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?!

The DC’s primary school recorded a cd of Christmas songs and carols a few years ago, and sold it to parents. I think they had assistance from a parent who has an audio-visual company though.

I would donate every year not to have to attend the fundraising events 🙈

Why not create just a donation page - the reason because the school cannot really do anything due to Covid

Our school puts a "wanted" item on their newsletter each week - often books, dictionaries or cheap bits of stationary and asks for donations from parents to buy x many of those things.

I'd far rather buy a few books every few months than stand for hours manning a reindeer hoopla in December!

Hi folks, don't panic, the virtual part of the balloon race is the balloons ie no physical balloons are involved! You customise your (online) balloon and then they use some kind of software to estimate where the (still virtual) balloons would end up given the weather conditions etc. Presume it isn't an exact science but you get to track the (still not actually physically real) balloons for a week before the real, human, actual and not virtual winners are announced.

Good to know everyone is alert to the very real damage that physical balloon races cause though , and totally agree with you, I wouldn't be part of a real world balloon race.

@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!!

This.

As a long term PTA parent I often wanted to do just this.

I know of a scout group which was selling raffle tickets to parents. One parent asked how much of a donation was required to ensure he was never asked to fundraise or donate again. Leader jokingly said £6k - the target for the item they were actively fundraising for - and the parent pulled out a cheque book and wrote it out there and then!

My kids school did 'be the headteacher for a day' raffle a few years ago and made a small fortune.

My dc tell me the activities included holding a fire drill, doing an assembly, and getting to have hot chocolate and one of the teachers chocolate biscuits at break time.

Ask someone like B&Q or Homebase to donate a wheelbarrow,. A(Reliable barrow and B) less of a hit on their profit margins

Do the usual barrow of booze raffle, donations brought in from home , quarantined, then placed in the barrow and wrapped in cellophane, winner collects, or if it is within a decent distance of the school it is delivered by carol singing (socially distanced) PTA members who may or may no have had some mulled wine.

Win/Win someone wins a barrow of booze and a decent weelbarrow.

Barrow of booze raffle

Get parents to donate a bottle of something alcoholic, see if your local off-licence or supermarket will do the same, buy a couple of bottles of spirits or liquers to increase the value of the prize.

Display them all in a wheelbarrow, making sure the pricey stuff is visible, then sell raffle tickets.

In the lead up to Christmas, this can be really popular.

If doing in the summer, include Pimms, fruit cider etc.

Sponsored quiz about the place you live ... we did it as a walk round the village to be able to answer the questions, to be done over half term. Easy version for KS1, slightly harder for KS2, most entries donated £10-£20 and we had a load of gift aid too (registered charity).

I was PTA treasurer for 5 years, despite offering a route for people to just make donations, we only made around £100 a year. Other than the usual Christmas / Summer fairs, the things that made money involved the parents and booze!

DD is at secondary school now, I donate £60 a year to not have to be involved in anything.

Secondary school here. We're doing an online fundraiser for specific big ticket item that the school needs (supported by social media/ local PR) and pursuing charitable grants.

[quote LillyBugg]@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. [/quote]
At summer fair time, our local school bought vouchers from local businesses that usually donate. Used these as raffle prizes.

So the raffle didn't make as much as it normally would but for very little effort, they were still well in profit and supported local businesses. Win win.

I know of a scout group which was selling raffle tickets to parents. One parent asked how much of a donation was required to ensure he was never asked to fundraise or donate again. Leader jokingly said £6k - the target for the item they were actively fundraising for - and the parent pulled out a cheque book and wrote it out there and then!

As a Cub leader I dream of this! We have trouble enough getting everyone to pay their subs!

Yes, I think some local businesses might be happy to offer a voucher in the hope of pulling more business in or maybe glad of an opportunity to offload some surplus stock, so I wouldn't necessarily write it off.

It's maybe too late, but our neighborhood did a trick or treating event with various local businesses, so kids buy a stamp card and they can go around and visit local businesses and get a stamp and a small pack of sweets or a lollipop. It was very popular and a lot of businesses were glad to get people coming in and visiting.

Our pta is organising a cook book with parent recipe contributions

@BikeRunSki

I know of a scout group which was selling raffle tickets to parents. One parent asked how much of a donation was required to ensure he was never asked to fundraise or donate again. Leader jokingly said £6k - the target for the item they were actively fundraising for - and the parent pulled out a cheque book and wrote it out there and then!

As a Cub leader I dream of this! We have trouble enough getting everyone to pay their subs!

Oh I hear ya! Having served in various roles in guiding and scouts it is a constant pain.

@Hippywannabe
boxcleverpress.com/products/fundraising-pack-eight

Give them a call. They’re really helpful.

In our village they’re selling themed bags for a fiver a shot. So Halloween ones that come with a pumpkin and some themed stuff, sweeties and so on, fireworks ones which have other themed things in them, some sparklers (I think) and if you order adult ones, a beer or little bottle of Prosecco. They also did a scarecrow trail around the village, things like that.

[quote LillyBugg]@passmethewineplease that's a lot of money! Is it just a simple Facebook selling page? Where are all the items stored to sell? I bet it's actually quite a lot of work?[/quote]
Yeah! And it definitely is! Hats off to her she has spent hours and hours sorting and photographing items and bagging them up for collection! The lady has a nice big house/outside space so I don’t think it’s been a massive issue yet though there was a point where she probably couldn’t see her floor. 🙈

Thanks. I will call them

So the diary people messaged me back and said that they are not doing fundraising packs any more, does anyone know if that is right? They said it was due to covid but it seems to me that online multi orders would be a good thing!
Anyone know of a similar company?