30 Cool Fundraising Ideas For Schools

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Updated November 2025

Easy to Implement

Ice Cream Social
Meme Day
Snowman Competition
Rock Paper Scissors Tournament
Cornhole Tournament
Caroling
Disney/Character Day
Bottle/Can Drive
Capture the Teacher/Principal

Moderate to Implement

Battle Of The Bands

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires a venue, audio equipment, and performer coordination.
Time to Implement	6-10 weeks
Expenses Required	$$ (stage setup, speakers, lighting, prizes, and signage)
Volunteers Needed	8-12 (stage crew, judging or scorekeeping, AV support, ticketing, setup/cleanup)
Ideal For	High schools, modern or contemporary music programs, and community-wide events

Music is a passion for many middle and high school students across the globe. Put on a battle of the bands and allow them and their bandmates to show what they've got and compete against their fellow students for the chance to take home the win. Charge the bands a fee to register, charge the audience to come listen, or both.

Yoga

Ease of Implementation	Moderate
Time to Implement	4-5 weeks
Expenses Required	$$ (instructor fee, mats, refreshments)
Volunteers Needed	4-6 (setup, registration)
Ideal For	Wellness-oriented fundraisers, school events adult classes

See if a local yoga instructor will donate their time to lead a yoga class for your school. Make sure to collect a registration fee and remind the yogis to bring their own mats and water bottles.

Soul Cycle/Spin Class

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - needs studio partner
Time to Implement	3-4 weeks
Expenses Required	$ (if studio donates space)
Volunteers Needed	2-3 for coordination & sign-in
Ideal For	Parent fundraisers or teacher wellness events

Partner with a local spin or soul cycle class and see if they would be willing to split the proceeds for having a fundraiser there. Some of the cycle places are like going to a party with crazy lights and music so if the PTO/PTA was able to book one for an event, it should be really popular.

Lunch And Learn: Claymation Or Stop Animation

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - finding a topic expert, coordinating dates and availability
Time to Implement	3-4 weeks
Expenses Required	$ (speaker lunch, light refreshments)
Volunteers Needed	3-4 (coordination, setup)
Ideal For	Educational fundraisers or community engagement events

Know any animation experts? Collect a donation to have them come and teach the tricks of the trade for an hour during lunch time.

Ice Sculpture Competition

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires tool safety oversight and outdoor space suitable for melting ice
Time to Implement	4-6 weeks
Expenses Required	$$-$$$ (ice blocks, carving tools, safety gear, tarps, cleanup materials)
Volunteers Needed	6-10 (safety monitors, setup/cleanup crew, judging panel, registration)
Ideal For	Winter festivals, outdoor fundraisers, art-focused communities, family events

Allow competitors to enter the chance to win a prize for the best ice sculpture! For the price of the entry, the PTO/PTA can provide the ice block and the necessary tools of the trade.

Cooking Lessons

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires instructor coordination, food prep, event setup
Time to Implement	4-6 weeks
Expenses Required	$$ (ingredients, cooking supplies, instructor fee unless donated)
Volunteers Needed	4-6 (registration, prep assistance, setup/cleanup)
Ideal For	School clubs, family-friendly events, evening fundraisers

Teach the community how to make an elaborate 3 course dinner! Have the patrons register and pay their fee before the event so the PTO/PTA can make sure to have enough space for everyone. Because of the equipment necessary, you might have to limit the participation but if the class is a success, feel free to have one every few weeks!

Ease of Implementation	Easy - requires minimum preparation
Time to Implement	3-4 weeks
Expenses Required	$-$$ (ice cream, toppings, utensils)
Volunteers Needed	5-8 (setup, serving, cleanup)
Ideal For	Family-friendly events, end-of-school celebrations, sports teams, summer carnivals

The best way to cool off on a hot day is to host an all you can eat ice cream bar! Charge an entry fee for the refreshments and set up a few more events and activities to allow your patrons more opportunities to give.

