Creative PTO Fundraising Ideas to Unite the School Community

As the school year gets underway, raising money to get your school some extra resources is a great purpose — and one that many parents and community members will be happy to give to. 

That’s where parent teacher organizations come in, or parent teacher associations, as many still refer to them. 

Events held by PTOs and PTAs are so valuable in raising money for the school year. With all the possible events to hold, what are some of the best when it comes to PTO fundraising ideas? 

Tiltify Personal has done the hard work. With our experience, we have researched the best parent teacher association fundraising ideas. These ideas range from traditional fundraisers to some innovative ones. 

Let’s enter the world of PTO fundraisers! 

4 Innovative PTA Ideas 

Bake sales are great and have shown to be tried and true PTA ideas for elementary schools or high school PTO fundraising ideas.  

But why not try new and creative ways of raising money? 

Tiltify Personal Crowdfunding 

Tiltify Personal is a crowdfunding platform allowing individuals to raise funds for yourself, your students, or your PTO school community in a whole new way.  

You can rally support for those who need it most. 

Here are just some other perks of Tiltify Personal: 

• Keep your audience informed, incentivized, and committed as you work towards your PTA fundraising goals. 
• Schedule an activity when you reach subgoals.  
• Set milestones and targets to break your main goal into subgoals, engaging and motivating your community. 
• Reward contributors with merch.  
• Share rewards to encourage people in your local community and online to give.  
• Launch polls to allow contributors to vote with their funds. 

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Community Tour 

For school fundraising ideas, this one is cost-effective and great for local businesses like local restaurants. You can do a fall festival theme or a Christmas holiday theme.  

You can recruit volunteers to host stops in the tour and create a route for participants to follow. You can do the best Christmas home decoration theme and have people walk through the different homes to judge. 

You can sell route maps, tickets (entrance fees or participation fees), and concessions or refreshments.  

You can add local restaurants and businesses to the route, and it’s a great way to promote these places. 

Text-To-Give Campaign 

For the busy parent or to cast a wider net, text-to-give campaigns are effective PTA fundraisers.  

Letting contributors and your local community text you a donation is an extremely effective fundraising method. 

You just need a text-to-give platform that assigns you a phone number to send texts with. Contributors can also text the specified number to submit contributions. 

Learning Sessions 

These are great for online or in-person and are really budget-friendly. If you have family friends who are skilled in yoga, pilates, or carpentry, you can ask them to volunteer to teach a class online or in person.  

You can enlist the local restaurants here, too, asking for the chef to teach a cooking class online or in person. 

Charge a participation fee, pre-meal kits, or even sell merchandise for the workout class as ways to raise funds. 

Use Tiltify Personal to set up a campaign fundraiser page to reach a broader audience. Livestream your event or pre-record these sessions and add them to your fundraising page to garner more interest. 

6 Traditional PTO Fundraising Ideas 

There are so many awesome traditional fundraising ideas to help parent teacher organizations or parent teacher associations to raise funds for their purpose. 

Tiltify Personal has listed a few of our favorites. 

Book Sale 

Whether it’s a regular new book sale or a used book sale, book sales in general are effective. 

You can collect new books from family, friends, and other members of the PTO, or if you’re doing a used book sale, collect gently used books from parents, teachers, and students to be sold at the event. 

Set up tables or booths at school or a community location and invite people to shop while supporting your school. 

Bake Sales 

Maybe a brownie gets you or a chocolate chip cookie. It doesn’t matter!  

The bake sale is the most well-known fundraiser for elementary schools and even high schools. 

You can ask family members, friends, other parents, teachers, and even students to bring in baked goods to reach your fundraising goals for the PTA.  

Movie Night 

Movie night is a great way to catch up on the latest Hollywood blockbuster and to raise funds for your PTA or PTO. 

Choose a popular, family-friendly movie and show it at your school’s auditorium or outdoors if the weather permits. You can also offer an online movie night option to drum up more funds and reach a wider audience. 

Use Tiltify Personal to start a campaign to share your movie night fundraising event. Don’t forget to share on social media to reach a broader audience.  

Game Night 

Whether it’s trivia or board games, game night is a great way to rally support for your school’s purpose. 

Game night ideas: 

• Trivia 
• Board game tournament 
• Video game tournament 
• Obstacle course 
• Brain Teasers 

You can charge an entry fee or participation fee, tickets for those who want to come and watch, and concessions/refreshments. 

You can also make a friendly competition by offering a chance to win a few different prizes. 

Talent Show 

Another great in-person or online PTA fundraising idea is a talent show. 

Offer tryouts to showcase your school’s talented students. 

Skills to look for: 

• Singers 
• Comedians 
• Dancers 
• Poetry readers 
• Musicians 

This is another great way to involve your local community to show your school spirit and raise funds. 

You can charge entry fees for the event as well as snacks and drinks. 

Walk A Thon 

A walk a thon is a  fun and active way to raise funds for your PTA or PTO. 

Students, teachers, parents, and even the local community can participate in this event, walking a predetermined route or distance to raise money for school purposes. 

Participants can collect pledges from family and friends based on the distance they plan to walk, generating gifts to support the PTA or PTO’s school programs and initiatives. 

6 Fabulous Fundraising Events for PTO or PTA 

Dinner Galas 

You can offer a casual dinner gala or a formal gala to help raise funds for your PTO or PTA.  

