15 September Fundraising Ideas
Updated November 2025
Here's a list of 15 fundraising ideas that are great for September. School is in session and we're all falling for the autumn season! From hosting an apple-picking day or a Parents' Night out, these ideas are perfect for PTAs and PTOs hoping to achieve big goals this year.Are you looking for more fundraising ideas? Check out our seasonal fundraising articles for ideas no matter the time of year!
Table of Contents
Easy to Implement
Moderate to Implement
- Apple Picking
- Grandparents Day
- Parents' Night Out
- Bike/Trike Rodeo
- Craft Fair
- Wine Tasting
- Lunch and Learn
- Fall Fashion Show
- Food Trucks
- Farmers Market
Run Your School's September Fundraisers with FutureFund
Our platform comes with powerful tools that can help you fundraise for your school throughout September. These include:
- Ready-to-go campaign templates so you can sell tickets or items for different events.
- A built-in messaging system you can use to announce your fundraisers and provide details.
- Opportunity to create volunteer sign-up lists to optimize parent and community involvement.
- Powerful financial reporting tools to help you track your earnings, stay compliant, and plan future fundraisers more effectively.
Get started with FutureFund today or book a demo to see how it can work for you.
Donation Campaigns
These campaigns encourage parents and volunteers to donate directly to your school group. FutureFund makes it easy to collect money online during the campaign, but you can also include an in-person autumnal event to make your fundraiser more meaningful.
Learn how to run a donation campaign with FutureFund here.
Tip: Use FutureFund's messaging system to announce the fundraiser and include a link to the online campaign so that people can still donate even if they can't attend the event.
Lunch and Learn
| 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 |
This is a great opportunity to get students and families involved in a memory-making experience! Give everyone a chance to learn something new such as planting/harvesting fall veggies, why farmers use certain tools over others, or how pumpkins became the symbol of fall.
Donations can be accepted beforehand when they have the opportunity to sign-up for the experience or once they arrive.
Apple Picking
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - requires venue coordination, transportation |
| Time to Implement | 4-6 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$ (venue coordination, transportation, snacks optional) |
| Volunteers Needed | 5-8 (logistics and registration) |
| Ideal For | Fall events, family fun days |
Partner with a local orchard to see if they'll let you set your own pricing per pound in exchange for bringing in a large crowd to the orchard during a certain time frame.
For an extra fundraising opportunity, you can sell apple goodies during the event, like apple cider, candy apples, and apple pies. You can accept direct donations online as well by advertising to guests.
See also: 20 Fall Fundraising Ideas for Your School
Muffins with Mom
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - simple breakfast setup with minimal logistics |
| Time to Implement | 2-3 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $-$$ (muffins, juice/coffee, tableware; seek donations or sponsorships) |
| Volunteers Needed | 4-6 (setup, serving, check-in, cleanup) |
| Ideal For | Elementary schools, family engagement events, early-morning fundraisers |
Enjoy a special breakfast with everyone's #1 lady! Provide traditional breakfast items for your community and accept donations for the option of enjoying a mommy/child breakfast before heading off to class. Leave a QR code that directs users to FutureFund's platform where they can make donations of any denomination.
Trivia Night
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - customizable event |
| Time to Implement | 3-4 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$ (venue, prizes, refreshments) |
| Volunteers Needed | 6-8 (host, scoring, setup) |
| Ideal For | Parents & staff, themed evenings |
Make it themed, such as Pop Culture Trivia or Scary Movie Trivia, and collect donations to participate. Everyone loves a trivia night and you can double up on the proceeds by selling spiritwear and a lot of different snacks throughout the event.
Purchase Campaigns
Any kind of fundraiser where you sell physical items or event tickets is a purchase campaign. Add each event ticket or item for sale to your school's online store in FutureFund by creating a specific purchase campaign for it.
Learn how to run a purchase campaign here.
Tip: Always run purchase campaigns alongside physical events like craft sales, since this allows you to make sales 24/7 and lets people make purchases even if they can't attend the event.
