In the heart of every community, schools serve as a place of learning, growth, and community. However, schools are struggling financially and sometimes additional funding becomes a necessity.

That's where parents, families, and the wider community can step in to help. Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) are vital to any school and are always planning and working hard to fundraise.

Here, we explore some top money-making PTA fundraising events for you, ensuring your next event not only brings the community together but also raises funds for your school.

Bake Sale Extravaganza: A classic for a reason, bake sales are easy to organise, universally loved, and can be incredibly profitable. You can run bake sales in many different ways: have a class rota, termly bake sales, cake stands at your bigger fundraising events.

A big hit at one school was Christmas pudding sales. Find a supplier to work with, confirm a commission price per pudding and then get your parents to pre order their Christmas puddings. When  Christmas draws near, you get your puddings delivered and distributed to your parents. A nice little festive fundraiser.

Checklist:

• Decide what bake sales you want to run over the course of the year and schedule them into your events calendar.
• Secure a venue for your sale
• Gather volunteer bakers and sellers
• Advertise to your school community via parent mail, Whatsapp groups and social media for your bigger events so you can let your wider community know.
• Finally don’t forget your cash box, float and cashless payment readers!

School Summer Fete: This is usually the biggest PTA event of the year. See our blog here for Summer Fete inspiration. Bring the fun of the fair to your school grounds. With games, rides, and food stalls, a carnival can attract large crowds.

Checklist:

• Get planning ahead of time. In my experience, the earlier the better for planning is key to success.
• Source your external sponsors early. Speak with local businesses to see if they will support your event. Estate Agents are a good starting point.
• Book your big attractions in advance as availability will dwindle the closer you get to June and July.
• Get your planning committee together ASAP. A core group of volunteers that will drive the event will help reduce stress
• Recruiting volunteers so you have enough man power on the day. We love volunteer Sign up! It is really easy to use to track how many volunteers have signed up. You can also see how many slots are left to fill and it can be shared in your class Whatsapp groups.
• Decide on how you are going to handle cash on the day and get this planned out in advance as this is a huge part of the on the day organisation. Many PTAs are now moving to cashless card readers and a token system for their events so that there is less cash floating around on the day.

Silent Auction: Gather donations from local businesses and host a silent auction. This can be a standalone event or part of a larger gathering. There are great websites out there to help facilitate the auction such as Gala Bid. There is a bit of leg work involved in getting donations but it is a great fundraising event.

Checklist:

• Secure donations
• Catalogue your items on the auction site
• Set up bidding price
• Promote to the community.
• Have your prizes ready to collect from a designated place once the auction is over.

Colour Run/ Fun Run/Walk-a-Thon: A fun filled and active fundraising event. A colour run is becoming increasingly popular and a great and messy fun event to plan. Check out this step by step guide by ministry of colour here.

Checklist:

• Plan the route
• Secure permissions and any permits you may need
• Ensure your risk assessment covers every aspect of the event
• Create sponsorship cards for participants, you can also look at using online platforms like Gift Aid for a PTA fundraising page
• Secure your first aid stand and first aiders for the event

Festive Events: Seasonal crafts, foods, and activities can draw a big crowd. Think Christmas markets, Fireworks night, Halloween trails or Easter egg treasure hunts. A winter fair is another big fundraising event to add to your calendar. Discuss with your PTA team what events you can fit into your events calendar as these events take time to plan and organise.

Ice Lolly Sales: Similar to the bake sales but one saved for the Summer term. An ice lolly sale on a hot summer day is sure to be a sell out. These can be a bit more impromptu. The key here is to check the forecast each week in the Summer Term, get approval from your head teacher and then pull together a quick pop up ice lolly stand at the end of a school day.

Checklist:

• Check your weather forecast. If the sun is out, get sign off from your head teacher for an ice lolly sale
• The end of the day on a Friday is usually the best day but sometimes you just have to go with the weather.
• Once you have your date confirmed, pull together a quick Ice Lolly poster together on canva to share on your Whatsapp groups and school mail.
• One the day go to your local supermarket and buy your ice lollies (if you have freezer space at your school- stock up the day before)
• Gather volunteers to help you sell your ice lollies
• Finally don’t forget your cash box, float and cashless payment readers!

Arty Gifts: Showcase your children's artwork with an arty gift. These treasured keepsakes are a great gift for friends and family.

There are great companies out there that can reproduce the artwork that is created onto all sorts of products. So if you are looking to make Christmas Cards, Mother's Day Cards, Father's Day cards, key rings, coasters. You name it these companies can pretty much do it.

All my Own Work is one such company that can produce cute artwork that you can give to family and friends. The perfect arts and crafts activity!

This not only raises funds but also promotes student creativity.

Checklist:

• Choose your artwork company
• Select the arty event you want to celebrate
• Ask the school or the parents to help their children create their masterpiece
• Send parents an order form and payment options
• Make a list of all the orders so you can double check these once they arrive
• Send off the artwork to the company by the designated deadline
• Once the artwork is delivered, check off the orders to make sure nothing is missing

Quiz Night: Engage your school and local community in a fun-filled night of trivia. This is a fun school fundraising idea for the grown ups. Make the event exclusive by limiting the number of ticket sales.

Checklist:

• Select your date and time
• Choose a suitable venue for your quiz night
• Sell your exclusive tickets- remind adults to be quick as they will sell out quickly!
• Prepare your quiz questions- You may want to seek out an outgoing parent or compare for the event
• Plan refreshment- if you are planning on selling alcohol then check as you may need a licence to do this.

Organising a successful PTA fundraiser is all about engaging your community, planning effectively, and embracing creativity. These fundraising ideas are sure to help you raise much needed funds for your school.

By choosing the right event for your school, you're well on your way to not just meeting but exceeding your fundraising goals and raising money that is much needed.

The PTA is such an important team within a school community and all that effort and hard work really does pay off. We hope these PTA fundraising ideas help!