Fundraising events at school are not only a fantastic way to raise money to finance events such as field trips or sporting matches, it is also a way to build up the school community and pride. Oftentimes these events bring the community together, providing a morale building experience for all involved.
One great way to fundraise at school is to have a ‘Penny Wars’ event. This is a very fun and engaging way to get students involved in raising money for the school budget. The idea here is to organize into teams; usually schools decide to divide the students up according to their homeroom. Each team, or homeroom, gets a large bucket, usually a water cooler, that is their penny receptacle. Their goal is to put as many pennies as they possibly can into their receptacle. Each day, the school can announce over the loud speakers the daily tallies, so students know if they need to bring in more pennies to pick up the pace the next day. The twist is that students from other homerooms can come in and put larger denomination coins, such as nickels, dimes or quarters, into opposing homerooms receptacle and take points off their score. A nickel is minus 5 points, a dime is minus 10 and quarter is minus 25. Not only do these coins raise more money, but if you put a lot of them in your competitions jar, you increase your chances to win. This is a fun and competitive way to raise money for your school. It brings homerooms together while raise money, a penny at a time. Plus, the school can offer a prize for the winning homeroom, such as a pizza party at lunch.
Another fantastic way to engage students while raising money is to sell a sponsored product. Oftentimes large frozen pizza or cookie dough companies will offer schools a deal in which students can sell their products to family, friends, or neighbors and the company will give the school a portion of the proceeds raised from these sales. Usually, the company will forward sales catalogs to the school and then each student can bring the catalog home to show their parents, who then circle and list the products they wish to purchase. The next day, the student can bring the catalog back to the school and place the order. This is a really popular fundraising idea because there are so many companies out there that offer these types of programs. Not only do the companies stand to make a few bucks, but they also get the approval of the community, free advertising, and the goodwill that comes with helping a bunch of kids raise money for the local school! Schools often choose to up the ante by offering students who raise the most money through this fundraiser a prize. It is pretty common for the schools to offer the student who brings in the most fundraising money an ice cream party with a few friends. This is an exciting prospect for a student and will be sure to encourage them to get out there and raise some money!
