Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I want a fun way to fundraise for a classroom. I have very little to sell. I would like to wrap an ordinary penny in gold foil or just keep in the way it is.
I would then ask who on my facebook or among my friends would like to buy this penny for a dollar.
Then when I give them the penny, they will be told this penny has to be sold for another dollar that will go to a charity of their choice. Or maybe they could just keep the penny or frame it.
Any ideas, I know this is a tough economy. What do you think of this? What would be a good name for it?
By Robyn from TN
So far it is getting a lot of positive reaction from my friends on facebook, it is so cute. Also I am thinking of a name for it.
First find out if you can do a fund raiser for just one class room. Most schools do have fund raisers. Some food and paper products have the "Box Tops for Education" on them, and a lot of schools save them, having the students bring them from home. I have a niece that teaches in a Hutterite school, she has grades five through eight in one classroom. She uses these box top things to purchase books to give each one of her students for Christmas gifts.
The Hutterite people don't spend a lot on things like that. However, when it comes to what they give her for a Christmas gift, one year they gave her a hand made down comforter and bed pillows set, plus home processed foods, baked goods, etc. They treat her real well, and she has taught in the school for about ten years.
Campbell's soup labels are also used by some schools. If the classroom that you want to do a fundraiser for is in dire need of a piece of equipment get together with some of the other mothers and see about having a bake sale or something like that for a specific purpose. Also places like Pizza Hut have fund raising programs, as does Tupperware.
The Senior Center where I live has a real successful fundraiser every year(probably going on six years now) where they hand any member of the center that wants to do it, a $5.00 bill and that person in turn has to make it grow as much as possible. Some of the things that people have done is bake a special item that they are known for and sell it at the center, have a rummage sale at their home, with the proceeds being given in exchange for that $5.00 bill that they got.
I don't think your idea would raise enough to make it worth the small initial effort on your part. The teacher for this classroom could also ask the students to bring the Box Tops for Education directly to her and save them for her classroom.
I am 16 and in high school. Through the high school I, along with 29 other students will be going to Chicago for Model UN. Which is where we go and represent countries and debate on World Issues from that countries point of view. I am excited for it, but there is a problem. All thirty of us need help to raise a rather large sum of money. We are also trying to go on another trip to St. Paul, but we can only go if there is enough money. So i ask, how can a large group of thirty students raise money. Are there any Ideas?
I would be glad to do an Avon fundraiser. Avon sells really well! It is not from the book but from flyers. Very simple for you to do!
bludecke@gmail.com
Is it too cold for car washes in MN? That's always an easy fundraiser with minimal expense. Usually held in a church or school parking lot.
What about raking leaves. Canvas neighborhoods and knock on doors. Bring lots of bags and rakes. If it has snowed you could always shovel driveways and sidewalks.
What about a dog sitting or dog walking service?
What about a Parent's Night Out where teens babysit or plan a craft for kids so parents can shop for a few hours or have date night?
Local restaurants here have fundraisers where the group cashier & bus tables for "tips". It's announced way in advance so everyone eats out that night and "tips" big (donates).
If there's lots of senior citizens in your town you could ask what errands or work they need done. Maybe they need housecleaning done or groceries delivered. Maybe they need lightbulbs changed or a garage or attic cleaned. Maybe they just need their trash dragged to the curb each Friday (pickup day).
Hope these are ideas you can use or spark your imagination for other ideas.
How about a candle sale? I know of a good company that would have awesome product, quick delivery.
Becky
babz519 AT yahoo.com
Hi, don't know where you're from, so this might not work if you're in a warm area through the winter. We live in an area where our winters are very cold. Many people have wood stoves, and we raffled tickets for X number of cords of wood. They sold like wildfire..pardon the pun. Check out if a logger will kick in a donation of logs, and split your own.
let's start with the U.N. theme.
1-have a talent show with acts from different countries
2-week previous and at entrance have have small items from several countries to purchase
3-during intermission sell goodies from the different countries for sale.
We have organized a Prom Dress Consignment. Advertisement is the key, make flyers, take them to "tri-State" area high schools, and charge $5.00 per dress w/ accessories to consign, and the profit goes to the individual selling the dresses. We charged $1.00 per person to come in and browse, offer a "Child Watch" for young children. It is a big success, plan approx. 2 months before prom for your sale.
here are some ideas - www.yourminnesotadj.com/dance/dance-fundraising.html""
I'm in charge of making fundraisers for my school and I need ideas.
