Next year I am on a fundraising committee for a not for profit kindergarten.
I want to know from you what fundraising ideas have you seen or been a part of that were awesome! I’ve done some research but would like to know from others their thoughts too.
I don’t want to be the next auction fiasco (see my other post).
Bunnings BBQ and Grill’d are the two I think work so far..
They do still do Cadbury boxes. I think they’re decent margins too. I’ll look into those
Our area probably has too many markets, a fete would be good.
Oh no! I’ll have a look through the files they gave me as they’ve done them before
Cadbury boxes will be controversial, as some parents won’t want to promote unhealthy eating. Not worth it for the tiresome discussions around doing it!
I miss the cadbury fund-raisers. Would be so easy to do at work etc and it's instant gratification
Unlike selling cookie dough orders which are handed over a few months later etc
@spackbace: Yeah I've done the Cadbury ones in the past and I agree with some of the controversy. I've always found them easy myself as I just took the box to work and sells, but some people couldn't do this or the people in their workplaces weren't as interested, and some people end up just buying the chocolates themselves.
I do still have several tubs of cookie dough taking up space in our freezer but… it was a good fundraiser idea, although not one you would want to do regularly.
Trash and treasure sale / fair - surely everyone at the kindergarten has junk they want to get rid of.
Also agree with first person - the Cadbury boxes. Maybe you could sell the chocolates AT your bunnings BBQ. I would buy a chocolate if I'm already getting a juicy sausage.
I like the chocolates at Bunnings idea. I’ll check their guidelines
Bunnings depends on the day. It's long hard work and you have to plan your supplies well, have people running for restocking etc. Long weekend can easily net you $5k at a good store but the waitlists are long and the store will prioritise who they want.
Aside from the chocolate boxes (always a winner) you could register for charity community raffles such as Peoples Choice (assuming available in your state). No fuss, all done for you online, easy to promote.
Oh this is so cool and exactly the out of the box idea I knew was out there. Thank you
Along the same lines trivia night, drag Queen bingo or similar.
All the mums do an only fans special, oh wait you said ideas that don’t suck
All the mums dads do an only fans special
Even better a kindy dad bod calendar- works for the firies.
Fireman tend to be young men who are physically fit and do regular strength training, not really the same thing as the average dad who has a toddler.
Look into community grants through your local council or state gov for specific projects you might want to do. It could be grounds improvement, a reading club, gardening project etc. sometimes you can get a few hundred to low thousands just by writing a proposal. (Or a lot more for a bigger project - but these are more work) Have a meeting with your local councillor to talk about what projects you want to do and they might give you some ideas about what funding is available.
With the bunnings stall also run a raffle at the same time get people to donate prizes, can just be one nice grocery (chips, soft drinks, biscuits, etc) item per family to make a big hamper.
Easter eg guessing competition or raffle hamper, ask a parent with a local business to host it in their shop.
This comment needs more upvotes. Community grants are something any fundraising coordinator should be investigating.
Ultimately any fundraiser is monetising your members: either through them directly buying the fundraising items (tickets, chocolates, etc) or spending their time selling them.
Community grants are applying to the government or local community bodies for funding specific things, and only requires the time of the people involved in making the application (the committee or members of, typically)
Thanks, exactly my thoughts. There’s not a lot of point asking existing members of your community for more money, sure a little, but the idea is to think broader than this. I’ve been fairly successful with grants in my relevant industry and it does actually help. The key thing is to ask for money that you know you can actually use for a purpose, not just asking for money for the sake of a successful fundraiser.
See if a local bakery will donate some donuts to sell. Donuts have fantastic margins so they might be up for it in exchange for some promotion on the kindergartens social media.
One of the most successful I did was a bulb fundraiser through Garden Express - website is fundraiserexpress.com.au.
At that stage, we had to sell a minimum of $200 worth of bulbs to get 50% commission - so excited when we reached that. Ended up selling $2,200 worth! I think commission is now 47%, but still excellent.
One of the best things was that each order was packed individually, as opposed to pie drives and the like. You can imagine how many cartons we received - it took another lady and I half an hour to sort them. Each envelope or box had the name of the seller and the purchaser so we only had to sort into sellers.
And this was a two room, 40 kid kindy.
Didn't find chocolate drives that successful as every local sporting club and primary school were doing them.
If you have a Beefy's Pies in your area, they do fundraisers - and what I love is that people basically buy vouchers and then redeem them themselves at ANY Beefy's. So no sorting and people can get them when convenient. And also no storage issues.
At our primary school we had a family that owned a bakery so it was great to have them do our lamington and pie drives. Nice support for each other.
Also, if you are in SEQ, Yatala Pies do (or at least used to) do fundraisers - not a brilliant profit margin, but as soon as you say Yatala Pies people want to buy.
Good luck!
the old raffle for some cheap prizes… 3 tickets for $10 etc etc
boring but works
A family spring picnic at the kinder. Have face painting, Magician and old school games like egg and spoon race, sack race etc. Charge entrance fee per family of $50.
Crazy camel let you put your kids artwork on a tea towel or tote bag or other stuff with a good cut to the fundraiser.
If you do this, ALWAYS promote buying a second to give to the child for the 18th or 21st! As well as for grandparents etc., but most parents will love the idea of giving the child their own artwork back later.
Do they still do the Cadbury boxes? They were the best if a neighbour of colleague would be doing them. I’ll always buy a caramello koala.
Could you look into running a fete or market kinda thing?
Oh and I’ve heard from someone before that Bunnings ones actually don’t yield much in return so that’s something I’d explore a bit more before jumping into.