This is Elizabeth’s Legacy of Hope’s A-Z guide of fun and creative fundraisers for primary and secondary school students. A downloadable version of the A-Z guide can be found here. If you want to find out more about school fundraisers and the support ELoH provides visit our School Fundraising Page.
A
Art event – use pupils’ artwork and turn it into fundraising products for parents to purchase.
Auction – hold an auction of donated items.
B
Bring and buy sale – use those unwanted items of clothing or gifts to raise money. One person’s unwanted goods are another man’s treasure.
Book sale – ask all pupils to bring in their old or unwanted books to sell.
Bingo evening
BBQ
Bollywood Event – sell Indian Food, Indian Jewellery, have Indian Dancing and music. Perhaps have a photo booth and sell the photos.
Blind date event
Bake off
Battle of the Bands – challenge those budding musicians to a battle of the bands and put on a concert to raise money. You could also raise money with a “pay to leave” policy!
Baked Bean Competition – how many baked beans can you eat with a cocktail stick in a set number of minutes?
C
Cake sale
Carol singing – we can supply you with all the collection tins you need.
Coin trail – ask every pupil to bring in spare change, lay them all out in a trail and see how far around the school you can get. Don’t forget to get volunteers to help with the counting up!
Car wash – get the sponges out and get the whole school involved in washing parents’ & teachers’ cars. Perhaps this is best as a summer term activity.
Sponsored Cross country run
Cook book – ask pupils to bring in their favourite recipe and compile them into a recipe book to be sold.
Colour run – hold a sponsored colour run for pupils (and their siblings/family) or make it even larger by inviting other schools to participate. Raise money through sponsorship and by selling more coloured powder for families/friends to throw during the event.
Cricket tournament
Coffee and cake morning
Concert
Craft fair – ask pupils and parents to make and find crafts to sell. You could make key rings, bracelets, rings, pottery items, parcel tags, present bags made from newspaper and ribbon, shrinkies, painted flower pots and pebbles etc. Loads more ideas to be found online.
D
Disco – sell tickets and encourage pupils to get their dancing shoes on.
Design and sell items depending on the time of year – calendars, Christmas cards, Mother/Father’s day cards, Easter cards etc. Perhaps ask your DT department to help.
Disney day – a magical twist to your usual mufti day. Ask pupils to pay a set donation to dress up as their favourite Disney character for the day.
Dance-a-thon
E
Easter egg hunt – hide chocolate treats around the school and set hints and clues for pupils. Pupils pay a fee to take part.
Easter egg decorating – ask pupils to paint and decorate eggs for parents to purchase or as a fee to take part.
Egg and spoon race
F
Fancy dress – ask all the pupils (and teachers too) to dress up as their favourite character for a day and pay £1 for the privilege.
Fair / Fête – take a few fun ideas from this list and run an all day event.
Fashion show – put on a show and raise money by charging an entrance fee. You could ask local businesses if they wish to be involved showing some of their current range and raising awareness of their business. Pupils could also make and show their own clothes.
Fun run
Football tournament
Film evening – put on a film and sell tickets and popcorn.
Fundraising gauge – put up a large thermometer-style gauge in the classroom or school hall to show everyone what progress is being made. You could keep adding indefinitely to the top of the scale as the funds raised increase, or you could have a set goal at the top with a planned reward, e.g. the headmaster will shave off his beard/wear an Ali G costume to work for a day if we raise £2,000 by the end of the year.
G
Guess the number – this could be everything from buttons in a jar to ping pong balls in a bucket – charge 20p, 50p or £1 to enter depending on the prize.
Go-Karting competition
Guess the baby – members of staff bring in photos of themselves as a baby. A group/class of pupils runs the competition by displaying and numbering the photos and charging fellow pupils a small fee to enter. Once you have entered, you receive a sheet with numbers on and have to write the name of the member of staff whose photo it is, next to the relevant number. The class sets a deadline and then marks all of the entries, giving a prize to the winner in assembly.
H
Halloween – party/fancy dress/quiz – anything ‘scary-themed’.
Hockey Tournament
Highland games
Hair style day – come to school with the wackiest hair style and bring in a donation.
Hula hoop competition – who can keep their hoop up the longest?
I
It’s A Knockout – embrace some 70s TV nostalgia and set up your own wet and wacky obstacle course.
Indoor Games competition
J
Jumble sale – ask pupils to bring in one toy, book or item each and hold a jumble sale. You could also hold a cake sale at the same time to raise even more.
Jokes – ask each pupil to bring in their favourite joke and compile them into a joke book which can then be sold.
Jazz event
Jewellery sale – ask pupils to make jewellery from using beads, clay, loom bands, thread (friendship bracelets etc.) and bring in any unwanted jewellery to sell.
Jam jar collections – ask all the pupils to fill a jam jar with loose change or donations from friends and family and bring into school at a set date. Prize for the most raised.
K
Karaoke
Knitting – knit items to sell or knit the longest scarf and get people to guess how long it is.
