PTA and PTO fundraisers help schools pay for technology and facility upgrades, field trips, STEM and enrichment programs, student scholarships, and other student-focused needs. But with so many fundraising options available, choosing the right fundraiser for your school can be a challenge.
Your group needs fun, lucrative PTO fundraising ideas that get families excited and help you meet your goals. The best PTA or PTO fundraiser fits your students, families, volunteers, budget, and fundraising goals.
In this guide, we’ll share PTA and PTO fundraising ideas for schools of all sizes, along with practical tips for choosing, planning, and promoting a successful fundraiser.
What We’ll Cover
- How to choose a PTA or PTO fundraiser
- Top 12+ PTO and PTA fundraising ideas
- Best online and virtual PTO fundraising ideas
- Our fundraising platform works for schools and PTOs
- How to make your PTA or PTO fundraiser more successful
- Building a sense of community is key to PTO and PTA groups
- Is there a difference between PTO and PTA groups and fundraising strategies?
- More PTA and school fundraising resources
- FAQ’s on PTA and PTO fundraising ideas
How to choose a PTA or PTO fundraiser
Not every fundraiser is a good fit for every school. Before choosing a PTO fundraising campaign, consider your students’ ages and interests, fundraising goals, available resources, and how much time and effort your teachers and volunteers can realistically commit. Asking a few key questions with your committee can help your PTA or PTO choose the best fundraisers for your school and community.
Who will participate?
Consider your students’ ages and what they are interested in doing. A fundraiser that gets elementary school students excited may not appeal to middle or high school students. Look for activities that are engaging and give students a meaningful role in the campaign.
What are your PTO’s fundraising goals?
Start with a clear overall fundraising goal and determine what the money raised will fund. Whether you’re raising money for classroom supplies, technology upgrades, field trips, playground improvements, or scholarships and special programs, knowing how much you need to raise will help you choose an appropriate fundraising strategy.
What is your fundraising budget?
Consider how much your PTA or PTO can spend upfront and whether you have funds available to cover those costs. Compare the potential expenses, including products, event supplies, marketing, and other fees, with the amount you expect to raise. Low-cost or free fundraisers are a good choice when your organization has limited up-front resources.
What resources do you have?
Beyond funding, consider the people and community connections you can depend on. How many parents are active PTO volunteers? Do you have or can you build relationships with local businesses that could provide sponsorships or in-kind donations? Consider any other resources that can help make the fundraiser a success.
What has worked in the past?
Review previous PTA and PTO fundraisers before starting something new. Which campaigns generated the most participation and revenue over the last few years? Which ones were difficult to organize or didn’t get much support? If a Fun Run worked well last year, you can draw on that success to make it even bigger this year.
What are you teaching your students?
Consider whether your fundraiser reinforces the values and skills you want students to develop. Fundraisers can teach students about teamwork, goal-setting, responsibility, and community involvement. Choose activities that give students an opportunity to participate rather than simply asking adults to do all the work.
Top 12+ PTO and PTA fundraising ideas
Many PTAs and schools stick to the old standards – like candy bar sales and Box Tops 4 Education campaigns. While these campaigns can be lucrative, creative school and PTA fundraising ideas set your fundraising team apart and help you raise more. That’s why we’ve created a page packed with the best fundraisers for schools to help your PTO start planning a successful fundraiser.
Here are our favorite fundraising ideas that work great for PTAs and schools.
School walk-a-thons or fun runs
Fun Runs are one of the most common and successful PTO fundraising events we see. Kids love to run, and parents and supporters like that this is a healthy, active fundraiser. Learn to organize a school walk-a-thon or Fun Run.
Color run fundraisers
Make a Fun Run even more fun for kids with a walkathon theme, such as a Color Run or Bubble Run fundraiser. Color runs are a great way to get middle and high school students excited about the PTO fundraiser.
Reading fundraisers
Reading challenges or read-a-thons promote literacy and a love of reading in children. Top fundraisers can receive prizes or gift certificates from a local bookstore as an incentive for participating.
Serve-a-thons
Serve-a-thons are community service events that get students involved in the community while benefiting your PTO. Plan an event that classrooms can complete in one day and ask for donations to support it. Projects can include painting, helping at a homeless shelter, or reading to the elderly.
