Any ideas for Private School ongoing fundraisers?

[melk86]

Hi,
I'm not sure if there's anyone who can answer my question. But at my child's Private School, they've tried different fundraisers. They are only able to do these once in a while and raise some money, but I know they are struggling with new ideas to keep the kids interested.

Does anyone have any ideas that will raise funds in the Private School at maybe an ongoing bases?

We have printed stationary and other things that we sell but that's about it (and the printed stationary is getting a bit expensive for us)

Thanks for you help!

[annethcz]

Have you tried the SCRIP program?
http://www.scrip.com/

There are many churches and schools in our area that have used this program.

[emmaegbert]

Our school uses Scrip extensively. Parents are required to participate to a minimum level over the year, or they can pay a lump sum to "opt out".

The school says it raises quite a bit of money. The "e-scrip" is a lot less effective, because there are fewer retailers and the percentage that goes to the school is smaller.

There is one parent who put A LOT of work into making the scrip program work, and many people who help her out. So, its certainly not effortless. But basically, for the rest of us, we buy pre-paid gift cards (or certificates) for things like gas, groceries, books, clothes, etc. and the school gets a percentage of each one. Many are chain type stores, but some are local businesses that also participate. So, you aren't buying anything you wouldn't normally buy, you just have to plan ahead a little bit and get the cards before you go shopping.

I like this much better than other things I hear about. I mean, I do have to buy gas and groceries anyway... I'm glad that the school benefits from it too. Individual grades do fundraisers for class trips and such.

[je309]

I too was going to recommend the SCRIPT program. Our church and school use it and it is very successful here!

[mojumi]

We're new to private elem. school this year but I do like some of the fundraisers we've seen so far. One ongoing one is a regular night to eat out at a particular neighborhood restaurant, and the school gets a percentage of whatever is spent on the food. I think the last restaurant night brought in almost $300, and all the school had to do was send out an email letting families know the location and time. They do that about once a month.

Our school also has an online shopping portal -- enter through the portal and the school receives a (small) percentage of whatever you spend online. There's also a program with Land's End (which is one of the carriers of our school uniforms) that sends 3% of every uniform order back to the school.

Another fundraiser I *really* like is a birthday book donation program. A child can pick a book (during his birthday month) and donate it to the school library for $15. The librarian has a stack of really cool kids' books and the child can pick whatever he wants. Then the librarian makes a donation plate for the inside of the book and the child gets to be the first one to check it out. I love that this directly supports the library and doesn't waste my money, since I don't have much to donate.

Personally, I like fundraisers that work with what I am doing already (like the uniforms). I really dislike fundraisers like Sally Foster, which carry junk I don't want at prices that are too high.

[jamesong55]

My kids go to a private Catholic school and they use SCRIP and I love it at least you don't have to buy things that you don't really want. It is mandatory to make at least $125 then after the 125 it's split 50/50 and my 50 % comes off the last months tuition

[BananaBreadGirl]

The school I teach at does a program where you can renew your magazines through the school and school gets a percentage of the subscription. It is something they do every fall but I don't know the name of the company.

[smilingmomma]

We have the following (any more!) fundraising at the private institution where I work:

(1) Wrapping Paper Sale - It's actually quite profitable because most parents in the income bracket that the school services give a lot of gifts and use traditional wrapping paper. The supplies are given to the students in September and wrapping paper is received ahead of the holidays. It's a very creative company with some "green" options. No candy or treats, just wrapping paper and some cards.

(2) Live and Silent auction with impressive donated prizes to fund our financial assistance program. One recent prize, several dance lessons and performance with a well known dance troop for $2,500. *This is very popular but tends to draw the parents the with the most $$$ to spend.

As an aside, the school hosts many nights like "family night" and "international night" which are created to enlist the help of volunteers and those who cannot afford a larger financial gift. For example, there may be tickets for games from .25-5.00 and ALL the proceeds go to the school.

(3) Brunches. Several throughout the year to benefit different things, from our low income day care center to honoring recent seniors.

(4) We work with a company (there are many to choose from) which donates a percentage of the profits from all Spiritware back to the school. It's a large percentage.

(5) Many parents simply give to our unrestricted Annual Fund, or to specific projects like the restoration of a historic building on our campus. Also, we do have a day care center which services the surrounding low-income community. Parents seem particularly generous : when it comes to donating to this program.

(6) Alumni Evenings and Events.

(7) Parent Coffees and Cocktail parties where a small donation goes to the small. These are very popular, faculty attends on a rotating schedule, and parents get "time" with administrators.

[mamatoakd]

Not sure whether these have been mentioned:

Box Tops - clip the label of products (Cheerios, Kleenex, etc.) and redeem for cash ($.10/label).

Campbells Labels for Education - again, clip labels off participating products (Campbells Soups, Goldfish, etc.) and redeem for awards in their catalog.

Coke Rewards - send in the codes off participating products and redeem for awards in their catalog.

