Our PTO board attended the PTO Today Expo yesterday and we were impressed with the "That's My Pan" fundraiser. Although we currently do a Fall fundraiser with another organization (candles, some food, wrapping paper and other small items) and are pleased with our results, we feel we may be missing out on sales because our participation is only about 20%. The "Thats My Pan" representative gave us a turn around of 2 weeks, even during busy season.
We were also introduced to Shoe Box Recycling, which seems to be a new concept. The company provides a large box (about 4ft x 2ft), you fill it with worn out shoes, once the box is full you print out a UPS label (the company pays the postage), the box is shipped to the company, they weigh it and the organization gets 50 cents per pound. The shoes are shipped to 3rd world countries. Pretty simple and an easy way to raise additional funds without having the students sell anything. You could even ask the students to ask family/friends/neighbors to help participate.
OUr school uses Innsbrook and has used them for going on 6 years. We make GREAT profits, with hardly ANY volunteers. That gives our PTO time to focus on our big spring fundraiser (a walk a thon/auction), that requires many volunteer hours and a ton of time. Check into it....you do not want to hound your parents to do the little fundraisers (like restaurants, flower sales, bake sales, etc)...they take up too much work and don't bring in enough money.
I have run a student artwork fundraiser for the past two years through a company called Silver Graphics. Student create artwork and SG puts it on products like bags, notebooks, mugs, etc. Great company to work with. Last year we made about $5000 and parents have been checking with me to make sure we are doing it again next year. Worked well in the fall as people buy the items for holiday gifts. Good luck!
We are holding our first Bowlathon Bash this year. It's a school wide event and the families are really excited. We're also modifying our Big 3 Raffle to be a Fabulous 5 Raffle (5 awesome prizes instead of 3). The raffle is a fantastic way for families to raise money for the school within their community of family and friends. We have raised $11,000 last year and hope to raise $20,000 this year.
