What’s more fitting for a school fundraiser than one that is educational in nature? These fundraising ideas allow students to continue learning while also raising funds for their schools!
Here are a few examples:
Spelling Bee
Many schools host annual spelling bee events which allow students to showcase their competitive knowledge of the language. But what some don’t know is that a spelling bee can also be one of the greatest fundraising ideas available for schools. Families, friends, and other supporters love coming out to cheer on their students in a spelling bee competition—so consider selling viewing tickets to the audience. You can even go the peer-to-peer route to earn more and have students enlist sponsors who agree to pay a certain dollar amount for every word they spell correctly! school fundraiser ideas
Read-a-Thon
A read-a-thon functions similar to a walk-a-thon (or any other event-a-thon). Students solicit pledges from friends and family members who agree to donate a certain amount per page or book read. Instead of everyone reading at the same time, however (which is how a walk-a-thon typically works), participating fundraisers are given a set period in which they can read to their hearts’ desire. For example, a read-a-thon may take place over a week, a month, or a quarter! At the end of the campaign, the students tally the amount they’ve read and request the corresponding agreed-upon amounts from their sponsors (say, 25 cents per page or $5 per book).
Mathletes Competition
Similar to spelling bees, many schools offer “mathletes” as an extracurricular activity option for students who love to learn and get further involved in mathematics. While these teams may be competing in a structured competition against other groups in your area, you can also host a mathletes contest as a school fundraising idea. Again, encourage participants to seek sponsors for their teams and sell tickets to a live competition—plus, you can even sell snacks to audience members watching the show!
Trivia Night
A trivia night fundraiser can be an engaging and educational fundraising idea that gets the whole community involved—and learning—rather than limiting the fun to the students. Consider hosting an after-hours trivia night to raise money for your school. Set a relatively low price of admission to encourage students, family members, friends, and more to participate. Then, go through a number of quiz-like questions from multiple categories (such as pop culture, sports, news, general knowledge, and more). In the end, you’ll want to provide the winner with a prize (and/or bragging rights!), and the rest of the funds go toward your school.
Jeopardy
As a game show fundraiser, hosting a Jeopardy event can be a great way to get your students, parents, donors, and more ready to show off their knowledge and take home the prize. In order to participate, all they’ll need to do is buy a ticket (and when they know the proceeds go to benefit your school, they’ll likely be happy to do so!). In a typical Jeopardy fashion, you’ll provide participants with the answers to various questions—their job being to come up with the associated question.
Top tip! There are many free and paid online jeopardy game templates available to make the set-up process as easy as it can be.