Connecting Schools With Great Fundraising Ideas.

School carnivals are one of the most popular ways to raise money for schools in the United States. While the amount of planning and organizing that goes into this type of an event may be very high, the pay-off can also be substantial. If you find yourself in charge of running your school’s carnival, take a few minutes to read about the things NOT to do, if you would ever like to resume this position in the future.

Repeat the Same Games, Activities, and Entertainment Year After Year
A surefire way to decrease the annual attendance at your school carnival is to find some activities that seem to work and then use them year after year after year. It’s very easy to fall into the mindset that since an activity or event was popular one or maybe even two years, it will always be so. However, this is dangerous. People get bored. Also, just because you still have some props left over from previous carnivals, and it’s cheaper not to have to build new ones is no excuse to stick with the “same-old, same-old”.

The only exception to this rule is something that is considered a local tradition. Perhaps there is a long-established talent contest or chili cook-off that is responsible for actually drawing people to the carnival.

However, these kinds of perennial events should make up only a small fraction of your carnival agenda. Most of the entertainment, activities, and events should be continually updated to keep attracting a large audience each year. continue reading

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A school carnival is one of the best ways to raise money and build community spirit for your school. So many schools have yearly carnivals that it is easy to fall into a familiar pattern of repetition each year. The following suggestions are meant to help you shake your event up a little and to start thinking of new ways to increase your profits.

BUILD YOUR CARNIVAL AROUND A REALLY GOOD THEME
By selecting a different theme for your carnival each year, it both keeps your families interested and engaged, and also it forces your planning committee to develop new ideas for games, events, costumes, food choices, etc. The selection of a theme is the foundation for the rest of your carnival planning. It is vital to keep your auction from becoming predictable each year.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
It is important to know what kind of people will be attending your carnival. This demographic knowledge will help you in deciding what kind of a theme to choose and what kind of activities will make you the most money. Basically, make sure you are giving your audience what they want. If karaoke is popular, give them a karaoke booth. If a football throwing competition would be popular, give them that. If you think silly string would be a big seller, have plenty of that on hand and mark it up. continue reading

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Fourteen local bands volunteered for a unique fundraiser for the music department of L.A. Ainger Middle School in Rotonda West, Florida. The second annual “Music Extravaganza” was held at the Pioneer Park in Englewood for the weekend of November 24th and 25th.

The theme was “Pay it Forward.” Event proceeds, including T-shirts and calendar sales will benefit the music department at the middle school. Last year’s fundraiser benefited the band department of Lemon Bay High School in Englewood and raised $5,400. The committee aims to raise funds for schools in both Charlotte and Sarasota counties.

Calendars and T-shirts are still available at local stores, including Stevens the Florist South, Rubber Tree Carpet and Tile and at Serenity Coffee House.

Source: Herald-Tribune.com

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Approximately 2,400 attendees came out to support St. Joseph’s School in Salem, Massachusetts for a Polar Express-themed fundraiser. They rode the MBTA train that leaves from the Salem station. Passengers drank hot chocolate and sang Christmas carols. They were greeted by Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus. The fundraiser raised thousands of dollars for the school.

The fundraiser is based on the popular children’s story about a young boy’s evening train ride to the North Pole. Tickets for the St. Joseph event cost $22 and three of their four trips were completely sold out.

St. Joseph’s heard about the Polar Express themed fundraiser from other schools and decided to try it. Their director of development Mona Nadeau applied for dates with the MBTA and won them. The school paid the MBTA $10,000 for train services and staff for the day.

Source: The Salem News

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The Art Factory of Augusta, Georgia will hold its second annual Art in the Attic fundraising sale on Saturday, November 17th. Last year’s sale offered beautiful artwork in various mediums: from folk art to art prints to pottery. The yard sale style fundraiser benefits the $15,000 in scholarship funds that the school awards each year to students. No one is turned away from the Art Factory as a student for financial reasons.

Shoppers can find unique pieces, just in time for holiday gift giving — many at bargain prices. The sale begins very early (literally at dawn) and runs until twelve noon.

It’s sort of like art adoption. We want to find people to adopt these pieces and love them,” Cindy O’Brien, Director of the Art Factory said. So many of the board members and artists who donated pieces had purchased or made and loved them for many years. But tastes change, people move and marry and separate, and artwork that may have worked in one setting stops suiting when the background changes. The work is more than someone else’s cast-offs. It’s a collective history of Augusta’s art lovers and it showcases a lifetime of learning and growing with the visual arts community.

Source: Metro Spirit

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The Winneconne High School held their Winneconne Halloween Bash 2007 fundraiser on Sunday, October 21st. More than 300 children attended the spooky event at the Winnecone, Wisconsin school. Funds raised benefited the American Cancer Society. The event was to promote safe trick or treating and was organized by the high school student council.

One popular feature was the haunted science labratory. It was one of the newest attractions at the event.

Barb Sauer, a science teacher at Winneconne High School, said she developed the ideas for the haunted lab through the Internet while looking for lesson plans for her class. Sauer found a lot of haunted physics lab ideas there. “We want to make science fun and intriguing,” she said. “There really isn’t anything there that will scare kids.”

The Halloween-themed event had 20 trick-or-treat stations. It also had 14 game stations for various age groups. There was a glow-in-the-dark hallway and also a haunted hayride.

Source: thenorthwestern.com

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Coastal Grove Charter School held their Medieval Festival of Courage of Saturday, October 13th at the Manila Community Center in Arcata, California. The festival invites several local schools to participate in the event, but it is a fundraiser for the Charter school.

Children and adults dressed in medieval costumes. They were entertained by traditional medieval music and games from that time. Instruments included acoustic guitar, harp, flute, bagpipes, penny whistles and also traditional medieval songs.

Vendors at the medieval festival offered handmade crafts, herbs and weapons that were several centuries in age. The festival was both fun and very educational.

The Coastal Grove Charter School is a public charter school using Waldorf curriculum. The Waldorf curriculum is based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner.

Source: The Eureka Reporter

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