PTO Mommies :)

I am a Senior Consultant with The Pampered Chef and we offer a great, easy and fun fundraiser. We can set up a catalog show fundraiser and/or a cooking show fundraiser. Contact me for details -- ____@____.com. Thanks.

My daughter's school, utilizes these routes to raise money for their school, and they do quite well with it:
http://www.boxtops4education.com/Default.aspx

There are also online type fundraising, which then does not require a lot of manpower or coordination. Try research it online.

Or, some grocery stores, will "support" certain schools, and each time a customer buys something, they "designate" to which school they want to donate. Then, that school gets a certain percentage of the sale. Lots of schools in my State, do this.

Good luck,
Susan

At my son's current school the PTA sponsors a movie in the auditorium once a month. They seem to have great success. At my son's previous school, the PTA had movies every day during parent teacher conference week. The entrance was $3 and Costco bulk food snacks were sold (and popcorn) for an additional price. The good part of this was that it provided reasonable cost child care for the kids during the minimum days and they got out at the "normal" time. I think they raised about $1500-2000 during each week of movies. It took about 5 or 6 volunteers to keep about 100 kids in line. (Plus, one really bossy mom, that all the kids were afraid of...no, it wasn't me.)

Another fundraiser was a casserole sale. The PTA purchased aluminum casserole pans with lids. Then families volunteered to make a casserole, fancy dessert or breakfast casserole in the pan. The PTA would catalog who was bringing what and put that on a big poster board and on a specific day the families could sign up to purchase the casseroles etc. The casseroles were $15 each (and probably could go to $20). So the families donate the ingredients, cook and return the finished products and other families purchased them. Out of 225 students about 100 casseroles were made. And the families were very good at returning the casseroles on the due date and showing up to pick up their purchases. This project netted around $1500 and only takes 5 or 6 volunteers.

If you're interested in more details on these feel free to message me.
S.

We do the SCRIP program through Great Lakes SCRIP. Families purchase gift certificates/cards for face value and the school gets a kickback, compliments of the great companies that participate in the program. No more candles, cookies, candy or wrapping paper to buy!

Living in the economic blackhole of Michigan these days where the majority of our student body is below the poverty line, we're appreciative if we raise a few hundred at a fundraising event, so I'm astounded by some of these responses of raising thousands of dollars.
We do about 4 Movie Nights a year - $1 admission, hotdogs/pizza, chips, cookies and drinks available for purchase for a small fee. Very cheap entertainment. I'd like to do them monthly, but have been vetoed because that wouldn't make them "special" anymore.
We have Little Caesar's Pizza Kit sales, auction off theme baskets filled by the kids, Midland or Frankenmuth fundraisers, Mom2Mom sales, spring Plant sales. All do modest returns.
We also have bottle/can returns, BoxTops for education, soup labels, and CapriSun juice pouch recycling. Again, because of location and economic situation, we get just enough to operate.
This year we signed up for OneCause.....parents buy things online and a percentage of their purchase goes to the school, at no additional cost to the parent. There is a search toolbar where every qualifying search gives us money as well.
Our fundraising pays for ALL of the field trips - not one cent comes out of our school budget. We get some grants, but the bulk is paid by the PTO.

For the last couple of years my kids' school have done the "write a check" program the same as another mom mentioned earlier. What they do is at the beginning of each school year they send a note home asking parents to each donate a set amount ($20 each kid I think) in lieu of doing fundraisers. Most parents think this program is WONDERFUL and I love it too.

Like the other mom said though, other groups like band and sports still do fundraisers, but participation for us is always optional.

Good luck!

Auctions & write a check

I saw a school that creates a fundraiser by selling items from a combination of local businesses; like around where I live, maple syrup, homemade soaps and things, flower shops, fresh honey, coupons for discounts on services, different types of meat stores, etc... Although the startup takes a little work; most businesses enjoy the opportunity to help and sometimes will even donate the items so the schools get all the proceeds. It is a great way for them to advertise and creates repeat customers for them and a 'repeat' fundraiser for you! Most of the businesses will gladly help with your next fundraiser. Good luck and I hope you got alot of ideas!

