Fundraising ideas for school clubs
School clubs can give young people some of their most important educational and social experiences. Extracurricular clubs allow kids to explore interests beyond high school and create opportunities for intellectual exploration and creative expression with like-minded peers, without the stress of grades.
Clubs provide a safe, engaging space for socializing after school and can add structure to the latter half of a student’s day.
Taking education into their own hands
When club members raise funds for their experiences, it creates a sense of agency. Brainstorming fundraising ideas for school clubs can open opportunities for travel to competitions and conferences.
Clubs develop well-rounded, ambitious young people by encouraging students to explore their hobbies and interests thoroughly. And kids often get more out of their schoolwork when they glimpse its real-world significance. There are many other benefits to club participation:
- Clubs and other after-school activities can offer a safe place for kids and may contribute to lower juvenile delinquency participation.
- Regular participation in after-school activities can improve kids’ health and concentration and boost their self-esteem.
- Students applying to college can help their applications stand out with various clubs, sports, arts, community service, and other extracurricular activities.
How crowdfunding can help school clubs
When it comes to raising funds for school club activities and supplies, crowdfunding can be an effective fundraising strategy. For virtual fundraising, it’s really important to explain to potential supporters what their donations will contribute to.
Make sure you clearly explain what your fundraiser will be raising money for and break down different costs. For example, if you are raising money for a school trip, include the full amount needed as your fundraising goal, but add tangible details so donors feel compelled to give generous donations. For example, ‘Donating $50 will help cover the travel costs of 10 students.’
Here are some ways that crowdfunding could support a school club.
1. Science clubs: Life-changing field trips
Whether your science club dreams of a trip to the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, the Everglades, or simply to the local science museum, crowdfunding can create opportunities to engage with the curriculum in an exciting, hands-on way.
When science clubs offer in-depth field studies and other real-world experiences, they provide life-changing memories and encourage students to associate the subject with fun and exploration. Students are more likely to learn from personal satisfaction if they tackle some fundraising ideas for school clubs and raise the funds themselves.
2. Chess clubs: Travel tournaments
Crowdfunding can help cover registration fees, transportation expenses, and hotel stays for chess players who want to attend competitive tournaments. While most school clubs are moderated by a teacher who generously gives their time, a school may not have an instructor qualified to help members improve. In these cases, asking for donations can also help students crowdfund to bring in an expert for a skills workshop.
3. Art clubs: New supplies or an inspirational experience
During budget cuts, schools often face the difficult decision of reducing funding for the arts and humanities. Unfortunately, this can result in art clubs struggling to obtain the necessary supplies and provide unique experiences for students.
Crowdfunding can help raise money for brushes, paints, pencils, canvas, theater costumes, instruments, or other necessities.
One tip: Look into special deals from museums, such as discounts for students, and if they don’t offer any, call to ask if they can make your club a special offer.
4. Language clubs: New experiences at home and abroad
Whether attending a French-language movie or ordering in Japanese at a local restaurant, crowdfunding can help language clubs explore fun ways to learn outside of the classroom.
Whether a Spanish club dreams of spending a week in Costa Rica or a German club wants to organize a homestay in Munich, life-changing opportunities are within reach with a well-executed crowdfunding campaign.
5. Political clubs and debate: Expanding political minds
If your school offers Mock Trial or Model UN, crowdfunding can help civics-minded students compete and engage with other kids from all over the state. Your Model UN convention might require your club to travel, and students may face registration fees and travel-related expenses, limiting the ability of lower-income students to participate. Mock Trial and debate revolve around tournaments that require entry fees and transportation as well. Whatever the need, crowdfunding can help you introduce the diverse leaders of tomorrow to different cities and experiences.
6. Support your student press
From the yearbook to the arts magazine to the school newspaper, an active student press sharpens the minds of future writers and provides vital experiences for students who want to pursue a career in publishing or journalism. But publications can be expensive to produce.
And if your school doesn’t view these clubs as a priority, crowdfunding may be one of the only tools available to ensure a secure future for your student media. Access to outside funding can also give student editors the ability to produce more than they could through school funding alone.
Join the club: Start crowdfunding now
School clubs offer unique opportunities to raise funds as a group, make a great impact, and capitalize on the skills students develop in the clubs themselves.
Make sure your students have access to the resources and enriching experiences they need to get the most out of their time at school, and launch your crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe today. You can begin withdrawing funds as soon as you start receiving donations.
