Well, the winds of change are blowing in. Soon it will be time to start putting away all those summer clothes and summer items. I know it’s a drag lugging all those tubs out to store things, but it’s got to be done…unless you want to take advantage of hosting a fundraiser to rid yourself of those outgrown, out dated household things you don’t want anymore.

Let’s call this fundraiser a $20 Dollar sack fundraiser. Call up all your friends, family, and neighbors. Put an ad in the newspaper announcing this event and ask for contributions. This will be a massive garage sale sure to bring in tons of shoppers. Make it a two day weekend event to raise funds for your school.

Here’s how it will work. First, start by collecting items for the garage sale. This means you’ll need to be willing to pick stuff up, if necessary, from contributors. Rope some friends or family into helping round everything up for the garage sale. Also ask if any of the contributors have paper sacks or plastic sacks they’d like to get rid of. This will be a great way to have those sacks on hand and you’ll not need to pay for them.

Now find a location big enough to accommodate this fundraiser. A local fair ground, business with a huge parking lot, neighborhood, community center are a few suggestions. Once you’ve procured the location plan a day to set everything up. You’ll need help with this so seek help from students, teachers, family, the community and so on.

Set up according to items, clothes in one area, household in another, tools, kitchen, outside items. Have several volunteers man each section to help keep stealing down. People can buy more than one bag if they want to, but it will be $20 per bag. They can stuff them till they are bulging. The whole idea is to raise funds for the school, so before you start the garage sale be sure you make it known the proceeds from the fundraiser will be going to the school.

You might consider setting up a different area for large items like dressers, beds, furniture, and so on and price these accordingly. It’s unreasonable to think some would try to stuff these in sacks but you just never know, so make a sign stating “this areas” items are priced as marked.

While the garage sale is going on, you might have up to ten people taking the money from buyers. Have lock boxes which will be kept in the lap of a helper so it’s not easily accessed by others. Have people designated to take money and people designated to count the number of bags people have have.

There might be a lot of chaos with people browsing and kids running around, so don’t panic. Take a deep breath and just do the best you can to keep some order. If you plan this out well in advance and have a specific way of handling it things will run fairly smoothly and you’ll be amazed at how much money you’ll raise for your school.

Just keep people on hand to run for change and more sacks as the day progresses. Reduce your areas as things are sold. While this might be a pain in the long run you’ll have less to do after the fundraiser.

Encourage on the spot money donations by having some donations boxes set up  in different locations. Be sure you assign an adult the job of watching these boxes. Kids are easily distracted, so have an adult do this.

However you go about hosting this fundraiser, have fun. Just think about all those cleaned out closets. Perhaps you could host a Spring 20 Sack garage sale too!

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$20 Sack Sale Fundraiser is a post from: Fundraising Ideas

Okay let’s be honest, who doesn’t have a closet full of those old wicker baskets because you didn’t know what to do with them? Now there is a reason to bring your baskets out, and suggest to your friends to bring theirs out as well. Why? You’re going to be hosting a “Fall Basket” Fundraiser.

This time of the year will bring about many occasions to put these revamped baskets to use. Dinner rolls, candies, fruits and nuts will soon be gracing the dinner table.  So put the call out. The money will soon be rolling in for your school.

This fundraiser will not need to cost anything if you’re frugal and brave enough to ask for help. Ask family members, friends, neighbors and the community to donate fall theme materials towards your fundraiser. Even ask for volunteers to help you out.

Some things you might ask for are fabric, batting, ribbons, glue guns/sticks, decorative (fall) glue on objects besides the baskets. Once you’ve done that, visit your local or nearby crafters, fabrics, and basket stores to see if they have any surplus or cast offs they’d be willing to donate towards your fundraiser.

Once you’ve got the supplies and help, set about redoing these soon to be festive baskets. Encourage your help (even students) to be creative, but put a lot of thought into doing quality work so these will sell well. Remember, keep it (Fall Themed) these baskets are meant to be used for this occasion every year.

Now that the baskets are done, another part to this fundraiser takes place. A “Basket Auction” will be held. Hopefully you can find someone to donate space so all the money earned can be channeled into the school.

