Raise money for schools online: 15 simple virtual fundraising ideas

Whilst for most, teaching has returned to the physical classroom, the rest of society is still yet to return to normal. That’s brought many challenges to schools, one of which is their efforts to raise valuable revenue.

The need to fund your school properly has never disappeared – in fact the extra demands now placed on schools have increased that need. Despite many physical or face-to-face fundraising ideas currently being possible, there are still plenty of easy virtual ways to raise money for your school.

In this piece we will detail 15 of them, plus how you can get started.

15 simple virtual fundraising ideas for schools

1. Setup a crowdfunding page

Online platforms like JustGiving, or dedicated school platforms like DonateMySchool, have made it incredibly easy for schools and other non-profit organisations to gather donations and raise funds online via crowdfunding.

New to crowdfunding? It essentially involves an organisation appealing to a crowd, i.e. the general public, for donations to fund a particular campaign, product, or cause. For schools that can mean your local community. Ask them to contribute small donations to help with the ongoing funding of vital equipment and facilities.

Times are tough for everyone but making an honest appeal to the local community will often see them respond and chip in where they can. All you need to do is head to one of the options named above and setup your page.

2. Sign-up to Amazon Smile

There are a couple of ways individuals in your community can give to you while they shop online. One of them is via Amazon. Register with Amazon Smile and ask those in your community to chose your school as their chosen cause. Every time they make an eligible purchase, a small percentage of the cost goes to you.

3. Earn with Easyfundraising

In a similar vein to Amazon Smile, Easyfundraising allows people to give to their local charity of community cause while doing their shopping online. Thousands of retailers are onboard with Easyfundraising, including Sainsbury’s, Asos, Boots and Argos; pretty much anything you’d buy online is covered.

Again, all you have to do is sign your school up as a registered cause and let everyone know that next time they plan on buying anything online, head to Easyfundraising first!

4. Try some friendly competition

When it comes to raising funds through platforms like crowdfunding or affiliate donations, some friendly competition can do no harm. Once you’re setup on one or a couple of these platforms, why not challenge each class or form to see who can drum up the most donations – prizes for the winners!

5. Start a school lottery

Another method that’s been enhanced due to the digital age is the school lottery. There are dedicated platforms like Your School Lottery that allow you to setup your personal school lottery free of charge. It works in the same way as any traditional lottery. Participants pay a fee to be entered into each draw, and a lucky winner wins a prize each time.

Online platforms will take a fee of the money participants put in, so if you’d prefer you could setup your own. But we know that if there is one thing SBMs don’t need, it’s another thing to think about. Take a look at the services like Your School Lottery and decide whether it’s right for your school.

6. Run a school raffle

An alternative to the school lottery, and on a slightly smaller scale, is the raffle. Have a whip round the local community and see if you can gather donations that could work as prizes in your raffle. Ask the local shop for a bottle of wine, get some vouchers from your high street, or ask a restaurant t for a free three course dinner for two.

Once you’ve got enough prizes open up the raffle to the local community. We're used to seeing raffles take place in school classrooms or playgrounds, but again a modern digital platform exists to help you take it online. Take a look at Raffall, who offer a secure, legal platform for hosting raffles and competitions online.  

7. Partner with local businesses

Asking for money for businesses or individuals is tough at the best of times. In these exceptional circumstances, it can be even more awkward and difficult to raise the funds you need. If you want to take a different avenue, you could approach local businesses and make use of their time or expertise.

If you have a local business that sells supplies or services that you could make use of, appeal to them to see if they will donate to their local school. You could even setup a collection of special discounts. It might not raise any funds, but it could save you money in these most testing of times.

8. Contact a local celebrity

Got a local public figure or celebrity? Get in touch with them via email or social media and see if they can put their profile to good use. You don’t necessarily have to ask for a cash donation, it could just be a simple retweet of your crowdfunding campaign on their social media channel.

If you’re running a raffle, is there anything they could contribute – maybe a pint in the local pub with a fan? In testing times, public figures are often happy to get involved and give something back. Get in touch and see how you can make use of their significant platform.

9. Get some local press

Once you’ve decided on a method of fundraising, your next challenge is spreading the word amongst the local community. One way you could do that is with our last point, appealing to any local celebs or public figures.

Sadly, not every town or village has such a luxury. If that’s the case for your school, why not reach out to a local radio station or newspaper and ask for some support? A short 10-minute stint on the radio, or article in your local paper gets your cause out to a larger audience.

10. Host a virtual event

Typically throughout the year you might hold a series of events with the objective of raising some money. Summer fairs and seasonal shows give your school a chance to raise valuable money, but in the current climate they simply aren’t possible. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from getting everyone together for a special event in order to raise funds – just this time you can do it online.

As you’ve probably seen throughout the UK’s lockdown, virtual events like quizzes, bingo and movie nights became incredibly popular. There is no reason why you can’t hold one of these events yourself, bringing prizes along to give people an incentive to get involved.

11. Create a virtual campaign

Another idea you might have previously thought was only possible in physical groups is fun runs and similar sporty campaigns. But thanks to crowdfunding sites, you could setup a page that gathers donations for school 5K run. Only this time, instead of everyone heading to the local sports field to get it done, you’d task every participant to do it themselves in their own time.

It might not have the nice social cohesion of a physical event, but you can still tap into the community’s spirit in the name of a good cause.

12. Encourage people to donate their commute

One idea that sprang up from the huge shift in working life we experienced during lockdown was “donate your commute.” The idea being that people would take something that used to be part of their daily routine, like the morning bus fare or the coffee they’d buy on the way and donate the money they’d saved.

You could tailor your crowdfunding campaign to incorporate this message. The sums donated might be a little small – but every little helps!

13. Design some merchandise

This is one that gets the kids involved. In your next art class, ask your pupils to get arty and creating a painting or drawing. It could be around a certain theme, like what school means to them, an upcoming seasonal event, or designing a logo for the school. Whatever it is, you can use them as the basis to create and sell some cool merchandise like mugs, coasters and keyrings.

Plus, if you have a local printing business, you could use those close ties you’ve established in the other tips above and negotiate a discount or maybe even some stuff for free. You can all this online too. While the kids can design everything in school, orders can be made via email or an online store and shipped straight to a parent’s home.

14. Run a competition

Why not add a bit of fun to a competition that takes everyone’s minds off current events? Task parents and their children to submit an entry to a competition of your design. Ideas include:

• Cutest baby photo
• Design a hardboiled egg
• Guessing game (how many smarties are in the jar – that sort of thing)

Ask for a small fee for entry into the competition, then hold a vote on social media to decide the winner. Be sure to lean on those local businesses to find a nice prize too.

15. Empties please

As if you didn’t already have enough, we have one final fundraising idea that works virtually or otherwise. With a site like Empties Please, you can take all those old printer cartridges and turn them into cash. Offering over £1 per cartridge in some cases, Empties Please can send you everything you need to get started.

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