Fundraising ideas for school clubs
School clubs can raise funds for activities and supplies in a number of ways. The challenge is finding creative fundraising ideas to make your events stand out as raise as much money are possible. Collect donations in-person or share links to your GoFundMe donation page to reach your fundraising goals.
5 fundraising ideas for school clubs
1. Host a school color run
For your next school fundraiser, try a color run to make running a 5K less intimidating and more fun.
At each mile marker, volunteers toss colored powder at the participants running by (the powder is dyed cornstarch, which is safe to toss around and can be made quickly, in your school colors). Since the race isn’t timed, the emphasis isn’t on competition, and there’s more room for people to enjoy their experience and the explosion of color—participants wear white t-shirts, so the colors really show.
Organize a campus color run open to students and community members. Charge a small admission fee and offer small prizes to those taking part.
Make it a family-friendly event and invite people of all ages to participate. Not only will this boost the supporter cheering runners on (and add to that feel-good factor) but it’ll increase your fundraising opportunities.
Remember to organize a team clean-up effort after the event.
2. Host a battle of the bands
Host a musical talent show with a battle of the bands. Announce audition days and have the students vote on which bands enter the battle. Ask permission to use the auditorium as the concert venue on show day, ensuring you’ve lined up students or staff to help with mics, speakers, etc. You can even create a printed program for the event.
In the weeks leading up to the battle, sell tickets for the price of a donation to your fundraiser—hand out tickets with each donation and spread the word on TikTok and other social media channels. You can also sell tickets at the door using a mobile device.
The success of this event hinges on the quantity and quality of bands at your school. Consider pulling the plug if the audition yields too few bands for a good show. Alternatively, you can consider similar fundraising ideas for your school club: a poetry slam, rap battle, dance-off, or other performance competition.
3. Pit students vs. teachers in a competition
Organize a friendly competition in a handful of different sports (played separately or combined as a pentathlon or decathlon). To make the event more fun, form teams of three or four people who compete against other sports teams for medals or trophies (maybe silly ones—keep it fun). Teachers vs. students? Students vs. students? A mix of the two? How about returning alumni?
To raise funds, each player and/or team pays an entrance fee by donating to your online fundraiser. A small admission fee for spectators can raise even more funds.
4. Host your very own Triwizard Cup
Here’s an exciting fundraising idea for Harry Potter enthusiasts: Organize a Triwizard Cup competition with three challenges inspired by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. To participate, teams must pay a registration fee, which will be used as a donation towards your online fundraiser. You could even create a “gold” goblet where people can put their names and donation amounts. Then, you can select a set number of teams to compete in the tournament.
- First Task: Dye a large number of eggs green and only three eggs gold. Hide the eggs around your field or other outdoor space at your campus. The first team to find a golden egg wins X points, with the second and third golden eggs earning progressively fewer points. Anyone who steps on a green egg is disqualified from the task.
- Second Task: Ask each team to select a student (one not already on a team). School club members then hide these people in different locations on campus. Give each team written clues to help them find the hidden people. Award X points for the first person found and fewer for each additional person until all have been retrieved.
- Third Task: Set up a maze on campus (perhaps in the auditorium). To make it more challenging, require that each team member finish the maze alone, in a relay race where the second team member can’t start until the first one finishes, and so on. The first team to have all members successfully get through the maze wins X points, with fewer points awarded to each successive team to finish.
Add up the points at the end of the tasks and award the winning team a homemade Triwizard Cup. You could also keep the Cup in a case at school so students can vie for it annually.
5. Put your teachers in a sticky situation
For this school club fundraising idea, all you need are rolls of duct tape, a ruler, a chair, a wall, and a willing teacher or two (maybe a principal for good measure).
Student clubs raise funds by selling strips of duct tape about a foot long for $1 each (let students know there’s no limit to the number of strips they can purchase). Students attempt to stick the adult “volunteers” to a wall when the event begins. If more than one teacher volunteers, have multiple stations set up to increase the donations you receive. Those taped to the wall stand on a chair as students tape them. Once the students think they’ve successfully stuck their teacher or principal to the wall, remove the chair to see if it’s worked—those who succeed get a prize.
The sky’s the limit
The possibilities for school club fundraisers are almost endless—check out our fundraising ideas page for more great tips that could spark your school’s imagination.
With GoFundMe, you get a crowdfunding platform that’s easy and free to set up. If you’re between the ages of 13 and 17, just make sure to get your parent or guardian’s permission to start a GoFundMe.