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Fundraiser Ideas for low income students...

11 years 8 months ago #161232 by Lisa Courtright
Replied by Lisa Courtright on topic Re:Fundraiser Ideas for low income students...
Our elementary school is a low income / high poverty one with about 70% receiving free lunches daily. We have not had much success with fundraisers in the past few years due to this. Does anyone have suggestions for quality fundraisers which would help us raise a worthwhile amount towards our new playground dream? We have tried restaurant family nights, frozen foods, etc...

Suggestions welcomed please!
Thank you,
Lisa
11 years 8 months ago #161141 by Janine
We usually do Great American as the big fall fundraiser, but this year we tried Mixed Bags. They make all sorts of bags out of recycled pretty plastic fabric. Anyway, it went very well and we even added a spring Mixed Bag fundraiser since they had new products and fabrics. Our school is about 60% hispanic and we're title I. We also do a dessert fundraiser timed to deliver before Thanksgiving. It does well, but I don't think it's the low income families who participate as much in it since those cakes are pricey.
Janine
12 years 2 days ago #160366 by sd19565
Box Tops for Education will cost you nothing except postage to send them in. I believe this is a great money raiser for all organizations, especially ones that have a demographic who may receive some sort of public assistance/food stamps. Parents/Guardians have to use their food stamps to purchase food products. So even if they are using government subsidy, the BTFE are still valid. There are a few grocery stores in our area that offer a percentage of your purchase in "cash back" to your organization, but if you pay with government funds they exclude those sales, so that's why BTFE is still a great idea for you because BTFE has no idea what payment method you used to purchase the products. You could also talk to your local public libraries or churches (or even local banks) and see if they would allow you to put a collection box in their area to help support your school.

You might also consider some type of collection drive (old clothing or shoes) since everyone seems to have those lying around. I was at the PTO Today Expo yesterday and one of the exhibitors was Shoe Box Recycling. They only recycle shoes but there is another topic on clothes recycling. Shoe Box Recycling provides a box pays the postage to send the box to them. They pay you per pound for the shoes at the rate of 50 cents per pound. Might not seem like a lot of money, but no selling is required.
12 years 5 months ago #158519 by Kat
We have found that restaurant nights are the best way to go! We are planning 2 per month this year. Everybody eats out sometimes, so if we broadcast the date in advance, then they are more likely to wait to eat out on that date - even if it means waiting until then (I know my family does this!) The kids enjoy it, and it becomes a social thing! 2 different restaurants per month means that (hopefully) something will appeal to most families. Most restaurants give us 20% of the sales, and they love the business!
12 years 6 months ago #158380 by lcowlin
The school I am with is a Title 1 school as well. We have talked too about how tired we are of the gift wrap, candy bars, etc. One thing we did for the last 2 years is selling candles. We have used 2 different companies, and the candles all cost $10, with us making $5 of that. We usually have it right before Christmas. Last year we did just our 5th grade and made like $660.

Also, another item might be a discount card...we are doing ours right now. Cards cost $10, with the school making $5 of it. It is nice, because it is so cheap, the people purchasing them make that $10 back pretty quick in savings from the companies.
12 years 6 months ago #158379 by lengelkins
I would like to know of more culturally friendly fundraiser products.....my elementary school is 80% Hispanic. We are also a Title 1 School (very low income). I've tried to do some google searches for 'outside of the box' fundraising items...but without much success.

I think everyone is tired of candy bars, cookie dough, and wrapping paper and other stuff does not work well at my school.

Surely someone at another school has this same population????? Any suggestions? Or ideas! I feel the majority should be utilitized but also still inclusive for the rest of our population.
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