12 Easy & Creative High School Fundraising Ideas
Fundraising is critical for all grade levels to raise funds for school activities, trips, resources, and more. As students move from grade school to high school, finding interesting and creative fundraising ideas that don’t conflict with busy high school schedules can be challenging.
If you’re looking for high school fundraiser ideas for after-school clubs, sports organizations, field trips, and more, we’ve got you covered. Check out our 12 creative high school fundraising ideas that are easy and simple.
Quiz Competition
A quiz competition can be a great way to raise funds in high school. Not only is it fun, but it’s also educational and aligns well with practice for AP courses and SATs.
To host a quiz competition, you must first decide on a theme and it’s best if students are involved in the process — do you want to focus on SAT prep or something fun like Pop Culture? Then, all that’s needed are the invites.
You can fundraise by having an entry fee per team and then a small entry fee per audience member. Be sure to get a great MC host to make the night fun and have prizes for the winning team. Partner with a local restaurant or cafe if you want to boost promotion and participation, too.
Sports Day
Nothing gets students and families more excited than sports. For a high school fundraiser, arrange a sports day where you set up various games and activities. This can include classics like field day activities or you can create tag-teams for basketball, soccer, football, volleyball, and more. Use indoor school space for E-sports as well and get even more participants involve.
As a fundraiser, charge spectators a small entry fee and sell merch like snacks, drinks, and custom shirts and more.
Yard Sale
Yard sales are a classic fundraiser you don’t want to miss out out on! Don’t keep those yard sales limited to your house.
Ask students, teachers, and parents to donate items that aren’t extensively used. Along with that make sure you double down on marketing — post on social media, send home postcards, and promote across your community that the local school is having a yard sale for their newest fundraiser.
Art and Science Exhibitions
Organize multiple exhibitions, such as art exhibitions or science exhibitions, for a creative high school fundraiser. Make it competitive, declare a winner, or the best presentation to encourage participation.
Charge visitors with a ticket & give a discount for people who come in groups. By doing this you not only have an amazing fundraising event but also make it creatively enriching for the students, it’s a win-win. Plus, high school students can add the exhibit to their high school resume when searching for creative jobs after graduation.
Food Stalls
What better way to have fun and raise money than with good food. Allow students to set up food stalls -by themselves or with parents- for a fun fundraising event.
Don’t fail to expect a big crowd, because no one is saying no to food. After subtracting the costs incurred, all the profits raised can go towards fundraising. To make even more sales students can sell packaged items like healthy chips and cookies. Encourage bake-offs, creative recipes, and more. Plus, food stalls can be active at all other high school events.
Talent Show
A talent show is probably the biggest event that can be performed at scale. We all know, no school is deprived of talent, if anything, it’s overflowing. Your students know how to beatbox, teachers are somewhat of a magician themselves and who knew a parent is a melodic singer.
Sell tickets in advance and possibly charge the participants as well for a small entry fee if you rent out a large venue or theater. Also, to make it even better try to find a local sponsorship for the event to partner with and help promote.
Costume party
Every day can be Halloween if you let it. When the season is right, host a costume party with music, gifts, and costume prizes. There can be a small entry to enter the costume contest and a small fee to enter the dance.
Encourage everyone to participate, including teachers, for this fun seasonal high school fundraiser.
Car Wash
Set up a small car washing station at your school during the warmer months. Advertise it outside the school gate and on the street to help boost awareness in your local community. Have teachers, parents, and other students bring their cars and charge a small fee. This is fast, fun, and a great way to raise money.
Yoga day
Over the last decade, yoga as a form of exercise has received a lot of attention. Not only are parents doing it but so are many college-going students. But there are also many who want to do it but haven’t yet.
Dedicate a day to yoga: where an instructor will run everyone through the basics of the discipline and perform the required introductory exercises. Everyone can be charged a small fee and a voluntary donation box can also be set up. Include tips on wellness, sell healthy snacks, and more to help boost even more sales. If you can, partner with a local group for puppy yoga or goat yoga.
Virtual Concert
In the past year, a lot of big artists arranged virtual concerts and the craze for them was no less than the stadium ones. To organize a virtual concert, contact a local band and ask them to donate a performance.
Students, from the comfort of their home, can attend it by giving a small fee. Also, the supporters of the band wouldn’t mind paying extra to have a Q&A with the performers, and that’ll make for some extra bucks. This is a great way to reach students and parents all across your community.
Auction
This could be a great opportunity for people who’ve been procrastinating on getting that art piece to a pawn shop. Every family has an item they wish to exchange in return for money.
Organizing an auction can be done offline and online. Collectively everyone lists a certain item and a decided percentage of the sale goes towards the fundraising. If done right, this can be a great success and gets everyone involved with the bidding. Also donate parking spots, gift baskets from local stores, and more.
School Calendar
One of the best ways to raise funds and at the same time promote your brand is by creating a school calendar. A school calendar can be targeted towards students and parents involving students’ artwork, class photos, and pictures of school events. All the profits can be dedicated towards the fundraiser. Make sure to include notable school days and easy reminders so the school calendar is functional and fun.
