44 Creative School Fundraising Ideas

Short of ideas for your school?

Well here are 44 creative school fundraising ideas that you're absolutely going to love!!!

Have fun with them, get your students involved, and remember to reach out further than just their parents!

Let's hit it....

44 Creative School Fundraisers:

1. Raising Bail
Find some willing volunteers to be jailed (in public view), and set a bail amount (fundraising goal) to be raised to set them free!

The Raising Bail or Jail Fundraiser is one of the brilliant 44 Creative School Fundraising Ideas. (Photo by Fort Rucker / Flickr)

2. Vote for Torture
Get students to pay $1 a vote to decide which torture your volunteers (teachers, principal, etc.) will receive. For example, a Pie in the face, Fruit throw, Hair shave, etc.

3. Vote for Person
A twist on the above idea. Have one torture, like a Pie in the Face, and have your students vote for which volunteer receives the torture!

4. The Fly Trap
Or the teacher trap. Sell lengths of duck tape to students who then get to tape the volunteer (a teacher or the principal) to a wall in the school!

5. T Shirt Crowdfunding
This is a super creative and unusual fundraising idea, which has serious funding potential! It's crwodfunding through custom created T Shirts, and is a fundraiser that is risk-free and hassle-free.

Also look into setting up an Online Apparel Store as well!

6. Worm Charming
This is such a weird, yet creative School fundraising idea! Participants are given a designated block each from a field where they have to charm worms to the surface with a gardening fork. The most worms collected wins! Read more here.

7. Flocking Flamingoes
Charge a fee for removal of your schools flock of Plastic flamingoes from whoever's yard you've "landed" them in.

And for a higher price that person can designate a yard for the flock to go to and also buy a 'never to land here' again card.

8. 50/50 Raffle
Hold a raffle where you give half the proceeds away as the prizes. That way you don't need to buy or find prizes beforehand!

9. A Capital Raise
Avoid the hassle of having to organize many small fundraisers -> Set a goal, setup an online fundraising page or a method for accepting donations offline, and promote!

10. Guess the Balloons
Full a car with Balloons and for a fee, get people to guess how many balloons are in the car. The person/s who guess the right amount, or closest to, win the prize.

11. A Golden Ticket
An add-on to the above idea -> Hide a golden ticket in one of the balloons and after the balloons have been guessed, allow people to buy a balloon for popping and if there's a Golden ticket inside they win a prize.

12. Party Like It's The 80's
Hold a theme party, like an eighties party, and charge entry fees and fundraise through other methods during the evening - Cool drink sales, snacks, raffles, etc.

Party like it's the 80s! Another brilliant idea from the 44 Creative School Fundraising Ideas. (Photo by Carlos Almendarez / Flickr)

13. Penny Wars
Give each class an empty 50l water bottle to fill with spare change. The class the raises the most wins the prize/s! It's one of the most used creative School fundraising ideas.

14. Full the Bottles
A twist on the above idea. Each student is given an empty water bottle (or any container like maybe a smarties box) to full with spare change. The student/s who fills the most bottles wins the prize/s.

15. Then Guess The Coins
Then you could charge a fee for people to guess the amount of coins in one of the above containers. Closest guess wins.

16. Rent a Worker/Student
Such a great idea! Get students to volunteer (like the football team) and offer them up for rent to mow lawns, help with gardening, etc.

17. Babysitting
A great idea from the above theme. Have students volunteer their babysitting skills and rent out their services to local parents with young children!

18. Go Casual (Mufti Day)
A simple idea. Students have to raise a certain amount ($5, $10, etc.) to be allowed to wear their civvies on Mufti Day.

19. Give It Up
Sponsors commit to giving up a habit, like smoking or drinking for a month, and donate the money saved to your school. Encourage the quitters to also take sponsorships from others for their efforts.

20. Pick the Patty Block
This is a raffle style fundraiser where you'll divide a field up into blocks and sell them off. A cow is then let loose to do his business.

The owner of the block where the cow decides to drop her patty will win whatever the prize is!

21. Pin on Map Raffle
A treasure's location on the map (the prize) is sealed in an envelope, and participants can buy pins and place them on the map to guess where the location is. Closest to it wins.

