social

Fundraiser Ideas

August 31, 2011
Money jar with label that says "Support Our Fundraiser" on white background

It seems like the economy has created a new draw to fundraisers. Few people have the extra money to buy high priced wrapping paper to benefit a school, and sending kids door to door with a sales brochure isn't safe. Instead, a myriad of companies offer fundraising for "shopping you'd do anyway."

Advertisement

It's not a bad idea, and it doesn't cost the schools anything to join nor does it require a lot of volunteers. If you're involved in your school's fundraising, check out some of these businesses and sign up. Even one shopper could earn a few dollars, and every school can use those.

Shop Online for Profit

Shop For Students is a website created primarily for the online fundraiser. The premise behind it is that 15% of your purchase is donated to your school with a cash check each month.

The selection of items for sale is limited, but with an offer to new vendors it could increase dramatically with little warning. Glancing over the prices, they're high, but most fundraisers factor the donation into the overall cost. For consumers looking to grab a bargain, this isn't the place. A prime example is the reusable grocery bags that sell for $6 and up. They're stylish, unlike those offered in the grocery store, so if you're looking to give them as gifts then they're worth it.

Advertisement

To counteract the few items with high prices, there are a few great bargains. The best one is probably the ink cartridges. They're re-manufactured but incredibly cheap, plus there's a donation to your school.

Overall, the fundraising aspect of this site is top notch. Upon signup, the school receives help with promotions of the site and links to add to the school website. Created by a father who sought to help his daughters raise money for their school without all the hassle, it has the potential to grow into an outstanding source for school funds.

Editor's Note: Shop for Students is now named 4InkandToner. They still have an affiliate program for schools, now offering 20% back. Here is their updated link:

Target the Sales

A nationally known fundraiser for schools is Target. If your school isn't registered, register it. Anyone who uses a Target Visa to purchase items at the store or online will earn a 1% donation to the affiliated school. When signing up for the Target card, you'll be prompted to enter the school you'd like to receive your donations.

Advertisement

Compare the 1% donation to the 15% donation in the previous website, and you'll see why a specialized online fundraiser is better. However, people won't have to be reminded to shop at a large box store like Target, and people who have no connection to your school can earn you money. Most Target Visa owners list their residing school district anyway.

Target also offers specialized fundraisers through their Take Charge of Education for schools that are interested. They claim to offer a variety of options from "tried and true" to "wackiness," so a little investigation might be worth it.

Giving Back to Schools

Office Depot also offers a 5% credit to schools for using its Back to Schools program. You need to know your school's Back to Schools ID number which can be found at the store or on the Office Depot website. For all qualifying purchases, the school linked to that number will receive a 5% credit.

Advertisement

Since many schools order their basic supplies from Office Depot, this program could reap some heavy rewards. The program is valid for online as well as in person purchases, and purchases made during the calendar year can still be applied to the school's credit voucher. If you purchased from Office Depot this calendar year but didn't credit it to the school, bring your receipt, and your school's ID to the store and ask for your purchase to be applied.

Read More Comments

September 22, 2007

I need fund raising ideas for a nonprofit pet organization in my county. Can anyone help me please?

Carolyn from Appling, GA

Answers

September 23, 20070 found this helpful
Best Answer

Our local humane society just had an awareness week and had events almost every night.

Some of the events were:
a jewelry party
a motorcycle poker run

Advertisement


a karaoke night - everyone paid $5 to get up and sing a tune
a benefit concert
a local restaurant donated the proceeds from one night's sales to the humane society

Hope these ideas help!

 
By Lynn (Guest Post)
September 23, 20070 found this helpful
Best Answer

I used to live near DeLand, Florida. There, every year (I believe it was on the weekend before Ash Wednesday), they had a family-friendly Mardi Gras parade for dogs. Families would bring their dogs, many in costume and always on a leash, to the downtown area. Some would walk their dogs down the street, and others would just bring their dogs and watch; the restored historic downtown area had quite a crowd every year. This was actually a benefit to raise money for a local theater, but I think it would be fabulous for a pet organization. The rules were that each dog had to be current on its shots, licensed, on a leash, not vicious, and not "in season" (heat). I believe they also had a minimum age for taking part in the parade and children below that age needed to have a parent or other adult walk with them as they walked the dog.