Look around, does your local Chamber of Commerce offer places for free, when functions are held for raising money for the community? Does your school have space to hold the auction? Maybe the schools gym or cafeteria could host the auction. The Moose Lodge or Ladies Clubs could be another option. Be sure to play up the purpose of this fundraiser. You’re helping your community system out by raising funds for the school.

Once all this has been secured, start advertising your fundraising auction. Be sure you let everyone know it’s a Fall Basket Fundraising Auction. Use some of your students to show the baskets off when the caller puts them up for auction. Have other students box or sack purchases. Before the auction starts though be sure you display your selection of baskets to be sold so everyone has the opportunity to see what they might want to bid on.

Designate a specific location for collecting the money for each basket sold. An adult or two should handle this part of the fundraiser. Don’t forget to make fun bidding paddles to be used during the auction. A fall theme is in order for these as well. The bidders can take them home as a thank you for coming and participating. So take the time to make them festive. This is something the students can do before hand as well. Have them sign the paddles they create, so the bidders can see who the artist was who designed their bidding paddle.

There’s no excuse not to host this fundraiser now. The ideas are listed above. Perhaps they’ve even sparked further idea. The thing to do now is to get out there and be proactive for your school. Give life to those lonely old baskets. Have fun!

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Basket Auction Fundraiser is a post from: Fundraising Ideas

Tis the changing of seasons and with it comes our fall and winter berries and fruits. What a great opportunity presents itself for canning jellies and jams. A great way to determine which berries or fruits are in season is to visit a local farmers market or grocery store and scope out what is about. Once you have a good idea of what you can find, then comes the fun part, the canning.

Instead of doing it alone why not gather some grannies and granddaughters together and make this time a fundraising event for the school. This would be a great time for grandmothers to pass on those timeless recipes to granddaughters and earn money for your school.

Canning jars can be found at most mass merchandising stores or cooking stores which carry all sorts of kitchen gadgets. You can even scope out local thrift shops too. There are so many ways to can these days so do some research on what would be easiest for you and others to do. The days of pressure cooking jars, though still doable, can be done other ways.

You might even consider this a harvest time of jellies and jams since the holidays are right around the corner, so you could even advertise this as a pre-holiday jellies and jams fundraiser. The many different ways you go about presenting this fundraiser the more attention will drawn to it. Make sure you exhaust all your possible ways of getting the word out about this fundraiser.

The day of canning could be sectioned off into two, three, or four activity areas so things move quickly and safely. Have the grandmothers do the actually canning part and the granddaughters could spend their time dicing and peeling the berries and fruits.

The labeling and sealing could be done by all. Even before the canning begins, the grannies and granddaughters could enjoy those moments of mixing their ingredients together. The traditional passing down of recipes, a moment to be remembered in more ways than one.

Once all the canning and labeling is done comes the selling part of this fundraiser. Have each grandmother and granddaughter sell to their family, friends and neighbors. Of course this will have to be well orchestrated as there will be only so much of each different types of jellies and jams available. So perhaps you can divide all those evenly among the sellers of the jams and jellies.

The whole idea is to sell all that was made. If you need to do more at a later date then all the better. Earning money for your school is the whole reason of this fundraiser, so if you need to host this type of fundraiser more than once, go for it.

When it comes to deciding on the price, think about the range of cost in grocery stores when it comes to this type of food stuff. You want to price some where in-between the lowest and highest price as these are freshly made and homemade.

Package these beauties up with ribbons and cute labels. If more than one is asked for, think about making a basket or cute delivery bag with the jams or jellies in it. There is nothing wrong with presenting your product at its best. This is a potential reorder customer, think ahead and plan accordingly.

Start digging out the recipe boxes. Pull out the aprons and be ready for laughter and chatter. This fundraiser is one which will make long and lasting bonds.

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Jam and Jelly Fundraiser is a post from: Fundraising Ideas

As Lawrence Welk would say,”and a one and a two” and then voices sang out in unison. Wouldn’t it be nice to capture the students choir music on CD? With the Holidays coming up the school could have CD’S made for sale, to earn extra revenue for the school activities not covered on the school’s regular budget.

The only expense for this fundraiser would be the cost of buying and copying several CD’S for sale. If you’re inclined though, you could visit several office supply stores and see if they’d be willing to donate X amount of CD’S toward this fundraiser.

