Great fundraising ideas for Schools in Australia

Every year, schools all around Australia look for ways to raise additional funds.  Fundraisers are vital for supporting building works and funding programs for students, as well as purchasing new material and equipment.  But where should you start with school fundraising ideas?

If you’re looking to the same group (parents and friends) every year, then your fundraising program needs some variety to keep the audience interested.  Running the same event year in, year out can result in people losing interest and contributing less.

Where to start looking for school fundraising ideas?

The best place to start is at the beginning: what will be involved, what is your budget for the fundraiser and what you want out of it. Focus on what will be your best return on investment as the number one priority.

First things first when you are thinking of the best school fundraising ideas; what are you raising money for and who will want to support the cause? If you are fundraising to subsidise a class trip then it might be best to get parents and pupils of the class involved; a new school hall roof would require considerably more funding and requires the whole school, family and community to dig deep. So you need to focus your fundraiser around the amount of money you will want it to make and the amount of people it will effect.

Smaller scale school fundraising ideas are best for people who don’t have access to many volunteers, need a smaller response from the fundraiser and who want to set something up quickly and efficiently. These can include class bake sales or specific themed events like a secret cupid messenger around Valentine’s Day or an elf delivery service around Christmas. The class can arrange for the school to have a disco or themed dance night and the proceeds could go towards the fundraising target in which case the whole school population gets involved and has a great time but the class also hits their target amount. The smaller fundraisers don’t necessarily give a lower amount of money but those that raise a lot tend to be something special.

Community fundraisers are brilliant ideas for building renovations, department equipment upgrades and whole school theatre production costume and prop buying. The services really can go all out and you can arrange fun days for the families of children in the school or those living nearby. These days can include fairs with rides and raffles and other stalls where you can sell personalised items. A lot of volunteers are needed for this kind of event and you will have to be prepared to pay out a bit of money for the set up. Larger events which might not take as much money and set up are things like Bingo nights where parents pay for their strips and can win prizes donated from local stores and businesses. Of course school discos are a great idea for a smaller fundraising idea but if you want something a little bigger in a similar vein why not try a horse racing night? These events are very popular when people consider school fundraising ideas and they are great fun to organise and attend. They involve fun money so no real money exchanges hands for the betting which means younger people can get involved as there is no official gambling going on and teamed with a buffet at a local community venue they can be really good entertainment for all the family.

Your school fundraising ideas don’t have to be hard to organise if you take the right routes and have the right kind of help. Invest in the help of your head teacher or school admin team for the invites for your dance and talk to those who are used to planning these things. For bigger events many of the companies supplying special attractions like fairground rides and horse racing nights will have professionals on hand to help plan the event so be sure to speak to them about what you are doing. Enlisting the help of others is key when organising your school fundraiser but luckily there are people out there willing to help.