While the primary purpose of fundraising may be to raise money, there is usually a number of other benefits that come with charitable efforts. Promotion of health and fitness and saving the planet are two benefits from fundraising events, but the other major benefit is that kids can actually be learning while they are earning.
Here are the Top 5 fundraising ideas that promote learning and education while also raising money for your school or club.
1. Create Your Own Story Book
Publish children’s stories into a real storybook using the easy online software from Schoolyard Stories. Whether you hold a writing competition, allow everyone to pen a specially themed story or poem, create a graduation book or ask children to submit recipes, memoirs or essays, the outcome is the same – a meaningful and long-lasting keepsake that kids (and families) will treasure.
With an easy-to-use online template, the project can be co-ordinated by a teacher or volunteer and also allows children to submit illustrations for their storybook. Each child can have their own personalised cover if you are selling within the school community, or run a cover competition if you plan on selling your special creation to the wider community, which is perfect for fetes and market stalls.
Learn more about Schoolyard Stories storybooks here.
2. Hold a Read-a-Thon
Read-a-thons are the ultimate in earning and learning. They are easy to organise and very profitable especially if you run them in conjunction with another book-themed event such as a second-hand book sale (see below) or a gold-coin donation event such as dress-as-your-favourite-book-character or a guess-the-number-of-books-in-the-library competition.
When organising your own read-a-thon you can also design it to maximise learning such as having kids read non-fiction books as well as fiction, creating a suggested reading list full of classics or even wrap library books in brown paper and get kids to choose a ‘mystery’ book which they must read as part of the challenge. The possibilities are endless and it is easy to make a read-a-thon truly creative and fun.
Learn more about how to run your own read-a-thon here.
3. Second-hand book sale
While a second-hand book sale is a great standalone fundraiser, it works even better in conjunction with other events. You can ask for book donations from within your school, or put an appeal out to the wider community by advertising on social media or in the local paper.
Get the students to design their own event by letting them decide how books should be priced, sorted and displayed as well as creating their own posters and signs.
To promote your event and boost learning, invite a group of students to read and review some of the donated books, and post short reviews and ratings in the newsletter, school website, or even on pages stuck on the wall of the canteen or assembly area.
For more tips on how to set up a second-hand stall click here.
4. Multicultural Day
Literacy and maths are important, but so is learning about the world and the amazing variety of cultures and people around us. Holding a multi-cultural celebration, which could incorporate a number of events, not only helps the school to raise funds, but also teaches children about diversity, acceptance, respect and tolerance.
From my recent article on celebrating diversity in schools, some of the events you could run that combines both earning and learning include an international food day, an international dance-off or disco or even an international sports day where kids get the opportunity to play different sports from across the globe.
For more fundraising ideas that help you learn about diversity, click here.
5. Family Quiz Night
A quiz night is a great fundraiser – usually they are just for adults but to include the kids, not only as participants but as organisers, promotes a range of learning opportunities.
By having a range of child focussed questions and quizzes on the night targeting popular culture as well as questions relating to topics they are learning in school, gives kids an opportunity to contribute where their parents might have little idea. Kids might also do well with identifying logos, music, and movie or book characters.
Click here for a list of quiz questions suitable for kids and teenagers.
You can choose to have a mix of kids and adults on each table, or for something different, have strictly kids-only and adult-only tables.
During the months leading up to the event, consider an incentive program where students can earn or win a ‘clue’ about a question or group of questions on the night. Don’t provide the exact questions, but the clue could be ‘world’s tallest mountains’ or ‘flags of the world’ giving the child the opportunity to study up in advance of the quiz night.
For more tips on running a quiz night click here.
To read about more fundraisers with other benefits click here.