Offer to give a free copy of the made CD, to the store’s owners as a thank you. Make it known that anyone who works at the stores can get one for a reduced price, if the store donates CD’S to the fundraiser.

Now comes finding someone to burn the CD’S off the original. This can be done fairly easy. Most computers come equipped with this technique, so perhaps the school’s music director could do the burning of CD’S. If the music director can’t then ask for volunteers to do it for you. All it would cost someone to do this would be the time it took to burn X amount of CD’S for sale. Send out an SOS for a CD Burner.

Setting up the choir for recording may take some schedule shifting here and there. It might be best to keep those singing for the CD down to a manageable number though, so use the students whose voices ring out with melodious cheer.

An announcement could go out that a Choral CD is being made for sale, for the holidays, and that try outs will be hosted at the schools auditorium on such and such dates. This could take a few weeks or less depending on all who try out.

Once the selection is made, then scheduling for rehearsal’s can begin. You want to put out the best CD you can so give some thought to the selection of music you choose for the CD. It doesn’t have to be just holiday music or a certain type of music, use a combination of musics that will appeal to a wider array of would be purchasers.

Perhaps you can do a few solo’s or duets and lots of group singing. Once you’ve rehearsed enough you feel like your ready to record, find someone who can make that original CD for you. Maybe you could book a session with a local recording studio since they will have all the equipment needed to produce a CD. Explain what it’s going to be for and see if they’d be willing to donate the space and time for the recording. If not see if they’d take a reduced rate for the recording and space time. However you work it, show you appreciation with hearty thank yous by everyone. Even a very visual thank you via the newspaper once the fundraiser if over.

Once the CD has been made, think about holding a contest for the “Cover of the CD” let the students be the ones who ultimately design the CD’S cover and number of songs which will be sung. After the selection is made and they are printed out to fit in the CD Covers start selling the CD’S to the public.

You could,before hand, send out notices to the parents what is taking place and get pre-orders so there isn’t so much to do once the CD’S are all done. Make sure the notices include areas for grandparents, friends, and neighbors to sign up for one too. Once the students have got all those closely associated to them signed up, then the general public could start ordering as well.

Be sure you allow so much time for the selling of the CD’S. This way you’ll have a definite number on hand when you take the original off to be burn.

What a wonderful gift is to be had with this fundraiser. Not only that it will bring in those funds needed for other activities throughout the school year.  Keep those voices well and this fundraiser will be a huge success.

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Student Choir CD Fundraiser is a post from: Fundraising Ideas

Here’s a fundraiser sure to draw in any food enthusiast and football lover. Put down those tailgates, light up those grills and tune in to a day of football, this is a “Tailgating Fundraiser”.

This fundraiser, of course, centers around food and football, so to help this fundraiser make funds, you’ll need some willing participants and a location to house several rowdy game lovers for football viewing.

The funds will come about from purchasing a pass to sample what’s cooking at the tailgates. It could be anything from hotdogs, hamburgers, and everything else associated with a normal cookout, to something as elaborate as steaks, pizza, veggies, fruits and so on. It will be whatever the tailgating cooks prepare for this fundraiser.

If you can find someone willing to give attention to the drinks, then you could even include someone to tailgate beverages. This could be sodas, juices, tea, and water. No alcoholic beverages should be served as this is a family tailgating fundraiser.

Get with the PTA committee and see what kind of monies are available to purchase the beverages and other things needed to host this event. If need be, ask that the PTA hit up family, friends, and neighbors to donate either money or foods and drinks to this fundraiser. Be sure to stress that this will be for raising money, for the school, and not for some personal agenda.

You’ll definitely need to decide on which game you’ll be setting this fundraiser up for viewing. Next get out fliers announcing this event. You want to consider the limit of people which can be housed in whatever place you find and don’t go over. Fire regulations have to be obeyed, so make arrangements for other viewing devices to be around so those who don’t make it into the building can still take part and actually tailgate.

Set up an area where funds can be collected prior to anyone having access to the food area. Once the funds for admittance are collected, hand each person a plate and direct them towards those food laden tailgates and beverages.