L
Line dancing – learn to line dance and perhaps combine it with a BBQ.
M
Mufti day – tried, tested, and loved by pupils everywhere! Ask pupils to pay a set donation (£1 or £2 each) to wear their own clothes to school.
Magic show – invite a magician to the school or ask budding magicians in your school to get together and hold a magic show.
Music concert – you could ask pupils to put on a concert of both instruments and singing.
Masked ball
Mat Hatters Tea Party – dress up as your favourite Alice in Wonderland Character and hold a tea party.
Murder Mystery evening
N
Non uniform day
Netball competition
O
Olympics themed fun day – get excited about the Olympics all over again by holding your own version. You could even split pupils into teams and give them names of countries.
Obstacle course
P
Pantomime – put on a school pantomime and sell tickets, programmes and snacks.
Pyjama day – ideal for nurseries and younger pupils but fun for everyone, ask pupils to come to school in their favourite pyjamas with a donation in hand.
Poets corner – run a writing competition for all of those budding poets in you school.
Plant sale – ask garden centres to donate some plants and ask green fingered parents to create some pots to sell.
Paper Aeroplane competition – see how far your paper plane creation can fly. Prizes for the best design, most colourful, further at flying, best loop the loop etc.
Q
Quizzes – This works well if run by teacher for pupils, by older pupils for younger classes, or as quiz nights for parents. Source prizes from local business.
R
Raffle – exactly what it says on the tin. You could source prizes from local businesses and/or parents and sell tickets. Pupils could be asked to each bring in a prize of some sort.
Readathon – is a sponsored reading event run in primary and secondary schools across the UK, encouraging children to read for pleasure.
Rugby competition – charge a fee to enter the match and do a collection at the match.
Rounders match
Rock climbing event
Rapping contest
S
Sponsored – walk, swim, run, sing, dance, skip, or sit in a bath of beans!
Sports day – tie in your fundraiser with an existing sports day to make it as easy as possible.
Sponsored silence – challenge pupils to stay quiet.
Sponge throw! – ask pupils to donate in return for getting to launch soapy sponges at you and your fellow teachers.
Sweet sale – ask pupils to make sweets/cakes/biscuits, make sweet trees, guess the number of sweets in the jar etc.
Smarties challenge – Buy loads of smarties tubes (Poundland is a good place you can normally buy a pack of 4) and charge the children 50p a tube or take the costs out of the money you eventually raise. Then ask them to fill the tubes with 20 pence pieces until full and then bring them in. You could do prizes (another Smartie tube) for the person who fills it the quickest or fills more than one tube. A full tube can take £15.
T
Talent contest – hold a talent contest for pupils to showcase their skills! You could make it TV show style by nominating judges to pick the winners.
Treasure hunt – put together a treasure hunt, split pupils into pairs or teams and let the detective work begin! Ask a local business to donate a prize for the winning pair/team, and set a suggested donation amount for entering.
Treasure Map – draw a grid over a map (or a real or invented place) and number all of the squares. Pupils/teachers/parents can pay for one or more squares on the grid and stick a sticker with their name on it in that square(s). The location of the “treasure” is decided beforehand and written down somewhere safe. Once all the squares have been bought, the winning square is announced and the person who chose that square wins a prize. You can ask a local business to donate a prize.
Guess the name of the Teddy – ask for pupils to donate unwanted teddy bears, or ask a business to donate a teddy or buy a teddy. Put together a long list of first names and get pupils/teachers/parents to pay a small fee to enter and put their name next to the name they think belongs to the teddy. Once all the names have been bought you can announce the winner
Teachers got talent – let your teachers entertain you and charge and entrance fee of £10. Over a couple of weeks or a half-term holiday, each member of the class/year is challenged to raise just £10 for Elizabeth’s Legacy of Hope. They can simply ask friends and family to make donations, do a sponsored activity (5 hour silence, 24 hours without TV/chocolate/computer/XBox, swimming 40 lengths, etc), or they could do odd-jobs for family and neighbours (washing a couple of cars, collecting leaves etc.).This is a manageable task for the children and, if every member of the class/year takes part, it will produce significant funds. Enthusiastic pupils will raise over and above the required £10.
U
Uniform day – pay a donation (£1 or more) to dress up as a fireman, policeman, soldier, sailor, nurse etc. for the day.
V
The Voice – singing competition.
Variety show – you know that your pupils are talented, so why not let those talents raise some funds for charity.
W
Wig day – wear a wig to school and bring in a donation.
Wacky races – get teams to enter the wacky races, buy a few of the animal running costumes on line and hold a wacky race.
X
X-Factor singing competition
Xmas card recycling – bring in your Xmas cards and cut off the back and stick the front onto a new black card. You could buy a rubber stamp and ink pad to re-insert the Happy Christmas wording.
Y
Yoga class – for either parents or pupils. Charge a fee to take part.
Yo yo competition – who can keep their yo yo going for the longest, do the best tricks etc?
Z
Zzzzz – Hold a sponsored sleepover at school.
Zumbathon