Our school just had our 4th (in four years) Chinese/Silent auctions/Lottery raffle where we cleared about $ 20K. While it sounds like a lot (and we're certainly grateful) we've heard from families that it may be time to do something new. We were down about 125 people in attendance from last year and our family donations were also down. Not to mention, it is a very labor intensive undertaking. We'd love some new ideas!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

PACAmom,

Where are you located? Sounds like you do okay with your Auction, sometimes making a change may not be the best for your kidos. Have you done a survey to see what your parents want? Let me know where you are and I may be able to send you to some great options

We are in Western PA. You were right - the auctions did well. We are planning to send a survey to parents to get their feedback and thoughts.

Wow! you're fundraiser sounds great! Does anyone recommend any particular fundraiser for (High School) Oklahoma City Public Schools?? We have high # of low income families, so its hard for our PTO to raise funds or get parent involvement for that matter!! Any suggestions??

My business was recently contact by a PTO group from a Detroit area elementary school that is having a fund raiser in March that is a scrapbooking event. It's a day of family fun to raise money for their field trip fund. As you probably know, Detroit (and all of Michigan) have been hard hit by the economic downturn. I thought it was a great idea and was happy to participate and sponsor items for their auction. Then, yesterday, one of the other ladies in my office forwarded an email from her son's elementary school (near Chicago) regarding their scrapbooking event (today). Might this be something you could pursue? It seems to gaining a lot of popularity here in the Midwest.

I would try selling gift cards. There are a number of programs where vendors will pay a % back to nonprofit organizations. You can sell 1x per month and keep it on going. The parents can use it to buy gc for groceries they normally would buy.