Ideas for PTFA fundraising

hilstep2000

We run quite a few race nights. really good income because you sell horses and races before the night too, so even if they don't come, you've got the money! Also get each class to make up a box. Cardboard boxes decorated. Make a "Baby box" with bibs, talc, baby shampoo etc. A "gardening Box" a "DIY box", you get the idea! Each child brings in something for their class box, then you auction the boxes off to the parents. Works really well!

henhog

Hi, I work at a secondary school where the PTA raise loads of money and we are all so grateful. My main tips are;
Include alcohol if at all possible (but perhaps not the sort teenagers like!) - after a few Irish coffees at the Christmas fete or Pimms at the summer fete parents are far more inclined to part with their money!
Have a 'bottle' tombola at each fete - ask each child (or parent) to bring in one alcoholic bottle each in turn their child gets to take part in a MUFTI day. This is brilliant - 1000 kids - 1000 bottle of wine, spirits etc and a tombola that people are queing up to have a go on.
Do a quiz night early in the Autumn term and stress you want parents of the new year seven to attend and then make them feel welcome when they do.
When you have your first PTA meeting of the Autumn term make sure that all the old hands know to talk to any new parents and make them feel welcome and wanted.
Ask the Head to nominate one teacher to be PTA liaison person - they will probably know just the person who will enjoy going to the PTA functions but will also be great for getting the other teachers involved with the PTA events.
My last suggestion is to have school fetes on a Sunday - we noticed a marked improvement in turn out when we switched. sometimes people are looking for things to do on a Sunday whereas on a Saturday they are too busy!
HTH, Henhog

filigree_2

Don't get me started on PTA cliques! I was the Chair and Treasurer and I got thoroughly fed up with the lot of them and resigned. I still baked cakes, sold raffle tickets etc (more than 95% of parents did) but I bowed out of the organising. This summer's "fayre" simply didn't happen - the teachers organised all the entertainment and the head paid the ancillary staff to sell food and drink. Half the so-called PTA didn't even bother to turn up!

We have had a few successful fundraising ventures though. The best was Red Nose Day which was actually organised by a teacher for the benefit of Comic Relief. The children all paid £1 to dress in mufti for the day, they got their noses painted red for 5p a shot and there was a mini-disco just after school where we sold pop and crisps for a few pence profit. I think that was successful because Red Nose Day already gets a lot of publicity and the school didn't have to promote it.

Something else that worked well was to hook up with local estate agents. It's very popular round here and lots of schools get sponsorship. The deal is that the parents offer to have a fake "For Sale" sign outside the house advertising the school's Xmas fayre, for which they pay £25 per sign. The agents get publicity and the school gets money for very little effort.

One fundraising idea bombed and I wouldn't recommend it (I vetoed it at the time). We got the children to draw little pictures of themselves which were printed onto teatowels at a cost of £1.67 per tea towel, which we then attempted to sell for £3.00. After the initial enthusiasm very few were sold, and of course with each passing year the towels are out of date because children leave. We didn't sell enough to even cover the outlay, never mind raise funds. If anyone wants to sell school merchandise like mugs or baseball caps, use a design that doesn't go out of date!

This isn't an issue at my son's high school as there isn't a PTA - the school has tried to organise something several times with no success. I won't be volunteering either :rolleyes:

jellyhead

getting people to man the stalls is a problem. we can only have all the games stalls we've planned if there are enough people to man all the usual stalls. it's always the same people doing it each year and nobody else wants to bother, luckily this time around there are enthusiastic new members whose children just started in reception. we printed a pta newletter and invited everyone, especially anyone who hadn't been before, to come to the meeting, made them feel that they'd be made welcome, it seemed to work.

italiastar

applecharlotte wrote:

Hi all.

And they say the kids are too old to go to an "uncool" school disco,

Having been involved in PTS for a few years, I can confirm that the Disco's were the most popular and well attended functions that we ran. Who's saying that they're uncool - the PTA? if so it's time for them to go and bring in new blood - trust me I've been there - I came in full of ideas and was shot down with comments like this - near the end I was the one saying "we've tried that before and it didn't work" - when you get to that stage it's time to move on and hand over to new people. Good luck - it's sometimes very frustrating, but equally very rewarding.

Savvy_Sue

henhog wrote:

Have a 'bottle' tombola at each fete - ask each child (or parent) to bring in one alcoholic bottle each in turn their child gets to take part in a MUFTI day. This is brilliant - 1000 kids - 1000 bottle of wine, spirits etc and a tombola that people are queing up to have a go on.

No quibbles with any of your other suggestions but I personally can see problems with this one: yes I know it will make for a popular stall but it's unfair on the children whose parents are anti-alcohol (for religious or cultural reasons, or even because they are recovering alcoholics!) Also can all parents trust their children to deliver said bottle to school and not imbibe on the way? I know you said the parents could bring the bottle in, but that's really difficult for some parents.

If the kids get a mufti day out of it, you have to allow any kind of bottle, IMO - squash, juice etc. And you need to know your parent group quite well before being sure this will work.

henhog

Yes - point taken. You could say that other bottles would be OK or alternative gifts for other stalls if parents have any objections. We do this and it works well for us, but I can see that it wouldn't work in every school due to religious or other beliefs / reasons.

Becles

We had a bottle stall but it included anything in a bottle!

There was alcohol, but there were also bottles of bubble bath, sauces etc. I won a bottle of olive oil :rolleyes:

Poppy9

My DD primary is Catholic and the bottle stall is the most popular .

On our bring a bottle day the kids can take in anything in a bottle so you might win some ketchup, shampoo, pop etc. My DD usually goes to school by bus but I don't like her carrying a glass bottle on the bus so she gets a bottle of body lotion or such like to take. I then try to remember to take a bottle of plonk when I'm down the school.

Our summer fete always on a Sunday with a BBQ.

nearlyrich

Both my children's secondary schools PTA's had a 100 club.

If you don't know what that is here goes....

You need 100 members paying an agreed sum of £ x per month by standing order and make sure it's gift-aided for maximum contribution. Each month there is a draw for a % of the takings with a further % accumulating for a grand christmas draw. 100 members giving £5 per month is £6000 per year ( without the taxman's contribution).

If you offer a prize of £75 per month with a 13th draw for £ 1000 you will make £4100 for very little effort.

If you are over subscribed you can run 2 100 clubs or call it a 200 club... twice the dosh!

Check if you need a lottery licence, I can't remember whether you need one but your local authority will be able to advise.

Good luck.