High School Band Fundraising Ideas That Actually Work

Too often, a thriving school music program can fall victim to financial pressures. If your school is lucky enough to have a music teacher and a band, you’ll likely still need to raise funds to pay for band needs, such as instruments, uniforms, concerts, travel, and more.

The good news is that it’s easy for band members to quickly assemble a fundraising team and harness that school spirit. With the power of band members’ combined social networks and crowdfunding, you can join forces to supercharge your fundraising efforts.

We’ve got plenty of high school band fundraising ideas to help you meet your financial goals. From hosting a fundraising event to creating your own merchandise (hello band t-shirts), our creative and fun ideas will make sure you’re ready to rock.

Start a high school band fundraiser

Fundraising for a band is its own form of enrichment

Instead of approaching fundraising as a chore, make it fun and bring the same spirit to fundraising that you do to band practice.

Use your fundraiser as an opportunity to bring band members closer together and to connect with the wider student body and local community. Fundraising can also offer students valuable lessons, including:

Learning how to raise funds for a cause is a valuable skill that band members can take with them and use long after graduation.
Working with other students to create and effectively run a fundraiser is an opportunity to learn people skills and teamwork.
Developing a greater appreciation for band program opportunities when they know how much effort it took to make them happen through fundraising.
Connecting with family, friends, local community, and band boosters around a shared goal will help build community and interpersonal skills.

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Best fundraising ideas for high school bands

1. Fundraising concert

You already have a band and you’re ready to play, right? Throw a fundraising concert or music festival at the school.

The cost of admission is a donation to your fundraiser. (The GoFundMe app makes it easy to accept donations at the concert on any smartphone or tablet.)
Play fun songs and serve refreshments and treats.
Invite students, parents, faculty, and the local community members to join in.
Some school districts raise money for each year’s music programs by hosting annual outdoor concerts in the summer or early fall.
Depending on your band set-up, you could host a battle of the bands event.
Invite local bands or music groups to perform and support your fundraiser. You can negotiate a fee for them to perform or ask if they’ll perform for free.

2. Practice-a-thon

A practice-a-thon is a brilliant, band-appropriate way to raise money with the whole band involved. Similar to a walk-a-thon, band members will encourage supporters to sponsor them per minute, hour, or for a flat fee for the duration of the fundraiser.

Set a time frame for the practice-a-thon to take place. This could be in the lead-up to a specific event or competition.
Ask students to keep track of their daily practice and share it with the band director.
Celebrate individual and group achievements on social media to encourage additional donations.
A practice-a-thon has the added bonus of encouraging band members to practice more often, too.

3. Community yard sale

Reach out to students, parents, neighbors, neighborhood associations, and your local community.

Ask everyone to clean out their garages and closets and donate items to your band fundraiser.
Gather everything up and hold your yard sale at school, or a park or a community center—even someone’s house.
All payments for goods can be made as donations to your fundraiser, in cash or directly through GoFundMe on a mobile device.

4. Benefit picnic

A benefit picnic is a fun way for your supporters to relax and enjoy a nice meal while raising funds for the band.

With help from parents and faculty, each member of the band can bring a different food or drink item to the picnic.
Ask for donations as the price of admission.
This idea is easy to combine with an outdoor concert—see our suggestions above.
You could also incorporate a bake sale and raffle to meet your fundraising goals.
Partner with local restaurants or coffee shops, who may be able to donate food, gift cards, or share profits.

5. Music-themed movie night

Host a movie night in the school gymnasium or auditorium. The school is likely to have a projector, screen, and sound system available.

Invite students, family, and booster club members to attend.
Charge a small entry fee and accept donations.
To increase your take, charge more for drinks, popcorn, and candy.
Make it a trivia night by hosting a movie-themed quiz, or consider getting the band to perform songs from the soundtrack.
Show a movie about music like The Sound of Music, School of Rock, West Side Story, or Sing!

6. Community sports event

Baseball, basketball, soccer, and other team tournaments are popular sports fundraising event options. After all, a little friendly competition is a great fundraising opportunity.

Promote the event by posting and handing out flyers at school, the local community center, cafés, and other community hubs.
Have the band form a team and participate, or play music during the tournament.
Have players and/or teams raise pledges—commitments to donate a certain amount for, say, points scored.
Ask for donations as the price of admission. Sell concessions for additional donations.
To raise even more, partner with local businesses for event sponsorship and donation matching.

Get ready to start the music

Whatever fundraising ideas your band embraces, make sure your online fundraising campaign is shared far and wide.

The GoFundMe fundraising platform is ideal for hosting your fundraiser and has handy fundraising tools to help you spread the word.

Promote your fundraiser on social media platforms and email—you can do so directly from your GoFundMe fundraiser. Share your fundraiser with your local community by adding your fundraiser URL or QR code to community calendars and bulletin boards, as well as posting announcements on your school or band website.

For more great suggestions, check out our fundraising ideas page. If you haven’t already started a fundraiser, create one now—you can begin withdrawing funds as soon as you start receiving donations.

Start your fundraiser today