Grandparents' Day
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - requires scheduling, breakfast setup, and multi-station coordination |
| Time to Implement | 4-6 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$ (breakfast items, decorations, activity supplies, optional photo booth) |
| Volunteers Needed | 8-12 (check-in, breakfast service, classroom guides, booth operators, cleanup) |
| Ideal For | Elementary schools, family-engagement events, daytime campus activities |
Pick a day during the year to host the students' grandparents and sell tickets for the event. Set a certain timeframe, for example, from 9 AM until noon, for the students and their grandparents to come in, get some breakfast, take a tour of the student's classroom and common areas, and have an opportunity to play some games!
Craft Fair
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - requires production, promotion, and pricing |
| Time to Implement | 4-6 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$ (materials if not donated, tables/booths) |
| Volunteers Needed | 6-10 (booth helpers, sellers, setup, cleanup) |
| Ideal For | All grade levels, family friendly events, back-to-school events |
Invite the students to come learn about new crafts and make some of their old favorites! You can charge an entry fee and have the patrons exchange cash from booth to booth or sell tickets for your students to trade for the craft activities and items!
Make sure to include a few games with the learning and buying booths and you'll be in business.
Parents' Night Out
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - needs childcare space and supervision |
| Time to Implement | 3-4 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$ (snacks, activities, babysitter fees if not volunteer-based) |
| Volunteers Needed | 5-8 to supervise children |
| Ideal For | Schools with many young families |
Give the parents a break for the evening! Find some local babysitters who are willing to donate their time to babysit on location, set up a few games and a movie to keep the kids busy until it's time to head home!
Sell tickets to the event beforehand so preparation is easy and donations can be taken for the correct number of snacks and activities.
Wine Tasting
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - requires vendor coordination, transportation planning, and age-restricted oversight |
| Time to Implement | 4-8 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$-$$$ (transportation rental, dinner reservations, tasting fees; often offset by ticket sales) |
| Volunteers Needed | 3-5 (registration, coordination with vineyard, event-day check-in) |
| Ideal For | Adults-only fundraisers, community clubs, parent groups, fall or summer evening events |
Partner with a local vineyard and collect a flat fee donation from your guests. The vineyard can get a cut of the proceeds while gaining brand recognition and word-of-mouth reviews and referrals.
You could even pair this idea to coincide with the Parents' Night Out option above and really put a dent in the fundraising goals for the year.
Corn Maze
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - revenue share with farm |
| Time to Implement | 3-4 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $ (promotion; concessions optional) |
| Volunteers Needed | 2-3 (check-in, event support) |
| Ideal For | Weekend family outing, Halloween/fall festivals. |
Use this opportunity to start pulling together all of the fall staples: hay bales, corn husks, and reaching out to your local corn maze for a special event! Planting the corn maze takes months, if not years of preparation so it's ok if the Booster Club can't pull that off themselves from scratch.
See if there are any corn mazes in your community that will partner with the school for a fundraiser and gain mutual benefits from the event.
T-Shirt Sale
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - requires design selection and order coordination |
| Time to Implement | 3-4 weeks (design approval, ordering, sales window) |
| Expenses Required | $$ (shirt printing costs; typically recouped through pre-sales) |
| Volunteers Needed | 3-5 (design coordination, order management, sales booth staffing) |
| Ideal For | Spirit weeks, sports events or teams, back-to-school nights, year-round merchandise sales |
Show your school spirit by investing in some PTO/PTA-designed t-shirts to wear on game days and spirit days! Once a few designs have been chosen and ordered, the school can then hold a booth at a school sporting event to sell them and sell them through the online store 24/7.
The school can also take orders in advance by sending order forms out ahead of time and then placing the orders for what parents pre-selected and paid for upfront.
Fall Fashion Show
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - requires coordination with retailers/students |
| Time to Implement | 6-8 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$ (venue, decorations, sound system) |
| Volunteers Needed | 10-15 (setup, admissions, backstage help) |
| Ideal For | Families, students, local businesses |
This event is pretty customizable. The PTO/PTA can allow each student "model" to showcase their fall fashion best, or event organizers can pair with a local retailer or designer to come in and show their collection to the community. Pre-sell event tickets through FutureFund.
