PTA fundraising during a pandemic?!

[LillyBugg]

I'm on both a school and a preschool PTA. The main money makers are just not going to happen this year, Christmas Fairs, quiz nights, pamper evenings etc. Are there any bright, out of the box ideas out there that you'd like to share please?!

Watching with interest as we are in exactly the same situation. We have just launched our annual Christmas card design event which raises a couple of hundred pounds.
We have had a small but steady income from our school lottery, easyfundraising.co.uk and Amazon smile

Watching with interest. Our PTA usually earns most of its money in the summer fair which didn’t happen obviously, so funds are very low, while school is asking for technology to help remote learning etc

Things that don’t involve parents coming into school- Christmas cards, mugs, Lego key rings.

Sponsored walk (individually, no en masse) for a specific item.
Sponsored litter pick - if you have litter pickers, or can borrow some (try parish council).

Zoom bingo /family fortunes night?

Tbh, I’d happily pay not to have to go to Easter fayres and school discos..., but I’m rather jaded after 8 years.

Ha ha @BikeRunSki I've often wondered how many parents would stick in £10/£20/£30 per year just to be excused from all events!!

How about organizing a raffle?

My school has the children make little christmas ornaments and sells them back to the parents. (Obviously wouldn't be able to have an actual sale but the parents could order via email).

Ours ran a treasure hunt which raised a fair amount.

@LillyBugg

Ha ha *@BikeRunSki* I've often wondered how many parents would stick in £10/£20/£30 per year just to be excused from all events!!

I also wondered about a "non-quiz". For £10 a ticket they get a quiet night on their own sofa with no pressure to buy raffle tickets or make small talk with other parents

Our PTA is doing a spooky house Halloween trail - free to add your house to the list and £5 for a trail sheet to find them all, then you get to vote

@Nikori the issue with raffle/silent auction type events is that they rely heavily on local business donations of prizes and right now people are having enough trouble staying afloat nevermind donating to other causes. We have thought that a raffle of smaller items could be worth it though with one or two big 'hamper' prizes as technically that's a collection of smaller items so doesn't rely on one big donator.

We did a virtual school fair over the summer which was fairly successful. It raised several thousand pounds. Various volunteers did online workshops (dance, drama, art and other things) and we asked parents to pay a couple of pounds per class to an online fundraising page.

Volunteers did other things like a treasure hunt and someone else hung a tons of balloons in their front garden that children could walk past and guess how many. We asked people to do stuff at home and post photos to the school comms app.

On top of this, we also asked parents to just make a contribution similar to what they'd pay at the fair.

Plan is to do something similar at Christmas too.

Also ours does a monthly raffle - £5 a month, sign up for regular payment, and a draw - think anyone drawn wins £30

@LillyBugg, I’d pay £100/year!!

Actually, one thing that the PTA did once, which was a bit different and rather nice, rveybchiod did a “winter” picture of the tree in the school field and could decorate it however they wanted with glitter etc. The pta then bought a load of cheap frames from Wilko’s, framed the pictures and sold them to parents for a tenner.

Our school did a scarecrow trail around the village a couple of weeks ago. That was very popular and raised around £1000. Could do that with Halloween or Christmas variations, although the weather is not so great now. The price of non uniform day has also doubled, which is helping fill the gap. I think they are still running a christmas raffle, and they have started a newsletter where they are selling advertising slots.

Like a pp, after 10 years of PTA stuff, I would happily just give £10/20 to avoid the school fair hassle

DD's primary ran a sort of regifting stall where kids could buy a donated gift and have it wrapped for their parents/grandparents. Theoretically the school could facilitate that.
Zoom with Santa?
Christmas competition - maybe something like guess the name of the teddy or how many sweets in jar. 50p a go?
Raffle is a good idea.

A quiz sheet, anagrams and questions on a theme? Pound a sheet type. Not as big as a fair or raffle but if each family buys at least one, or two it adds up.
Realise schools struggling but families will be feeling pressure too - a pound a sheet is easier than expecting £££s.

Ours has gone down the route of 4 dress down days.

But actually if they were to do a straight forward, we are trying to raise money for x please donate I'm sure many parents would donate some cash.
Normally the school do a sponsor early in the year, I HATE asking people for money so I end up putting in a hefty donation myself. In turn when BIL came asking for a sponsor for nephews school I pointed out if we sponsore yours, I'll expect you to sponsor ours! Oh right!

We sre struggling with this too. Definitely doing a raffle for Xmas! Watching for more ideas!

There's some great ideas here thank you, keep them coming!

@LillyBugg

Ha ha *@BikeRunSki* I've often wondered how many parents would stick in £10/£20/£30 per year just to be excused from all events!!

Parents at our school have requested the ability to be able to do exactly this!

My DDs primary always did a Christmas/Mother’s Day/Father’s Day etc event where we paid a couple of quid per gift and the DC then got to go “shopping” from the selection the PTA had purchased. Little bits bought in bulk for pennies per item so they made a good amount for the PTA kitty. Kids loved it.

My dc is older now, but things I happily paid for when he was younger and doesn't involve parents going to school was children's original coasters, Christmas cards.
Also our nursery/school did book fair/art craft leaflets that children took home and parents order using school code, giving them money back according to how much parents spend. We bought loads through them.

Boxclever Press do great fundraising packs. Parents buy their planners and calendars etc through the PTA and you keep 40% iirc
A friend of mine organised it for her primary school, so I always get my year book through her.
They’re really helpful too.
It’s a good time to do it, as people
Are looking towards the new year.

@rollonoctober, I asked - not entirely jokingly - once and was given a very harsh talking to by the ladies of the PTFA and deputy head!

Our PTA has set up a selling page and people have donated tons of items. They’ve been sold for as little as 20p - £10 and so far during lockdown managed to raise £5000!