25 All Time Best Fundraising Ideas
Incorporating children’s artwork into fundraising products is a winning formula – lasting memories are made, special gifts are created and money is generated for worthy causes. Kids just get so proud to see their creations made into something special. The specialty fundraising companies will send you the art paper and instructions, and all you need to do is get the cherubs to work their magic! This type of fundraiser can also work well for photos.
Who can help you:
Crazy Camel: Personalised Calendars and Family Planners, Greeting Cards, iPhone Cases, Notebooks, Diaries, Sketch Pads, Pillowcases and Tea Towels using children’s artwork made into a high quality products that will be cherished for years to come. Photos can also be used.
www.crazycamel.com.au | sales@crazycamel.com.au | 1800 141 239
Expressions: Create quality tea towels, bags or aprons printed with your group’s own artwork, drawings or handprints. Expressions’ fundraisers are a proven success. Everything you need is provided with no upfront costs.
www.expressions.com.au | info@expressions.com.au | 1300 855 509
Pictureproducts: Turning nearly 3 million children’s drawings and photos into melamine Pictureplates since 1977, kids and parents love a Pictureproducts fundraiser. Wide range of add-on products available to maximise your profits.
www.pictureproducts.com.au | info@pictureproducts.com.au | 1300 130 574
Fetes are a timeless fundraiser – and for many schools and clubs, the largest fundraiser that they run.
Who can help you?
We can! We have a comprehensive ‘Fete in a Box’ that is the ultimate resource for organisers of community events. We have put together over a hundred ‘how-to’ guides, templates, links and downloads to make your job as easy as it possibly can be! And the best part is… it’s all free!
Branded products are not just the domain of the big charities these days. Smaller runs of products can be customised at affordable prices to reflect your school or club’s branding or event. It can be a very successful fundraiser as well as a way to connect with your supporters.
Who can help you:
Source Direct: Custom label bottled water to make a lasting impression. Every body needs water! Excellent fundraiser. Australia wide. 100% + profit margin in most cases.
www.sourcedirect.net.au | info@sourcedirect.net.au | 1300 447 957
LogoMe: LogoMe will show you how to fundraise for maximum profit with no upfront money required, while building your organisations brand & profile with personalised products. Proven to work!
www.simplefundraising.com.au | ian@simplefundraising.com.au | (02) 4905 0247
Engraved bricks and pavers are a personal favourite of mine – I’m a sucker for symbols. They are perfect fundraisers for building campaigns or events celebrating milestones. No building project should be taken on without looking first at whether you can enrich the project with engraved bricks, pavers and murals. A great fundraising opportunity as well as a meaningful way of connecting communities.
Who can help you:
Signature Engraving: Provide permanent recognition of donors who support your next fundraiser with engraved bricks and pavers. No upfront cost, no risk, no minimum order. Proven Australia wide.
www.signature-engraving.com.au | engraving@signature-engraving.com.au | 1800 074 289
Design a Brick: At Design a Brick, we’re all about supporting your community. Our quality range of long lasting engraved brick and paver products are designed to support your fundraising needs, and also provide a permanent symbol of gratitude to all who partake in contributing to local fundraising initiatives.
www.designabrick.com.au | sales@designabrick.com.au | 1300 652 541
Cookbooks are often seen on best seller lists, so why not create your own best seller for your school or club? It’s easy to publish your own cookbook, complete with high quality printing and a professional finish and photos.
Who can help you:
Published Authors: Helping schools and other groups professionally publish their own premium quality cookbooks. Our new approach is so simple and eliminates most of the work usually needed to create a cookbook. Prices from just $6 per cookbook and no upfront costs.
www.publishedauthors.com.au | info@publishedauthors.com.au | 0402 743 558
Portrait photography is a great way to provide families with an opportunity to create beautiful family photos at discounted prices, whilst at the same time generating profits for your school or club.
Who can help you:
Vision Portraits: Providing Schools, Preschools, Kindergartens, Child Care and other organisations the opportunity to raise funds with successful family portrait fundraising programs for over 15 years helping raise over $2m!
www.visionportraits.com.au | info@visionportraits.com.au |1800 067 714
Mothers (and Fathers) Day Stalls have become staples in school fundraising, and another of those amazing win-win-win fundraisers. Schools raise money, kids get so excited about choosing their own gift, and parents win because the price point of the gifts are so affordable!