Advertisement

The parade did not have any motorized vehicles in it, and was always really cute. They would have a different theme each year, such as outer space or Old New Orleans, and the parade dogs would be dressed up in costumes reflecting that theme. Prizes were awarded for best costume, smallest, largest, and oldest dogs, and they also had doggie talent shows and other related events. It was a family-oriented Mardi Gras and was absolutely adorable and lots of fun. You could get more information about it by contacting either the Sands Theater in DeLand, Florida, or MainStreet DeLand's offices. (Sorry I don't have addresses for either group.) The committee that put together this annual event was called the "Krewe of Barkalee," but it was affiliated with the theater.

 
September 24, 20070 found this helpful
Best Answer

We volunteer at our Humane Society in the fundraising part. They have 3 big events each year. One is a huge rummage sale of donated items that are collected throughout the year. They run a thrift store year round and get alot of donations. Every summer they take donated items that have been stored and they lease the National Guard Armory for a week. Mon - Thurs are set up days and Friday and Saturday are the Sale. Sunday is cleanup day. They raise $30-45,000.00 each year. We have worked with them for 5 years.

The second thing that they do is have a Fur Ball which is a gala event and they have a formal dance with silent auctions and gourmet food etc. and tickets for the event are quite pricey and donations just seem to flow in.

The third is called Santa Paws and they purchased a nice camera on a tripod and a printer. They set up at the mall with Santa Claus in a suit and a nice chair and for a fee you can get your pet's picture taken with Santa. They do dogs and cats and birds but nothing too gross or exotic, like creepy things - snakes, rats, gerbils etc. You can buy as many prints as you like or bring as many pets as you wish.

Simpler things are yard sales, bake sales, selling their logo or picture printed on their t-shirts, making their own calendar with pictures of the cute shelter animals, selling key chains or car magnets with their logo, etc. Hope this helps and gives you some ideas.

 
By Victoria (Guest Post)
September 26, 20070 found this helpful
Best Answer

Try the following:

Garage Sale - a local animal shelter gets donated space from a storage company 1x/year & then they advertise for donated items in local newspapers, word-of-mouth, etc. They then hold a HUGE garage sale at the storage company which generates thousands of dollars for the animal shelter. It has become a well-known annual event in the area & each year there are hundreds of people lined up waiting for the doors to open!

Shop & Share - I live in the Chicago area. The local grocery stores (Jewel & Dominick's) have a program to help raise funds for animal shelters. This is how it works: every other month or so the shelters give out "coupons" to shop at those stores on certain days. The shopper shops on those days, turns in the "coupon" when checking out & the store will donate 5% of the shopper's total purchase to the animal shelter.

Some other ideas to try: igive.com; Car Wash/Dog Wash; Candy Bars; Bake Sales; Crafts, etc.

Good luck!

 
Answer this Question

April 23, 2007

My class is planning a trip to Malawi in June 2008. As sports leaders we will be teaching/helping out in some P.E. classes. But before we go we have to raise the money to get us there. Altogether we need to raise about £10,000. We have been thinking of ways to raise the money but so far haven't got anything. I was just looking for some good ideas/ways to raise this sort of money!

lilme2k7 from uk

Answers

April 23, 20070 found this helpful
Best Answer

I suggest you do yard work/run errands/babysit/shop, especially for the elderly and single parents who may need the extra help. Try a fixed rate per hour and make sure you render an efficient and effective service, so that you build a good name. Open a bank account and make sure you receive the highest possible interest to add to you savings.
What a pity I cannot hire you to clean up my yard:)
Good Luck!!!

 
April 25, 20070 found this helpful
Best Answer

I was president of my daughter's chorus group's Booster Club and one thing we did to raise money was for each of the students to write to family members/friends/members of their church asking for a donation. In the letter, they described the trip, the benefits to be gained from the trip, and thanked them in advance for the donation. It worked! Give it a try!

 
By threegetts (Guest Post)
April 25, 20070 found this helpful
Best Answer

How about doing a dinner (something inexpensive like spaghetti) with a silent auction of items you got donated from local businesses, art galleries, parents, etc. My neice is going to Ireland to compete in the World Irish Dance Competition and this is how her group raised their money. It worked really well.

To earn the rest of her portion here are some things she's done:

She had a garage sale at home with stuff donated from everyone she knows - she went and got it all and cleaned it, marked it, and did the sale herself

She has gone to the downtown area of her city during the weekend nights (with Dad/Mom as escort) and set up a little dance demonstration with a jar for donations. Since she also plays the violin, she's done that as well. People walking around from restaurants and bars have stopped and enjoyed her performances and she's earned up to $100 per night.

She has babysat and held workshops to teach younger girls how to babysit and make kits that they take with them. She charged them $10 each but they got the class and their first job through her.