Surfing/Snowboarding/Skiing Lessons

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires partnership with a facility or instructor and managing safety waivers
Time to Implement	4-8 weeks
Expenses Required	$$-$$$ (instructor fees if not donated, equipment rentals, venue fees, safety gear)
Volunteers Needed	4-6 (registration, check-in, supervision, waiver collection)
Ideal For	Winter or summer communities, PE departments, outdoor-focused schools, skill-building events

Have a local expert teach your patrons how to surf, ski, or snowboard. If there's an indoor/outdoor area that the school can partner with, that's even better!

Guitar Lessons

Ease of Implementation	Easy to Moderate - depends on instructor availability and group size
Time to Implement	3-5 weeks
Expenses Required	$-$$ (instructor fee if not donated, handouts, spare instruments if needed)
Volunteers Needed	2-4 (registration, room setup, group coordination)
Ideal For	Music departments, arts-focused schools, enrichment programs, after-school activities

If you have any music experts in your area, see if they'll donate their time to come teach a lesson on guitar, drums, or another instrument that's popular in your area. Have anyone who wants to participate register and pay their fee before the event and gauge if you'll be able to host everyone at the same time, break the lessons up into smaller groups, or limit registration altogether.

Roping Lessons

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires outdoor space, a safe practice area, and a skilled instructor
Time to Implement	4-6 weeks
Expenses Required	$$ (roping equipment, practice targets, safety barriers, and instructor compensation if not donated)
Volunteers Needed	4-8 (registration, setup, safety monitoring, and helping guide participants)
Ideal For	Rural communities, agricultural or FFA programs, themed festival days, hands-on learning events

Teach a specialized skill that may not be popular in your area, like a lesson on how to rope a calf! Have your patrons register before the event so the PTO/PTA knows how many people to prepare for and include other events along the same theme to keep everyone busy until their turn comes.

Touch A Truck

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires coordination with fire dept. and vendors
Time to Implement	2-3 months planning
Expenses Required	$$ (food truck or grilling supplies, signage)
Volunteers Needed	8-12 (setup, food service, admissions)
Ideal For	Families with children, community event goers

Reach out to a few emergency response teams and local construction companies to see if they would be willing to bring one of their rigs/trucks for the kids to explore. Charge a registration fee and have a raffle going to see who can ride along in one of the vehicles in the company allows.

Meme Day

Ease of Implementation	Easy
Time to Implement	1-2 weeks
Expenses Required	$ (none)
Volunteers Needed	2-3 (promotion)
Ideal For	Lighthearted spirit events or youth-led campaigns

This is a very popular yet easy event for the PTO/PTA to sponsor! Collect donations for the students to participate in a day where they get to dress up like their favorite memes.

Sushi Making Class

Ease of Implementation	Moderate
Time to Implement	4-5 weeks
Expenses Required	$$ (ingredients, tools, instructor fee)
Volunteers Needed	5-7 (setup, coordination)
Ideal For	Culinary fundraisers or cultural nights

Is sushi making or another food artform especially popular among your students or community families? Host a class on how to properly make them! For the price of registration, the participants get access to all the ingredients they'll need and get to learn to make and enjoy their own creations.

Frozen Hair Sculpture Contest

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires cold weather, hot tub access, and safety considerations
Time to Implement	2-3 weeks
Expenses Required	$$ (hot tub access, towels, safety supplies, prize)
Volunteers Needed	4-6 (supervision, registration, photography, judging)
Ideal For	Winter events, ski/resort communities, high schools, novelty fundraisers

All you'll need for this event is a hot tub and a cold wintery day. Allow your participants to sign up and submit a registriaation fee for the opportunity to win a prize for best frozen hair styles. Make sure to include a warm place for the contestants to wait and plenty of warm drink and food booths for after their turn has been completed.

Snowman Competition

Ease of Implementation	Easy - requires snow and space
Time to Implement	2-3 weeks
Expenses Required	$ (prizes, signage)
Volunteers Needed	6-8 (judging, setup, registration)
Ideal For	Families with kids, community snow days, winter festivals

Allow your community to show their creative side with a snowman competition! For the registration fee, the competitor is given a certain area of snow plus whatever tools they need to make their creation stand out among the rest! Just remind your participants that any clothing, pipes, or hats will need to be supplied by them.

