[PCGHAMC]

I am part of a small school district - 3 schools (Primary "PreK - 1st", Middle School "2nd - 6th", and JHS/HS "7th - 12th") in all. Most of the fundraisers that we do are for the primary and middle school. The high school rarely asks the PTA for help with raising funds. We have a new PTA President and Vice President that would really like to help the High School. Does anyone have any fundraiser ideas for the JHS/HS kids? Thanks in advance.

[OneandOnly]

One PTA for all your schools? WOW that must be tough. How do you decide who gets funded or do you only use the money raised by each school for that school?
I guess to help you with an answer, you need to know what the needs are for your HS students. If they have a lot of needs that you would need a huge fundraiser or only new a few small items and smaller ones would suffice.
Being in HS, they should be able to do most of the work and your PTA only act as coordinators or organizers for the event(s).

Our HS has done car washes, sold discount savings cards, sporting events with kids vs. teachers, breakfast buffets, tshirt sales.

[GaWahineS]

Our school did a Barnes and Noble fundraiser! All the clubs and sports teams were represented. Example: the art club did facepainting, drama club acted out a story, football players read stories to the kids, cheerleaders handed out balloons, etc. The school received a portion of the sales from that particular day. We made around $1500.00!

[OneandOnly]

Just thought of another idea. HS students love to eat out. We have dining out nights at our local resteraunts. Friday's has a whole program, but you can ask other places in your area to also have it. You negotiate 20% of the total bill to be sent to the PTO if the group states they are with your school. Some schools have a card they show the server.
You can set up various dates with area resteraunts around town and the kids and their families just go out to eat. Everyone goes out [U]at least [/U]once every 2 weeks, (most likely more). HS students will especially find it an easy way to support their own school since they often go out and meet at places like Friday's, Applebees, etc.
One local school actually had arranged for teachers to be servers for the evening to "assist" the regular staff. So that brought out a crowd as well. There's no out of pocket expenses (except for the memos) and you make some easy money!! It also promotes local places of business.

[PCGHAMC]

Thank you all so much for all your great ideas. I will pass them on to the PTA President.

[PresidentJim]

What about a Spring carnival? If done right this could be a huge fundraiser and a lot of fun for the kids. Just to quickly name some of the kinds of things you could do...

- petting zoo
- pony rides
- hay rides
- booths with prizes
1) ping pong ball throw
2) fastest pitch (get the local police to help)
3) basketball throw
4) dart - balloon pop
- moonwalk

I am sure I can come up with a bunch more if given time...

PresidentJim

[lhennessy]

Originally Posted by PCGHAMC

I am part of a small school district - 3 schools (Primary "PreK - 1st", Middle School "2nd - 6th", and JHS/HS "7th - 12th") in all. Most of the fundraisers that we do are for the primary and middle school. The high school rarely asks the PTA for help with raising funds. We have a new PTA President and Vice President that would really like to help the High School. Does anyone have any fundraiser ideas for the JHS/HS kids? Thanks in advance.

Check the past message posts about a jog-a-thon/walk-a-thon. We did our first one this year at the elementary level, K-5, with 500 students. We pulled a lot of information from this site. Students collected pledges (mostly flat rate) and participated in a healthy activity day, either morning or afternoon. Our PTA provided healthy snacks like apple slices and water bottles. It was a great event where the kids focused on raising the funds, knowing that they were helping their school and community, while getting some great exercise!

In one day, our PTA raised over $18,000.00! There was a lot of work involved, but if you have some committed and dedicated volunteers, it is a great way to go.

It was so well received, that we have already decided to do this again next year!! Hope this helps!

[JCvolunteer]

Here is a website to a fundraiser community discount card program Save & Support Discount Card Sports Fundraising - Home. They are advertising Discount cards for as low as 80 cent per card for 2500 or $1 per card for 1000. Apple Valley Soccer group (60 youth) raised $3500 in 1 1/2 hours by selling these cards for $20 each.

[Momski]

Our HS brought back the "persian market" - it's a crazy auction where they auction off almost everything and anything:

Ideas:

Slave for a Day, "taxi" to school, music performances at a party or event, tickets to concerts/sports/etc, an elegant prom dinner at someone's home..

Here is our website for ideas:
SMHS Persian Market for unique auction items!

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A Home Interiors candle fundraiser would be a great way to make money. We have done one for our school and are getting ready to have a fundraiser for the Cheerleaders of the school. With a Home Interiors candle fundraiser you can 50% of your sales for your organization or school. The small jar candles are $7, and the school made $3.50 per candle. The $12 bigger jar candle, we made $6 off of. If you need more info, let me know and I will email it to you.