Hi all. Thanks for this thread! It has helped me out with alot of ideas. Now I have a challenge. A little background first...
Our middle school is very old - I think it was built in the 1950's or something like that. The area the school is in isn't very big - we have 530 students or something like that. This past year we wanted to pass a bond issue to get a new school but it didn't pass. Also, the public library was in our school so our kids had access to all the same books that the public library did, as well as the book share program that they had. This year, the public library moved to a different location, taking half of the books available to our kids. At our meeting last night, the librarian told us they have around 6500 books compared to other middle school that have anywhere from 7000 to 15000 books available.

As for the PTO - last year it was pretty much non-existent because there was no interest in helping out. This year we have three members (all of us 6th grade parents who were involved with PTO in the elementary level) plus the principal - who is awesome by the way and one teacher. The recession is hitting us hard here because most of our money comes from the oilfield and those are cutting back right and left.

My question is this - how do we raise a bunch of money in a community that just doesn't have it to give?? This year has been pretty much a year of discovery - what works, what doesn't. Trying to get our non-profit tax id number has been a nightmare! We still don't have a checking account because they can't figure out how to get our number and some sources are telling us that it will cost $850! Anyways, any help I can get would be very appreciated!

Thanks!
Melissa Archuleta

A couple of quick ideas:

Several schools in our area hold a used book drive. Parents are encouraged to sort through their children's books and pull out any that they've outgrown but that would be age appropriate for an elementary school child. This generally brings in several hundred books at a time. The librarian can sort through and keep the ones they need. The extras can either be sold to other students or on Ebay (to raise money for the purchase of more books).

You could also consider having a spare change drive; if strongly promoted well in advance, it can bring in a few thousand dollars. If businesses will allow a change jar on their check-out counters, you may get even more.

We too, have a small school with little cash. We have "Universal free Breakfast", due to a large poverty rate. We had flops for fundraising in the past, and were looking for funds with a small volunteer group. I did some googling and found Choice Products, USA and raised $12,000. It is gifts, candy, food and cookie dough. We only did the candy and food. The brochures come in English and Spanish, best for our unique population. I wanted something consumable, as everyone needs to eat. The goal set was for $5,000, with every family selling only $50 in products. We were pleasantly supprised.
I don't know where you are located, but clubs-choice serves the midwest, and Brent, our rep was easy to work with. We will do this next year. Hope this helps!

We just did a Fannie May fundraiser. Threw it together in less than 2 weeks and cleared about $2200... not a lot, but more than we expected.

I can't believe school raising over $10,000 in a fundraiser! We have about 500 kids in our K-5... that would be AWESOME to get that much!

By the way - OP - you aren't related to David Archuleta from American Idol are you?

By the way - OP - you aren't related to David Archuleta from American Idol are you?

That's so funny! I get asked that all the time. People say "Hey, are you related to David Archuleta?" I tell them yes because that is my husbands name. But, no, we aren't related to the American Idol as far as I know.

Melisy,
Have you tried getting a checking acct at your local Credit Union. We get free checking and savings there. Plus all PTO members can get their own personal accounts.

As for Fundraisering, we are even a smaller school. We have worked real hard on collecting Box Tops for Education. It doesn't cost anyone anything more than buying their groceries. We earned almost $2,000 last year and should be over that this year. We did intensives, like the class that collect the most wins a Pizza Party, then in the Spring, if the school collect $1000 worth of box tops they can wear their PJs to school.

Don't forget Target donates a percentage of sales to your school. Campbell soup labels.

Good Luck.