Our daughter was in public school. Elementary, Middle and high school. We actually have a PTA 's so it was totally Parents who did much of the fund raising. We always ask the teachers and Principal to give us a needs list and a wish list. This gave us a short term goal as well as long term goals.

The most money was always made at an adult only away from school Silent and live Auction.. There is a committee that mostly works on this from the previous spring until the fall when the event is held. They have a large committee broken into to smaller committees in charge of all types of jobs.

We would find a location, sometimes donated space from a parent that owned a restaurant. It was held on a Sunday afternoon and into the evening with a dinner and cash bar for those that wanted.. The teachers, administration and parents all attended. We took reservations with a $10. per person at the door charge. They now ,make at least $30,000 per year

We also made the good money with the wrapping paper sales with the little magazine subscription thrown into each catalog..Usually made about $18,000. We no longer do this, since the auction brings in so much money and so many other schools do the gift wrap paper every year.

We always tried to hold fund raisers early in the fall, so that the new parents were still enthusiastic, it tends to be a good way for all the parents to get to know each other. You know what your goals are and what the money will be used for. Also once the money has been made, it can be used during that school year.

The school I teach at raised a pretty good amount of money at an auction last year. We also raise thousands at the Read-A-Thon. Just a few ideas.

Check out glscrip.com. Your PTO can buy gift cards at a discount, and then sell them at face value and your PTO keeps the difference. My kids' school does it, and I love it because you never buy something you can't use.

My 15 yr old is in high school now and our PTA holds a "write a check" campaign.

I LOVE this because there is no fundraising sales for Sally Foster, Entertainment Books, Silent Auctions, night at Chik Filet, night at McDonalds, Night at Cici's, selling cookie dough, Schwans, etc

Now, as an active member in 2 booster clubs at the school...... these groups DO use the above things as fundraisers. I can't stand that part. I still write a check and I am not sending my child out selling nor will I go solicit. The groups gladly accept donantions.

Good luck!

I just suggest to our school about a father/daughter or mother/son dance to raise some money and memories for the kiddos!!

My sons school did a fundraiser with Texas Roadhouse this year that went over great. They sold the TR rolls and cinnamon butter they were a dozen for $4 and it also included a $5 coupon. Hungry Howies also has a fundraiser where you sell certificates for large pizza's, I believe HH charges $2 per certificate and you can sell them for whatever price you want. These are the 2 that our school does that are different than all the others in the area.

I don't have any new ideas (my kids' PTO does fundraising through the companies that sell overpriced wrapping paper, candles, etc - things I don't need so I always just write a check to the PTO). But I wanted to write in that I recommend the Little Caesar's pizza kits. I think these are great options because they're something that I love having in the house and am more than happy to buy when approached by other peoples' kids. Other ideas I've liked (although they're out of season for now) are when organizations sell pointsettas and wreaths around the holidays. I don't know what the fundraising rate of return are on these products but, as a "consumer", this is what I prefer to buy from kids trying to raise money :)

My frustration has been fundraisers that cost way too much and for nothing. I have 4 kids in school - my oldest will graduate this year - three more to go! I have seen the Frankenmuth, Little Ceasers, and several others. As an Avon Rep, I know Avon offers fundraisers without bumping up the price. The rep just doesn't get the earnings - the school or organization does - up to 40%. I am sure there are others out there as well. You can email me or call me at ###-###-#### for more info or go to www.avon.com

In addition to fundraising through Great American Fundraising (catalog) once per year, where the prize for selling 20+ items, no matter the dollar amount is a limo ride to Pizza Hut & lunch, our school does lots of other small stuff: monthly movie night where snacks are sold and the DVD is raffled off at the end, selling Smencils, our PTO sells ice cream at lunch time on Fridays to name a few. Good luck!

WE do a pizza night that seems to go fairly well, and we are trying to get a dinner together