Chili Cookoff

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - entries & tasting
Time to Implement	4-6 weeks
Expenses Required	$$ (tasting supplies, prizes)
Volunteers Needed	12-18 (judges, ops, concessions)
Ideal For	Festivals, carnivals, community events

Looking to heat up your community on a chilly day? What better way than to have a chili cookoff! Collect an entry fee and hand out one voting ticket per person to allow patrons to taste as many chili recipes as they want but pick only one as the winner. The contestant with the most tickets at the end of the cookoff wins.

Soup/Coffee Bar

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires ingredient prep, buffet setup, and food-safety management
Time to Implement	3-4 weeks
Expenses Required	$$-$$$ (soup/coffee ingredients, warming trays, serving utensils, table setup)
Volunteers Needed	6-10 (prep cooks, servers, registration/payment, cleanup)
Ideal For	Family dinner nights, community gatherings, indoor or outdoor evening fundraisers, school clubs

Having an event in the colder months of the year? Pair it with a soup and coffee/hot coco bar to allow your patrons to stay warm in the frigid weather.

Hot Yoga

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - needs studio partner
Time to Implement	3-4 weeks
Expenses Required	$ (if studio donates space)
Volunteers Needed	2-3 for coordination & sign-in
Ideal For	Parent fundraisers or teacher wellness events

If you have a bikram yoga studio in your community, see if they'll allow the school to have a fundraiser where they share a portion of the fees with the school.

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Teacher Vs Team Tug-O-War

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires coordination of teachers, students/sports team
Time to Implement	3-5 weeks
Expenses Required	$ (rope, signage, prizes)
Volunteers Needed	8-12 (referees, safety monitors, setup)
Ideal For	Spirit week, field days end-of-year pep rallies

This event should be especially popular if you have a robust student sports team. Ask 10 teachers and 10 students to volunteer to be on a tug-o-war team to go head to head against one another. Then, allow the students to vote to see who they want to go up against each other by putting money into their chosen person's lock box.

At the end of the voting period, the top 5 teachers and the top 5 students who have the most money in their boxes will make up the tug-o-war teams that will compete against each other.

Rock Paper Scissors Tournament

Ease of Implementation	Easy - requires minimal setup, simple rules, and no equipment
Time to Implement	2-3 weeks
Expenses Required	$ (basic signage, small prizes for winners)
Volunteers Needed	2-4 (manage registration, track rounds, supervise matches, and handle buy-ins)
Ideal For	All grade levels, indoor events, fast-paced competitions, spirit-building activities

For a small entry fee, allow the students to participate in a school wide rock, paper, scissors tournament. Once the student is out, wait for the final pool to narrow to 10-20 students then allow anyone who wants to buy back into the competition for a few more dollars can do so at that point. Keep going until one kid is crowned the winner!

Host A Tailgate

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - food prep, grilling logistics, and crowd management
Time to Implement	4-6 weeks
Expenses Required	$$ (food, grills or rentals, utensils, seating, permits if required)
Volunteers Needed	8-15 (grillers, servers, ticketing, setup/cleanup)
Ideal For	Fall kickoff events, sports-related gatherings, family engagement nights

Host a tailgate in time for your favorite sports season to start! Charge an entry fee to allow access to games and supply grills for burgers and hotdogs.

Cornhole Tournament

Ease of Implementation	Easy - requires cornhole boards and scoring area
Time to Implement	2-3 weeks
Expenses Required	$-$$ (boards, bean bags, prize items if applicable)
Volunteers Needed	3-5 (registration, scoring, setup)
Ideal For	Family events, community fairs, multi-age groups

Have teams of either two or four players register to enter a cornhole tournament. Have several games going at once by providing several boards for play at the same time.

