School fundraising ideas

Charge an entrance fee for a special family breakfast with a beloved children’s character like Elmo! Check-in attendees and accept in-person donations with Tap to Pay as guests arrive, ask volunteers to whip up scrambled eggs and pancakes, and arrange a corner of the room for family photos and selfies.

Charge a participation fee and challenge teams to solve puzzles and clues to "escape” from various spaces in this exciting, community-building fundraising event.

Buy wholesale cookie dough for volunteers to sell during peak cookie-baking season. To gamify your efforts, use peer-to-peer fundraising so participants can compete to see who sold the most!

Partner with a local photographer and charge a fee for photo packages with themed backdrops or props. Create custom tickets with time slots for families to sign up to keep the day moving smoothly.

Invite students to post up outside local businesses and ask patrons for donations. Donors receive “tags” (stickers) when they give. Offer in-person payments using Venmo or scan-to-donate!

Create a race course and encourage family and friends to sponsor your little big-wheel racers by making a donation on their behalf on your fundraising page.

Turn kids’ finger paintings and drawings into custom calendars—or transform them into keepsakes like photo books, mugs, or t-shirts. Sell the merch using a fun, eye-catching auction or fundraising page.

Create a special awareness campaign and fundraiser that highlights the matching donation programs that many companies offer.

Feature matching gifts on your fundraising page and encourage corporate staffers to explore employer matching via Double the Donation.

Invite each person to contribute a dish and invite at least two people to join your dinner. To keep everything organized, customize your donation form so participants can note what dish they’re bringing when they RSVP—and make a contribution to your campaign.

Sell tickets to an all-but-traditional talent show where people make a fool of themselves for a good cause. Offer seamless event ticketing, sell food and drinks, and let the laughs begin!

Partner with a local florist to set up a stall where volunteers make, wrap, and sell flower bouquets for Mother's Day, Easter, or any other spring celebration.

Create a fundraising page with custom donation amounts featuring a photo of each kind of bouquet and the number available so donors can reserve bouquets online or purchase in person.

Host a fashion show that showcases talented local designers, fashion students, or both! Make it inclusive and invite people of all sizes and abilities to be your models.

At this fundraising event, you can bring in donations by charging entrance fees, selling food and drinks, and adding a silent auction.

Partner with local eateries and provide tasting kits for participants to enjoy at home for a small fee. Then, host a livestream tasting experience.

Invite teens to showcase their own short films and charge admission to audience members. In order to cast a vote for their favorite films, supporters must give a donation to the film’s/filmmaker’s team fundraising page. Watch the results roll in on the live leaderboard and offer awards for the best film winners in various categories.

Source donated paper, set up a gift wrapping station in a popular location, and charge for holiday gift-wrapping! Use scan-to-donate or Venmo to accept payments on the spot.

For a fun twist on a walk-a-thon, swap the walking shoes for a pair of rollerblades or quad skates and raise money for a good cause.

Leading up to your event, encourage your participants to create their own peer-to-peer fundraising pages, which they can personalize with their own stories and updates.

Pick an era (like the ‘90s), set the scene, charge an entrance fee, and sell themed merch, food, and drinks. To encourage even more donations during the festivities, display mobile giving options and your goal bar using live display.

Organize volunteers to take part in a day of community care in which you work together to tackle projects and tasks in exchange for donations from your community members.

Showcase every project or fundraiser you’re working on with a central giving hub. Your supporters can then see all your amazing work in one place.

Set up an epic Easter egg hunt and create a fundraising event page for families in your community to register and make a sliding-scale donation to participate.

Create an Easter Bunny photo booth and host a bake sale to bring in even more donations with scan-to-donate and Venmo donations on the day of the hunt!

Using peer-to-peer fundraising, participants compete to raise the most money for your campaign. The winner gets the first pick from a selection of gift baskets.

Set a distance and have your bikers pay a registration fee to join in. Then, foster some friendly competition by encouraging supporters to start or join a team, raise funds, and set off wherever they are.

Collect donated bottles of wine, disguise the labels, and invite attendees to buy them blindly to discover what they’ve won. For some extra fundraising, host a livestream wine-tasting class afterward for everyone to learn more about their picks.

Organize an afternoon of hilarious games and exciting dual-team events, such as tug-of-war, that are sure to get the competitive spirit going.

Charge entrance fees for this fundraising event, offer for-sale hydration and snacks, and don’t forget prizes for the winners!

Sell simple brown-bag lunches or have a mini bake sale at a picnic where participants can bring along their favorite stuffed animal. This fundraising event is a perfect family-friendly way to bring in needed funds.