Looking for school fundraising ideas to inspire your next campaign?
These days, a lot hinges on how you decide to raise money for your school. The best ideas are super fun, and they inspire the kids, parents, and teachers to get behind your fundraising goal.
Before you can plan a brilliant strategy, it helps to have a complete resource in front of you that details several successful ideas for school fundraisers. These will act as the creative templates that you will use to find the one that will work best for your school.
Our team has assembled a mega-list of the best fundraising concepts below. For quick inspiration, check out ideas by school level, or holiday theme – by clicking on the desired link.
Whether you are looking for school fundraisers that make the most money, attract the most participants, or support an important cause – this list will help spark your next campaign.
Here are 71+ ideas for school fundraisers!
Best fundraising ideas by school level
From preschool and pre-kindergarten (age 3-5), elementary school (age 5-10), middle school (age 11-13) and high school (14-18) – these concepts are school level specific.
Pre-school fundraising ideas
Raising money for your preschool means that young kids and their parents should be able to take part and enjoy the simple activities that you choose. Here are our top ideas.
#1: The Dance-A-Thon
Kids love to dance! Host a fundraising event virtually or at school where the kids dance as long as they can to a set playlist. Friends and family pledge donations for every minute danced.
#2: The big toy drive
Ask the children to donate their old toys and raffle them off. The kid that donates the most toys wins a prize! Connect the toys to a worthy cause and sell raffle tickets to raise money. Whoever wins the raffle gets to choose which charity gets the toys.
#3: The puppet show
Host a fun competition to see who can create the best puppet for your class puppet show. Then cast the puppets in a show performed by the teachers, with an entry fee to watch, and get a live recording to keep.
#4: Photo competition
Get kids to bring a funny baby picture to class and donate to enter the photo competition. The class will vote on the winners in different categories. You can even run a guess-who-it-is segment.
#5: A recycling collection
It’s great when your school fundraising ideas are linked to an important lesson. Pick a recyclable material and get kids to collect it in bulk over a couple weeks. Get parents to pledge for every can collected and teach them to recycle.
#6: Dress-up day
Collect donations for the kids to come to school dressed as pirates, superheroes, or whatever theme you choose. Spend the day doing fun, theme-related activities.
#7: The class calendar
Create a fun class calendar filled with the best arts and crafts from the school. This can be done per child with 12 photos taken through the year of their art. Create custom calendars or be compilations. Sell the calendars to friends and family!
#8: Teacher variety show
Kids love to see their teachers doing silly things. Put on a fun show where the teachers are the stars – and the children, and their parents have to buy tickets. Auction off prizes at the show!
Elementary school fundraising ideas
The next stop is kindergarten, where your ideas need a strong creative angle. Raise money for your elementary school with these tried-and-tested fundraising ideas for kids aged 5-10.
#9: Teacher punishment
Set a target with a prize being a fun punishment for certain teachers. Dying their hair, throwing pies at them, or dunking them in water in front of the whole school is a prize kids will pay for.
#10: A Bike-A-Thon
Kids love to show off their bike skills at this age, so host a bike-a-thon and get their parents to pledge donations for every lap around the school that they do. Include tricks for bonus pledge donations.
#11: Ice cream day Auction
Raise money by hosting a live ice-cream day auction, where classes can bid on dates when they will have ice-creams for free during their lunch break. Popsicles, ice-cream flavors and sorbet makes this fun and competitive for everyone.
#12: Craft Sales
Craft sales are one of those school fundraising ideas that always works. Get the kids to create some great crafts, then sell it to parents, friends, and family at a creative market day.
#13: Box car run
Get the kids ready to run – drag race style. Each child makes a cardboard box car and runs with it on in the race. Host team runs with a few kids in one box car, and use team fundraising to raise money.
#14: Pop-A-Balloon Raffle
Manual raffles are more fun when they’re inside balloons the kids can pop! Put spot prizes into a wall of balloons and charge per balloon popped. It’s a great addition to any live fundraiser at school.
#15: Build-Fort-Competition
For your engineering-minded kids, host a build-a-fort challenge. Pit classes against each other, or split classes into groups. Teachers can raise money by allowing kids to hang out in the forts all day, paying for access to each one. The winning fort gets a trophy!
#16: Toy hamper Sweepstakes
Create an amazing toy hamper for a few lucky kids at school to win when you run a sweepstakes competition online and in class. The more entries you get the better, so make that prize extraordinary.
Middle-school fundraising ideas
When your kids are in the pre-pubescent middle school years, you better have some engaging ideas in your pocket if you want to keep them interested. Here are our favorite ideas for ages 11-13.
