to be able to raise money every year for the 4th & 5th grade students to go on a field trip. We just need to find the best possbile fundraisers to help keep the cost for each student as low as possible. We did make a stipulation that if you wanted to get part of the proceeds from fundraisers to help pay for your trip, you had to participate in the fund raising events.

Any suggestions for new fund raising events would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for all your help!!

[beth119]

Go around to your local business and see if they will donate something (comparable to the clock) that can be raffled.

In these hard economic times, gift cards would be great. Also, maybe a "hot" item that the kids would want that is expensive. An x-box, ps3, wii.... Even if you can get the store to agree to half, that would be great. Promise them you will put a sign up saying who donated what. A couple years ago, one of the schools raffled off a tmx elmo when they were all the rage. Broke previous sale for raffles.

[happymama3]

My kids' elementary school did baskets this last year. Each homeroom had a theme (scrapbooking, gardening, car care, eating out, etc). Local businesses donated items as well as the parents. Tickets were $1 each and you "chose" which basket you were trying to win because everything was kept separate. This brought in tons of money. Good luck!

[Lori63]

Originally Posted by happymama3 My kids' elementary school did baskets this last year. Each homeroom had a theme (scrapbooking, gardening, car care, eating out, etc). Local businesses donated items as well as the parents. Tickets were $1 each and you "chose" which basket you were trying to win because everything was kept separate. This brought in tons of money. Good luck!

Ditto! I work ina school with a lot of low income, free lunch kids. Our basket fundraiser allowed everyone to participate (you can donate something for under a dollar/ buy a ticket for $1, etc.). We raised a good bit with this.

[kmmmom]

car wash,
candy bars (can be sold in front of walmart, and our Walmart will match the proceeds up to $500.)
silent auction,
btfe,
campbells soup label,
tyson,
we also sell pulled pork sandwiches at a local festival (pioneer festival) and at a local car show.
Get a local Burger King or Pizza hut to have a proceeds night where you advertise it at the school and the proceeds from the evening go to the school.
Sell flowers for Mother's Day.

that's just a few thoughts, if I think of others, I'll let you know.

[puakinikini]

I also love the basket idea - and I would definitely look into businesses donating items. I do fundraising for March of Dimes and also our twin club and we ask for donations from small, as well as large businesses with great success. I would recommend first starting with businesses that are in close proximity to your school as they will often donate because they feel like they are directly giving back to the community that they are profiting from. When I first started calling places and asking for stuff I was reticent - but I was amazed at how nice people were and how willing they were to give. MOD is a great cause - but I was surprised at how many businesses would give to our twin club fundraiser (which is not really a cause at all). Good luck!

[sbp]

Check with your local supermarkets to see if they offer any fundraising programs. Before school ended for the summer, I gave the prinicipal information on the saving receipts program at our Shaw's supermarket. Just by the parents saving receipts from their regular shopping trips, when the school mails them all in, they'll get a small percentage back. There's probably other stores that offer their own programs to help out the schools.

There's also programs for recycling printer cartridges, used cell phones (although if it's in a low income area, those may not be big moneymakers).

Maybe getting recycle bins for cans/bottles and newspapers (and you'd also have a new place to look for coupons ). A lot of schools and churches have them on their property, so that must make a fairly decent amount of money.

[jkelstaten]

Check with some of your local restaurants to see if they do a fundraising night. In our area, Chik-fil-a, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and I think a few others have nights where schools help with bussing tables and such. In return they get a portion of the proceeds that are earned that night.

[isabel]

Thanks for all the suggestions. You've given me some great ideas!

[Songstress2]

With holidays coming around...gift ideas might be good. Avon has fundraising. I could look into it and get you more information if you wanted. But I know they do fundraisers...usually with 50% of sales coming to you. I may be wrong, but I'm not sure. Now if 50% is true, then if each child sells 50.00 worth of Avon,then that is $10,000. Your profit could be as much as $5000.00. If they sell more...the better.