Ideas for a Successful Fundraising Campaign for Schools 

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Schools rely on fundraisers to complete various goals and provide excellent student experiences. Before planning your next campaign, exploring fundraising ideas and event options can enhance your campaign with an option that suits your school. 

What Can You Do With School Fundraisers? 

Your school fundraiser ideas can support many causes. Highlighting a specific goal or reason will entice donors to give money and support your school. Some ways you can use fundraising money include: 

• Obtaining supplies for classrooms: Teachers spend around $820 annually out of pocket for classroom supplies and other materials to offer their students the best experience for the year. Your fundraising efforts can take the pressure off teachers and give back to the dedicated educators. 
• Updating amenities and facilities: Over time, your school will experience wear, and equipment will become obsolete. With fundraising efforts, you can renovate sections of your school for lasting improvements or invest in new tools for your students. You can expand your facilities by using money to build new fields, playgrounds, or science centers.
• Creating more opportunities for students: Schools offer many experiences for students to give them the best education and prepare them for the future. Many schools use field trips to provide hands-on experience and allow students to connect more with their subjects. Events and speakers can break up regular learning to help them learn more and brand out-of-classroom learning. 
• Supporting unfunded programs: Many departments fail to get the funds they need from school boards and districts. Across counties and states, arts and music programs fail to get the funds they need to keep operating, causing them to decrease offerings or even shut down completely. Fundraising can save these essential programs and continue to provide students with comprehensive education.  

With many options, you can provide comprehensive support to your school and engage your school community in several fundamental causes. 

7 Fundraising Ideas for Schools 

Your fundraising can support several causes and you have countless ways to execute fundraising campaigns. Getting ideas for your fundraising events can help you plan one that perfectly fits your cause and school community. 

1. Virtual Raffle 

Virtual raffles are great ways to encourage donations without planning events or asking people to give time from their already busy lives. With a virtual raffle, you can add a link to ticket purchases to your online resources. From weekly newsletters and email chains to social media posts, you can easily advertise and get people involved. Families and students can share links with their friends and family, encouraging them to donate. 

2. Online Auction 

Online auctions for schools can take several forms. If you want to forgo an event, you can have families and students bid on your prizes online in an eBay-type format. When the bidding window closes, the highest bidder gets the prize. However, you can also incorporate virtual events with online auctions. Consider inviting speakers, hosting performances, and other attractions you stream between auction periods for increased entertainment and engagement. 

3. Duct Tape a Staff Member to the Wall 

Students love engaging with their teachers and faculty in fun ways. You can raise awareness and excitement about fundraisers by having your staff actively participate in the fundraiser. Your elected faculty member will stand on a chair against the wall. Students and other donors will pay to place a piece of tape across them. 

You will keep going until the person can stay up against the wall without any other support. Students will have a great time and your staff can feel like they are contributing to your school’s cause. 

4. Performance 

Your students, staff, and community are talented. You can display that talent by hosting various performances, including: 

• Orchestra and band concerts 
• Plays and musicals
• Talent shows
• Fashion shows 
• Comedy or stand-up shows 
• Battle of the bands 

Your school can charge visitors to see the performance. Hosting for multiple nights can help you optimize fundraising while allowing your performers to show off their skills. For individual acts or competition events, you can even charge people a fee to perform or compete, increasing your earned funds. 

This fundraising event is especially impactful when trying to help the arts and music departments. You can highlight how much students love their craft while emphasizing the need for the program. 

5. Walk-a-Thon

A walk-a-thon is an excellent way for people to get involved in your cause. In this event, your students, staff, parents, and other community members will pledge to walk a certain distance or amount. You can tailor the campaign to the needs of your audience and individuals. You can help people participate from their homes by encouraging them to set daily step goals or ask them to complete a certain number of laps around a track or other space for an in-person event. 

Regardless of your chosen method, you will earn funds by asking your participants to find sponsors. Each participant will get a donation page they can share with family and friends on their social media pages. Most platforms let individuals customize pages, allowing them to say their connection to the cause and why it’s important. Donors will give money to individual participants, encouraging them to meet their fundraising and walking goals. 

This fundraising tactic is part of peer-to-peer fundraising, which is very effective. People are more compelled to donate because someone they trust is asking them. The increased customization and personalization abilities connect volunteers and donors to the cause. When you want to raise more funds for comprehensive causes, peer-to-peer fundraising strategies can help you reach your goal. 

6. Bingo

Bingo is a classic game that can engage several audiences. This option is great when trying to engage younger children because they can play and participate, but all ages can join in. Local businesses and organizations can donate fun prizes, drawing people to your event. For this event, you can collect funds by charging people per bingo board. Many places play multiple rounds of bingo, while others encourage serious players to get more than one to increase their winning chances. 

7. Service Days

Service days involve volunteers completing a task or service in return for a donation. Many high schools elect to do this with their students as volunteers because they are older and can safely handle more tasks. This option is a great way to reach out to the community and answer some of their needs. Some services include: 

• Car washing 
• Lawn mowing 
• Dog walking 
• Mulching 

Before the event, you can spend lots of time canvassing and spreading information to your school’s community. On the day of, send your students out into the neighborhoods to find interested donors. You can even offer multiple services and have donors choose which option they would like. 

Track Your Funds With MIP Fund Accounting

When planning a school fundraising campaign, you need the right tools to execute it. MIP Fund Accounting offers a comprehensive accounting software solution for organizations, including schools. With our solution, you can track your school’s finances to make stronger decisions and plan better fundraising campaigns. The configurable dashboards help you better understand various financial metrics, so you can keep donors and school boards updated with your needs and progress. 

Request a demo today and discover how MIP Fund Accounting can enhance your school’s next fundraising campaign.