So, you’re interested in organising a school trip for your students, but you’ve got a tight budget. Are the costs involved making you, your students’ parents and the school board anxious? Don’t feel disheartened yet. We’ve compiled a list of creative school trip fundraising ideas to help make your next school trip a reality.
Raising money for a school trip not only helps subsidise the cost involved, but it’s also a great way to encourage out of the box creative thinking. Students will build a sense of community, understand the value of money, and work with shared purpose and goals. To be most effective in your fundraising efforts, we recommend adopting a multi-channel approach. This will involve using a few different tactics in your school travel fundraising strategy. We’ve also included a free downloadable sample fundraising calendar to help plan your fundraising schedule.
Here are our top creative fundraising ideas for schools.
Fundraising as an Individual
Before we jump into school-wide activities it’s worthwhile to note the value of fundraising as an individual. Set up a personal fundraising target for students, and help them brainstorm ideas. This is a great opportunity for students to think about their skillset and turn their hobbies into cash! Anything from lawn mowing, dog walking or selling arts and crafts are great ways to raise funds within the community. school fundraiser ideas
Approach local businesses with a captivating sponsorship letter
Reaching out to businesses in your community is a great place to start your multi-channel school trip fundraising campaign. The most personable way to do this is by writing a captivating letter or email describing your trip story to the business owner/manager. You may have to spend some time scouring LinkedIn to find out who to approach! Your email should include the purpose of the trip, why school trips are important to a child’s education, and why you’re approaching them for financial help.
There are two different avenues you can use to approach a business for sponsorship. The first is to request a direct financial donation to help fund your school trip. The second option is to ask the business to donate a product or service that you can on-sell for another activity in your fundraising strategy (such as a Raffle).
The likelihood of a business saying yes goes up tenfold when you can offer them something in return. For example, you could offer to put their business logo on your school trip tee shirts or offer an advertising slot in your next school newsletter or publication.
Organise your own 5km community colour run
The Color Run, also known as the “happiest 5km on the planet”, is a unique paint race that celebrates healthiness, happiness, and individuality.
Organising your own version of The Color Run is a fun and easy way to fundraise for a school trip. The Color Run is a five-kilometre, untimed event. At each kilometre mark, runners are covered from head to toe in a different coloured powder. Participants wear white at the starting line and finish the race plastered in colour.
You may need to apply for a permit if you want to organise the run at a community park, and you will need to figure out how much to charge as an entrance fee ($10 – $15). The rest of the logistics are straight-forward. Students and colleagues can help out as race volunteers. Local businesses may be willing to supply music, food and beverages that will help make the whole day a community event to remember.