Who can help you
Mothers Day Stall: The Mothers Day Stall is a great fundraising opportunity for your school. We have a range of cool, funky, quality gifts that Mum will just love!
www.mothersdaystall.com.au | sales@mothersdaystall.com.au | 1300 533 944
A classic fundraiser and not just for fetes! Try a showbag drive timed around your local Show Day! Also, check out the low-priced novelties to use as token incentive prizes for all of your fundraising drives, sideshow games and trivia nights.
Who can help you
Mr Showbags: Mr Showbags has been delighting children throughout the country for ten years now with Australia’s original and best showbags.
www.mrshowbags.com.au | sales@mrshowbags.com.au |1300 677 469
Showbags.com.au: Showbags.com.au has the hottest and largest range of Showbags, Novelty items and lucky dips for your school, sporting club or fundraising event.
www.showbags.com.au | sales@bensonstrading.com.au | (03) 9369 9929
A movie night is a fantastic way to bring your community together and raise funds at the same time and often times you’ll attract support from friends of your community as well. You can hire a cinema, earn profits from the sale of movie tickets or even set up an outdoor movie theatre for a night time fundraising event.
Who can help you
Roadshow Public Performance Licensing: Roadshow PPL is your one-stop-shop for all your movie fundraising enquiries.
www.roadshowppl.com.au | publicperformance@roadshow.com.au | (02) 9552 8685
Pretty much everyone has a handful of 5 cent pieces just hanging around at home. Why not give those lonely coins a purpose and run a 5 cent drive at your school. Each class competes to see who can raise the most and the drive can run anywhere from a couple of weeks to a whole term. Reward the winning class with a pizza party or whatever you think will tickle their fancy. Your best results will come from making your cause known – whether it be upgrading technology or purchasing playground equipment – if people know what they are contributing to, they are more likely to participate. If you want to boost your results, don’t limit your request to 5 cent pieces and call it a “Loose change challenge”.
Beautiful hand crafted cards make for a treasured gift and these fundraising drives are very popular across a range of groups including child care centres, kindergartens, primary schools and at Scout groups and Girl Guide groups. Suppliers offer a range of assorted cards including all occasions, birthdays and Christmas and these can be bundled with wrapping paper and tags for a complete package. Orders and payments are taken upfront alleviating the need to chase money for orders then all you need to do is deliver the products when it arrives.
Who can help you
Make Cents Fundraising: Hand-crafted greeting cards and gift bags – request your free sample cards today and read what others have to say about fundraising with us.
www.makecentsfundraising.com.au | maria@makecentsfundraising.com.au | 0402 553 569
Tea Towel fundraisers provide an excellent opportunity to get the kids involved and are actually not just limited to tea towels. Suppliers will often have the option of customising canvas bags or aprons as well and any of these products produce wonderful gifts that are not only practical but a keepsake for parents. These fundraisers can be run at any time of the year and used to commemorate school, club or community group special anniversaries or events.
Who can help you
Expressions: Create quality tea towels, bags or aprons printed with your group’s own artwork, drawings or handprints. Expressions’ fundraisers are a proven success. Everything you need is provided with no upfront costs.
www.expressions.com.au | info@expressions.com.au | 1300 855 509
Finding sponsors can be key to help you reach your fundraising goals by filling the gaps and sharing the costs of an event. It can be challenging but if you’re successful it can make a big difference to your end result. Sponsorship is an ideal opportunity for local businesses to promote themselves to an audience that they may not have otherwise reached or indeed their target audience. There are many way to find sponsors: grants are available through many avenues and amounts will vary depending on the source, good old door to door visits – this can be a particularly useful method if you have the time and it can be harder for them to say when they’re face to face, emailing a sponsorship proposal is much more time efficient but you will need to follow up, advertise for sponsors in your own newsletters or social media – you may be surprised at the resources you can find in your own backyard.
Who can help you
Sponsorboard: Sponsorboard provides a simple program to connect Australian schools, groups, clubs with sponsorship from local businesses to provide an important source of fundraising revenue. A win for volunteers.
www.sponsorboard.com.au | info@sponsorboard.com.au | 0418 97 67 97
An ever increasing range of products are available for drives, from the popular chocolate drive to biscuits and beyond! With reputable suppliers who have been in the fundraising game long term, the choice is huge and you can be rewarded with great profits.
