Many school fundraisers rely on old yet dependable ideas for school fundraising mainly because they are scared that anything out of the box might fail. These classic school fundraising ideas include cookie dough fundraisers, car wash fundraisers, candy bar fundraisers, and the garage sale fundraisers. Of course, these activities work and are efficient ways to collect money. However, a number of these old ideas can also be considered stale. For example, many donors and organizers think that the cookie dough fundraiser is no longer as effective as it was since it is so used-up. And using stale school fundraising ideas could be the cause of its failure.



This is why it is important to use new school fundraising ideas once in a while. Using new ideas can invigorate both the volunteers and the donors. It can attract attention due to its creative nature. After all, people are naturally attracted to activities that are new and novel – as long as they are interesting and worthwhile.

Using scrip as a fundraising method is one of the new ways to collect funds. Scrip is a substitute to money, a form of credit. It is like a gift certificate that can be used as payment for services and products from certain merchants and sellers. The school fundraising organizers buy scrip, and then sell it to the donors. The merchants will give a certain percentage of sales from the transactions where the scrip was used. This type of fundraiser is innovative since it can be done for a prolonged period of time. It is also a less aggressive way to collect funds since they work like cash – the donors are not spending money on products they had no intention of buying; instead, they are merely exchanging their cash for credit.

Discount Cards

A similar form of school fundraising activity is the selling of discount cards. The donors buy the discount cards which are accepted in a particular establishment. The card will serve as a discount coupon. Just like the scrip, this is interesting because the donor will not only help a particular cause with the purchase of the discount card since they can save money in the long with the use of the product. This type of school fundraiser also saves money and time on production and effort since the organizers merely have to create a deal with merchants and companies. The transaction with the companies takes time, but the benefits are bountiful.

Using Traditional Ideas Right

Benefit dinners and concerts are not at all new school fundraising ideas, but they can be innovative and efficient if done properly. Organizers can charge a hefty price for the benefit dinner as long as they do it in a presentable way. The quality has to somehow match the price. School fundraising organizers can also ask well known singers and artists to perform free of charge, or for a minimum fee, in order to collect considerable money from the endeavor. Again, this endeavor might take time to accomplish, but it collects a large sum of money if it becomes successful.