In our city, curbs need to be painted with the house number on them so emergency vehicles can identify the address. She went around to new developments and did this for $15 per home. She made quite a bit of money doing this.

Hope these ideas help!

 
By (Guest Post)
April 29, 20070 found this helpful
Best Answer

Besides bake sales, car washes and silent auctions, you can have what is called "trivia" night. Get donated items as prizes and incorporate the silent auction also. Our tables sat eight people at $10 each, so that was $80 a table plus whatever was earned from the silent auction. Sometimes you can use your donated items and raffle tickets at a local baseball or other type of "ball" game. Just have the announcer read off the winning ticket number. To get donated items I had 4-5 people take letters A-G, H-L, M-Q, S-Z and make calls to business in the telephone book. Or you can divide the callers by type of business. Then we had someone do the pickups. I helped a cancer victim with fundraising and these ideas always generated a lot of donations. Another thing we did was set up jars at restaurants for monetary donations. A nice flyer-poster beside the jar explained what we were raising the money for. It is best to have the same person do the pick-up every week so the restaurant people know who you are and they don't have to worry about a stranger coming in and stealing the money. Be sure to have the jar setting beside the cash register also so it is always in plain sight of the restaurant personnel.

 
Answer this Question

February 11, 2010

I need some inexpensive centerpiece ideas for 75 round tables. It is for a spaghetti dinner fundraiser. Many thanks for your help.

By Meg Duckworth from Augusta, GA

Answer this Question

November 8, 2007

I teach a Sunday school class for little kids 5-8yrs and I can't think of ideas to raise money fast. We don't have any money and we need to fix our room. Please I need help!



~God Bless You~

Emili from Chicago, IL

Answer this Question

February 15, 2010

I need to come up with some fundraisers for my daughter's fastpitch softball team. They are all 17 years old. We already have a car wash. Any great ideas? We need to make alot of money.

By joyce m mundie from Pittsburgh, PA

Answer this Question

July 28, 2011

What is the best "meal" to serve at a fundraiser dinner held in the high school cafeteria? We need something that is good and filling, easy to prepare and serve, yet something people would come out to eat. Should it be all-you-can-eat or one-time plate?

Also, what should we charge for tickets? Should we offer discounts for kids under 10? Since this is a fundraiser we don't want to lose money, but do want to give a good value. Do any companies donate or subsidize purchases of ingredients (ie: spaghetti companies give discount on noodles, etc.)

Our thoughts so far were chili, cornbread, and salad or spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad, but we would like other ideas of meals that have worked well.

By Melody Bressler-Hay from Oak Ridge, TN

Answer this Question


Silver Post Medal for All Time! 254 Posts
October 22, 2006

Some of you may know that I have spent the past 6 months in Vietnam working in orphanages. I am now back in the states and am trying to fundraise to return to Vietnam to work at the orphanages and day center for kids with disabilities. I wanted to know if anybody has any ideas on how I can fundraise in the next two months?



Stella from WA

Answers

By Sandy from WI (Guest Post)
October 24, 20060 found this helpful
Best Answer

What a great thing you are doig! I can't help right now financially since we are about to adopt our second child, but I can give you fundraising ideas.
Ask at various stores if you could put a box or jar there explaining your cause. The box or jar is for donations.
Have a bake sale.
Christmas ornaments are always popular gifts for people to buy--make a bunch and sell them.
Well, my hamburger is burning --gotta go.

 
Answer this Question


Gold Post Medal for All Time! 969 Posts
October 11, 2012

I am doing a fundraiser for Marion-Polk Food Share here in Salem, OR.

Sandi crocheting a chain for Food by the Foot

Read More...
<< First< PreviousNext >
Categories
Better Living Charity FundraisingSeptember 10, 2013
Pages
More
👒
Mother's Day Ideas!
🌻
Gardening
🐰
Easter Ideas!
Facebook
Pinterest
YouTube
Instagram
Categories
Better LivingBudget & FinanceBusiness and LegalComputersConsumer AdviceCoronavirusCraftsEducationEntertainmentFood and RecipesHealth & BeautyHolidays and PartiesHome and GardenMake Your OwnOrganizingParentingPetsPhotosTravel and RecreationWeddings
Published by ThriftyFun.
Desktop Page | View Mobile
Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Contact Us
Generated 2024-03-28 14:03:47 in 7 secs. ⛅️️
© 1997-2024 by Cumuli, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
https://www.thriftyfun.com/Fundraising-Ideas-8.html