The 40+ Best High School Fundraising Ideas

30+ Best High School Fundraising Ideas

There are endless fundraising options for high school students and classes. Be creative and ask students for their input and ideas when planning a high school fundraiser. They may provide some out-of-the-box, creative thinking and suggest more relevant fundraisers to the target audience. (Besides, they like it when you ask for their input.) Here are over 30 of the best fundraisers for high schools to get you started.

1. School Walkathons – Hosting a School Walk-a-thon or Fun Run is a healthy alternative to selling cookie dough or chocolate bars and encourages teamwork, health, and wellness. Make it work with our donor-friendly crowdfunding software. Students create personal fundraising pages and solicit donations online. Some schools add an obstacle course or endurance event for high school students. If your students are into skating or biking, consider making it a move-a-thon to bring the fun.
2. Color Run Fundraisers – Color Run fundraisers have taken off for high school students and groups. The planning is similar to a Fun Run, but you add colored paint or powder to increase the fun.
3. Service Projects – Hosting a School Serve-a-thon is a peer-to-peer variation where students give back to the community by selecting a community service project to complete. Donations are made via your peer-to-peer website to support the project and student efforts. Make the service theme relevant to the sports team, music/art group, or special-interest club completing the project. Consider teaming up with a local nonprofit organization to get the job done.
4. Polar Plunges – Polar Plunges are popular winter events in which fundraisers jump into a freezing lake or even the ocean to raise money for your school. Be sure each fundraiser personalizes their fundraising page to ensure fundraising success.
5. Farm to Table Dinners – Farm to Table dinners teach students and guests about environmental practices while raising money for your school. These are best hosted at a local farm or ranch, taking your diners to the source.
6. Dancing with the Stars – Have the dance or cheerleading team host a “Dancing with the Stars” event with teachers, school administrators, and coaches as the Stars.
7. Student Cooked Gala – Invite students to help a local chef cook dinner and host a themed gala event by selling tickets online. Entertainment, such as student poetry and student bands, will be included along with the gourmet dinner. Don’t forget to add a fundraising raffle or charity auction to raise more money.
8. Sales Contests – Sales contests have been around school fundraising forever. Have students sell chocolate candy bars or other products and provide incentives for top sellers to motivate and encourage competition. Sales around the holidays are always more lucrative, as everyone looks for gifts and feels the holiday spirit. Yes, you can do chocolate bars or cookie dough sales at this time, but healthy alternatives are also available now. The difference now is that students can sell products online, and you can track the sales on their personal fundraising pages.
9. Golf Tournaments – Fundraising golf tournaments can be lucrative, especially for the golf team. But even students who don’t golf can get involved by serving as caddies. As an alternative, consider a miniature golf tournament where families can participate.
10. Dress Down Days – Dress down days are fun events where students, teachers, and staff pay a small fee to dress as they wish and/or lose their uniform for a day. Teachers will love this fundraising event, too!
11. Auctions or Raffles – Encourage art students to showcase their work through a school auction or fundraising raffle. You’ll likely want to include big-ticket items alongside students’ work for a nice combination of offerings.
12. Car Washes – Car washes and high school students go hand in hand. To boost revenues, why not offer sandwiches, snacks, and drinks for sale? Ask a local business to let your school use their parking lot. Post signs on the corner of the intersection and reel in the passing cars.
13. School Dances – Friday night school dances are always popular with high school students. Charging an entry fee and selling refreshments is a great way to raise money for your high school. Students get to dance the night away, and you raise vital funds in the process.
14. Breakfast Pizza – High school fundraising can get delicious with pizza for breakfast. Yup. You heard us right. Sell pizza for breakfast and have a blast doing the rebellious thing Mom always told you not to do – eat pizza for breakfast.
15. Parking Spot Auctions – Getting a great parking spot at school is important but doesn’t always coincide with sleeping in. Auction off a parking spot close to the school in the student parking lot….and the teachers’ parking lot! The highest bidder gets the spot for a month and a sign to let everyone know whose parking spot it is. The best way to track the bidding is through auction software that tracks the gift amounts, donors, and items they are bidding on.
16. Yard Sales – Gather up all of your unwanted goods and have a school-wide yard sale. Use the school parking lot or the gymnasium to turn someone’s unwanted goods into treasure for someone else. All proceeds go towards the school or sponsoring club. Learn how to run a yard sale fundraiser.
17. Teacher Dunk Tank – There’s always that one teacher you wish you could dunk for giving you that D. Now’s your chance. Ask a local carnival vendor to donate a dunk tank for an afternoon and have students step up and pay for the chance to dunk a teacher.
18. Bottle and Can Drives (in states with deposits) – This is a great high school fundraiser, as it serves the community while raising money for your school. If your state has a deposit on cans and bottles, collect them over a weekend and return them to claim the money. All of those nickels and dimes add up fast.
19. School Carnivals – Whether indoors or outdoors, a carnival is always a fun opportunity for school fundraising. Make it as simple or elaborate as you want, but have fun! Be sure to include games for all ages so that younger siblings can join the fun.
20. Create a Unique Peer-to-peer Event – Bike-a-thons, Walks and Fun Runs, read-a-thons, or service projects can all be great high school fundraising ideas. But what about a hit-a-thon for the baseball team or a dance-a-thon for the cheerleading squad? School crowdfunding linked to any a-thon is a great way to raise funds. Here’s how it works: Students register online and create a personal fundraising page. They then ask their family and friends to make pledges and donations for their participation in the crowdfunding event – via social media or email. With our crowdfunding software, participation and financial support can be tracked and monitored for success, and top fundraisers are rewarded with prizes.
21. Haunted Houses – let’s get spooky! Turn the happy halls into hallowed halls this Halloween. Create a haunted house within your school and charge admission to gain a fright. Those admission fees add up devilishly fast.
22. Pancake Breakfasts – Get cooking to raise money for your school with a gourmet pancake breakfast fundraiser. Put the students to work in the kitchen and serve Moms and Dads at a pancake breakfast. Include a pancake bar with berries, fruit, chocolate chips, granola, nuts, whipped cream, maple syrup, and other toppings.
23. Dine Out Nights – Many restaurants will partner with a school and donate a percentage of one evening’s sales to the school, especially if you agree on a special menu and advertise the restaurant on your school’s website. Gather your friends and family and head out to dinner for a good cause.
24. School Spirit Gear Sales – Set up an eCommerce store to sell the latest gear that supports the school while increasing high school spirit. Ensure that profits above the cost of the items can be donated to support the work of the team or the school itself. Learn how to set up your own school spirit wear store here.
25. Teachers vs. Students Game – Can the teachers beat students at a game of pickup basketball? Can the students beat the teachers in a game of volleyball? Host a teachers vs. students game with any sport and charge a small fee for spectators to take in the action. May the best team win.
26. Fill the Bucket – Friday night or Saturday afternoon football games are an excellent opportunity to raise school spirit and bring some game into the realm of school fundraising. During timeouts and half-time at school games, pass a bucket around the stands and ask for donations to support the school. Have fun with it and play music, or create a matching gift challenge. The more fun and interactive you make it, the more money you will raise.
27. Flower Grams – For fundraising around Valentine’s Day, have the Student Council or other leaders deliver flowers and ‘love grams’ to other students. Have a secret crush? Pay a small fee to have a note and flower delivered to your crush in their homeroom on the morning of Valentine’s Day. It’s a great way to raise funds and heart rates.
28. Talent Shows – Holding your school’s version of “America’s Got Talent” is a great high school fundraiser. Put on a talent show that charges guests to catch the action in the audience. Award prizes to the top-performing participants. It’s a great way to highlight the students’ talents and raise money for the arts in your school.
29. Homecoming Float Fee – Turn the high school homecoming parade into a force for good by charging a nominal fee for each float’s participation. Even $5 per car can greatly impact your fundraising barometer.
30. Tape a Teacher to the Wall – Many popular teachers or principals are willing to be duct-taped to a wall if a certain amount of money is raised. Collect donations for the campaign and watch your donation thermometer rise with this entertaining activity. Make a competition between grades or groups to see who can raise the most money.