#17: Read-A-Thon
How many books can a kid read in a day? Host a school-wide read-a-thon and get parents to pledge donations for every page, story, or book read. Invite the local library to sponsor the event.
#18: Broken telephone relay
Split your kids into teams and get them to line up across the classroom (great for social distancing). Start with a message and send it from person to person – one at a time. The team with the most accurate message at the end wins. Every message is timed, and each successful delivery is a pledge.
#19: The carnival games
Invite the class to take part in a carnival show, where they have an hour to learn basic plate spinning, juggling and hoop throwing activities. Then put on a comedy performance for everyone and charge to see the show. Kids can watch, donate, support a team, or take part.
#20: Fresh food market
Encourage local commerce with a fresh food market as one of your school fundraising ideas. Take teams down to the market, get them to buy fresh produce, and resell it at a markup at school. Invite the community to support your school fair.
#21: A talent show
Many of the kids in your school are talented, and that talent is worth watching. Put on a show and invite people to come see it – sell tickets to the livestream too for additional income.
#22: A themed movie day
Set up an outdoor movie theatre and have the kids come to school dressed in their favorite series or movie outfits. Sell tickets to seats at the outdoor cinema, along with food and snacks.
#23: Board game competition
To raise funds for school, host a board game competition with a variety of games. Entrants have to play their way to victory. At the event, auction off donated prizes, or host a raffle to win a popular game.
#24: Lip-sync throwdown
Get your most confident kids to face-off in a lip-sync battle, and have your class vote for the winner. Gather sponsored prizes from donated music stores and make a show of it! Charge for entry, or use pledge donations per song sung and round won.
High school fundraising ideas
By the time kids are in high school, they are at their maximum creative performance level. Tap into their teenage energy and use these incredible fundraising ideas to make things happen.
#25: E-Game tournament
We bet you have some competitive gamers in your school, and they can help you raise money. Pick a popular spectator game or a multiplayer real-time strategy game that you can air on big screens and online. Then make an event of it, selling merchandise, auctioning gaming gear, and starting your own school gaming league. If your players are good enough, they can play other schools!
#26: The scavenger hunt
Take entrants on a wild ride through the school as they collect clues, decipher riddles, and uncover hidden objects in a team-based scavenger hunt over the weekend.
#27: A chef off show
Host your own real-time reality cooking show with entrants from your school who love to cook. Charge for admission to see who will be crowned and make it an annual event that gets everyone excited before it happens. Accept donations on the day, give away prizes and host a raffle.
#28: 50/50 Raffle
One of the easiest school fundraising ideas is to add a 50/50 raffle to your event. Kids buy tickets to the raffle and the money raised becomes the prize. The winner keeps 50%, the school keeps the rest.
#29: An obstacle course challenge
From color runs, to muddy challenges – teens love team-based obstacle courses. Get sponsored teams to run a fun gauntlet of obstacles you devise for them and crown the winner the reigning champion of the school.
#30: Battle of the bands
Use your school as a venue to host a community battle-of-the-bands competition. This can be an inter-school challenge where bands from the local area come together to compete. Sell tickets to the show, and livestream the battle for additional ticket sales online.
#31: School dances
Get creative with some themed school dances that will bring kids together and inspire ticket sales. From under-the-sea, to 90’s rock, themes will give your kids occasion to dress-up and get out.
#32: Trivia livestream
If COVID is keeping the kids at home, you can still host competitive trivia quiz nights through a school livestream that broadcasts to everyone. People can enter, watch, engage and cheer on their favorite trivia genius.
Easy school fundraising ideas by holiday
Holidays are a fantastic theme to build effective fundraisers around. People are already excited and gearing up to take part in festivities, and you can harness this to raise money for your school.
Valentine’s Day school fundraising ideas
Valentine’s day on February 14th is a great opportunity for students to show love and affection towards their school, by taking part in love-themed fundraisers. Here are some charming ideas.
#33: Rose deliveries
Buy a few buckets of red roses, tie some ribbon around them, and sell them at school on Valentine’s day. All profits from the sale of the roses will go to your school fundraiser.
#34: Candy grams
Invite kids to order candy grams online for delivery to their Valentine’s on the big day. These candy bouquets will come with personal messages and should be delivered by hand.
#35: Valentines lunch Raffle
Give kids the chance to win a Valentines lunch at school, or to win vouchers for lunch at a restaurant. Promote the raffle to enamored teens to raise the money you need.
