(NAPSI)-Picture this: Raising funds can be easier than you imagine if you follow a few tips. Here’s some new school fundraising ideas and creative tips that are sugar-free and don’t require door-to-door sales.
1. Turn existing purchases into a fundraiser
Picateers is a company that turns school Picture Day into a fundraiser. Parents spend $2 billion on school pictures every year–and virtually none of that money goes to the schools. Picateers is changing that. Picateers gives 50 percent of every dollar spent on portraits back to schools. Picateers is able to give cash back because they train a volunteer mom to take the pictures. She snaps the pictures with her digital SLR camera and Picateers does the rest. It’s minimal effort–an elementary school can raise thousands with only two volunteers for a day. Parents love it because they can help their school by simply purchasing their child’s pictures.
2. Get healthy with a Walk-a-thon
With a Walk-a-thon, children have a blast walking to raise money for their school. It’s easy to set up. Children bring home sponsor sheets for parents and family members to pledge either a fixed donation or one that depends on the distance the child walks. Children feel a sense of accomplishment in completing the Walk-a-thon to help their school.
3. Try a fundraiser that delivers all year
eScrip is a company that works with retailers like clothing, electronics and grocery stores to give a percentage of parents’ purchases back to schools. This fundraiser requires minimal effort. A coordinator at a school sends home a sheet for parents to complete, registering their credit and debit cards. Then, when parents shop at participating merchants or buy products on the eScrip Web site using their registered cards, their school earns money throughout the year.
4. Focus on learning
A great fundraiser that supports learning is a Read-a-thon. Typically, parents and family members pledge either a fixed donation or a flexible donation depending on the number of minutes the students read during a two-week period.
Children bring home pledge sheets and start reading. A way to make it even more fun is to ask local merchants to donate prizes for the students who read the most or have a special prize for the entire class that reads the most.
These easy school fundraising ideas mean no more staying up late to bake for bake sales or bothering your neighbors for donations. They can put the “fun” back into fundraising and provide a great return for your school.
Fundraising can be a snap if parent volunteers use digital cameras to capture images for school picture day.
This posting is sponsored by the CookbookFundraiser.com which helps schools, churches, community groups and other groups create community cookbooks that are easy to make and earn money for your organization.