Thank you so much for your very thoughtful and helpful comments. You added a great deal to the value of this post!

I love the idea of story night, with different rooms for different authors. With the right promotion, I think that would be a very popular and successful evening.

I once heard someone say that if you do something to help their kids, parents would do anything for you. If we are going above and beyond what is expected in our schools, parents will reciprocate in ways that will benefit the school immensley. To me, this is the best kind of fundraising.

Thanks again for reading and thanks for such great ideas!

I’ve seen the schools do some incredible things with little or no money along the lines of a Math Night.

1. Story Night/Reading Night/Pajama Night – I’ve seen it called different things at different schools and it plays out the same way. Kids come back in their pajamas with a pillow and spend about 30 minutes in 2-3 rooms as Teachers/Volunteers read their favorite stories to the kids. Rooms can be themed (Dr. Seuss, Eric Carle, poems, etc.) or age appropriate (k-1, 2-3, 4-5), it doesn’t matter. My recent school hands out books to everyone attending that have been donated or ran their normal use in the library.

2. Science night – 4-5 stations are setup to have a hands on learning about science. Magnets, Electricity, paper airplanes, etc. Topics are endless.

Both are usually very successful at a low/no cost to the school or sponsoring organization.

3. Another area to explore is the PTA, the Illinois PTA provides speakers on various topics such on raising kids in today’s world. These are usually provided by a state or district PTA officer and all the look for is a reimbursment of their mileage to and from the event.

4. Local police officers are usually willing to address parents on subjects such as Internet Safety, Drugs, and Stranger Danger free of charge.

I’ve seen all of these at one time or another at my elementary school.

5. Of course, there’s all the paid speakers as well, which you will need a fundraiser. For fundraising ideas I like, check out http://www.squidoo.com/fundraising-1