#36: Teacher gift boxes
One of our favorite school fundraising ideas is when kids crowdfund to buy their teachers a gift box for Valentine’s day. Half the money raised goes to the boxes, the other half goes to the school.
#37: Virtual couple Sing-A-Thon
Is there anything more romantic than a duet? Host a fun couple’s sing-a-thon and see who can sing the most popular love songs for the longest time on Valentine’s day. Pledge donations per song!
#38: Heart candy bake Sale
Gather the kids and their parents and get them to bake a feast of love-themed treats. All baked goods will be donated by the parents for sale at school on Valentine’s day.
#39: Secret valentine exchange
Deliver secret Valentine’s day gifts to students on the day of love. Kids will pick a donated item that is wrapped and that they can’t see, and will send it to whoever they like. The fun is in the surprise!
#40: Valentine’s Day map quest
A cross between a scavenger hunt and an escape room challenge, this class fundraiser has teams figuring out clues to discover where St Valentine left his stash of chocolates. It’s somewhere in the school, and they’ll have to work together to find it before the other classes do.
Earth Day fundraiser ideas
Arguably the most important holiday of our time, Earth day celebrates climate action and raising awareness about environmental protection. Here are some green-themed ideas.
#41: Zero waste lunch day
Challenge your students to only bring lunches to school that are plastic-free and eco-friendly. If they achieve zero waste (with compostable leftovers), they get a prize. If they don’t, they get fined.
#42: Plastic bag art show
Have the kids collect plastic bags from friends and family – then use it to create unique art pieces for a show. Charge a small entry fee for visitors to raise awareness about plastic pollution.
#43: Vegan showcase
School fundraising ideas can focus on elective education and be quite successful. For kids interested in learning more about being vegan, invite them to take a virtual class. Ask an expert to donate their time and keep the funds raised.
#44: Tree-A-Thon
Get pledge donations for every tree a student plants. Spend a day, or several days over time, with your student green team planting trees to help the local environment.
#45: Organic market
Set up an organic market on school premises and sell local, fresh produce to your students and the community. Partner with local farmers and agricultural producers for reduced prices.
#46: Electronic waste collection
Digital technology is everywhere – phones, tablets, gaming devices, MacBook’s, and computers. Run a drive for students to collect this e-waste. You can collect pledge donations or sell the e-waste to companies who strip it for useful precious metals.
#47: From this to that contest
Nothing is greener than finding a new purpose for an old thing. Teach this lesson to students by hosting a ‘from this to that’ contest. Line up old items and tell contestants to write down other uses for the item on a whiteboard. Livestream the contest, and award the winner with a prize.
#48: Virtual recycling classes
Get parents to sponsor student classes to teach them how to recycle correctly at home. These advanced classes should be municipality specific. After the classes, test student knowledge through a quiz – and award the top performer with a prize.
Halloween school fundraiser ideas
On October 31st every year, kid’s dress up and go trick or treating on Halloween. This fun themed holiday is brimming with ideas for great class fundraising activities.
#49: Spooky mystery box Sale
Source donated Halloween-themed gifts or ask kids to donate them. Wrap them all in spooky paper and host a school-wide mystery box sale on the day – where kids can pick a spooky mystery for a couple bucks.
#50: Ultimate costume Raffle
Run a raffle at school that awards the best costumes for Halloween you can find to your winners. Kids will be motivated to enter if you source unique, scary or top-end costumes.
#51: Balloon ghost ring toss
Fill some helium balloons with raffle prizes and integrate it into a horror-themed ring toss game. Students pay to play, and get a chance to nab a helium balloon ‘ghost’ to win a prize.
#52: Multimedia horror contest
School fundraising ideas like the horror costume contest are a classic, but you can do better! Get students to take some amazing images or film of themselves in costume, to create a multi-media entry to the competition. The scariest entry wins.
#53: Haunted classroom
Get kids to decorate their classrooms for Halloween, and then charge admission for entry. At the same time, you can run a competition – the most visited classroom wins a prize.
#54: Pumpkin carving Livestream
Some kids are gifted when it comes to carving pumpkins. Host a live pumpkin carving class and teach students how to carve the scariest or most adorable pumpkin. Best pumpkin carving wins!
#55: Zombie party
Throw a zombie party at school instead of a school dance and sell tickets. At the party, you can play a variety of themed games, sell merchandise, and even host a zombie auction to raise money.
#56: Horrific baked goods Sale
Host a Halloween bake sale for everyone – humans and animals. Get students to donate delicious horrifying baked goods that you can sell online or at school the next day.