Who can help you
Chocolate Fundraiser: Kit Kat, Smarties and Bertie Beetles – Australia’s favourite brands of chocolate in easy-to-sell, brightly designed carry boxes. Get in touch to find out how we can help you raise money!
www.chocolatefundraiser.com.au | sales@chocolatefundraiser.com.au | 1300 139 580
Sipahh Straws: Sipahh Fundraising Ventures is a dedicated programme designed to help kids, clubs and schools raise money for their causes through the sale of Sipahh Milk Flavouring Straws. We have two different options available for your Fundraising initiative.
www.sipahhstore.com.au | enquiries@sipahhstore.com.au | (02) 9336 7788
Heather Brae Shortbreads: Heather Brae Shortbreads a Master Baker since 1941 in Thomastown, Vic. Fantastic Fundraising ideas to offer including Supa Slice & Bakery Treats Drive, Supa Cookie Carrypack $20 profit and Christmas Fare Drive.
www.heatherbraeshortbreads.com.au | fundraising@heatherbraeshortbreads.com.au | 1300 191 491
Raffles are the ‘go to’ for fundraising. They are easy to run and can either be run on their own or incorporated into just about any other fundraising event as an add on fundraiser. People are usually happy to shell out a few dollars on raffle tickets to support a good cause. The key to a successful raffle is to sell your tickets as far and wide as possible. It also helps to have a great prize (hopefully a donated one!). Put a flyer together with a photo or description of the prize so that people can see what they are in the running for and away you go! Advertise your raffle tickets in newsletters, community notice boards and social media to increase your reach. There are also online providers who can run your raffle for you if you don’t have the time or the volunteers. You can also design and print your own tickets online to personalise them to your needs.
Raffles are classified by all Australian States and Territories as ‘gaming’ and, alongside casinos and licensed clubs, raffles are subject to regulation designed to protect the consumer, and the people conducting the gaming. Before you run a raffle it’s of the utmost importance that you check your state’s regulatory body raffle rules to avoid accidentally breaking any gaming laws. Check them here.
Who can help you
Ticketmaker: Design your own tickets and print them on our pre-perforated A4 paper! Professional-looking tickets are now easy and affordable with TicketMaker paper and ticket design tools.
www.ticketmaker.com.au | | 1300 769 745
All sorts of organisations have ‘dress down day’, ‘free dress day’, ‘mufty day’, or ‘casual Friday’. There a staple fundraiser purely because all the organisers have to do is make sure they get their message out before the day, and remember to collect the money.
There are heaps of variations on the usual idea of paying to come in your clothes of choice. Add a theme e.g. Book Character during Book Week or race goer on Melbourne Cup Day or link free dress day to the lead-up of school fete preparations and ask children to bring a specific item needed for the fete (such as can of drink or cake mix) in exchange for free dress. This is a great way to increase your fete donations!
Workplaces have adopted the dress down day as a charity fundraiser, wearing jeans or a colour or pyjamas, according to charity theming. Some schools also run free dress days to support a charity or cause that they are passionate about and it’s a great life lesson to teach our kids to give back when they can. Get the students involved by asking the student council to nominate their cause for the donations to go to.
Discos can be a big source of revenue for any school. For primary schools it is generally best to run two discos – one for the junior school early in the evening, followed by one for higher grades. Charge a reasonable entry fee and make extra money from ancillary sales – glow sticks and LED products, soft drinks or bottled water and some food. High school audiences can be more demanding: get the student leaders involved in planning a theme or music. Parent volunteers are always needed for refreshments, cloak room and security. As a general rule, children do not leave the hall during the disco and must be collected by an adult. You can download our ‘How to Organise a Disco Fundraiser’ here.
Who can help you
Glowstuff: Glow Stuff – the school fundraising specialists. For fetes, concerts, fairs, discos or fundraising! Check out the pop-op shops we provide to make things easy for you!
www.glowstuff.com.au | sales@glowstuff.com.au | 1800 773 893
Every house, car and office needs a small first aid kit: make such a practical item the focus of a product-drive for you school or community group. Take orders or gauge interest before making a bulk purchase. Consider selling first aid kits at your next fete or festival, running the stall in cooperation with your local ambulance service.
If a whole first aid kit might not work for your group, then sticky plasters might be the answer. Selling boxes of plasters is a not only a practical way to raise funds but this fundraiser could work with any demographic and any type of group.
Who can help you
Disaster Plaster: Disaster Plasters provide sticking plasters to sell in handy carry-packs. They are an easy to sell, everyday product for fundraising. They are great quality and cost less than leading supermarket plaster brands. 100% of the profit from a fundraising campaign goes directly back to your school.
www.schoolaid.com.au | info@schoolaid.com.au | 02 9098 5978
Sausages sizzles are extremely popular as fundraisers and it doesn’t matter what the time of year, you can’t go past a sausage and onion on bread. They are also extremely versatile – whether it be for a school function, sports day, school disco, game day at your local sports club or even a Bunnings community BBQ. They are relatively low cost, easy to run and can be quite profitable.