Important Factors for High School Fundraising Campaigns

High school fundraising initiatives tend to be very successful; here’s why. When it comes to high school fundraising, students have a new awakening. Elementary school kids can be introduced to fundraising ideas and embrace them with energy and eagerness to try new things. Still, their parents’ enthusiasm to get involved makes fundraising happen, but not so with high school fundraising.

When students reach high school, fundraising is a whole new game. Students have passions for sports or arts programs in which they are involved. They join clubs with others sharing common interests and begin to develop a strong belief system. They are eager to make a difference and support a cause and, therefore, are more likely to embrace a fundraising initiative that supports their passions and beliefs. High school students also benefit from the organizational and social skills they learn through fundraising efforts. Young adults no longer need their parents to actively help with the fundraiser, although parental encouragement is important to keep them positive and working hard to accomplish goals. Consider these factors when selecting a fundraising campaign for your high school.

1. Time is of the essence.
   High school students are busy with homework, sports, social engagement with friends, or all of the above. Making your high school fundraising activity easy for students to participate in without consuming too much time will make it more appealing. This is one reason online fundraising has become so popular.
2. High school students love technology.
   When students aren’t at after-school practice or running around with friends, chances are they are checking email, downloading iTunes, or updating their Facebook page. This is often when they are most attentive and happy. DoJiggy peer-to-peer fundraising software tools allow students to personalize their page, upload photos or videos, set goals, and track their success against other students, making it a fun, interactive, and competitive environment. Cool!
3. There are valuable skills and lessons to be learned.
   A great benefit of high school fundraising is the age of the students; you are no longer dealing with children. You are dealing with young adults who have ideas, can lead and inspire their peers, and are looking for an opportunity to test their abilities. Put the planning in their hands! What a great way for students to work together as a team, to help them learn organizational and management skills, manage budgets and logistics, and establish goals and plans to accomplish them. These are all valuable lessons they can take to college and their professional lives. Support and encourage their abilities to take the reins, and make organizing the fundraiser part of the fun.