40 Incredible K-12 School Fundraising Ideas That Work

Here are our 40 tips and tricks to making a wonderful fundraising event

Dress-up Day

Whether they’re in kindergarten or year 12, everyone loves to dress up. Students can pay to dress up in whatever character they want for the day. Be prepared for mortal kombat characters or baby Yoda's wandering the halls.

School Cookbook

Compile a cookbook with the best recipes submitted by kids and their parents. It’s not only amazingly useful as a fundraising tool but you’ll get the opportunity to try out some of the best recipes your school community has to offer!

Talent Show

Yo-yoing? Magic tricks? How about doing the worm with your eyebrows? Kids have so many talents, so why not feature them in a show to help raise money for your school? We promise the night will be filled with awe, happiness, and hilarity. Think about throwing in some weird talents from the teachers just for fun.

Host a Play

Get excited for the show of the year! Gather up your best and brightest student actors for an incredible stage show. Ask drama teachers to select the play or musical, then ensure that you promote your show to sell as many tickets as possible to the theatrical extravaganza.

Excursion Day

Plan a day out for the kids at a beach or park with tons of activities and/or events to keep them occupied throughout the day. There are a ton of ways you can do this but simply charge participating students a fee for the day to ensure you maximise fundraising.

Battle of the Bands

For those about to rock...we salute you! Hold auditions for the finest musicians/bands your school has to offer. Sell tickets to the event and ensure everyone in the audience has their say on their favourite. Rock on!

Sausage Sizzle

Fun fact: kids get sick of boring lunches. That’s why hosting a big ole’ sausage (and veggie) sizzle at your school is a guaranteed fundraising win. Just need to hire a couple of barbecues for the day and charge a couple of bucks for a sausage or veggie kebab sandwich and you’ve got a winner!

Cadbury chocolate boxes

This is a tried and true fundraising method dating back for decades. The great thing about the Cadbury fundraising process is that it can all be done online with all the tools and help you need to successfully fundraise.

Jolly socks

For a healthier and more practical alternative, try Jolly Socks! This fundraising idea is as simple as ordering a box of socks from Jolly Soles. Not only is it sugar-free but parents will love you for it!

Personalised sports balls

Selling personalised sports balls (soccer, basketball, cricket, you name it!) makes a perfect gift idea and can be done from a variety of places.

Plant-A-Difference

Make a difference, one tree at a time. Plant-A-Difference is a one-of-a-kind fundraiser that spreads awareness for environmental conservation and raises much-needed funds for your school at the same time!

Tea Towels

A school tea towel is an incredible time capsule of a year gone by. Fill the tea towel with student drawings of themselves, finish with a beautiful border then sell as a gift or a keepsake.

Schoolyard Stories

Schoolyard Stories are books created by children for children! Get creative with a compilation of short stories or even a book of artwork. A perfect gift for parents!

Mr Whippy Van

There’s nothing that gets the heart racing more than the sound of Mr Whippy coming around the corner. With that spirit, book a couple of Mr Whippy vans to show up at a select afternoon at your school for an ice cream-filled extravaganza.

Picture products

Super simple, but super effective. With Picture Products, turn your child’s wonderful drawings into a plate, coffee mug, water bottle or clock that you can keep forever! Great fundraising and happy memories.

Children’s Art Work

Give your students the opportunity to flex their artistic muscles by hosting students in hosting your very own school art gallery fundraiser. This works well across any year group and provides a nice opportunity to showcase each student's creativity while raising funds for your school.

Fun Runs

Another really simple but effective idea is to get your school to host its very own fun run. First pick a length (2k, 5k, 8k etc.), select a route relatively close by, then ask participants to pay a fee to enter!

Multicultural Day

You’ll be amazed at the incredible array of cultures and backgrounds of your students when you host your very own multicultural day. Take over various classrooms and outdoor areas by a respective country and charge students for goods sold or even a fee for entry.

Mother’s Day Stalls

Commemorate mums at your school by hosting your very own Mother’s Day stall. There are so many ideas to choose from but it's best to stick with one consistent theme. Perhaps it’s selling soaps and hand lotions, personalised candles, or even massages from their kids!

Movie Nights

This idea works best around a new movie release or if you’re able to get a hold of an outdoor screen (a little more complicated admittedly). Sell tickets to the screening and have items at the concession stand and you’ve got yourself a night at the movies!

Raffles

An oldie but a goodie. Raffles are regulars at many fundraisers and are really effective if done successfully. The best way to maximise fundraising is to ensure that the prizes are donated. Students can procure them from local businesses or from their own parents.

