Planning a Successful Carnival Fundraiser for your School

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Fundraisers for schools can be frustrating and stressful at the best of times! At the worst of times they are just downright miserable. Fundraising doesn’t have to be this way, however, and can actually benefit the moral and environment of your school. Why not turn fundraising into another opportunity to engage students, teachers, parents and community in a way that builds relationships and increases the investment that all parties have in the running of your school? One of the best ways to accomplish all these tasks is through a carnival fundraiser. Any time you can involve the community, have a fun family activity, build relationships between teachers, parents and students, and raise money is a great plan. It does take a lot of planning and time, but it is well worth the investment. Here are 3 helpful hints to planning a successful (and less stressful) carnival fundraiser at your school:

  1. Have a committee: rather than delegating to the PTO or assigning people to planning/organizing, have a separate voluntary committee focused only on this project. This can be comprised of teachers, parents, administrators and even students. You may be surprised as to who volunteers. Some people have an easier time volunteering for a single committee that focuses on one event vs. a committee that requires an entire years’ worth of commitment. Also, some people get very excited about this type of event, and those are the people you want to find to help with the planning.
  2. Get the community involved: local businesses are usually willing to donate or lend items to be used for an event like this. Check on things like dunk-tanks, jump houses, and even small rides, or pony rides. Also check with local farmers to see about the possibility of having a small petting zoo. Often, much of what is needed can be brought in by local community members who will also assist in the running of their equipment. Some businesses may also be willing to donate food, drinks, prizes or money towards these items.
  3. Have class-run booths. Have teachers sign up their class to design and run a specific booth (food, game or other). That teacher would be in charge of rotating out students to run the booth, finding donations or buying items for the booth. This splits up the work, and gets more people invested in the running of the carnival. It also allows teachers to focus on just one aspect of the Carnival rather than getting overwhelmed by the whole. The more people that are invested, the more people that will show up simply because of word of mouth.

Embarrassing Your Fundraising Group Leader

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Maybe you already have the best unique fundraising ideas, but you need a way to motivate your sellers. One of the best incentives for a fundraiser is some sort of culminating activity where the fundraising group leader is embarrassed in some way. Goals can be set that need to reached in order to have something happen that will embarrass the fundraising leader of the organization, principal of the school, pastor of the church etc. Here are five great ideas for embarrassing incentives for fundraising achievements:

  1. Kiss a pig! Who wouldn’t want to see an administrator, CEO, or leader kiss a pig in front of the group? It’s a cheap and easy (and relatively painless) way to motivate your group to sell. Call a local farmer to see about bringing a pig in if the goal is met. More than likely you will find a local community member with a pig who will be happy to oblige.
  2. Duct tape to the wall: If you have never seen this done, it is quite humorous. Have the leader stand on a chair with their back against a wall (preferably cement) and those who have met a benchmark can use a long piece (about the height of the person, used horizontally across their abdomen) of duct tape to help attach the leader to the wall. It will take a fair amount of duct tape, but the result will be that when you remove the chair the leader will hang on the wall.
  3. Dunk tank! A dunk tank is always a fun activity. Participants who have reached a particular benchmark will be given balls to throw at the target to try and dunk the leader. If the fundraiser is happening in a school, an incentive could be that students who reach a benchmark can choose which teacher they would like to target in the dunk tank.
  4. Old fashioned pie in the face! This is one of the oldest incentives in the book for embarrassing the leader of your group. Much like the dunk tank, those who have sold the most (or reached specific benchmarks) get to do the throwing. Also, allowing a choice of who they are throwing at is an extra incentive!
  5. Clown for a day: how much fun would it be to see your leader have to walk around dressed as a clown for a day in your place of business? This can easily be adapted to whatever you can imagine (chicken for a day, pirate, Dorothy etc.).

Fresh Fundraiser Ideas for your School

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Are you tired of the same old fundraisers over and over again? You can only sell candy bars and wrapping paper so many times before you start losing motivation and sales go down. The following are a few new and exciting ideas for fundraisers that may help your school fundraising ideas succeed.

1. Coffee and tea. The vast majority of households in IL drink coffee or tea on a daily basis. While most people have their go-to brands, or just pick up whatever is on sale at the grocery store, many will be willing to try something new if its for a good cause. There are many coffee and tea companies that have fundraising programs and great products. The products of some will be much higher quality than your average grocery store and therefore worth the extra money. Search coffee fundraisers online to check out all of the different options.

2. School Carnival. While these have been around forever, people often forget that a carnival is on of the best ways to raise money for a school cause. While they are more work to execute than the “door to door” fundraisers, they also tend to have a huge community involvement and raise significant funds. They key to a successful carnival is support. Call upon teachers, students, parents and other volunteers to make it a success. Check out our post about school carnivals here.

3. A night out. There are many restaurants in the IL area that offer their facilities a few nights each year for fundraisers. Some restaurants allow students to get involved and help serve while others simply give a portion of the nights proceeds to the school or company. Check with all of your local restaurants to see if they would be willing to support your school and get started planning the most successful fundraiser you’ve ever had!