Once the show is over, reserve time for a silent auction allowing people to bid on their favorite design.
Farmers Market Veggies
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - requires vendor coordination and ticket/cash exchange system |
| Time to Implement | 4-6 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $$ (ticket printing/buying, signage, optional boot setup) |
| Volunteers Needed | 6-10 (ticket sales, vendor support, setup, prize/game booths if included) |
| Ideal For | Outdoor fundraisers, harvest-season events, community-focused schools |
There are a few different ways to make this happen. You can either have the PTO plan a school-based farmers market that people can buy tickets to OR you can partner with a local farmers market and sell tickets that can get patrons' hands on veggies and fruit of their choice.
A-Thons (Pledge Campaigns)
An "A-Thon" fundraiser is a special kind of pledge campaign you can run in FutureFund. Once you create the campaign for the event, students who sign up to participate each get a link they can use to collect donations from family and friends.
Find step-by-step instructions for successful pledge campaigns here.
Tip: The link you'll share when you create the campaign is what you'll use to sign up student participants. When students register to participate, they'll each get their own unique link that they can use to raise money from members of the school community.
Bike Rodeo-A-Thon
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - requires outdoor setup, safety planning, and parent coordination |
| Time to Implement | 3-4 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $-$$ (cones, hay bales, signage, treats like watermelon) |
| Volunteers Needed | 6-10 (course setup, safety monitors, registration, treat distribution) |
| Ideal For | Elementary schools, back-to-school events, outdoor fall or spring fundraisers |
Get your students excited to be back at school with a bike rodeo! Grab a few bales of hay and set up cones for a biking obstacle course. Provide sweet, cooling treats at the end, such as watermelon or popsicles.
Parents can pay their registration fee in advance through FutureFund's platform and students can collect pledges for completing the course.
Checkers Tournament
| Ease of Implementation | Easy - requires basic game boards and simple event flow |
| Time to Implement | 2-3 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $ (checkers sets, trophies/prizes, signage) |
| Volunteers Needed | 2-4 (registration, scorekeeping, setup/cleanup) |
| Ideal For | Indoor events, family game nights, after-school activities |
Charge an entry fee for a checkers tournament! Set up enough boards so there can be several games going at once. Accept registrants from all over the community, including both teachers and students!
Winner gets a cup, a gift card, bragging rights, or all of the above!
If you're interested in running a Checkers or Chess-A-Thon learn how to do it here.
Other Fundraising Ideas
Food Trucks Parade
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate - requires coordination with vendors and space management |
| Time to Implement | 4-6 weeks |
| Expenses Required | $ (tables, seating, signage; generally low cost as trucks provide food) |
| Volunteers Needed | 3-6 (vendor coordination, crowd flow, event support) |
| Ideal For | Summer evenings, back-to-school nights, community festivals |
Hold this as an event of its own or add food trucks to any event you have planned. The partnership provides funds for both the trucks and the school, as well as creates relationships for future events. All the PTA/PTO will need to provide is enough space for the trucks to park and some outdoor tables and seating!
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I use FutureFund's messaging system to promote my September fundraiser?
FutureFund's messaging system lets you:
- Send messages to every parent in your school community or filter your audience to reach specific groups.
- Create unique sender profiles to make sure the message is always coming from the appropriate party.
- Use customizable message templates to save time when broadcasting updates or announcements.
Should my school fundraiser be a Purchase or a Donation campaign?
Use Purchase campaigns to sell event tickets or physical items (like baked goods, merchandise, or arts and crafts).
Use Donation campaigns to collect money from community members in support of a specific goal or cause (like a trivia night).
How can I use FutureFund to track my fundraiser's success?
FutureFund gives you the ability to generate financial reports for fundraising campaigns in just a few clicks. To do this, navigate to Store and click the Reports tab near the top of your screen. Then choose Campaign Summary from the drop-down menu and click Generate Report.