Halfway through the school year, many PTAs and PTOs are struggling with new fundraising ideas. Virtual events aren’t going away in 2021, but fortunately, there are many creative fundraisers that are working well for school communities today. Hosts of the Multipurpose Room podcast, Debora Jones and Wes Jones of K-12 Clothing, partner of SquadLocker, have lots of creative, fun ideas for virtual fundraisers.
In a recent episode of the Multipurpose Room podcast, Debora and Wes share their 10 favorite fundraising ideas in this remote climate, based on creativity, fun, and dollars raised.
Multipurpose Room’s Best School Fundraising Ideas
- Virtual Trivia Night: Companies like Hambone’s Trivia make hosting a virtual Trivia Night easy, fun, and successful. Even though our social lives have moved to online, we can still gather together for fun events.
- Penny Wars: With a national coin shortage, this is a great way to get coins that have been sitting in jars at home back into circulation. Have a central location where teams can drop off their coins. There are many ways to make this a fun, easy way to give back to your school.
- Netflix Movie Night: Teleparty (formerly Netflix Party) is a fun way to watch TV with your friends. Teleparty synchronizes video playback and adds group chat. You can pause for a sponsor to advertise their services, share a community announcement, and break to grab some popcorn or pizza from the comforts of home.
- Virtual Cookbooks: Pulling a community cookbook together with CreateMyCookbook can be super easy, fun, and profitable. Once you sell lots of cookbooks, host a live cooking class for a fee with one of the recipes, taught by a teacher who knows their way around a kitchen.
- Amazon Wish Lists: Make teachers’ Amazon Wish lists available to your community. Instead of donating cash, people can purchase needed items. Be sure your school is signed up for Amazon Smile, too. Amazon automatically donates a portion of purchases from everyone who tags your school when buying on Amazon.
- School Grants: Many PTAs don’t take advantage of grant money available. The National PTA and others provide grants that your school can apply for. It’s easier than you think to get started.
- Craft Baskets: Over spring break, sell a craft basket to parents containing all the supplies to make a simple craft. In addition to keeping little ones busy and having fun over break, it gives back to your school.
- Partner with a Food Truck: Have a local food truck come to your school or another convenient location for a community dinner. Since it’s outdoors, it’s easier to social distance. The truck donates a portion of sales back to the school, plus it supports their local small business, too.
- Etsy: Set up an Etsy website (it’s easy!) and sell various items that students make at school – pottery, jewelry, bird houses, sun catchers, and other artwork.
- Decorating Contest: Sell tickets to an online decorating contest for Halloween, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas or another themed event any time of year. Don’t forget prizes for the winners, and include your pets.
In this episode, Debora and Wes Jones also talk about online music lessons, celebrity shout outs with Cameo, virtual casino nights and scavenger hunts, and other fundraisers school communities have used with great success.
Our favorite way for schools to fundraise is through their community’s online SquadLocker apparel store! SquadLocker loves sending a portion of the sales from your school’s custom uniforms and apparel back to you – all year long! And you don’t have to do a thing but enjoy wearing your apparel.
For more fundraising ideas, listen to the full episode here.
About Multipurpose Room Podcast
Hosted by K-12 Clothing, the Multipurpose Room provides real-life issues that PTAs, PTOs, and school staff are dealing with and offers practical tips. For more information, visit: https://www.squadlocker.com/squad-blog/k-12-clothing-launches-new-podcast-for-ptas-ptos-and-school-staff
SquadLocker supports schools by managing the entire process of acquiring custom school uniforms, sports gear, and spirit wear – from instant online store creation to free graphic artwork assistance as well as decoration, production, and fulfilment. Learn more at https://www.squadlocker.com/solutions/schools.