Make sure you have currently public liability and familiarise yourself with Safe Food Handling regulations. Try combining your sausage sizzle with add on fundraisers such as a raffle, cake/bake sale and/or a coffee cart to boost your revenue.
The Art Show is an increasingly popular fundraiser – where an entire class will create a combined work of art to auction off at a fete or other fundraising function.
It is a great idea to have good quality photos of the art taken also – they can be turned into other products such as gift cards to be ordered at the event to maximise your fundraising and also the enjoyment of participating families.
Who can help you
Crazy Camel: Personalised Calendars and Family Planners, Greeting Cards, iPhone Cases, Notebooks, Diaries, Sketch Pads, Pillowcases and Tea Towels using children’s artwork made into a high quality products that will be cherished for years to come. Photos can also be used.
www.crazycamel.com.au | sales@crazycamel.com.au | 1800 141 239
Give your members, their families and friends the chance to replenish their cellars while boosting your organisation’s fundraising. Some companies specialise in selling wine to community groups with a system to make the wine drive very manageable. Some groups customise their wine, labelling cleanskins. Fundraisers usually receive a percentage of sales or retain the difference between cost and sale price. Wine drives sell well when combined with special occasions such as a school, club or parish anniversary or in support of a new project.
As an alternative, organise a wine club within your group to get great discounts on the wines you were already buying.
Who can help you
Wine Experience: The Wine Experience team takes the hard work out of your fundraising objectives and for a minimal amount of organisation, can help your group achieve outstanding fundraising objectives.
www.wineexperience.com.au | sales@wineexperience.com.au | 1300 554 435
Kids love to get draw and paint and what better way to get them involved in your groups fundraising and encourage sales to parents and loved ones than to put their artwork on a practical melamine plate. All art materials are supplied and you can even have your logo pre-printed on the plates. Some suppliers offer add on products such as mugs, phone cases, calendars and water bottles to increase your profits.
As children’s artwork make excellent gifts, plan product drive fundraisers ahead of Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or Christmas to maximise sales. These fundraisers work particularly well for Kindergartens and primary schools.
Who can help you
Pictureproducts: Turning nearly 3 million children’s drawings and photos into melamine Pictureplates since 1977, kids and parents love a Pictureproducts fundraiser. Wide range of add-on products available to maximise your profits.
www.pictureproducts.com.au | info@pictureproducts.com.au | 1300 130 574
A trivia night can put the ‘fun’ into fundraising. It’s a great excuse to get your community together, have some laughs and raise those all important funds. You can opt for a themed night, for example, 80’s trivia questions only with the option of fancy dress and best dressed prizes. Themes are only limited by your imagination but of course they are not essential. Having a great MC makes for a great night. Sponsorship and prize donations will increase your profits so make sure you ask! Run raffles through the night and have a selection of games that people can pay to participate in – lucky squares, coin toss, head and tails, handbag scavenger hunt, balloon relays, who am I? and the list goes on.
‘Cheating’ can be a very profitable and fun activity for trivia nights, if presented in the right way. Cheating involves being able to ‘buy’ correct answers or certain advantages in activities throughout the evening. The ability to ‘cheat’ needs to be declared (and promoted!) up front. Everyone needs to fully understand the rules and how they can participate.
Plant stalls at fetes have been perennial favourite, and if you have an eager green thumb in your community who is happy to prepare for many months, then you have yourselves a drawcard. Fundraising suppliers now offer products such as growing kits for herbs, flowers and fruit.
Who can help you
Living Fundraisers: Living Fundraisers’ popular organic vegetable seeds and herb growing kits make it easy and fun to grow veggies and herbs. Also available: Birthday, Greeting & Christmas cards; healthy snack foods. 40% profit. Request a FREE info kit and product samples now
www.livingfundraisers.com.au | info@livingfundraisers.com.au | 1300 848 993
Cake stalls or bake sales are a ‘must have’ for fetes or fairs and they can generate surprisingly large profits. They are low cost and easy to run and set up. All you need is the generous donations from your community of cakes, muffins, biscuits, slices, chocolate crackles and so on. Use the time of year to your advantage – Easter, Halloween, Christmas – and include items that incorporate your theme.
Cake stalls appeal to a wide audience particularly if you have plenty of variety and you can combine your cake stall with a sausage sizzle or coffee cart to draw more people in. Make sure that your audience know what you are raising money for by creating signs as well as talking to your customers – they are more likely to buy when they have a reason.
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