It’s no secret that schools are often underfunded. From curriculum needs to classroom supplies, there are always outstanding needs to be filled.
PTA fundraising is there to fill in the gaps. It provides an additional layer of support for educators and staff. Through engaging events and successful fundraising efforts, a school’s PTA can be a valuable resource when it comes to raising money and nurturing school spirit.
How BetterWorld Can Help with PTA Fundraising
When it comes to how to raise money for your PTA, we have you covered! BetterWorld was started with situations like this in mind. We exist solely to serve the common good.
Educators, school staff, and parent volunteers are incredibly busy. There isn’t a ton of time leftover to focus on PTA fundraising. You need a space where you can come to quickly and easily create a fundraiser that would be both exciting and successful.
From low-cost, easy-to-navigate platforms to expertly-designed websites, BetterWorld has thought of everything a PTA fundraiser needs to be successful.
We offer these services at a price that fit within the shoe-string budget of most PTAs around the country. As long as BetterWorld is in business, our platform will be free for nonprofits, including educational institutions and schools. Credit card processing fees are the only costs associated with PTA fundraisers launched on BetterWorld, and donors typically covers those.
The goal of BetterWorld is to serve the common good. With BetterWorld, the majority of the money raised through PTA fundraising is directed to where it is needed the most – to our schools.
Preparing for Your PTA Fundraiser
Set a Goal
A big part of fundraising is setting a goal. Determine how much money you want to raise and where you want that money to go.
The answers to these questions directly affect the answer to this popular question: how many fundraisers can a PTA have?
The truth is, a PTA can host as many fundraisers as they want to. But sometimes, more isn’t better. Focusing your time and attention on a few fundraisers will usually be more successful and profitable than a lot of little ones.
Choose a Platform
Hosting your PTA fundraiser is easier than you think. Gone are the days of keeping track of your donations and plans through an Excel spreadsheet.
Whether you want to host an in-person, virtual, or hybrid fundraiser, you’ll need to choose a platform that keeps track of everything from event details to donation amounts in one place.
Solicit donations, organize prizes and event volunteers, and keep an eye on ticket sales for your PTA fundraiser through an online platform such as BetterWorld.
Sourcing Prizes
If you are hosting an online auction or raffle, you’ll need to source prizes for your event. It’s always fun to offer prizes when hosting an event such as a read-a-thon or 5k run, too. This is a great way to energize your students and thank them for participating in your PTA fundraiser.
But where do these prizes come from? Can the PTA partner with a local business to do fundraising?
Absolutely! Lean into the support of your local business community as much as possible. Whether it’s through obtaining donations to be used as prizes or using their space for your event, local small businesses often want to help their community as much as possible.
Don’t be afraid to ask for the support that you need. You might be surprised by how many people and businesses are willing to donate to your cause.
Parent Teacher Association Fundraising Ideas
Planning a PTA fundraiser can be great fun. There are countless ways to get your school community involved to raise money for your school’s needs.
Here is a list of some fundraisers we’ve seen on BetterWorld.
Online Auctions
Online auctions are so much fun! With BetterWorld’s online platform, organizing and running an auction that everyone in your community will enjoy is easy. You can choose to host a silent auction or a live auction using the livestreaming capabilities BetterWorld offers.
Source prizes from local businesses or through donations from school families. You can focus on various little prizes, such as gift cards in small amounts, or a mixture of small and large prizes, such as curated baskets of items or high-value experiences.
Once you have all your prizes, take well-lit and attractive photos of each one to upload onto BetterWorld’s platform. To highlight services, take advantage of our free stock photo library.
After uploading the photos, add descriptive captions of each prize and prepare for the bids to roll in! Participants will bid through a mobile-optimized website. Text message notifications are available to keep them up-to-date on when others bid on their desired items.
Once your auction is over, the platform will pick a winner, notify them, collect the final payment, and arrange the pickup.
Raffles & Giveaways
Have a big ticket item for your PTA fundraiser? Host an online raffle!
Sell tickets through a personalized fundraising website. Add a raffle counter for people to see how many tickets have been sold. This will create a buzz around your raffle and encourage people to buy more tickets.
Once your raffle or giveaway is over, use BetterWorld to select your winner in a fair and automated way.
In-Person Events
Find a fun reason to get your school community together with in-person PTA fundraisers. In-person events are a great way to raise money while also fostering a feeling of community and engagement with your students and families.
Here is a list of successful in-person events we’ve seen hosted through BetterWorld.
Grade-level Dances
Let your students dance it out! Sell tickets through a branded website to easily keep track of the money you raise. Parents also love the idea of an online ticketing system. No money or tickets to get lost in the bottom of bookbags!
Guided Halloween Trail
Who doesn’t love celebrating Halloween? Host a spooky trail or haunted house. Use an online platform like BetterWorld to sell tickets online, keep track of the funds raised, and offer fun add-ons to your students, such as a trail map or haunted house information, directly on your site!
