Fundraising Ideas

So as a teacher, I find that there is a never ending need for things.  Teaching is expensive-we put a lot out of our pockets, and in Manitoba, it's not tax deductible.  We have been doing fundraising for some time, with some great results.  A lot of schools are quite particular about fundraising, so if you're a teacher and thinking of it, definitely check out your school or area's rules.  As a band/division school, we're fortunate enough to be able to fundraise as much as we want.

I am a firm believer that fundraising needs to be done in a way that it puts minimum expectations on parents.  I think parents easily get overwhelmed after the first couple of fundraisers.  Where I am, some families really struggle month to month, so it's important that they don't feel pressured or that the kids feel upset if they can't contribute.

So far this year, we've had five different fundraisers, some of which might interest you.

1.  A bake sale-we managed to raise just over $150, but this did ask for contributions from parents.  I honestly wouldn't do this more than once a year.
2.  A yard sale-we raised over $100, which we split with another classroom.  I wouldn't necessarily do this one again as it took a whole day to sell-a lot of work for not a lot of profit.
3.  Tim Horton's Donuts-I remember as a kid having Tim Hortons donuts for sale and I loved it.  We've just started doing this and we're planning to do it twice a month.  From our first sale, we bought 8 dozen and we sold them all, making a profit of $47.
4.  Subway Lunch-we're holding a lunch in April using Subway's classic sandwiches.  We can buy a foot long for $5 and by cutting them in half, each sandwich with a juice box will sell for $5.  I placed a limit of spending 20 cents on each juice box.  So from each lunch, we should make (after our expenses), $2.30.  The great thing about this is that it's easy enough for my Grade 4s to be involved in sorting it as well.  We're doing preorders, but will have some available the day of.  Our hope is to make $400-which hopefully should just about cover the cost of our field trip (bus, bus driver, and tickets).
5.  Scholastic Book Orders-Sometimes we forget about this, but for every minimum purchase, you do get money back to use towards buying books in your classroom.  Any little bit helps.

I have done other things in the past as well, and I have some other ideas, but for now, you're going to have to wait in suspense.