School Fundraisers That Make The Most Money
What school fundraisers make the most money? The ones that require the lowest investment and get the most return! But more than the simple cash in, cash out of it all, the most successful school fundraisers drive participation from students, and often their family and friends. How do they encourage participation? By offering incentives for top sellers or donations received, but also by appealing to students’ sense of purpose and independence. Read on to learn more about how the best school fundraisers get students excited about fundraising, and to explore our guide to the school fundraisers that make the most money.
All of the most popular—and most profitable—school fundraisers provide a low-stakes opportunity for students to practice “grown-up” skills like spending and managing their own money, sales and marketing, and acts of service for the good of a larger organization or cause. By empowering students to flex their independence in age-appropriate ways, you can spark their interest, generate enthusiasm, drive engagement and, ultimately, increase profits for your school.
Check out some of the most profitable PTO fundraisers below:
- Brochure Fundraising
- Holiday Fundraisers
- In-Hand Fundraising
- Service Events
Brochure Fundraising
Brochure fundraising is a classic, and one of the most popular and profitable PTO fundraisers. Organizations partner with a fundraising brochure company to select one or more brochure catalogs for students to sell from. These brochures typically include items such as wrapping paper, chocolates and candy, snacks, nuts, cheese and sausages, baking mixes, plants, bulbs and gardening items, gifts, jewelry, and other novelty items.
Fundraising brochures typically net organizations up to 50% profit on items sold. Depending on the level of student participation and their sales success, this can be an extremely lucrative fundraising option for elementary-aged students and up. They are also favored for their ease of set-up and implementation: Schools simply select the brochures they wish to sell from, distribute them to students in pre-prepared fundraising packets that include order forms or instructions, and collect and submit the orders at the end of the fundraising period.
Some providers, like Gifts ‘N Things, offer a variety of set-up options for brochure fundraising. At Gifts ‘N Things, we offer traditional brochure fundraising in which sales packets go home with students and orders are delivered to the school for pick-up and distribution, in addition to hybrid and online brochure fundraising options. In a hybrid brochure fundraiser, selling packets go home with students and orders are shipped to the students’ homes for distribution. In an online brochure fundraiser, physical sales packets are eliminated and the entire process is completed online, with orders being shipped directly to customers’ homes.
These options can help schools that may not want to deal with receiving orders and sorting them for pickup and distribution, or that may not wish to encourage students to engage in door-to-door selling or similar sales tactics for safety reasons.
Holiday Fundraisers
Of all the school fundraisers that make the most money, holiday fundraisers are certainly the most festive! Holiday fundraisers are fundraising tactics or events that typically take place some time in November or December and capitalize on the traditions of gift giving during the holiday season. At Gifts ‘N Things, we specialize in in-school holiday fundraisers, AKA school holiday shops.
School holiday shops are set up in a school gymnasium, library, classroom or outdoor space, usually themed to the holidays, the North Pole, or Santa’s workshop. Students are invited into the holiday shop during their school day to shop for gifts and pay for them with real money. The stock of gifts is chosen in advance by organizers, who work with a fundraising provider like Gifts ‘N Things to plan, stock and set-up the holiday shop.
Holiday shop fundraisers encourage students to shop wisely, manage their money, and teach them about the joy of giving. These types of fundraisers are best suited for students in the K-5th grade age range. They are extremely popular with students, who often have not had the chance to shop and pay for gifts for their parents, siblings and other family members on their own. Parents and educators also like the entirely in-school experience of holiday shop fundraisers, as they call for only a few volunteers and do not require any selling on the part of students or their families.
Gifts ‘N Things holiday shops provide all the joy and wonder of the classic Santa’s workshop in-school shopping experience, but with updated benefits and technology that meet the needs of modern PTO groups and fundraising organizers, like our count and no-count inventory options, cash register mobile app, and online chairperson portal for easy fundraiser management.
In-Hand Fundraising
In-hand fundraising involves pre-ordering inventory of items to have “in-hand” for sales, usually directly to customers or students themselves. Schools make money through in-hand fundraisers by choosing their for-sale items from a fundraising provider and selling them at a profit. The most popular in-hand fundraising option is candy, which usually involves students selling candy bars or other snack items from a bulk case to fellow students or other customers. Candy fundraisers may also be operated by selling individually wrapped or packaged offerings directly to students during their lunch hours.
Other in-hand fundraising options include school supply items like pencils, pens, highlighters, stickers, folders, books, etc. Gifts ‘N Things offers Smencils, the wildly-popular, uber-collectable-and-tradeable scented pencils that kids clamor for. As the only warehousing master distributor of Smencils, we are able to guarantee that our Smencil products are available at the lowest possible price online and include free shipping. Collectable products like Smencils are great options for in-hand fundraising, as the variety of different scents, colors and themes encourage students to buy more.
In-hand fundraising can be an especially profitable PTO fundraiser option for middle schools and high schools, which have students that may have their own cash to spend from an allowance or part-time job. It is also popular with PTO members and fundraiser organizers due to its simplicity, popularity with students, and straightforward implementation.
Service Events
Service events, also called “-a-thon” fundraisers, are fundraising events that raise money through acts of service—think fundraising walk/runs, read-a-thons, bowl-a-thons, dance-a-thons, etc. They are easily among the most profitable PTO fundraisers due to their low upfront costs. Start-up costs are usually minimal, and the event raises funds by charging for participation, encouraging students to solicit donations to “sponsor” their act of service, and selling items like concessions, raffle tickets, and t-shirts during the event.
These highly popular fundraisers are great for students of all ages and tend to encourage activity and community involvement. They are typically manageable one- or two-day events, though some service events (like partnering with an organization to run concession stands at sporting events or hosting monthly highway cleanup initiatives,) can be longer-term or run on an ongoing basis. Gifts ‘N Things’ Color-A-Thon fundraiser combines the classic “fun run” with the uber-popular “color run” concept, treating participants to a colorfully good time. Our Color-A-Thon color run fundraisers can either be donation-based or entry fee-based, depending on the age group participating or the overall goal of the event, and earn schools up to a 70% profit.
Service events are typically hosted either in-school or at a single location like a library, gym or bowling alley. They are usually staffed by teachers and parents, so parents of appropriately-aged children can feel safe and comfortable dropping off their child at the event. Because some schools and organizations encourage students to go door-to-door or set up outside of local businesses to generate more sales of brochure, magazine subscription and in-hand style fundraisers, service events are often preferred by parents who want to limit the possibility of “stranger danger” in their child’s fundraising experience.
Ready to make the MOST money with your school fundraisers?
When you’re ready to start turning huge profits from your school fundraisers, Gifts ‘N Things is here to help! We make it easy to plan an amazing fundraiser. Whether you choose brochure fundraising, a school holiday shop, in-hand sales or a Color-A-Thon fun run, the Gifts ‘N Things team will provide all the resources and support you need to have the most successful fundraising season ever. Click here to request more information about any of our fundraising options and get started on your fundraiser today!
