Fundraising Ideas for Schools
Whether you are a school looking to raise money or on a fundraising journey for a school you love, you’ll need to know the best fundraising ideas for schools in 2025 to maximize your funding. Hosting a fundraiser for schools is an excellent way for staff, parents, students, and teachers to come together for the good of the community and its school.
However, getting people excited about a fundraising event can be challenging when you have the same ideas each year. Since the pandemic swept through in 2020, fundraisers have had to think outside the box for unique ways to make money with exciting virtual fundraising ideas. This shift from in-person to virtual became a huge success, but unique fundraising ideas you need the best fundraising ideas for schools to get the job done.
Explore the many profitable school fundraising ideas and why you need them!
1. Bake Sale
Who doesn’t love a bake sale? Bake sales are one of the most popular—and delicious—ways to raise much-needed funds for schools. They’re also a great opportunity to get the parents involved and to show off their baking skills.
To raise money for your cause, ask the parents at your school to prepare a yummy treat to sell. Children can participate by helping their parents bake these treats or selling baked products at lunch or recess.
You can take it a step further with a raffle, where one prize winner can win a beautifully designed and baked cake of their choice from a local bakery willing to provide a voucher.
2. Talent Show
Showcase your school’s many talents with a talent show! Let there be various categories, such as singing, dancing, and comedy. Get local businesses to sponsor prizes for each category and the grand prize of the best winning act at the night’s end.
Prizes can range from:
A local pizza restaurant sponsored a pizza for the winner and 2 of their friends
Tickets to see a movie at the theater
Mall vouchers
Charge a small participation fee and a spectator entry fee. And don’t forget to put together a panel of judges!
3. Guessing Jar
Guessing jars is a cost-effective and easy fundraising idea for schools. All you need is a clear jar, which you can fill with candy, beads, marbles, paper clips, or anything else that will fit in the jar. To increase your potential fundraising opportunities, have several jars in various sizes and allow participants to pay to guess each jar’s contents.
Keep the jar in a busy school area like the primary office for a few weeks. Parents, teachers, and students should be encouraged to enter their estimates into the competition for a small cost.
Allow multiple entries per person, with each try costing them. Let participants pick up the jar and turn it around to look closer.
Ensure you have enough prizes for each winner and runners-up for each jar you have. When the fundraiser ends, the closest guesser receives the candy jar.
4. Virtual Parents Party
Sometimes, parents and guardians need adult time, too! A virtual parent’s party involves virtual cooking classes, happy hour, or live streaming of a local musician’s concert. In addition, you can host an art party, such as painting with a twist. These events are hosted online via Zoom, and parents purchase the tickets. You will mail the items to the attendees’ homes a couple of weeks before the event and have a scheduled itinerary.
To prevent the virtual parent party from getting too crowded, you can set up virtual rooms and divide the groups. After a specific time, switch up the people in the room and keep the entertainment going.
5. Battle of the Bands
Battle of the Bands takes high school fundraising ideas to the next level. There may be many talented students in your school who would love the opportunity to share their talents. This fundraising idea is easy because you have all the means to host the event: the PA system, venue, and teachers and volunteers who can help.
Charge a small fee for each band to enter and an admission fee for attendees. Involve local celebrities to be judges for the event, such as the local weatherman or radio host, to participate. In addition, you could ask local business owners to be judges and help sponsor the event. There are countless opportunities to reach your fundraising goals.
6. Dog Wash
Not everyone takes their pups to the groomers, and many find bathing their dogs tedious. So why not host a dog wash fundraiser? The kids will love spending time with your furry best friend, too. Post about the fundraiser to local groups and encourage parents, guardians, teachers, and community members to bring the pups for a good wash by student volunteers.
Purchase all the supplies and use the school’s parking lot as the venue. Ensure plenty of kiddie pools to bathe the dogs, hoses, towels, and tasty treats. To take your fundraiser a step further, have music, some food trucks, and sell drinks.
7. School Dance
School dances are just as exciting as prom or homecoming. Students get to go out and shop for new outfits and let loose with their friends. It’s a simple fundraising idea that everyone will love, and almost all the proceeds go back into the school. In addition, students pay a small attendance fee, and you can request donations for décor, food, and drinks from parents and guardians.
Put together a student committee for the dance and have them select a fun theme, such as a masquerade ball, under the ocean, or a Hollywood theme. There is no need to spend a fortune on expensive photo booths or décor. Instead, the committee should be tasked with finding an inexpensive solution.
8. Discount Card Fundraiser
A discount card fundraiser can involve the entire community. Students sell discount cards in their neighborhood, and the donors receive coupons or special offers from local businesses, such as restaurants. These discount cards cost around $10-$20 but can save the purchaser hundreds of dollars.
Making discount cards to sell for a school fundraiser is reasonably straightforward. In addition, it draws a lot of attention to small businesses, and many business owners are happy to get exposure.
9. Car Wash
Car wash fundraisers have proven to be excellent ways to raise funds for local charities, including schools. They are also a fantastic way to get the community involved while students have fun washing cars. The school’s parking lot can be used to set up the car wash.
Partner with local businesses to sponsor cleaning materials and supplies in exchange for free advertising on the day of the car wash.
Get your local radio station to advertise the school’s fundraising efforts. Have loud music for entertainment and snacks available for individuals to purchase while they wait for their cars to get cleaned.
Assign shifts to students to wash cars, and designate a few students to collect money for the car washes and any extra donations. Set up an online donation page on the school’s website to receive additional contributions.
10. Auction off Parking Spots
Ask every high school or college student what their worst nightmare is, and they will all say that parking at school or on campus is the worst! On a busy day, students are likely to circulate the parking lot in the hopes of a spot becoming available.
For a successful fundraising idea, select a few parking spots the school won’t mind reserving for the winning students. Host a live auction or an online bidding war, and see how far students are willing to go for a parking spot reserved for them for the semester or school year.
11. AmazonSmile
AmazonSmile is a minimum-effort way to raise funds for your school. The process is simple:
Register your school with AmazonSmile
Once your school has been accepted to the program, notify your student’s parents and the local community.
Shoppers can add your school as their chosen charitable organization and shop items that are eligible for AmazonSmile.
That’s it! Your school will then receive 0.5% of every eligible purchase they make. No fees or costs exist for your school and shoppers donating to you.