PTA & PTO fundraising ideas

Charge a registration fee or ask for donations to join your book club, and host regular discussions via Zoom or another video conferencing platform.

Be sure to set up recurring donations as a simple way to collect membership fees for ongoing gatherings.

If you don’t have corn maze capabilities, find a large outdoor space where you can build a maze from hay bales!

Charge an entrance fee to walk the maze, and make transactions easy with scan-to-donate and Tap to Pay options.

Highlight the power, strength, and talent of women in your community today and throughout history with a special fundraising event.

Whether it’s in-person, virtual, or hybrid, raise more and stress less with easy online registration, mobile app check-ins, and live display

Auction off students' art projects online, in-person, or both! Add photos and descriptions for each masterpiece using easy auction software.

Challenge students to meet a fundraising goal. If they do, their teacher is sent to relax in the teachers’ lounge while students play games in the classroom. Use a custom fundraising page with a live goal bar to build excitement!

Host your very own fall-themed festival with live music, food and drink, local vendors, and carnival games.

Ask local businesses for supplies and prize donations and raise funds through refreshments, games, and stallholder fees.

Approach a local farmer’s market with a sponsorship proposal and see if they can host a special fundraising event for your cause or dedicate a certain percentage of their Saturday morning profits to your campaign. Be sure to outline all of the perks that vendors can expect from the collaboration, like free publicity.

Students make donations to buy sections of toilet paper. At the end of the fundraising period, they get to wrap their teacher with it! For a smoother process, set custom donation amounts and labels on your fundraising page or donation form.

Sell bingo cards and offer exciting prizes to keep everyone engaged all night long, either virtually or in person!

In the lead-up to your fundraising event, entice attendees with campaign updates featuring teasers of some of the prizes at stake.

Partner with a publisher or local book store and host a book sale to raise money. Sell books of all kinds or organize the event around a theme—romance novels, religious books, or children's literature—whatever will resonate with your community.

Make sure to spread the word about your sale and send reminders using free email marketing software!

Participants pay an entry fee to partake in a costumed fundraising run. Encourage runners to raise more for your cause with their own peer-to-peer fundraising pages, and award prizes for race winners, best super hero costumes, and most donations!

Showcase dishes and traditions from around the globe and celebrate the diversity of your community with a multicultural fair fundraiser. Sell tickets and set up food, drinks, and gift booths for attendees to enjoy.

This fundraising event can be a fun gathering for parents, or you can make it an opportunity for grownups to drop off their kids for a few hours in exchange for a donation to your cause! Charge an hourly rate or a flat “entrance fee” and give caregivers some priceless peace and quiet.

Secure a sponsorship from a local museum and invite families and community members to pay a donation to enjoy a crowd-free evening of fun.

Challenge participants to create a dance and post their video to social media. Each person must tag someone and donate once they’ve completed the challenge.

For easy and simple sharing, create a custom donation form that’s optimized for mobile!

Take inspiration from the TV show “Chopped” and challenge teams to a culinary showdown!

You can get even more spectators in on the fun by livestreaming the event and asking for donations throughout the program.

Multiply your reach with a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign in which individuals reach out to their own networks of family, friends, and coworkers to solicit donations for your cause.

Create teams to add some fun competition into the mix—and bring in more donations!

Charge a small entrance fee for a dropoff pancake breakfast just for kids, allowing parents to take some much-needed time to rest and relax.

Make the whole process even more convenient for parents with easy online ticketing and scan-to-donate options at the door.

Ask your green-thumbed community members to grow their best seedlings and plants for a future plant sale to raise much-needed funds. Or, send a sponsorship proposal to your favorite plant nursery with the goal of signing them as your event sponsor or partner.

Whether you’re offering branded merch, boxed lunches, or other appealing products, incentivize even more donations for your cause by pledging to give away one “reward” item for each one purchased. (For example, for every pair of cozy socks sold, you’ll donate a pair to a local shelter.)

Showcase this cycle of generosity on your donation forms using custom labels and donation amounts to make it clear you’ll be making an in-kind donation for every monetary donation received.

Give your supporters the opportunity to “buy” a brick for your new construction project that will have their name or dedication engraved on it for all to see.

Use custom fields on your donation form to capture essential details for donors’ bricks—make sure to provide a word count so they don’t go over!

Recruit local experts, professors, speakers, and community leaders to donate their time and expertise for a series of talks on a certain theme.

Sell tickets to in-person attendees and offer a livestreaming option to increase donations and reach interested supporters from anywhere.

Partner with local businesses to source items for a themed auction with a variety of attractive packages, exciting products, and alluring getaways.

Asking for items to sell at your auction can feel daunting at first, so use this silent auction donation request guide to help you build relationships and attract amazing donations.

Invite bakers to submit their best pies for consideration as the dessert offering at your next potluck dinner.

Community members can make small donations as their “votes” for their favorite pies, and you can display the leaderboard to keep the competitive spirit up and momentum moving toward your fundraising goal throughout the event.

Set up a toy drive to allow your community members to turn their generosity into thoughtful gifts for kids over the holiday season. Ask for toy and cash donations, then distribute toys to those most in need and use funds to buy extra gifts.

Let everyone know when, where, and what to donate with the help of email marketing software.