FUNDRAISING IDEAS!
Fundraising is an important aspect of any service organization. This below pdf will provide you with the purpose for fundraising, guidelines, tips for successful fundraising, the do’s and don’ts, tips on how to develop a budget, and a guide to charitable giving.
Featured Fundraiser: TO BE ANNOUNCED IN AUGUST!
The following list of service, social, and fundraising projects has been generated from a variety of sources. The listed projects are general suggestions, which can be adapted in a way that best suits your club. Use this list of ideas when planning your year and adopting the nine recommended projects. Remember, all projects need good planning, enthusiasm, and club support.
Activity Board
Buy an activity board for the school. One member can be assigned to maintain it throughout the week, announcing all school activities and sports events. Sell advertising on a weekly basis, with all revenue to be used to pay for the board.
Aluminum Cans
Collect cans and flatten them in a race to see who can collect the most for the recycling center. The money from the center can be used to treat contest winners to prizes and to purchase recycling containers for the school. Provide recycling containers at the cafeteria exits so students can throw discard aluminum cans. Once a month, take the cans to the recycling center. Store the cans in a trailer or bin outside the school.
Bake-Off
Sponsor a bake-off, perhaps between the high school athletic teams, clubs, and faculty. This could become a fund-raiser where your club could charge an entry fee. After the competition, sell the baked goods during a school lunch hour or after school.
Bake Sale
Key Club members bake food and arrange to sell treats at school or at local events. This project is most successful when planned for the holidays.
Barbecue Dinner
This is an especially good project to do during the early fall. Food usually can be secured wholesale. This project would be ideal before a school sporting event. Sell tickets prior to the dinner, and make sure you promote the event.
Birthday Kits
At the beginning of the school year, send a direct mail order to students’ parents, selling "birthday kits." The Key Club can deliver birthday cakes, donuts, cookies, balloons, or something similar to students celebrating birthdays. If the club does a one-time sale, it alleviates an on going problem of accurate ordering. This project would require strong committee organization.
Buttons
During sporting events, sell buttons with pictures of athletes in uniform.
Candy and Nut Sales
Caramels, chewing gum, hard candy, nuts, chocolate, and other treats are excellent sale items any time, but especially during the holiday season.
Car Smash
An old car usually will be donated to a club by a service station or a junk yard (or ask members of your sponsoring Kiwanis club). After painting the name of a rival school on the car and removing the glass, the club can charge a fee for each swing at the car with a sledgehammer. Publicity and active support of the principal are extremely important.
Car Washes
Shopping centers or gas stations usually will provide a place for this sure profit maker. Sell tickets in advance, and promote the event heavily.
Carnival Night
A hall or auditorium can be decorated to suit the theme of the carnival. You can offer a range of activities, such as a cakewalk and weight guessing. Sell refreshments and provide entertainment too.
Chili Cook-Off
These are very popular. Whether your club just participates by being an entry in a cook-off or actually organizes a contest, you can raise funds. Involve your Kiwanis club in the planning of this type of event. These can be fun but will require a lot of work and planning.
Holiday Christmas Trees
The sale of Christmas trees involves a good deal of money and a lot of planning. It is best when done with the help of your sponsoring Kiwanis club.
Coat Checks
Have members of the club offer this service at high school functions. This project offers 100 percent profit, though one can’t expect a huge amount of money from any one function. Keep costs reasonable.
Concession Stands
Many clubs operate concession stands for parades, fairs, festivals, athletic events, plays, or other school functions. This activity can be very lucrative and should be investigated as a possible project. You may wish to divide your proceeds with the sponsor to demonstrate your support and appreciation for allowing you to be a part of its event.
Daffodils
Purchase daffodils from the American Cancer Society in March, and then give them to teachers. Contact the society to see if your club could "sell" the daffodils.
Dances
Your Key Club can sponsor a dance after a sporting event. This is a good moneymaker if it’s promoted well.
Date-Match
During Valentine’s Day week, pass out compatibility surveys. Then sell the lists of compatible students for a profit.
Desk Blotters
Many clubs make a considerable amount of money from this project. Ads are sold to local merchants, the school store, or even school organizations wishing to advertise. The ads are printed on a standard-size blotter, along with schedules of football and basketball games, a calendar for the year, class officers, and anything else you want. Ads should cover the cost plus profit, and blotters can be sold at a minimum cost or simply distributed to the students.
Donate Time to PTA
Help parent/teacher associations with projects, baby-sitting, or fund-raising.
Donuts and Pizza
Through arrangements with donut shops and pizzerias, food can be brought in at a relatively low cost when bought in large numbers. Best results have been achieved by selling donuts before classes or during lunch. Pizzas sell well at evening event that draw large crowds.
Holiday Easter Bunnies
Selling chocolate bunnies at Easter time can be a successful project. Contact a local vendor. Selling with a pre-order, pre-pay basis can cut down on surplus bunnies.
Face Painting
Set up a face-painting booth at games, carnivals, etc.
Finals Survival Kits
"Sell" final exam survival kits for students by advertising through student publications, radio, and by direct mail, if possible. Target parents. The kits can include a can of pop, candy bar, pens/pencils, gum, jokes, inspirational messages, coupons, etc. Deliver these in school via homeroom, lunch periods, or study halls.
Flea Market
Collect "junk" from members, people in school, and Kiwanians, and sell them at a flea market.