Themed galas are a great way to spruce up a regular dinner gala, like these: 

• Hollywood glamor 
• Retro video game night 
• Under the stars 

You can combine different fundraising ideas with your dinner gala, such as hosting an auction. 

You can garner community support by having local restaurants cater your event or by gathering tickets, services, or products donated by local businesses to sell during your auction.  

Auction items ideas: 

• Dinner for two 
• Cooking classes 
• Spa package 
• Student paintings 

Around the World 

An Around the World event raises funds for your parent teacher association and is a fantastic fundraising idea to showcase the different ethnicities and diversity in your community. 

Take guests on a culinary journey by offering a variety of international cuisines, cultural performances, and themed decorations representing different countries and regions. 

Charge your gifters an entry fee to access the event. 

Auction 

Whether a silent auction or a regular auction, this is a great way to rally community support and raise money for your PTO or PTA. 

There are many different types of auctions you can have, like: 

• Experiences 
• Art 
• Sports Memorabilia 
• Dining 
• Services 
• Fashion 

You can reach out to your local community to offer experiences like a gourmet cooking class, a VIP concert package, or a behind-the-scenes tour of a museum. You can also collaborate with local restaurants and chefs to offer exclusive dining experiences like private chef dinners or tasting menus. 

Masquerade Ball 

Who doesn’t love the allure of masks and fancy black-tie events? A masquerade ball is a great way to raise funds for your PTO or PTA. 

You can create an enchanting atmosphere, have people bring masks, or provide one at the door for a small fee. Participants can wear elaborate costumes, and the venue can be designed and decorated in a Venetian-inspired theme.   

You can also charge entry fee tickets and add a silent auction to have participants contribute more to your school’s purpose. 

School Carnival 

School carnivals take a bit more planning and budgeting, but they are great for PTO or PTA fundraising ideas that raise funds while providing a fun day for the school and the community. 

You can offer a variety of games: 

• Cornhole 
• Apple bobbing 
• Tug-a-war 
• Stepping stones 

You can also offer carnival rides, fair foods, and food stalls, making it an excellent event for all ages. 

Depending on the ages of the attendees, you can offer: 

• Face painting 
• Dunk tank 
• Pie-a-person 
• Bouncey house 

Theater Play 

For all the creatives and designers in the school, throwing a play is an excellent PTA or PTO fundraising idea to embody the whole school. 

Organize a school play with your school’s theater club. Or have one of the classes organize the play and have the students audition for roles. 

You can use the other clubs to help with the play: 

• Design club makes the flyers and promotional social media posts, and the set designs 
• Knitting club to help with costume layouts and creation 
• Film club to create promo video 
• Photography club to take photos for BTS on social media and snap photos for posters 

6 Easy PTA Fundraising Ideas 

PTA or PTO Cookoff 

Whether you enjoy making chili or barbecuing, a cookoff is a great way to raise funds for your PTA or PTO. 

You can create different challenges for the participants to complete, like a mystery ingredient or timed challenges. 

You can find local chefs as judges to participate in the cookoff. 

Charge competitors a registration fee and offer tiered ticket packages. 

Combine your cookoff with a raffle or auction to make a greater impact and reach your fundraising goals. 

Raffles 

Raffles can be an add-on to a large event like a gala or a standalone event. PTOs or PTAs can sell tickets for a chance to win prizes that you can gather from the local community and school. 

Items to raffle: 

• Gift baskets 
• Electronics 
• Student artwork 
• Gift cards 
• Boutique items from local businesses 

Raffles involve minimal setup, and you can attract the support of your community rather than just your school. You can also promote your raffle through various social media channels, online, and in your school newsletter. 

You can set up a Tiltify Personal campaign page with information about your raffle and livestream it on your social media pages to garner more attention. 

Restaurant Night 

A great event to promote your fundraising purpose but also to promote a local eatery establishment. Partner with a local restaurant to host a fundraising night. 

Families dine at the restaurant on a specific date, and a portion of the proceeds goes to your PTA or PTO. This fundraiser requires minimal effort and can generate a great deal of revenue while supporting your local businesses. 

To get the most engagement, your PTO or PTA should advertise the event in advance and request families to add it to their calendars and share it with other family members and friends. 

You can add a raffle to Restaurant Night to add more proceeds to your purpose. 

Coin Drives 

An effective and friendly competition way of raising money for the school’s PTO or PTA. Students compete to collect the most money in their homerooms or individually. 

Your PTA or PTO will want to create rules and share them with the students and parents in advance.  

Rules can be like: 

• Silver coins count as negative points 
• Bills count as negative points 

You should include start and end dates, teachers' tally/leaderboard, and announcements of progress. 

Don’t forget to reward the classroom that raises the most money with a pizza party or ice cream party! 

Car Wash 

A car wash is a great way to get the students, parents, and teachers involved in fundraising efforts for your PTO or PTA.  

You can charge tiered packages or a basic fee for the car wash service. 

Add-on ideas for a car wash: 

• Interior cleaning 
• Vacuuming 
• Tire shine 
• Waxing 

A car wash can help your school community support each other and also bond your local community together towards a common goal. 

Product Sale 

Whether it’s cookie dough, candy bars, or oranges, a product sale is a great way to raise funds for your PTO or PTA.  

Many businesses offer a discounted price or free shipping for bulk purchases.  

Encourage parents, teachers, and students to sell candy bars, cookie dough, or oranges to friends, family members, and neighbors, collecting funds for school purposes. 

Selling products teaches salesmanship and responsibility to students—a great life lesson to take into their careers. 

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