PA fundraising - painless ways to raise money

[tatt]

As so much said about PA's is negative can we have a positive thread for things the PA does?

School Link - parents get cheap books with free postage, children get encouraged to read, school gets free books.

Everyclick - search engine which gives money to school for each search. You also get money for any purchases through the site and even sometimes for insurance quotations. Ok it's a pittance, parents need reminding quite a lot and its not as good a search engine as google - but it's money that doesn't come from parents and it doesn't have the duplication that you get in google. I've found some items to purchase at lower cost from using it as a search engine.

Entertainment - it's not my thing but one PA I knew ran very popular quiz evenings and discos at a local hotel. In an area with little entertainment non-parents were happy to attend.

We try to use the everyclick, run social evenings, etc

And the only things people turn out for are the very things people complain about.

I ama ctually consideringr esigning after the pa;try helper turn out at the fayre this year- am secretary- 10 people. I had to do a stall that normally has 3 worlers for 4 hours with an 8 month old baby on my hip and asd 5 year old at my feet.

In the cold.

Nobody else will do it so pa may well fold; as school presemtuously purchased £5k equipment then asked us to cover it they'll be stuffed

but heck,watchig your childs school going tits up is easier than contributing a plate of fiary cakes no (only 1 in 20 parents managed that)

In our giving we tend to favour things that are most efficient in creating the cash for school: i.e. annual sponsored fun run at primary, annual voluntary donation at secondary. We also take part in the '100 club' at primary, and when we win donate the proceeds to school.

Secondary put on a very high quality concert at Christmas and tickets sell out virtually immediately. That's quite a good fundraiser.

This gives your school points when you shop at most major high street stores through it. The school can then use the points to purchase equipment etc. I have it as my home page now.

no rants please - just positive comments about things your PA does that you like.

We have a sort of talent show at Christmas, I forgot that. Tickets sell out in advance.

Anyone else?

Fairy cake sales during autumn and spring terms raise around £1500 each year.

Christmas trees at Christmas. Families and friends order through PTA, which gets a cut of proceeds. Trees picked up at school on a Sat am.

Barn Dance and hog roast.
Promises Auction.

50/50 - at any school gathering throughout the year you sell tickets for a pound and whoever has the winning ticket gets half of the proceeds. The PTA keeps the other half.

Yellow Moon catalogues in book bags - the parents order what they want using a special code and a percentage gets sent back to school - easy peasy money.

The bag thing (which we haven't tried yet) where jumble is bought in and a company comes along and weighs it - so many pence per kilo is then given to the school.

Sponsored runs/walks/toddles would probably do well as well (although, once again, we've not tried this yet) but it's another fund raiser which the parents don't have to do much, so should appeal.

fashion show can't remember off hand which co we use - this one only covers the south, but gives you an idea.

are sponsoed walks actually popular with parents, though? Like the idea of jumble that someone buys from you.

We've done "Quiz and Chilli" or "Quiz and Pudding" nights which are always profitable - £5.50 per head and you get a bowlful of quite mank veggie chili or pudding halfway through (which PTA bods have made) - no one is actually there for the food though. Teams of 8, people bring alcohol and nibbles, you need a good/funny quiz compere and can buy quizes online. And we manage to get a raffle out of it as well - each team donates a prize.

Cake sales held at the school work for us.

Just done a series of afterschool "cafe stands" hot chocolate and gingerbread/liebkucken (sp?) biscuity things. They work well. Parents turn up 5 mins early for pick up and have a hot choc while they wait. Not too much effort to organise (purchase of stuff, twenty mins with school urn etc etc and poly-hot cups so minimal wash up). Parents provided the biscuits so expenses were just the hot choc powder) Was a one off but has become a fortnightly Friday night thing through the winter.

Yellow Moon (small amount of cash but optional so parents quite like this one)

Chocoholics (brilliant fundraiser - we do a school Christmas and Easter order. Fab chocs, reasonable price and good % to the school)

Clicky computer thing

Sell mince pies and mulled wine after school concert - this raises good amount of cash as it is donation only...

Local large service station at big supermarket and motorway station lets us collect money just before Christmas. Big fundraiser - we take the sleigh and Santa suit up and collect a fortune at the motorway services. Up to 30% of the year?s funds are raised in 2 afternoons of standing in the cold. Minimal prep needed other than letter of request etc and actually quite good fun. The services are fab and bring out plenty of hot drinks too.

A while ago (when I was a teacher) the school I worked at did a Dog walking thing. People in the area could pay to have their pooches walked. It was labour intensive as required organisation and a lot of adults/kids. However, it was a lot of fun and promoted healthy outdoor exercise etc. The owners dropped off their dogs in the school carpark on a Sunday afternoon and a teenager was allocated that animal. A group of teenagers with an adult or two then all went off for a walk across the fields. Loads of the school kids offered and enjoyed this - many without pets of their own. Also, country kids are often driven everywhere as the roads are unsafe to walk down, so more exercise outside than some had every had! One lad in my tutor group built up such a rapport with the dog owner that he got himself a little job regularly walking their golden retriever.

Sponsored bike ride - big hit with the dads.Big family picnic at the village green (finish point) so made more cash with the BBQ and bouncey castle too.

School disco, halloween party, fireworks night etc etc

tbh, we keep trying out new stuff all the time as tastes and people come and go.

love the dog walking thing but I think ours travel too far to make it feasible.

Forgot that our PA also do second hand uniform - at what I consider ridiculously low prices.