A camera tour can be the most fun you’ll have all summer.  That’s right, this fundraiser is all about capturing those moments or occasions on film. Later kids can scrapbook them or put them in albums for remembering at different moments through the years.

The first step in organizing this fundraiser is to scope areas of interest which would be fun to photograph. Things like parks, bird sanctuaries, anything with water, zoos, flowers, old buildings, weird architecture, really anything of interest young people would enjoy photographing.

Once you’ve mapped out a scenic tour, you will need to arrange for transportation. Something like a small school bus, or a large passenger van would be great to use. Perhaps you can arrange, with the school, for a small school bus to be available, or arrange through friends, church, or rental service to use a large passenger van.

Let them know that you are hosting a school fundraiser to raise funds for your school and perhaps there will be no cost of the usage of the vehicle other than the gas. You might even get a gas station to donate a tank or two of gas for this fundraiser.

Now decide on how long you want the fundraiser to last. Will you be able to have two or more tours through out the day? Will there be a place for a snack and drink included in the tour? If there is an old style soda shop or eatery, that would be a great place to stop so the kids can experience the nostalgia and get great photos too.

Okay, now you’re ready to set the time and date for the event. Since school is out and vacations are going on, you might want to host this closer to August when everyone is getting back from trips and starting to get ready for school to begin. A sort of last enjoyment before school starts excursion.

As far as cameras are concerned, you can usually get a great deal on huge orders. Places that carry party supplies or event supplies usually have packages of cameras together. Maybe you can find someone to donate large amounts of disposable cameras to go towards the fundraiser drive.

Be sure you get some great coverage of this event. Put an ad in the newspaper, send out fliers, place notices in recreation areas kids frequent. Have friends help spread the word. The more you can get to come the more funds that can be raised for the schools.

You should definitely have a set fee for the days activity. Since this is a sightseeing / photographing tour fundraiser, the price should be set enough to cover whatever expense is put out for the day and have enough left over, for profit, to go towards school activities later in the year.

Don’t forget to advertise this fundraiser as a tour for young people and it will include visiting areas of interest which will appeal to kids. Invite a parent to accompany them on the tour. The parents can tour for free since they will be supervisors as well, but they will
have to pay for their own snack and drinks out of pocket since the fees for this fundraiser cover only the child’s snacks and drinks.

An important thing to do is to have a waiver made up which releases you and anyone involved in the fundraiser free from blame or monetary fees should someone get hurt for not following the rules. This event is sure to be fun, so let the fun feel of this fundraiser set the tone and feel of the day.

Now load that camera and get ready to take a group picture at the end of the tour. Have a photo docking station set up so anyone who wants to purchase a group photo, can for a fee of five additional dollars. What a great way to end this sightseeing / photo tour.