Okay, how many of us have bought an extra magazine subscription we don’t need, cookie dough for the freezer, cheese cakes, gift wrap that gets tucked away and forgotten . . . oh,  the list goes on!

Here are some fundraising ideas that come from things you already are buying for your home.  The school needs to set up accounts and then have collection areas.

Capri sun juice pouches- Capri sun has a great program right now- save the juice pouches and deliver them in packs of 100. Each pouch is worth 2 cents and they reuse them and make backpacks, bags, binders, pencil bags.   Your school will need to set up a collection bin in the lunchroom and have someone that is in charge of counting and packing them.  Also have families save at home and send in.   Any weekend at a local parks field location for soccer or baseball leagues, you can score a huge amount too!  www.terracycle.net

Campbell’s Soup labels.   Each can has a coupon on the label that can be cut out. Have someone hunt at a local Goodwill/Salvation Army for a big tin replica of a Campbell’s soup can and place in foyer or school office for the students to have an easy place to deposit the labels.  www.labelsforeducation.com

Box tops- You may have seen these on different items you already buy. A small pinkish rectangle- they are on cake mixes, your sanitary supplies, Progresso soup packs at Costco, juice bottles, the list goes on (see website for list of brands).  Clip the boxtops, and they are worth 10 cents each!  www.boxtops4ducation.com

A fun activity with box tops- each classroom can have a collection box and have a contest to see which class collects the most.  They could have an extra pe session or class movie or popcorn party as a reward.

Grocery store’s club memberships- many of them let you link your club saver account to the local school and they donate money.  In Oregon the stores our school has links to are: Safeway, Albertsons, Target.

A fun fundraiser is a school ‘run’.  This encourages exercise and if planned, the students can ‘practice’ at recess for a few weeks leading up to it.  The students get pledges per lap, or a flat donation and then on one day each class has a schedule and does laps for 20 minutes around the track or inside a gym depending on facilities.  I have seen this done at a couple of schools.  One does it in the spring and one in the fall.  I prefer the one in the fall- the school does it around the first week of October and then has their budget for the school year.  It seems to work better then waiting until to close to Christmas/Holiday season or in the spring when we get ‘fundraisered’ out!

If you want to have a fundraiser that has a product -school tshirts/sweatshirts are a nice one.  There isn’t as big of a profit per piece, but shop around and find a local shirt printer that will give you a good deal.  Put the school logo on front or back. A fun option is the beginning letter of the school made of everyones names.  The kids like finding their names on their shirt.

Wish lists are a nice way to receive things from your school community.  Have teachers compile a list of things needed (this will be huge this year with budget cuts) and send list home or post at school.    It is amazing what will be donated through the wide variety of parent’s work fields. One school I know has a parent that had excess pens and sticky note pads from their work and they donated a box that quickly disappeared into appreciating classrooms.  Many parents are busy and can not come in and donate time, so feel good to be able to donate materials needed.

Photo Credit: Scuba Dive 67