School Fundraisers
Step 1
T shirts
Step 2
Socks
Step 3
Key chains
Step 4
Bake sale
Step 5
Pizza sale
Step 6
Plant sale
We always had the most monetary luck doing bake sales and candy drives. People always have a soft spot for sweets!
What about service projects that are needed in the community and have the people donate a minimum for say raking leaves, pulling weeds, painting porch railings, etc.
No one needs wrapping paper or magazines.
Candy or pop corn are popular here.
Car washes were popular until there were water shortages.
Flea markets are hit or miss.
We had one event called international night where clubs cooked meals from their nationality and you could eat I or take out. That was huge! All food and cooking were donated so it was all profit!
Post back what works for you!
My grandchildren's school did book fundraisers and they went over well because people love to buy books for their children. They also had a pizza sale every Wednesday after school, a bake sale once a year and they did a Halloween carnival.
How about a Penny Drive?
Years ago, I was in charge of a school supply fund raiser. I had a room full of packages in my living room, and I had the list for each grade, K through 7.
Over several days, I pulled all the packages together (after working all day at a new job) and delivered them back to the school. I know the prices were better than buying everything separately, because I had done the research. Still, a lot of them went unsold.
Then, I had to break everything down and return them to the store.
Surprisingly, the penny drive brought in more cash. We asked people to save their pennies, and of course, some just put all their change in, and I believe the school collected something like $1500.
Thankfully, I wasn't on the penny-rolling detail.
I am the chair of our high school band's annual fruit sale fundraiser. For the past several years we have given cash prizes to the top sellers, but the same kids seem to win every year (or their siblings).
I would like to change the rewards to gift prizes that everyone has a chance to win (lottery style) with no more than 5 prizes to be won.
Question 1: With 130 kids in the band, some selling one box of fruit and others selling 200, and everything in-between, what is a fair way to compete for the prizes? (Assuming the prizes are of somewhat varying cost levels.)
Question 2: What prizes will motivate high school students? iPads came up, but we could only afford one of those. What else can you suggest?
Thanks for the help.
By Melody Bressler-Hay from Oak Ridge, TN
Categorize the prize. For everyone who sells 1-20 boxes, a 10.00 prize. From 21-39, a 20.00 prize and so on. No one who sells 200 boxes should compete against someone who can only sell 1. This keeps things fair. That is what I have done before and it worked out great. Hope that helps!
Having had some experience with this sort of fundraiser, it is my opinion that a lottery type, where the kid who sells one box wins the prize and the kid who sells 200 doesn't, you will find that your sales go down. Some kids like to sell, and others don't. It is very difficult to motivate those that don't and taking the incentive away from the kids who do sell will not help. You will have far fewer sales in the long run.
Something that works fairly well in schools is to offer a prize, like an ice cream cake or pizza lunch to the class who has the top sales. Perhaps you could modify this if you have some sort of groupings or split them into sales teams. Some groups such as bands simply assign a quota to everyone, especially if everyone will benefit, such as for a trip. High school students are motivated easiest by cash. You could offer a percentage of the sales for everyone who sells over a minimum.
Eg. Let's say that you think that everyone should be able to make $200 worth of sales (I'm just randomingly picking numbers). Then you say they get a 10% prize - so $20. Sell over $500 and you get 12% - $60, and so on. If you don't get the minimum, you don't get the prize. However, whatever you do, DO NOT take away the prizes from the kids who are doing all of your sales for you.
Here is what we did with our 50 person band fund raiser prizes. We didn't announce how the prizes would be given out before the fund raiser but did say what thye were: an iPad mini, $50 cash (X2), $10 iTunes gift card, homework pass, etc. After the fund raiser we totaled the amount of money raised and found about 1/200 of that. Then we did a lottery style drawing for the iPad, cash, and homeowrk pass. The 200 lottery tickets were divided out by who had rasied the most money getting the most tickets, maximum ten tickets. The person who made the least money got the iTunes gift card. We also did some little stuff by section/cleff. Whichever section raised the most money got to pick which songs we did for the day and the cleff (bass or treble) got to pick one song for one of our concerts.
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