22. Scratch Cards
A super fun method of acquiring donations. Each student receives a scratch card to ask people to scratch - the money value hidden under each scratch bubble is how much the participant must donate, and in exchange they receive a coupon book.

23. Dance-a-Thon
Students get people to pledge amounts for each hour of dancing completed. It's a popular and successfully used fundraiser for many schools.

24. Read-a-Thon
Similar to the above idea. Encourage students to take pledges/sponsorships for each book that they read during a period of time. Great for encouraging your kids to read as well!!!

25. Other Pledge Events
These types of creative School fundraising ideas are fantastic and hold massive potential.

They could be anything that is a challenge and will create awareness, for example: walkathon, bowl-a-thon, golf-a-thon, sponsored run/swim/climb, etc.

Read here to find out how to run a successful School Walkathon.

You'll need specialized software to help you take pledges online and I'd recommend you look into DoJiggy's pledge software (read my review), or if you just want straight forward sponsorships, Crowdfunding is the way to go.

26. Sponsored Silences
Another great sponsorship idea that I had to include. I'm sure any motivation for the kids to be quite will be greatly appreciated by the teachers!

27. Recycling
One of the brilliant creative School fundraising ideas. This fundraiser will help teach your kids some environmental awareness.

Get everyone to collect used inkjets, laserjets, mobile phones, etc. to hand in to a recycling company who will pay per item.

28. Bag Groceries
Find a willing supermarket or store who will allow your volunteers to pack groceries for shoppers for a donation to your School.

29. Three-on-Three Basketball
A Basketball Tournament fundraiser can raise some great funds, so why not get creative, make it simpler, and hold a three-on-three tournament.

In fact any sports tournament could be one of these creative school fundraising ideas. Like what about a Dodgeball competition?!

30. Trivia Evening
Always a ball of fun and will raise funds through a few different methods during the contest.

31. Bingo Evening
Another super fun game! Participants pay per game and you can raise more funds through drink and food sales, and other add-ons.

32. Tenpin Bowling
Hire out (or get sponsored) a Bowling Alley or a few lanes, depending on how many entrants you expect, and hold a bowling competition. It's lots of fun and has decent fundraising potential.

33. Town-Opoly
Create your own Monopoly style board with your School or local area as the theme of the board. Sell advertising on the boards and fundraise through the sale of your School-Opoly board.

34. Dog Show
Get your kids, parents and teachers to show off their pooches for a fee and have prizes for most well groomed, largest dog, prettiest animal, and the ugliest of the lot, etc.

A Duck Race. One of the many Creative School Fundraising idea you could use. (Photo by terren in Virginia / Flickr)

35. Dog Walk
Think of it like a Fun Run/Walk Fundraiser, except with a dog walk instead. Read more on fundraising with this idea successfully here.

36. Duck Race
A popular fundraiser where supporters buy a plastic duck (or a few), which are all released into a river, for chance and the rapids to decide on the winner. Just make sure you clean all the ducks up after!

37. Open Gardens
Offer tours through 6-8 willing gardens (they must be beautiful) for a fee. It's a simple, yet great idea!

38. School Cookbook
Get creative and find recipes from parents for a Themed School cookbook to sell. You can also fundraise through advertising in the Cookbook.

39. Game Shows
Adapt a popular TV Game Show and charge people a fee to take part. Just make sure your prizes are great to ensure you find participants. I'd definitely go for Knockdown USA!

40. Temporary Tattoos
A 'cool' fundraiser for your kids. Sell temporary tattoos or get a Henna artist to volunteer their time and sell Henna tattoos.

41. Pancake Breakfast
All things Pancakes... Make, sell, and eat.

42. Kid's Art Exhibition
A creative School fundraising idea that can raise funds in a few different ways: Charge a fee for viewing of the exhibition, hold a dinner evening for it, and/or Auction off the art or sell it to the kids parents.

43. Chinese Auction
Where the name Chinese Auction came from I'm not sure, but this is one of the best creative School fundraising ideas.

Similar to a silent auction but where supporters buy raffle tickets that they then use as bids for the items they want, by dropping them into a container next to the item.

At the end of the Auction a ticket is drawn from each tub to decide the winning bidder.

44. Gift Wrapping
Offer a gift wrapping service either from your School or from a stand at a local shopping mall. Obviously only run this fundraiser during gift giving times of the year!