20 Summer Fundraising Ideas for Your School

Summer brings a ton of new fundraising opportunities. With the warmer weather, you can host fundraisers outside, which means more ideas and fewer expenses.

Whether school’s in session or you’re fundraising over summer break, these summer fundraising ideas will make sure you get donations all summer long.

BBQ Cookoff

We mentioned BBQs in our spring fundraising ideas, but it’s such a good fundraiser we had to mention it again. You can host a traditional BBQ, or you can really expand on this idea and host a BBQ cookoff. 

In addition to being tons of fun, it also gives you two revenue streams: you can charge contestants an entry fee, and you can sell tickets for people to come and try the food.

Field Day

Again, we mentioned this in our spring fundraising ideas, but it’s great for both spring and summer. Even if you hosted a field day in spring, there’s no reason you can’t host another one in summer.

For a summer field day, you can add in new activities too. Look for ways to beat the heat with activities like water balloon fights.

Scavenger Hunt

If you’ve ever hosted an Easter egg hunt, a scavenger hunt is basically an Easter egg hunt you can host at any time of the year. It’s super engaging for families and is extremely low-cost to set up.

All you need is an outdoor space, like a public park or your school grounds. Then, just have a volunteer or two to hide the objects. Other than a few prizes, almost all of your ticket sales will go straight to your school.

Ice Cream Truck

The jingle of an ice cream truck is a summer staple for many kids. It’s also a great way to fundraise. You can do this fundraiser on its own and see if a local truck would donate a portion of sales.

You can also add an ice cream truck to another fundraiser. Pretty much any event can have an ice cream truck. A BBQ, pool party, or field day would be great events to add an ice cream truck to, so you can maximize your fundraising efforts.

Food Truck

Just like an ice cream truck, a food truck is an easy add-on to almost any fundraiser. Use it as an extra revenue source at any event, like a field day, golf tournament, or concert.

You can also host this fundraiser on its own and have multiple food trucks in one location, like your school parking lot. Work with local food trucks and ask them to donate a portion of their sales to your school.

Golf Tournament

Golf tournaments are a fundraiser that takes a bit more planning, but they really pay off with significantly higher donations. You’ll want to start planning early and work with a local golf course to make sure things like food, photography, and prizes are taken care of.

While careful planning is needed, a golf tournament is many organizations’ largest fundraiser. Each player donates an entry fee to compete, and you can also look for corporate sponsors to help increase donations.

Disc Golf Tournament

A disc golf tournament works the same way as a gold tournament, except with discs! It can also be a lot more relaxed to plan, as many disc golf courses are in public parks. It still has great donation potential too, as contestants will pay an entry fee to participate.

The great thing about disc golf is that it’s a lot more accessible than regular golf. All you need is a few discs to play, so you can consider including various age categories in the competition.

Sports Tournament

In addition to golf, you can host pretty much any kind of sports tournament. You can choose what’s most popular in your area, including:

• Volleyball
• Beach volleyball
• Softball
• Kickball
• Baseball

The beauty of choosing a sport like kickball or softball is that pretty much anyone can participate, so you’ll get more participants and more donations. 

Marathon or Walkathon

A marathon is a classic fundraiser, and for a good reason. They give you two ways to fundraise: runner’s entry fees and peer-to-peer fundraising. By asking runners to fundraise, you can reach a much larger number of donors.

A traditional marathon is tried-and-true, but you can also make the event more accessible with a walkathon option. That way, even those who can’t run can still participate and donate.

Triathalon

A triathlon, swimathon, or bikeathon are all fun variations on the traditional marathon. The concept is essentially the same, except instead of running, participants will swim, bike, run, or do all 3.

No matter which sport you choose, participants will pay an entry fee and ask their friends, families, and coworkers to donate. This means you reach a huge number of donors, even if they aren’t participating in the race.

Fun Run

A fun run is still technically a race, but it’s a lot more relaxed than a marathon. The distance is shorter, typically 5k, and there is more focus on the experience rather than completion of the race.

Many participants do the run in teams, which means more entry fees and more fun! Encourage participants to dress up in coordinating outfits and costumes for an especially memorable fundraiser. 

Outdoor Exercise Class

While you can do an indoor exercise class when the weather is cooler, an outdoor exercise class allows you to maximize your fundraising potential. By hosting the fundraiser outdoors, like at a public park or at your school field, you keep the cost low. 

If you choose something like a body-weight workout, pilates, or yoga, you won’t need to pay for equipment either. Your main cost will just be the instructor’s time, and you can always see if an instructor is willing to donate their expertise.

Camping Trip

Camping gives you the opportunity to get outside and to fundraise. Most campsites offer group booking discounts, so all you have to do is book the campsites. 

Then, simply charge per campsite. You can also see if any attendees can help plan other activities like a hike, game, or lesson to help make the fundraiser as successful as possible.

Cornhole

This game goes by many names (bags, beanbag toss, corn toss) but no matter what you call it, it’s a great way to fundraise. It’s affordable and easy to host on a large scale.

You can either have cornhole as part of another event, like a BBQ or field day and charge per player. Or you can make it into its own event and do a round-robin-style tournament, where players pay to enter the competition.

Pool Party

You really can’t beat a pool party in the heat of summer. A pool party fundraiser is great for families in summer and fairly simple to pull off.

Most public pools offer some kind of private booking, so all you need to do is pick a day and time. Then, you can sell tickets in advance and day-of if there are any spots leftover.

Beer or Wine Tasting

While you might not be able to involve students in this fundraiser, it’s certainly an out-of-the-box fundraiser that parents and community members will love.

Because you’ll need some kind of liquor license for this type of event, it’s easiest to partner with a local business. See if a nearby beer house, wine room, or restaurant could partner with your school.

Concert

A concert is a great opportunity for you and for a local musician. See if and local artists could donate their time. For a high school, you could see if any students would be willing to perform as well.

This kind of event takes a bit more planning to pull off, so you’ll likely want to partner with a music venue. They can help with things like audio equipment and permits. That said, you can also charge more per ticket for this type of event, so it evens out in the end.

Drive-In Movie

A drive-in movie is a unique fundraising idea without being too complicated to pull off. All you need is an area to park cars and a space to project the movie, so a shopping center parking lot or public park works well.

You can also easily add other fundraising opportunities. Low-cost items like popcorn, soda, and candy mean you can maximize your fundraising efforts.

Car Wash

A car wash is a great fundraiser because you only need a few low-cost items: running water, soap, and sponges. So the cost is low, but you can typically charge at least $15-$20 per wash.

Better yet, you can partner with a local car wash. See if they would be willing to donate a portion of sales, supplies, or both to help fundraise.

Yard Sale

You can’t go wrong with a good old-fashioned yard sale! Summer weather means you can host the event outside, so people can sell larger, higher-ticker items. Simply have people donate their unwanted goods, and your school gets to keep the proceeds.

For this fundraiser, all you’ll need is a few volunteers to set up tables beforehand. Alternatively, you could do a flea market-style event where sellers pay to join, but they get to keep the money from their sold items.