FUNDRAISING

Day events

There is no reason not to continue with the classic daytime fundraising events at school – the BBQ, the school fete, the school fair.   Such events can put a strain on the goodwill of the volunteers, but as long as that goodwill is there, then the event can continue to serve its dual function of raising money and allowing parents, pupils and teachers to come together informally within the school.

There is perhaps no need to list the activities that can take place within the event – the art & craft, computer games, face painting, second hand books…  The defining factors are what your audience wants, and what you can arrange with the resources at end.

School Activities

There is a growing number of ways in which children can both be creative, and do something that helps raise money. The traditional approach involves the children contributing to a tea towel – perhaps with a drawing of themselves – with the resultant tea towel being sold to parents and grandparents.

The most impressive variation on this that I have seen includes the design by the children, and then the subsequent manufacture of plates.  Working in a different way it is also possible to become involved in the production of bulbs which are sold on to parents.

The sponsored school day

The sponsored day involves every child or student in the school being sponsored to do something on one day.  Teachers oversee such sponsored activities as they are interested in, and keep track of the money that is pledged and which comes in.   The idea is that the sponsored events should take place in the school, and generally involve the children doing what they can do, but a number of times over.   Where playing fields are available they can become the focus of much of the event.   Where parents can become involved in the actual events, then the whole day can grow.

Photography

School photography has long been seen as a way of generating some income – and has become more attractive since most photographers have moved over to a system in which parents deal directly with the photographers website and the school no longer has to collect any money.
It is also interesting to note that a few photographers now specialise in informal shots – so that instead of producing the same highly formalised pictures year after year (which parents might like once, but which become rather tedious after a while) they will take more informal pictures.

Evenings

Evening fund raising events can include the AGM of the PTA combined with a party, a barn dance or other form of group entertainment, or even a school disco.   We have also seen interesting additions to such events include the auctioning off of signed photographs of sports and film stars, which make a change from the normal raffle.

Do you have ideas to contribute?

There are undoubtedly more ideas which can be used in relation to school fund raising.  If you have used an idea which is not listed here, please do let me know.  Just email Tony (at) schools.co.uk

Contact Information

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