School fundraising has had an interesting go of it for the last few years. The economy and other factors have really created some confusion as to what works best in the fundraising world. On top of that, it's harder to get parents and the community involved. Hopefully, In just a few short paragraphs, I can shed some light on the most popular fundraising ideas for elementary schools.
If you are in the market for an elementary school fundraiser that will be school wide, you need to know that there are really no new and unique fundraising ideas that will out-perform the traditional fundraisers everyone is accustomed to for a large school-wide fundraiser.
Right now the top 3 fundraisers are:
1) Fall Gift Catalog
2) Frozen Foods (Cookie Dough)
3) Well-promoted Event (Auction, A-thon, Carnival)
Hands down, these three are the only way to raise the big bucks. There are plenty of single product fundraisers out there such as shopping bags, batteries, popcorn and chocolate bars. There are also some brand new fundraisers being tested - things like gift card sales for online shopping, voucher programs, etc. Although, it's possible to raise money with these other fundraisers, they may be suited for smaller groups.
School-wide fundraising is really a challenge so when it comes to fundraising ideas and getting unique fundraisers going - be cautious. Take into consideration the fact that the money may not be there in the end to the same extent you would have received through a gift catalog, frozen food fundraiser or a school-wide event.
What is clear today is that the more consistent and focused fundraisers are these days can determine their success. If a school gets behind a fundraiser, they can get out of it as much as the individual fundraiser will allow.
Gift catalog and frozen foods are the best performing product sales and work best for school-wide sales because of the support that comes with the programs such as incentives and prize programs. It's not a labor intensive operation so schools can run these sales pretty easily. Frozen food delivery does require help though because it's generally a lot of product being processed quickly during the pickup times.
At Believe Kids, we don't have anything to do with event fundraisers, but we think they are amazing if done well. Auctions, any A-thon such as a jog-a-thon etc. and school carnivals are tremendous. They do take a bit more volunteer effort but by hosting a good event can really galvanize a community while raising a lot of money.
We do recommend schools limit their fundraising efforts and most of the time, we suggest that schools do a fall gift catalog in the fall and a carnival in the spring. Frozen foods appear to perform very well in both fall and spring. Just be careful not not to overdo it. Fundraising fatigue is a bad thing. If parents are hit up too often they will resist more of your fundraisers expecting another to be right around the corner. Your school doesn't need this type of fundraising reputation - just stay focused on the big stuff.
All 3 of our fundraisers listed, when proper focus is put on them, can create an activity that can be repeated every year with an ability to anticipate the outcome to a certain degree. I have seen many events that have been a yearly endeavor and it becomes a 'thing'. When you have an expected activity like election day, a holiday or Black Friday for instance. They gain a certain marketing prowess. Everyone knows about the event and the result is that people get involved.
Hope that helps!
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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids fundraising. I encourage comments and feedback here on my blog or at twitter - twitter.com/believekids Thanks for looking!
Author note: I am very aware that I have a personal interest in promoting catalog and food sales and it may seem a bit self-serving :) Unfortunately for any skeptic, I do not have an ego about these sorts of things and I don't supply information without the ability to back it up. I feel it's important to get the information out there and have folks think about things on their own.
Alrighty, till next time!
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