Prior to the event, set up several large trash cans for trash disposal. Maintaining a clean event site goes a long way in other events being held at this location. Just to make sure all the basis are covered, arrange for a clean up committee to attend to garbage disposal, unless otherwise directed by the responsible person who takes care of the event location.

This is the type of fundraiser which will bring in several willing and eager eaters and football viewers. Remember when setting this fundraiser up, play up the “raising funds for the school” part. That is the most important reason for this event after all.

Okay I can hear the excitement now. Here they come, are the fires lit? Is the game ready. Well get busy, they’ll be here soon.

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Tailgate Fundraiser is a post from: Fundraising Ideas

Well it’s here, school is back in session! Kids are getting down to studies and at times have no spare moment to enjoy fun things they did during the summer. To help liven up their hectic schedules why not plan an exciting fundraiser which will raise money for the school, but also allow the kids to be free spirited for a moment… within reason.

Kids love pajamas. Sometimes they like to stay in them all day long, so why not put the prospect of wearing pajamas to good use by hosting a “Pajama Friday” fundraiser. Students will need to buy the right to wear them. Think of all the fun this will be, as well as a good way to raise funds for all the extras the school budget doesn’t cover. This could be an every Friday event for the school year.

Of course there will need to be ground rules on what pajamas would be allowed. The students would need to wear pajamas which are decent and in good wear. Nothing vulgar or suggestive. Teachers can set a good example of what is appropriate by participating in “Pajama Friday” themselves.

To go about setting this up, first contact the school principal and run the idea by him/her. Then set up the rules which kids will need to follow to participate. Print out announcements detailing the fundraiser and how much it will cost to participate. Have the homeroom teacher, for each
class, notate who has paid and will be participating. This way he/she can make a list of who has paid.

Those who don’t pay, don’t get to participate. This is a pay to play fundraiser. If a student doesn’t pay one week, then that week they don’t get to wear pajamas, if they do the next, then they get to wear pajamas. It’s that simple.

Since this may turn out to be a school year fundraiser, done weekly, set the price reasonably. Perhaps a dollar or two. When six months have passed tally the money and make an  announcement over the PA. The principal could even share what the money is going to be put to use for. This will make the kids feel like they contributed to a good cause while enjoying taking part in a fun activity every Friday.

Perhaps the second part of the school year could be used to raise money for an end of school year extravaganza, or a portion of the money can be set aside. Have a pajama ball or prom like affair. Talk it up so the kids will be excited and try to take part in as many of these “Friday Pajama” days as possible for them.

The school can host an end of year event with music, dancing, and snack foods. This could be held on a weekend, so parents can take part as well and help keep an eye on things.  A few hours of fun for all the help in raising money for the school. This kind of thank you will be remembered for a long time. Perhaps the following year it could be done again and even more will participate.

The whole idea behind fundraisers is to raise funds for events, happenings, or needs that doesn’t take money from the school which can’t be shifted around. Sometimes school budgets don’t allow for things teachers, coaches, and other faculty members need. So hosting any fundraiser, especially one that involves the students, can and does help out in many ways!

Raise Funds With Pajama Fridays! is a post from: Fundraising Ideas

Rah, rah shish boom bah, gooo team. All little girls and some boys think about becoming cheerleaders when they get into the higher grade schools and even into college, so why not give them an opportunity to start at an early age, by hosting a cheerleader camp on a weekend or two. Even better would be to host a “Cheerleader Camp Fundraiser” to raise funds to support your schools needs.

Start by making arrangements with the high school cheerleaders coach to see if you can set up a weekend or two for the cheerleaders to teach the younger girls/boys some cheerleading routines.  Have some of the school’s pom poms available so they wont need to be purchased. If
the kids have their own pom poms, then by all means encourage them to bring them, otherwise they can borrow the school’s.

As the host/hostess of this event you can arrange to have fliers given out at all the lower grade schools. Have them sent home with the students. Be sure you’ve put the date, time, how long and how much the camp will cost. Too, set some sort of dress code for this event. Since they’ll be learning cheers, suggest their attire reflects cheerleading, even if it is to wear a school shirt and shorts, just something that represents their school.

