School fundraising ideas, ranked by what they raise and what they cost you.

School fundraising ideas are easy to find. Picking the right one for your school is the hard part. A fundraiser that raises a lot and burns out six parents is a bad deal. A fundraiser that is easy and raises pocket change is a worse one. This list ranks the common ideas by money raised against hours spent, and it includes plenty that Brian does not sell.

The ranked list

1. Two-week product sale. Reaches every family and every relative with a phone. An online store ships to supporters in any state, orders come to the school pre-sorted, and the kids chase prizes. The fewest hours for the money. This is the one Brian runs.
2. Fun run or walk-a-thon. Big money for elementary schools with pledges from family and friends. More volunteer hours than a product sale, and it needs a field, a date and a dry day. Booster runs these, and Giving Market is a Booster company.
3. Direct donation drive. Ask families for a check and nothing else. Zero product, zero delivery. Works best with a clear goal and a short deadline, and it taps the same wallets every year.
4. Spirit wear. Shirts and hoodies with the school name. Steady, modest money. Works best as a year-round store rather than a two-week push.
5. Silent auction or gala. The biggest single night, and the most hours by a mile. Donated items, a venue, ticket sales and a committee that starts in August.
6. Restaurant nights. A cut of one evening’s sales at a local restaurant. Easy to set up, small return, great for community.
7. Read-a-thon. Pledges per book or minute read. Good for younger grades, light on volunteers, lighter on money.
8. Raffle or 50/50. Fast and simple. Check your state’s rules first. It caps out at the size of the crowd.
9. Car wash. One Saturday, a hose and a lot of teenagers. Fun. Rarely worth the hours.
10. Bake sale and concessions. Cash at the game. Pocket money and a sticky table.

Where a two-week product sale fits

It is the fall anchor. Run it the first clean two weeks after Labor Day, before the book fair and fall break, and it funds the year. The spring is open for a fun run, a direct give or an auction if the school has the volunteers. A K-8 charter in Charlotte with 1,400 students sold $45,000 in eighteen days this fall. An elementary school in Lexington, North Carolina with 600 students sold $35,000. Both are on the case studies page.

Pick by what your school needs

Three questions that rank the list for your school

How many volunteers do you really have? Count the people who showed up to the last event, and ignore the sign-up sheet. When do you need the money? Fall deadlines point to a product sale. Spring deadlines open up a fun run or an auction. How far away are your families? A school where half the grandparents live out of state needs something that ships, and that is the online store. Answer those three and the list above usually collapses to one or two ideas. Brian will tell you which on the call, including when the answer is a fun run.

The product sale is built the same for a whole school or PTA as for a band, chorus or cheer program. Read how it works, or see what schools across the Midwest ran this fall.

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