Updated July 2024
Here’s a list of 15 fundraising ideas that are great for September. School is in session and we’re all falling for the autumn season! From hosting an apple-picking day or a Parents’ Night out, these ideas are perfect for PTAs and PTOs hoping to achieve big goals this year.Are you looking for more fundraising ideas? Check out our seasonal fundraising articles for ideas no matter the time of year!
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These campaigns encourage parents and volunteers to donate directly to your school group. FutureFund makes it easy to collect money online during the campaign, but you can also include an in-person autumnal event to make your fundraiser more meaningful.
Learn how to run a donation campaign with FutureFund here.
Tip: Use FutureFund’s messaging system to announce the fundraiser and include a link to the online campaign so that people can still donate even if they can’t attend the event.
This is a great opportunity to get students and families involved in a memory-making experience! Give everyone a chance to learn something new such as planting/harvesting fall veggies, why farmers use certain tools over others, or how pumpkins became the symbol of fall.
Donations can be accepted beforehand when they have the opportunity to sign-up for the experience or once they arrive.
Partner with a local orchard to see if they’ll let you set your own pricing per pound in exchange for bringing in a large crowd to the orchard during a certain time frame.
For an extra fundraising opportunity, you can sell apple goodies during the event, like apple cider, candy apples, and apple pies. You can accept direct donations online as well by advertising to guests.
See also: 20 Fall Fundraising Ideas for Your School
Enjoy a special breakfast with everyone’s #1 lady! Provide traditional breakfast items for your community and accept donations for the option of enjoying a mommy/child breakfast before heading off to class. Leave a QR code that directs users to FutureFund’s platform where they can make donations of any denomination.
Make it themed, such as Pop Culture Trivia or Scary Movie Trivia, and collect donations to participate. Everyone loves a trivia night and you can double up on the proceeds by selling spiritwear and a lot of different snacks throughout the event.
Any kind of fundraiser where you sell physical items or event tickets is a purchase campaign. Add each event ticket or item for sale to your school’s online store in FutureFund by creating a specific purchase campaign for it.
Learn how to run a purchase campaign here.
Tip: Always run purchase campaigns alongside physical events like craft sales, since this allows you to make sales 24/7 and lets people make purchases even if they can’t attend the event.
Pick a day during the year to host the students’ grandparents and sell tickets for the event. Set a certain timeframe, for example, from 9 AM until noon, for the students and their grandparents to come in, get some breakfast, take a tour of the student’s classroom and common areas, and have an opportunity to play some games!
Invite the students to come learn about new crafts and make some of their old favorites! You can charge an entry fee and have the patrons exchange cash from booth to booth or sell tickets for your students to trade for the craft activities and items!
Make sure to include a few games with the learning and buying booths and you’ll be in business.
Give the parents a break for the evening! Find some local babysitters who are willing to donate their time to babysit on location, set up a few games and a movie to keep the kids busy until it’s time to head home!
Sell tickets to the event beforehand so preparation is easy and donations can be taken for the correct number of snacks and activities.
Partner with a local vineyard and collect a flat fee donation from your guests. The vineyard can get a cut of the proceeds while gaining brand recognition and word-of-mouth reviews and referrals.
You could even pair this idea to coincide with the Parents’ Night Out option above and really put a dent in the fundraising goals for the year.
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Get StartedUse this opportunity to start pulling together all of the fall staples: hay bales, corn husks, and reaching out to your local corn maze for a special event! Planting the corn maze takes months, if not years of preparation so it’s ok if the Booster Club can’t pull that off themselves from scratch.
See if there are any corn mazes in your community that will partner with the school for a fundraiser and gain mutual benefits from the event.
Show your school spirit by investing in some PTO/PTA-designed t-shirts to wear on game days and spirit days! Once a few designs have been chosen and ordered, the school can then hold a booth at a school sporting event to sell them and sell them through the online store 24/7.
The school can also take orders in advance by sending order forms out ahead of time and then placing the orders for what parents pre-selected and paid for upfront.
This event is pretty customizable. The PTO/PTA can allow each student “model” to showcase their fall fashion best, or event organizers can pair with a local retailer or designer to come in and show their collection to the community. Pre-sell event tickets through FutureFund.
Once the show is over, reserve time for a silent auction allowing people to bid on their favorite design.
There are a few different ways to make this happen. You can either have the PTO plan a school-based farmers market that people can buy tickets to OR you can partner with a local farmers market and sell tickets that can get patrons’ hands on veggies and fruit of their choice.
An “A-Thon” fundraiser is a special kind of pledge campaign you can run in FutureFund. Once you create the campaign for the event, students who sign up to participate each get a link they can use to collect donations from family and friends.
Find step-by-step instructions for successful pledge campaigns here.
Tip: The link you’ll share when you create the campaign is what you’ll use to sign up student participants. When students register to participate, they’ll each get their own unique link that they can use to raise money from members of the school community.
Get your students excited to be back at school with a bike rodeo! Grab a few bales of hay and set up cones for a biking obstacle course. Provide sweet, cooling treats at the end, such as watermelon or popsicles.
Parents can pay their registration fee in advance through FutureFund’s platform and students can collect pledges for completing the course.
Charge an entry fee for a checkers tournament! Set up enough boards so there can be several games going at once. Accept registrants from all over the community, including both teachers and students!
Winner gets a cup, a gift card, bragging rights, or all of the above!
If you’re interested in running a Checkers or Chess-A-Thon learn how to do it here.
Hold this as an event of its own or add food trucks to any event you have planned. The partnership provides funds for both the trucks and the school, as well as creates relationships for future events. All the PTA/PTO will need to provide is enough space for the trucks to park and some outdoor tables and seating!
FutureFund’s messaging system lets you:
Use Purchase campaigns to sell event tickets or physical items (like baked goods, merchandise, or arts and crafts).
Use Donation campaigns to collect money from community members in support of a specific goal or cause (like a trivia night).
FutureFund gives you the ability to generate financial reports for fundraising campaigns in just a few clicks. To do this, navigate to Store and click the Reports tab near the top of your screen. Then choose Campaign Summary from the drop-down menu and click Generate Report.
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Use these five email templates to connect with volunteers for your next school fundraiser. Our team at FutureFund is here to help you manage membership, donors, and community involvement in all your fundraising needs.
Use these five email templates to nurture relationships with your donors by keeping them informed, expressing gratitude, and deepening your connection. Our team at FutureFund is here to help you manage membership, donors, and community involvement in all your fundraising needs.
Run a successful penny war for your K-12 school with FutureFund’s help! This guide contains a list of dates, steps, and tools you can use to make your fundraising event a success.
Use this downloadable email template to gain new sponsors by explaining your goals and how they can help achieve them. Our team at FutureFund is here to help you manage sponsors, donors, and community involvement for all your fundraising initiatives.
Re-establish connection, maintain engagement, and more with this practical guide for re-engaging legacy donors for your PTa. Our team at FutureFund is here to help you understand the value of connecting with past donors and continuing those relationships.
