Any great fundraising ideas for the PTO?

[Asianmommy]

Our PTO (parent-teacher organization) is looking for new fundraising ideas. I guess the request for direct donations and the gift wrap sale didn't bring in as much as expected. This makes sense due to the current economy.

They are thinking about having a benefit night at a local Buona Beef where you encourage family & friends to eat there, and you can get 15-25% back of all sales you bring to the restaurant that night. Has anyone tried this? What have you found to be the best fundraiser for your PTO?

[bnme]

I believe our biggest fundraiser is a 'Ladies Night Out' at a local catering hall. It is a dinner with DJ and they do a ton of raffles, mostly of stuff donated by local businesses.

[AnnieW625]

We have done two or three of these eat out at restaurant nights with my Jr. League and I think they have only been mildly successful. I think a lot of it has to do with the economy, but food is always a good way to get people interested in fundraising. Auctions are fun too, but require a TON of work.

I'd also think about doing a variety of catalog parties for some home businesses like Pampered Chef, Tupperware, and even Mary Kay or Avon because I am sure that your PTO members are involved in something like that. They could donate their profits to your school. I know that Tupperware does specific fundraisers for schools too. IMHO it beats any kind of food sale, except for maybe See's Candies!

[SnuggleBuggles]

Our school is new and we are just dipping our toes into the fundraising things. We have a plant sale planned in the spring (order form sent home, people come to pick up their orders a few weeks later). Our biggest $ maker has honestly been bake sales. Since there is no up front cost to them it just is all profit. So, if you have events, tack on a bake sale. :)

My friend's school does movie night where families come, eat pizza and watch a movie. The families order the pizza through the school at a mark up and the school keeps those profits. I don't know how much it brought in but it sounded like a fun night and was well attended.

How about a spirit t-shirt (school logo, or even having the kids have a contest to design a shirt) and sell them for $X? The kids could wear them on certain days or field trips.

When I was looking for social activity ideas I found this helpful site:
http://www.ptotoday.com/index.php
They have a whole section on fundraising.

Beth

Beth

[C99]

Silent auction nights are usually the biggest money makers around here. Not a school, but our little MDO co-op makes about $6K from our end-of-year silent auction. Another private RC school makes about $16K from theirs.

[brittone2]

MIL does quite a bit of fundraising for animal rescues, etc. DH said they've been doing much better since she started getting involved. I know one fundraiser they did was (I'm a little hazy on the details here as this was through DH...) buy upscale designer purses and I guess sold various raffle tickets for them?

[kijip]

Honestly, the best, lowest cost per dollar raised way, to raise money is to thank the people who have already given profusely and personally (call them, send a hand written note etc) and strategically ask them to give more. Maybe ask a local business to give a challenge grant...they will give you a set amount once you have raised it in small donations.

Auctions are a lot of work and big ones require 6 months+ lead in. As a professional fundraiser, I am loathe to suggest an auction to anyone at this point. By the time you factor in time, the inkind donations and the other expenses, it's often barely a break even effort, especially for new events.

Other ideas:

-Family night (get food donated) Charge $10-25 a family and sell it as a cheap night out with the kids.
-Parent's Night out- have an evening where parent bring kids to school and leave them there with PTO volunteers. Set the time from 6-11PM and charge a bit less than they would pay for a sitter for a date night.

Selling things in this economy is actually harder than just saying the school community needs the money.

[LD92599]

Walk a thon!

I'm not too involved w/ our PTO even though i'd like to in the future.

They did a walk a thon in October that seemed to be 100% profit (minus the ice cream for the kids) and they said it's designed for the people that don't want to get involved with other actual fundraisers. Each student had a form and collected donations - not per lap though but per child. Made it easy for everyone and even giving just a little, times all those kids, must've made for a pretty good fundraiser!

Laura

[kransden]

I know several schools that do a movie night too. The kids vote on the movie. They charge a 1.00 to get in or 5.00 a family. They also sold juice boxes, soda and popcorn. It made some money and also helped to make the school more of a community too. Parents brought chairs, sleeping bags, blankets etc. some brought their own dinner. You could pre-order pizza so you wouldn't be out any money if you didn't sell it.

Times are tough, I think you would make more money by doing several small things instead of large things. Most people don't have the extra income to give. Out of everyone I know that lost their job last year (~10), only 1 person has gotten a new one.

DD's school is doing an art auction this year. I don't believe it is going to raise the money they expect it to because of the economy.

[egoldber]

Well, since DH lost his job, we have stopped "buying" things to support the school: gift wrap, auctions, etc. BUT we do still continue to participate in community building events. So things like Fall Festival, Bingo Night and Movie Night we still do, but we do not buy extraneous crap that we don't need anyway. And these community events are very important to DD to see her friends, etc.

[SAHMIL]

You could do a Shop and Share. I know that Jewel out here in Chicago does them. It's based on grocery shopping. They give you a special ticket (it can be emailed too) that you give at the cash register and then Jewel donates 5% of each person's purchases to the charity. Many schools and churches use them and we just did one for my cousin's wellness fund.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Is your school signed up for all the programs out there...click through on amazon to raise $ for the school, local grocery store chains, Target, Campbells, Box Tops...?

Beth

[Asianmommy]

Thank you to everyone for all of your wonderful ideas! I will forward this to our PTO and see what they think. You're right, SnuggleBuggles, we need to send out a reminder to everyone to keep sending in their Box tops & labels.