Discos

Discos are certainly one of the standout dates on the student calendar. Kids and parents both finally get to let their hair down, and have fun with each other outside of school hours. Just be prepared with some cracking tunes as well as food/drink for the occasion.

Selling Growing Seeds

Gardening seeds are a really fun and productive activity for kids and families, and in turn, are a lucrative fundraiser for school children. There are plenty of organisations that sell a variety of seeds to grow, so just ensure that there’s a diverse array of options to choose from to satisfy the curious gardeners in your community.

Community Recycling Collection

An awesome fundraising opportunity that also gives back to your local community. Ask participants to secure donations or pay a fee to participate, then spend the day hanging out with your peers to clean up your school’s surrounding neighbourhood.

Treasure Hunt

While this one takes a little more effort than most others on this list, you'll definitely have a lot of fun doing it! Draw up a list of “treasures” to be found, charge individuals or teams to take part in the hunt, then set up a specific time limit for those teams/individuals to find as many treasures as possible. Those who find the most win!

Jelly Bean Count

We can almost guarantee that most people reading this have taken part in a jelly bean count as part of a fundraiser. Charge people to take part in the count and whoever gets closest to the real number of jellybeans wins the whole jar.

Pancake Breakfast

Who says kids don’t want to get to school early? A pancake breakfast is almost certain to draw a crowd. Ensure that you promote the breakfast a few days in advance so that you maximise turnout and simply charge students for pancakes for a breakfast to remember.

Colour Runs

For a fun and active effective fundraiser - try a colour run! Pick a picturesque course where walkers or runners will get showered in colourful, eco-friendly powder at every stage of the event. You’ll just need to decide whether to charge people at the entrance or you can ask for donations (or both!).

No Uniform (Mufti) Day

Let your students show off their personality by designating a “no-uniform” day at your school. Simply charge a set fee or ask for a donation and see your students put on the style.

School Sleepover

Deck out a classroom or a school hall as the perfect sleepover palace. Play a movie for the kids before bed complete with popcorn and drinks, and simply ask for donations or a fee to enjoy the night at school.

Chore Auction

The best part about a chore auction is that it is 100% free, which means more money for your school! Ensure you lineup some willing students to perform choose and ask people to bid on the chores most needed for their household.

School Carnival

School carnivals get everyone excited, making it a great opportunity to fundraise for your school. Simply ask each participating student, teacher or guest to buy a ticket for the event and host your school carnival as you normally would each year!

Bake Competition

It’s your great school bake-off! Set a date for the competition and ask individuals or student teams to pay to enter with their best-baked creations. Then, students and teachers can sample each team’s submission and vote for their favourite as the winner.

Principal Challenge

Kids finally get the chance to put their principal to work through the principal challenge! Come up with various types of challenges for your school principal and ask people to vote on the best one with their money. Whichever challenge raises the most money is the one your principal will have to complete!

Local Community Discount Passport

Challenge students to go out to local businesses around your school for discounts or deals in which they can compile a local community passport to sell as a fundraiser. This not only provides a great opportunity for your school to raise money but helps promote and drive shoppers to your local businesses.

Haunted School

Engage with enthusiastic drama teachers and students to turn your school into a haunted house for a night. This one works best around Halloween when everyone is feeling a little ghoulish, then charge brave participants to walk through frightening corridors and abandoned classrooms all for a good cause!

Online Classes

Put your teachers’ teaching skills to the test by offering classes to parents/students as part of a school fundraising effort. Allow the teachers to offer whatever classes or courses they think could be most profitable and let the bidding/ticketing buying begin.

For more info on how to host virtual events with Humanitix, check out this super helpful guide!

Baby Photo Guessing Competition

Always hilarious, ask teachers all over your school to submit baby photos as part of a baby photo guessing competition. Make sure you procure a prize for the participant who correctly guesses the most babies by the end of the day and let the baby guessing begin!

Headshave

Another really cheap fundraising idea to host, ask students and teachers to take the plunge to raise money for your school by shaving their heads. All you’ll need is to hire a barber (or a talented teacher/student) for the day to shave as many heads as possible. The more heads, the more money raised!

Parents Night Out

Host a sophisticated and stylish parent’s night out at your school complete with adult things like alcohol, delicious food and maybe a band or DJ to set the mood. Ensure that you have some sort of after-school care available at the school as we all know babysitters can be quite expensive. The parents will thank you for it!

Ready to host a fantastic Fundraiser?

Are you a regular school event organiser? Check out all the ways that Humanitix helps schools and universities sell more tickets.

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