[sewingmommy]

My sons catholic school does Manna...you buy gift cards to businesses that you frequent or want to give as gifts and that business gives back a percentage of the card to the school to be divided between the school and the family that bought the cards .....so say you bought a 25.00 gift card to a certain business and they in turn give back 8% of that 25.00 to the school ...so the school would get 4% and the family would get 4% (mostly you will get it back in the form of tuition)

Nicola

[acsammel]

My son's school does Market Day (monthly), Simplified SCRIP, night out at Chuck E Cheese, candy bar sales, box tops & Campbell's soup labels, have parents register their grocery shopping discount cards for school rewards, have parents sign up store credit cards (i.e. Target, Meijer) to receive rewards for your school.

[UUMom]

One of my ds' school's most profitable fundraise is the yearly rummage sale. It's fun to do, a ton of work, but all profit. We have people drop off stuff at designated times all year round and is stored in the school. It beats having to beg people a week before the sale for their stuff.

They do the wrapping paper, and I admit, I love that wrapping paper. It is so high quality. I always buy a birthday roll. The profit margin is good and while some people hate wrapping paper, that particular stuff practically wraps a package on it's own. Perfect corners everytime. lol


My favorite, however, is what they create with the children's art work from this place:

www.originalworks.com

Some of it is pricey, but there are a couple inexpensive (which is saying nothing if you have nothing to spend, I realize) items that we have also enjoyed. One year I gave relatives small canvass shopping bags with my ds' art on it. Functional and pretty.

The items are great for gifts, they are artistic in nature, and parents only order those things they want. The school does have to submit the art. But they make nothing you don't order, so no waste.

[AllyRae]

DS's montessori school does scrip too--I'm just sad it's for the 2 most expensive grocery stores in the area! The other 4 aren't on the program so we can't do it (our store of choice is one of the ones not on the program)!

We also have a big auction, scholastic sales (which is more for books than money fundraising), and they do fundraising letters to businesses (and grandparents). The middle schoolers at the school also raise money for an annual trip by serving and selling Wednesday hot lunch and Friday pizza lunches (besides those days, there are no hot lunches in the school). It's $4 a meal, and we love it because we don't have to pack lunch that day AND DS tries new foods (or is offered them... : )--Wednesday lunches are always a theme...this month it's international food.

[griffin2004]

My daughter's school does scrip through www.glscrip.com . Since there is no premium (you pay $25 for a $25 card), they are an easy sell as gift cards as well as for personal use.

For one-time projects, they do an evergreen wreath sale, a huge gala auction, a Christmas bazaar, an annual appeal, weekly sales of popcorn and cocoa, etc.

[EXOLAX]

Our school has a slew of activities...

There's the annual flower sale, the silent auction (donated goods), an online auction (more donated goods) and the annual phone-a-thon requestiong donations. Some of these are strictly for scholarships, or tech supplies or general school funds, it depends on the activity. There are two other ones which I think could easily be reproduced as ongoing projects:

If your school has a uniform one of the best ways would be to setup bins for donations of uniform items kids have outgrown (this can be tax deductable depending on your schools status). Our school's mother's association has volunteers who sort the clothes etc. and then sell back to families at a huge savings versus buying new. They have a space setup where you can go anytime during school hours to purchase (thrift style) the outgrown items and they also have a couple big organized sales a year.

The school also does a holiday bazarre. Students from preschool through 5th (elementary) make items during school (in art and in their grade rooms). First they gather up any items anyone has to offer (hotel shampoos/soaps, beads, pinecones, you-name-it) and turn them into something 'crafty'; barrets, pins, pinecone animals, sachets of travel goodies.... This year DD's class weaved stips of fabric/ribbon together and glued it to cardboard for travel chess sets. They also collect all your unwanted Halloween candy and the 1st graders sort and count them (part of their math project) and bundle them. In early December once everything is made they hold the actual bazarre. Parents come in to volunteer and kids bring in $2-$5. Everything is priced between $.25 and $.75 and the kids buy items that other classes made. This is where DD1 does all of her holiday shopping for us, friends and family. Last year we all received hand drawn magnets and I got a barett and a hand made pin. Depending on the size of your school this can bring in lots of money. In our schools case all the money goes to other charities, with the school giving a percentage to another school and then each class gets a chunk to give to a charity of their choice. You could though use something like this as a fundraiser for your own school.

[Clarity]

What about ones the raise the most money from outside the school community? We're at a small private school and a co-op preschool and both parent groups get called on pretty often. We need to add a fundraiser or two where the bulk of the money earned comes from the outside the school community - and money, not catalog awards, etc....

[momslittleangel]

My kids' school does auctions for their artwork once a year. Target credit card users or whatever that program is gets money to the school too.

[Nolamom]

Our school of about 500 students does a yearly fair. They make over 100K from it. Games, food (local restaurants, etc.), music, and rides. Also includes an auction. A year round project that culminates in one fun weekend. The kids love it and it's by far the largest and most successful fundraiser.