Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) contribute substantially to many schools’ fundraising efforts. However, we know coming up with creative and fresh PTA fundraising ideas for your school can be more challenging than expected.
You need to factor in a ton of things like budget, resources, and more. And the funds you gather play a big role in making schools a good place for children, visitors, and educators alike.
Don’t worry, though. We’ve got you covered!
Below, we’ll list 10 fantastic fundraising ideas for PTA you can suggest for your next income-generating effort.
We love these 10 PTA fundraising ideas for their creativity and think they’ll be great for engaging kids, parents, teachers, and the greater local community.
Auctions are a popular fundraising method that you can add your own twist to. They can bring in a variety of different guests and you can make sure there are auction items for all tastes. By hosting an auction, you can make money from the tickets, food sales, and bids, amongst other things.
Enlist students, teachers, and PTA parent members to gather items for bidding. You can also ask for auction items from local businesses and community figures.
To help you manage your auction needs, use auction software to help you pre-list items, manage bids, collect bidder details, and more.
To add some creativity to the auction event, consider adding a theme and getting items that match it. You can also host auctions on holidays and choose items people would want for that holiday. Learn about different types of auctions, like silent auctions, so you can pick a fun choice for your needs.
Raffles are also an awesome way to fundraise. All you have to do is get raffle prizes worth betting on. If you do that, donors will buy raffle tickets in the hopes of winning.
Your raffle can be a part of another fundraising effort. For example, you can include a raffle at a fundraising gala or auction. They can also be a standalone effort.
Gift matching programs are a great way to substantially increase the funds you raise. You can get parents to donate and then partner with organizations to match the donations parents make. This can help you double or further multiply the funds raised.
Use a matching gift platform to help you find businesses to participate in your program. It will also help you manage and share information with relevant parties. Donors can also use it to see whether their gifts are eligible for matching.
You don’t just have to think about items coming from donors for fundraising. You can also make your own items and sell them.
Product sales could be a wonderful way to make money for your PTA. Don’t think ‘mass manufacturing.’ Consider simple, arts and crafts items you can make as PTA members. We’re talking about pottery mugs, branded t-shirts, keyrings, etc.
You can also sell food products like cookies, candy, and more. Whatever resources you have as a team, capitalize on them.
Speaking of food, you can never go wrong with a food competition or event! Host a bake-off or cook-off where PTA members make famous dishes and visitors buy a ticket to attend and spend on the food.
Bring local restaurants on board and host holiday dinners or food markets. Challenge people’s love of food with eating competitions. Food is a great way to bring people together and leverage your PTA and local community.
Bring food, music, and your creative merchandise together and you can host a market. Ask students to donate some art to the event. Get live music. And include food from PTA members and restaurants.
School markets can be easy to pull together if everyone uses their skills and networks. You can also have many income sources from one event – tickets, product sales, charges for activities and games, and more.
Not all your events need to include your students. You can cater to just the parents, too.
A Valentine's date night event with a ticket including a 3-course meal, wine, and flowers can be a winner. Or you can have regular dance lessons for parents at the school. Make it easy and exciting for parents while raising money for the school. This is a fundraising idea for PTAs that you can really play with and use for regular revenue.
Another way to directly engage parents in fundraising is by charging membership fees for the PTA. It doesn’t have to be a large amount but it can be enough to help the association run at least. The membership amount can depend on many factors including the school size, fundraising needs, and more.
Ensure you make it clear what the money will be used for and how it will benefit the school and PTA members.
Healthy competition is a harvest field for fundraising. Pick an ‘a-thon’ event and let people’s competitive sides do the work of getting them excited. Think about marathons, walk-a-thons, read-a-thons, etc.
Essentially, you can choose any task that can be done for a long time and create your own a-thon event. The quirkier the task, the more people may want to challenge themselves so don’t be afraid to experiment.
Finally, you can turn to digital means of fundraising through crowdfunding. This is one of the more ongoing fundraising ideas for PTAs. You can use it for long-term goals to help you raise funds for something in particular. You need to identify a distinct goal that benefits the school and use it for crowdfunding. Ensure this is a goal that people will want to contribute towards.
There are many fundraising ideas for PTAs. The key thing when choosing those you want to use is to evaluate your capacity and think creatively. Add your unique spin on the ten above ideas for fundraising success!
And remember, your association is part of a large network of students, parents, and local businesses, organizations, and professionals. Let your community help you better your school.