Florida Fling
Sponsor a Florida Fling -- a dance with a Sunshine State theme. Write to cities in Florida and travel agencies to get posters to decorate the gymnasium. When students buy tickets to this event, they receive a shirt with the Florida Fling logo on it. Participants come to the dance ready for the beach. Similar themes include Caribbean Cruise, Mexican Fiesta, and Hawaiian Luau.
Hairy Leg Contest
Advertise the contest well ahead of time. Contestants’ legs are photographed, and the pictures are fastened to glass jars. One vote costs a quarter, and the money is placed right in the jar. The Key Club can arrange for prizes to be donated by local merchants to ALL entries.
Halloween Party
Sponsor a community Halloween arty for kids in a local gymnasium. Urge parents to allow the kids to attend the party, and provide an entertaining evening for everyone, donating your collections to a UNICEF fund.
Haunted House
Work with a mall to see if it has an open room. Choose a theme. Work with your sponsoring Kiwanis club to secure materials, assistance in building, and working the event. This makes a great fund-raiser around Halloween.
Holiday Bazaar
A holiday bazaar open to the public is a great fund-raiser. Secure a location, sell spaces -- including concessions area --, arrange for set-up and take down helpers, decorations, and a radio announcement. Local craftsmen count on the same date each year, which seems to ensure a successful turnout. This project has minimal costs to Key Club and is financially beneficial.
Homecoming Flowers
Mums for football games or homecoming weekends usually can be acquired for about $3.00 each and sold for $3.50 or more. Contact a florist.
Jukebox
Work with your school administration on the plan of buying a jukebox for the cafeteria. Not only does this bring in money, but it also provides students with an environment in which to enjoy lunch and socialize with friends.
Junior High Fund-raiser
A noon dance is a favorite fund-raiser. Admission to the dance is fifty cents. Work with the junior high school’s administration to organize this type of function.
Just Like the Good Old Days
Homecoming week is a great time to sponsor a community picnic. All school groups and clubs set up booths to sell food or products (such as T-shirts). The picnic is open to the entire community. It serves as a kick-off for Homecoming, as well as a popular fund-raiser.
Key Club/Faculty Sporting Events
Determine an event that would be most popular in your school’s community. Ask the most popular teachers to participate, sell tickets, promote the event heavily, and enjoy your success!
Kiss a Senior Good-bye
Take pre-orders and pre-payments for bags of chocolate kisses and messages for graduating seniors. These can be advertised and sold during lunch periods and before and after school. Parents enjoy sending these to their graduates, so find a way to advertise to them as well.
Lights, Camera, Good-bye
Give each senior 45 seconds in front of a video camera to say farewell. The tape can include shots of the prom and graduation. Students can have their one copy if they supply a blank tape. This is virtually a cost-free fund-raiser.
Lock-In
Have an over-nighter at the local YMCA. Watch movies, go swimming, have fun. This event takes a great deal of planning and adult support, so make sure you’re organized.
Lost and Found Auction
Conduct an auction with the school’s large number of lost and found articles. In most cases fantastic deals are available to students.
May Baskets
Accept pre-orders/pre-payment for delivery (in-school or to area elementary and junior high schools) on May Day. Decorate jumbo drinking cups and fill them with candy (buy it in bulk or from a vendor), balloons, coupons, gum. Try to get as much of the materials donated as possible.
Miracle Mile of Quarters
This is an easy project to do on a daily basis in a high school setting or for a district project/district convention. Determine the charity or receiver of funds and advertise this well. Make "paper quarters," and for every $.25 donated, post a paper quarter, perhaps by beginning in the lunchroom or corridor. Determine a goal and end date.
Movie Parties
Acquire recent, full-length motion pictures for showing at the high schools. Charge prices for admission and arrange the setting for the showing, either a standard auditorium or a more informal venue. Consult your Yellow Pages for motion picture distributors.
Music Week
Take a week to celebrate different musical eras. One day could be music from the 50s, the next day could celebrate music from the 1800s. Students dress according to that day’s era. At the end of the week, transform the school’s tennis courts into a little Hawaii. Games (pie throwing, dunking machine, wheel of fortune) abound, flower leis are distributed, and Hawaiian music is that day’s theme.
Old Book and CDs Sale
Collect old books and CDs to be sold. Limit the hours of the sale, and try to sell out during the allotted time. Many clubs run a regular used bookstore and exchange center for their school.
Pancake Breakfast
A pancake breakfast can be a high profit fund-raiser. It also can be fun, easy to organize, and an excellent joint Key Club-Kiwanis project. Don’t overlook the sale of placemat advertising. The income derived from ad sales often exceeds the breakfast receipts.
Parking Cars
Park cars for school events. Check with your school’s administration on how to proceed with this project.
Peanut Day
Involve all club members by accepting donations on street corners in exchange for a bag of peanuts. Some clubs attach small handbills to the bag, explaining the purpose of the club and how the money will be used. For complete information on organizing such an event, contact: Kiwanis Peanut Day Inc., 900 Jorie Blvd., Oak Brook, IL 60521.
Powder Puff Football
The girls put on uniforms and play a football game, after first modifying the rules. The boys lead the cheers! The novelty of this idea, if well publicized, will attract a large crowd. Money comes from gate receipts and refreshment sales. This is an ideal homecoming week activity.
Prom Flowers
Take orders for prom corsages and boutonnieres. Work with a florist for a profitable situation.
Rummage Sale
This is a very popular sale of used odds and ends. The collection of goods can be made door-to-door or solicited through ads.
Save or Shave
Choose a willing faculty member, who is ready to donate his beard for a fund-raiser. Students then vote with money whether the beard should be saved or shaved. It is hopefully shaved at a school assembly.