Elementary or Primary School Fundraiser Ideas

Many parents and teachers first get involved in fundraising for their local elementary school.

Because of the involvement of interested parents, elementary school fundraisers often are more successful than schools with older age children and larger numbers of students .

7 Elementary School Fundraiser Ideas

Here's some simple ideas that can be quite effective:-

Book sales - representatives from educational book clubs are often more than happy to visit and offer a share of the income from books purchased.  Doing this on an annual basis can help raise predictable amounts of money.

Christmas draw or raffle - for younger children, parents are often happy to support the school.  Sending each child home with tickets, collecting money and having a prize draw on the final day of term, or at the children's Christmas event.

Fundraising consultants - for larger projects, inviting a consultant in to offer advice and help provide information, instruction and morale boosting can be well worth the investment.

Non-Uniform Day - charging students for the privilege of not wearing school uniform for the day is a great way to quickly raise funds for a particular charity.

Student photographs - annual photos of children taken in the term before Christmas can be surprisingly lucrative.  These are an "easy" gift for grandparents and family members, and an important reminder of each step of your child's life.  
It's worth shopping around between companies to find one that will take on the administrative burden for you and give you a good percentage of the profits. 

Summer fetes and barbecues - these traditional events can be excellent money-spinners for your school.

Involving parents as helpers and to man the stalls should enable you to lay on a range of activities - from the traditional tombola, to games, cakes and bakes, drinks and barbecued food.

Make sure that it's clear what people are expected to do, when you need them to arrive, who they pick up their cash float from and when and where you'd like them to return their takings.

Teatowels or printed mementos - the gift that no-one will want to be without.  Similar to the pre-Christmas photos, but getting a company in to produce a printed item with the children's handiwork on has the potential to be popular.
Most often seen is the class or year-group teatowel, with pencil or stick drawings of all the members, including the class teacher.  Not only is this a must-have item for parents, but other family members, such as grandparents, will be happy to pay out to have these treasured mementos.

We'd love to hear your suggestions for additions to this list.  Please contact us with your ideas.

Recommended Resources

Fridgi - mums love having the latest photos on the fridge.  This inexpensive product is a cool and funky way to help them do just that, whilst raising money for you.