Thanksgiving fundraising ideas
Leading up to Thanksgiving and the traditional feasting that accompanies this holiday, your school can raise some decent money. Here are some amazing turkey-day ideas you can use.
#57: Virtual thanksgiving bake Sale
Host a virtual bake sale where students post the items they’ve made and sell them online. These can be Thanksgiving themed, with the proceeds going to the school.
#58: Turkey feast Raffle
Get the kids friends and family to buy tickets to your turkey feast raffle, which promises a number of food-related prizes to the winners. First prize is an amazing feast on Thanksgiving prepared by a local chef.
#59: Donate-a-plate drive
If you’d like to raise money for a cause, Thanksgiving is a great time to do it. School kids can pledge a plate of food to local shelters, so that everyone gets to give thanks for something this holiday.
#60: School sleepover Event
Kids are home on thanksgiving, but before that why not host a thanksgiving sleepover? Sell tickets to the school sleepover event, have fun games for the kids and share stories of gratitude with everyone.
#61: Family portrait voting contest
Thanksgiving is a time when the whole family gets together – perfect for a photo contest! School fundraising ideas like this one mean that your kid’s families will be dressing up, snapping pics, and posting them in a school contest. There is an entry fee and a great prize for the top voted pics.
#62: Online thanksgiving Auction
Auction off free one-on-one tutoring time for parents that would like extra lessons for their kids. The parents will be grateful for the chance to help their kids improve, and you will raise more money.
#63: A thank-you vacation
Spend some time crowdfunding a nice vacation for the best teacher in the school. Kids will be motivated to form teams to help fund the goal, and teachers will be grateful for a chance to get away around Christmas time.
#64: Turkey TikTok dance
While at home, ask students to perform a TikTok dance like a turkey and link it to a worthy school cause to raise donations. The dances will go viral, and you will fund your goal.
Christmas fundraising ideas for schools
Santa Claus, presents and putting up the Christmas tree means one thing – it’s prime giving (and donating) time which makes fundraising easier for the kids. Here are some great Christmas ideas.
#65: Secret Santa Sale
Get local companies to donate gifts to the secret Santa sale. Wrap them all and put them under an enormous tree. Kids can pay $10.00 to pick a secret gift and send one to a friend at school.
#66: Ugly sweater contest
Create a school contest that invites students to come to school wearing their ugliest sweater. They must donate to enter, and the winner of the contest gets an amazing prize – like free movie tickets or an Apple gift voucher.
#67: Christmas pet parade
Host a fun event in your school gym, where kids can dress their dogs, cats and other pets in tiny Christmas outfits and put them on parade for everyone to see. Have a best on show, offer prizes, sell merchandise and food – and sell tickets to enter the parade.
#68: Hot chocolate subscriptions
Many school fundraising ideas are simple, but they can raise a lot of money over time. During the lead-up to Christmas, offer kids hot-chocolate subscriptions at the canteen every day to raise money. Instead of selling single cups, you pre-sell several days’ worth.
#69: Virtual gingerbread house building class
For the kids stuck at home, host a virtual gingerbread house building class for them to enjoy. Tell them where the proceeds will go, and then find an expert to donate their time to the virtual class.
#70: School caroling show
Put on a school caroling extravaganza where your talented classes sing a line-up of the best Christmas carols for the season. Sell tickets to the community and raise money.
#71: Candy cane jar count
This school fundraiser is awesome around Christmas time. Fill a jar with candy canes and other delicious, themed sweets and invite kids to guess how many there are in the jar. It costs to guess, and the kid with the closest guess wins the jar.
#72: Christmas gift Raffle
Source donated gifts from local companies and host an online raffle. Parents, kids, friends, and family can buy raffle tickets live on the internet to win the donated and showcased items.
Successful school fundraising examples
That is a lot of ideas to think about!
Picking the right one can be nerve-wracking, especially because you don’t know how successful it will be. The good news is that there are ways to amplify your fundraising success. If you want to achieve your goal, make sure that you have these basics in place.
- Easy collections and payments: When you have a simple way for parents and kids to pay, pledge or donate, it speeds along the process. Get yourself a reliable platform partner.
- Supercharge your fundraisers: Why do one, when adding a few together would raise more money? Create a unique fundraising experience for your school.
- Centralize your fundraising efforts: You don’t have to pay a fortune to benefit from housing all of your school fundraising in one place. The right solution gives you the features you need for free, takes no time to learn, and gives you a track record of what works over time.
Knowing how to fundraise in school means having the right technology in your corner. With your amazing school fundraising ideas and our platform – there is no goal too big to achieve. Soon, you will find that raising money has never been easier, or quite as fun!