As this is going to be a camp, have snacks and drinks available. This way you’ll keep the kids hydrated and fed, keeping their young bodies and energy going. Depending on how long the camp is held you might want to include some exercising routines which limbers up their bodies
before cheerleading is even done. Go slow and don’t expect to much out of the kids. They’ll pick up the steps on their own terms. The whole idea is to make it fun while raising money for the school.

At the end of camp have set up a cheerleading show for parents, grandparents, siblings and all who’d attend. This will give the young cheerleaders an experience of what it would be like to perform for their hometown crowd. You could even let them cheer at a real game if the middle-schooler’s don’t mind!

At the end of the show or game you can present the students with certificates of accomplishment and if you have the funds outside the fundraiser money earned, their own set of school colored pom poms which reflect their schools’ colors. If it can be arranged to have these donated, even better. Usually local sport stores carry school colors and since these are usually mass produced, they maybe they’d be willing to donate a set to each student who signed up for the “Cheerleading Camp”.

However you go about putting this fundraiser together, it will be a winner. Cheerleading is something all high schools and colleges take part in. Cheerleading is now considered a sport in itself, even having international try outs and competitions. So put your best foot forward and get the cheers started. Don’t dally, get those loud cheers roaring and those pom poms moving.

Cheerleading Fundraiser is a post from: Fundraising Ideas

Even though the holidays are a few months away, it’s time to start putting thought into different types of fundraisers you can do as each holiday rolls in. One fun, colorful, and easy fundraiser you might consider is making popcorn balls.

This fundraiser will not take much to throw together and it is sure be a lot of fun for those who participate in it. A good candied recipe for popcorn balls, food coloring, oil, various flavors, saran wrap and popcorn is about all you’ll need to get the corn popping.

Most baking good stores will carry a plethora of food colors, food flavors, packaging, and so on for any baking needs which might arise. You can even search for wrapping paper according to whatever holiday your are going to make these for.

For this fundraiser, you’ll probably not need an extremely large place to make the popcorn balls, but you will need to assembly a good assembly line of workers so things can run smoothly. Here are some thoughts to consider when putting this fundraiser together.

First, locate a place big enough for about 10 to 15 people. A large home, a club, or church recreation center with a kitchen would be ideal. Second, set up your assembly line. Assign a person to popping the corn, another to boiling the syrup, which binds the popcorn into balls, then ask someone to add the food coloring when the syrup is just about ready to pour.

Third, let some students partake in this fundraiser when it comes to making the popcorn balls. The grownups can pop the corn and boil the syrup for the popcorn. The students can form the balls and wrap them in saran wrap. Fourth, students and grownups can share in sacking up the popcorn balls for orders. Make sure the orders are tagged with the right amount of popcorn balls and what colors were requested per order.

Fifth, assign a few grownups assigned to delivering the popcorn balls. Students can ride along and actually deliver the orders to the doors and collect the money. Sixth, regarding the money. Determine ahead of time how much you’ll charge for each popcorn ball. You could even arrange to do a dozen for a certain amount with one free or you could choose to do twenty-four for a certain price. What ever you decide on regarding the fee, make it reasonable and worth the potential customers purchase. You might give your customers the choice of home delivery or pickup. Just make sure they and you know the address of the delivery or where they can be picked up.

Really give some thought as to how you are going to promote this fundraiser. You’re trying to earn funds for your school, so make it a catchy promotion. Visit as many businesses as permitted and spread out to include, fire stations, police departments, city hall, clubs, churches, neighborhoods, and family. The larger area you promote your fundraiser to, the greater amount of orders you’ll get and funds that will be raised.

While this fundraiser is an easy one, a plan needs to be in order so things run smoothly. Fundraising is a great way to earn those monies needed for things and activities schools can’t provide for. With your plan in hand, start heating that oil!

Popcorn Ball Fundraiser is a post from: Fundraising Ideas

It wouldn’t seem like we’d already be thinking about fall, let alone winter with the scorching heat we’ve had this summer, but the cooler months are ahead of us and this means it’s time to start preparing the woodshed with wood. With this thought in mind why not make the gathering of wood for winter a fundraiser event.

That’s right a fundraiser. This will be done if a couple of steps though, so planning will definitely need to be precise and orderly. So many homes these days have fireplaces and this means there is a need for firewood. Firewood can be found almost everywhere too. Start by finding willing volunteers, preferably men with strong arms and backs, to do the chopping. Find willing students who can stack logs, once they’re cut to the right sizes.