Painting Drop Tiles

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires material prep, drying space, and installation coordination
Time to Implement	2-4 weeks
Expenses Required	$-$$ (drop tiles, paint, brushes, sealant, installation supplies)
Volunteers Needed	4-8 (setup, cleanup, art supervision, tile installation)
Ideal For	School beautification projects, art-focused communities, family craft nights, PTO/PTA-led events

Allow your students to include a piece of their art work on the school by selling the opportunity to paint the drop tiles. For the price of the entry fee, the students get access to paints and markers plus a drop tile for them to decorate.

Caroling

Ease of Implementation	Easy - requires singers and chaperones
Time to Implement	2-3 weeks
Expenses Required	$ (songbooks, transport, promo)
Volunteers Needed	5-10 (singers, drivers, organizers)
Ideal For	Choirs, students, community members, holiday festival add-ons

If your middle school has a choir, have them practice a few christmas carols and then go door to door in your community and sing for donations. Don't forget to bring along a wagon of soup and hot chocolate so your singers can stay refreshed as they bring holiday spirit to community friends and neighbors.

Disney/Character Day

Ease of Implementation	Easy - simple dress-up theme with minimal setup
Time to Implement	1-2 weeks
Expenses Required	$ (signage, optional small prizes)
Volunteers Needed	2-4 (promotion, donation collection, photo-taking)
Ideal For	Spirit weeks, elementary and middle schools, themed fundraising days

Allow your students to dress up as their favorite Disney or book/movie character in exchange for a donation!

School Sleepover

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires supervision, permission forms, and activity planning
Time to Implement	4-6 weeks
Expenses Required	$$ (dinner, snacks, games, movie setup, breakfast supplies)
Volunteers Needed	8-15 (overnight chaperones, registration, food service, activity support)
Ideal For	Elementary or middle schools, community-building nights, high-engagement fundraisers

Host a lock in in either the cafeteria or the library of your school! For a registration fee, provide dinner, games, a movie and allow everyone to sleep over at the school!

Color Run

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - requires careful planning, setup, volunteers, and supplies
Time to Implement	6-8 weeks
Expenses Required	$$$ (powders, safety gear, cleanup)
Volunteers Needed	15-25 (registration, water stations, logistics)
Ideal For	Spring fundraisers; family participation events

This event should be a big hit with your middle and high schoolers! Remind all the participants to wear as much white as they can when they register and pay their fee. For the day of the event, you can organize it in a 5k style where the course is a big loop around the community or you can organize it run-a-thon style where participants collect donations and pledges based on how many laps they complete within the event time frame.

The fun part for this event is the inclusion of water balloons filled with dye and dust designed to color your clothes all kinds of fun colors.

Bottle/Can Drive

Ease of Implementation	Easy - collection and redemption logistics
Time to Implement	2-3 weeks
Expenses Required	$ (bags, posters)
Volunteers Needed	6-12 (collection, sorting, transport)
Ideal For	Communities with deposit refunds

Have the students bring empty bottles and cans from home to donate to the school, who can then exchange the recyclables for cash at the local exchange station. Feel free to expand the drive to include gently worn clothes, shoes, or anything else the PTO/PTA might need or can think of!

Capture The Teacher/Principal

Ease of Implementation	Easy - simple donation-based incentive with minimal setup
Time to Implement	2-3 weeks
Expenses Required	$ (signage, rope, themed decor, jail backdrop)
Volunteers Needed	2-5 (promotion, donation tracking, supervising the reward period)
Ideal For	Elementary and middle schools, spirit weeks, high-energy donation drives, behavior incentive events

Set a donation goal for your students that, once reached, "locks the teacher/principal away" for a day/hour and gives the students a free day/period.

Parents Night Out

Ease of Implementation	Moderate - needs childcare space and supervisors/babysitters
Time to Implement	3-4 weeks
Expenses Required	$$ (snacks, activities, babysitter fees if not volunteer-based)
Volunteers Needed	5-8 to supervise children
Ideal For	Schools with many young families

A classic event, the parents night out is sure to garner a lot of participation for your younger participants, especially if some cool and fun high schoolers are in charge.

Make sure to have the attendees register ahead of time, and for the price of registration, the attendees can have all the pizza, games, and fun they can handle. Include a movie at the end and the parents will be excited to collect their sleepy children at the end of the night.