Just Ask Campaigns
Just Ask Campaigns, using recurring donations, are a great way to raise money easily. With these programs, the PTO asks parents for a monthly donation to support a cause, and using easy donation software is key to your success.
School Carnivals
School carnivals with outdoor games, bounce houses, refreshments, and live music are always a family hit for elementary PTO groups. These events build community and are a great way to recruit new parents and PTO members.
Car Washes
Car washes are a classic fundraising idea that everyone can participate in and enjoy. Some groups add a dog-washing area at the same time. Have the kids prepare sandwiches, offer drinks, and include a bake sale or raffle to raise more money.
Obstacle courses
Older kids love obstacle courses. With help from the school’s Physical Education teacher and willing parents, your group can create an obstacle course fundraiser right in your school’s backyard.
Fundraising raffles
Fundraising raffles make great virtual fundraising campaigns for PTOs. With our online raffle platform, you can use peer-to-peer fundraising features to sell raffle tickets. This means you can create a competition for the top fundraising students and classes.
Dance-a-thons
Try hosting a dance party or dance-a-thon for your middle school PTO. Again, creating a theme and encouraging students and teachers to dress up will add to the fun. Decorate the gym and bring on the DJ! Students raise money online to participate.
Fundraising sales
Ask students to sell frozen pizzas, spirit wear, coffee, treats, and virtually anything families need. Our peer-to-peer stores allow PTOs to track fundraising sales by student or classroom and award prizes to top sellers.
Bike-a-thons
Have the kids bring their bikes and zoom around having fun with a bike-a-thon fundraiser. Little kids can bring tricycles for a trike-a-thon. Family members will love to support the kids with donations for their biking efforts.
Best online and virtual PTO fundraising ideas
Virtual fundraisers give PTOs and schools a flexible way to engage students and families without requiring everyone to gather in the same place. These fundraisers can be especially useful for reaching busy parents and extended family who live outside the community.
Here are some of the best virtual fundraising ideas for PTO and PTA groups to consider.
- Virtual walkathons and fun runs – Virtual walkathons are great fundraisers for schools that can raise a lot of money with few upfront costs. With parental involvement, these are fun and easy to organize.
- Virtual happy hours and performances – Get your livestream ready! Virtual performances work well and can highlight school music groups, marching bands, and choirs.
- Online product sales with P2P pages – Virtual merchandise sales are a no-brainer for no/low contact fundraising. Our simple stores make it easy to set up and start selling in no time.
- Fundraising raffles – Online raffles are the perfect way to raise money for schools. You can even incorporate peer-to-peer fundraising in raffles, where students sell tickets through a personal fundraising page.
- Virtual bikeathons – You can run bikeathon fundraisers virtually with a few tweaks. Students create a fundraising page and commit to biking in support of the school.
- Virtual reading challenges – Readathons are a great way to keep kids busy while raising money for school programs. All you need to do is set up the Athon website, where students can track the number of books or pages read. Donors contribute based on reading results, and top fundraisers are highlighted.
- Charity auctions – All you need are some great auction items and our software. Simply create your fundraising auction website and add unlimited auction categories and items. Set the time for online bidding to start and begin advertising your auction. Bids are made online and via text to bid.
- Food delivery campaigns – Create and sell online food packages with a theme – for example, Italian Night or Mexican Night. Have PTO members and supporters volunteer to deliver the packages.
- Virtual watch parties – Select an educational movie or documentary to share with students. Supporters can register to watch the movie and buy popcorn or other movie treats. Launch the watch party with a live-streamed presentation, letting students know what to look for and what to discuss after the film.
Our fundraising platform works for schools and PTOs
Our fundraising platform has the tools your group needs – for free! Whether you are planning a Fun Run, fundraising raffle, online product sales, fundraising auction, or a virtual movie watch party, we can do it with you.
- A fundraising home page that links to all your school fundraising campaigns and events
- A free Live Stream platform for virtual and hybrid fundraising events
- Text to Donate (US organizations and phones only)
- Ability to incorporate peer-to-peer fundraising with personal and team fundraising pages into more campaign types, such as online sales campaigns and raffles
- Recurring donations integrated into the P2P and crowdfunding model
- Donor perks can be given to crowdfunding donors at pre-defined levels (ie, donate $100 and get a free t-shirt)
- Mobile giving support, like secure payments via digital wallets (Apple Pay and Google Pay)
DoJiggy’s fundraising platform makes planning and managing PTO events simple and effective
How to make your PTA or PTO fundraiser more successful
Creating an annual fundraising plan is a great way to start the school year. Parents, teachers, and administrators should work together to determine goals, set budgets, manage timelines, and organize the details of PTO fundraising campaigns.