Next visit the neighborhoods around and bout to find out if anybody would like to have dead trees or trees in general cut down. If they do, arrange a time which would be good for them and then set about acquiring a crew to help with the chopping and clean up and removal of the chopped wood. Ahead of time have a pre-determined place to house the chopped wood, until the actual fundraising part of the starts.

You might be able to acquire shrinking wrap to encase X amounts of wood together so it will be easy to deliver when purchased. You can visit home help stores, garden stores and so one to seek out donations for the shrinking wrap or just wrap in general. State the purpose of the need and see if they’d be willing to donate towards this fundraiser as a tax write off fat the end of the year.

Once you’ve exhausted all means of acquiring wood and have packaged all the cut wood into purchasing packs, set about planning the selling of the wood. You might hold off until the season does turn to Fall or you can sell right away, that will be up to the host/hostess of this fundraiser. Whatever you decide on spread the word, via fliers, word of mouth, newspaper, businesses, and social settings this fundraiser will be taking place to raise funds for the local schools.

Price each sale competitively with the prices of wood being sold in other places, but go just a tad under. Perhaps this will motivate more to purchase from you and no loss will actually take place because you’ve priced just a bit under the going rate.

This fundraiser might find greater success in the states where Winter hits the hardest and wood is hard to locate after a time, but in all areas the winter chill is felt, people seek to warm their homes. This fundraiser will be as successful as the amount of effort which is put into it. There’s no doubt about it. Buyers are more apt to purchase what they themselves don’t have to gather, so go for this fundraiser as if your service is the greatest thing to hit the earth in a long time.

Fire Wood Fundraiser is a post from: Fundraising Ideas

It’s been seen throughout the years, kids excitedly calling out for you to stop at their lemonade stand for a refreshing drink. Sometimes to your dismay the lemonade might be a bit tart, but you don’t care…it’s for the kids. Well now is the time to play on those sentiments and turn that lemonade stand into a fundraising stand.

The same idea will be in play, but with the intent of raising funds for school. The summer months are hot and people who are out and about will take notice of a brightly arrayed and displayed lemonade stand.

This fundraiser should be designed to be hosted at several areas in the community, but it should be supervised by a grownup, letting the kids do the selling though. Their energy will draw in grownups.

Hitting high traffic areas would be the key to drawing in more donations to your cause. Places such as busy intersection corners, where you wont be in the way of traffic, community centers, business areas, neighborhoods, mall areas, clubs, grocery stores, really wherever you’d be allowed to put one.

Creative signs could be made that will catch the eyes of passerby. Images of lemons and photos of kids and adults drinking could be use to the stands advantage. Actual lemons placed on the stand in a bowl, anything to that says, “Cool and Refreshing.”

If you can find someone who is a good seamstress, you could have some costumes made up of lemons which volunteers could wear, while holding up a sign with some witty and cute slogan.

Have cute donation boxes made to look like lemons.  You could even make lemon-limeade as a secondary drink to offer. Whatever it takes to draw in crowds for this fundraiser in regards to a lemonade stand try to incorporate.

Some suggestions you could put into play before hand is: Advertise this fundraiser with gusto. Place an ad in the newspaper, put out fliers wherever possible. Contact the local fire and police departments and try to get them to stop by throughout the day.

For the stands the more simple, but eye-catching they can be, the better. Have ice chests at each of the stands. You can keep ice in the pitcher instead of the cups that way the drinks will already be cold.

Try making ice cubes of lemonade. By adding these to your mixture, you wont be watering it down. Have a small trash can set up for trash. You don’t want to leave your areas littered with cups.

This will be a fun, fundraiser if enough effort is put into making it appealing and interesting. Kids enjoy hosting lemonade stands so use their energy to promote sales for the school.

Once the fundraiser is over, be sure to gather all the donation boxes up. After the funds have been tallied you could put in a small ad in the newspaper thanking everyone for donating and state the amount raised.

While the summer months are hot, even into the early part of fall, you could host several of these events and raise more funds. You can adapt them by changing out lemonade for others things. The possibilities are endless.

Lemonade Stand Fundraiser is a post from: Fundraising Ideas