Holiday Lights Tour
There is something about holiday lights in the winter. Capitalize on this by turning it into a PTA fundraiser. Decorate different areas around your school building with fun holiday scenes or get some help from participating local neighborhoods. Sell tickets to your tour and host a hot chocolate social at the end.
Student 5k
Student races are always a hit. Have students solicit donations for how many miles or laps they run through a school-branded website. People can donate to each student with one click of a button! Add tallies to show how much each student raised to up the ante on your competition and drive donations.
School Block Party or Carnival
Everyone loves a good party! Celebrate your school community with a block party or carnival. Sell tickets to your event. You can also offer food or snacks for purchase. Set up games to play and offer prizes. Block parties are always a successful PTA fundraiser!
Movie Night
Host a movie night in your auditorium. Sell tickets to a popular movie and broadcast it on a big screen. You can increase the amount raised for your PTA fundraiser by selling concessions to your movie attendees.
Battle of the Bands
Cash in on all of your on-campus talent! Host a battle of the bands to raise money for your school. Sell tickets through our online ticketing platform and boost engagement by having the audience vote for their favorite on your website. Raise more funds for your PTA by charging $1 per vote.
Parents’ Night Out
Hosting a PTA fundraising event for an elementary school? Parents’ nights out are always a big hit! Charge a small fee per child for 3-4 hours of babysitting at the school. Show a movie and set up craft and game stations. You can increase your price per child by including a snack pack. Sell tickets in advance, so you know how many children to expect.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Peer-to-peer fundraising has taken off in popularity over the past few years. Things like occasion-specific fundraisers and team events are almost always a successful way to raise funds for schools.
For your next PTA fundraiser, set up donation pages that your school can use for a special occasion. We’re talking school anniversaries, the retirement of a key figure, or an important holiday. As your community gears up for the big day, your students can share their donation page and raise money for your cause.
Team events, like fun-runs or charitable walks, are also successful PTA fundraising events. You can host a typical 5k or a themed race that matches with an upcoming holiday (think the Cupid Shuffle for Valentine’s Day or the Turkey Trot for Thanksgiving). Races with fun twists, like a color run or an obstacle course, add to the excitement.
A-Thons
A-thons have been around since the beginning of PTA fundraising — and for good reason. They’re easy and successful!
The most popular events include read-a-thons and dance-a-thons. At these events, students get donors to sponsor by donating a certain amount of money for each page read or each minute danced. For example, if a sponsor pledges $0.10 per page and the student reads 1,000 pages, the sponsor donates a total of $100 to your fundraiser.
As you’re planning your event, feel free to customize it to the interests and talents of your school. If you have some really athletic kids, host a throw-a-thon, where students compete to see how many people can make basketball free throws. Want to tie it to education? Throw a twist on a traditional spelling bee and host a spell-a-thon.
No matter what time of a-thon you decide to hold, we’re sure that it will become one of your school’s favorite PTA fundraising ideas for years to come!
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is also a popular type of PTA fundraising.
Use a branded website to showcase your goal and timeline. Tell your donors why you’re raising money and why this particular cause is essential to your school. This will help them feel connected to your cause and inspire them to donate more.
You can also boost engagement among your community by adding a timeline and donation counter to your fundraising page. A timeline also creates a sense of urgency and lets your donors know how much time they have to participate in your fundraiser.
Sharing on social media is a great way to get family involved, especially those who live far away. Grandparents, aunts, and uncles will be happy to donate to their loved one’s school, especially when all they have to do is click a button to send a secure donation.
The BetterWorld platform is integrated with all of the most popular social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, so it will be easy for your students and parents to share your crowdfunding campaign with their friends and family via social media shares.
Execute Your PTA Fundraising Ideas
A successful PTA fundraiser is one that raises a lot of money for your school while also being easy to organize and host for your PTA board.
BetterWorld’s platform provides everything you need to organize, host, and run a successful event. You'll find everything you need from dedicated fundraising websites to online ticketing to easy-to-navigate social sharing for a profitable fundraiser with BetterWorld.
Running an event that is accepting both online and in-person donations? No problem! There is a space on BetterWorld to keep track of your in-person and cash donations. Having all your donations in one place will save you the bookkeeping headache that often comes at the end of an event.
The best part about BetterWorld? It is free for nonprofits – including PTAs! Some fundraising platforms take a large cut of the funds raised but not BetterWorld. Besides credit card processing fees, your school will get to keep all of the money raised through our site.
Are you ready to have your biggest PTA fundraising event ever? BetterWorld’s easy-to-use fundraising platform is designed to help you raise more money than ever.
Already trusted by over 85,000 nonprofits and organizations around the globe, we are ready to host your fundraiser, too. Get started with BetterWorld today!