When selecting a date, consider other school activities, holidays, vacations, and competing campaigns. Don’t try to fit too much into the calendar year. The Back to School season and final month of the year are the most popular times for PTO fundraising campaigns.
Building a sense of community is key to PTO and PTA groups
People volunteer for many reasons, including meeting new people and being part of a community.
A morning coffee meeting is a great way to start the PTA fundraising year, as it brings parents together in a relaxed atmosphere. After dropping children off at school, parents can gather for coffee and a selection of artisan pastries. Have PTO leaders or the principal discuss the importance of helping the school and community through PTO fundraising. Regular follow-up meetings in the evenings allow those who cannot attend the first meeting to contribute and get involved.
Community involvement
While most PTO fundraisers aim to raise funds for the school, fundraisers for a local nonprofit organization or cause are also a great way to get your school community working together. Your school can make a difference in your community while cementing a great team for future PTA fundraising. Community work teaches youth to be concerned citizens when parents and teachers encourage them to consider others’ struggles and feel inspired to act.
Is there a difference between PTO and PTA groups and fundraising strategies?
The mission of PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) and PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization) groups is to connect home and school by expanding opportunities for parents to be involved in their school community. These parent groups can also be called Parent Advisory Councils (PACs), especially in Canada.
School PTA and PTO organizations both aim to enrich and support the lives of children, parents, and educators. The difference between PTO and PTA groups depends on whether the group is affiliated with the National PTA or is independent (PTO). Nearly 75% of parent groups are independent PTOs. Local groups that choose to join the PTA must pay dues and follow state and national group rules. In return, they receive member benefits and a voice in the larger organization’s operations. PTO is a more general term and refers to groups independent of the National PTA. These groups typically focus on what’s happening within their school or school district.
School fundraising is a primary focus for these groups, though the California State PTA standards and others advise using the 3-to-1 Rule. That is, for every fundraiser, at least three non-fundraising programs should aim to help children or advocate for school improvements.
PTOs and PTAs differ little in fundraising strategies. Both host similar fundraising events and provide resources, communication, and encouragement for school and community involvement. PTO and PTA organizations support and speak on behalf of children and youth in their schools and before government agencies and other organizations that make decisions affecting children.
More PTA and school fundraising resources
Our website offers more great school fundraising resources and ideas to boost your school’s PTO fundraising efforts. Whether you are a parent looking for elementary school fundraisers or high school fundraising ideas, a sports coach, or an art teacher, we have compiled free resources to support lucrative school fundraising campaigns.
We developed our list of school fundraising ideas and resources through hands-on experience helping hundreds of schools across the US and Canada raise money through online fundraising.
If your school is looking for fundraisers that work, check out our school fundraising resources and fundraising software today.
FAQ’s on PTA and PTO fundraising ideas
Popular elementary school fundraisers include walkathons, fun runs, raffles, auctions, bake sales, school events, merchandise sales, and online fundraising campaigns. The best fundraiser depends on several factors such as your goals, budget, and available resources.
Schools can raise money through student fundraisers, family events, donations, community sponsorships, peer-to-peer fundraising, auctions, and raffles.
Easy options include walkathons, restaurant fundraisers, spirit wear sales, donation drives, raffles, and online fundraising campaigns.
Kid-friendly ideas include fun runs, walkathons, read-a-thons, talent shows, art sales, school challenges, and sponsored activities.
Parents can volunteer at fundraising events, promote campaigns, help students with personal fundraising pages, contact local businesses, and encourage friends and family to donate.
Teachers can organize classroom challenges, encourage student participation, promote fundraising campaigns to their network, and help create fun incentives for reaching classroom goals.
Contact local businesses and community organizations where you already have a connection, asking for financial sponsorships or donated products and services. Offer recognition through event signage, social media, and school communications.
Schools can use many of these same PTO fundraising ideas – Fun Runs, community sponsorships, raffles, auctions, product sales, and student fundraising campaigns to help cover field trip costs.
Use event themes, classroom competitions, fundraising challenges, prizes, and school-wide events to keep students and families engaged in fundraising.
Related Resources
