Preschool Fundraisers

I am now a member of my sons preschool parent committee. They do a lot of fundraising and are always looking for ideas. Many of the things we did at our school (I taught preschool for 16 years) would not go over well at this school. So I need some new ideas. What does fundraisers do your preschools do and were/are they successful?
TIA
Cari

 

We have had a couple of very successful fundraisers. Right now we are selling frozen cookie dough. Then just before easter, we sell chocolates from a national chain chocolate shop. The profit margins are almost 50% and prove to be very worthwhile.

cheers
T

 

My boys aren't in a preschool but there are in a Parent's Place Playrgoup where we go and there is a craft time, story time etc and I get to go with my boys. They have so much fun!

Anyways for fundraising we do a Bingo night, casino night, bake sales and book sales from Scholastic Club. I also sell cookie dough!

 

The trend locally is to do Walk A Thons or Seasonal Festivals & Bake sales (entry and/or game playing charged, but supplies are donated and volunteers run it) since there has been a lot of backlash against all the 'material' fundraising...and parents of multiple children were upset at the amount of work/reward for selling that was involved for really little ones.

 

A few years ago my oldest son's preschool sold small cookbooks that went over surprisingly well! There were different types like ones for crockpot cooking, one for busy moms, an entertaining one. I don't have the name of the company that did them, but I could probably get it off of one of the cookbooks I have if you are interested. The preschool the twins go to did the cookie dough (which I thought was too expensive) and magazines. I thought the magazines were a good deal because you could get a year subscription for $10 or $20 depending on the magazine. I think in the fall they sell soy candles. Which will make good gifts.

Edited to add: One of the daycares used to collect used toner and printer cartridges and would get points towards things for the school. I'm not sure what company that was with either, but I know companies would be interested in donating them to a school that could get something out of them. Just a thought.

 

Our preschool has done Discovery Toys and Scholastic books. My son's elementary school has done Home Interior candles in the past with good response. Right now, his school is doing Sally Foster and they gt 50% of the sales. You can look at www.sallyfoster.com and see if it's something you're even interested in.

 

We have done two candles and write a check. I must say that I love the "write a check" campaign much better. NO stumping, no begging~ we just asked for a small check donation to the school for new stuff. Wonderful~no work, no selling, nothing! Yipee, as a parent it was such a relief. And even if only half of the people participated, 100% of the donations went to the school. We did make buttons that said "thanks for making my school GREAT!" for all of the parents and grandparents from the kids.
Really who needs more candles and cookies.

 

We do a Cookie dough sell in the fall and then silent auction items and raffle tickets in the spring in conjunction with the schools Family Day event.

 

Hi are these PRIVATE preschools looking for donations? I cannot be the only one who thinks this is CRAZY? I cannot afford to send my kids to preschool but get emails from cousin's kids begging for money for their preschool? :angry: :huh: Am I missing something????

 

I also think it's crazy. My girls go to the YMCA twice a week and we got a fundraising packet. I wasn't going to do it, but DH didn't want the girls feeling left out at school when the things were delivered. So we wound up buying something from each of them, as did my BIL and mom. They never explained what the fundraising is for. It's not like I pay THAT much less for the Y than other similiar nursery schools.

I hate being bombarded with fund raisers (I just bought from my niece, my nephews, my kids and have people at work asking for purchases).

 

Our preschool is doing a cookbook and a Scholastic book sale.

 

I don't know how successful this can be, but our elementary school is doing a pre-K trike-a-thon. It is at our local high school and they will ride laps around a mini-track.

I think this is wonderful because they want us to bring blankets, chairs, cameras and family members to cheer the kids on. They are having a concession stand and all profits go for field trips. It is exercise, showing school spirit and plus it gets all the kids together outside of school.

All we have to do pledge the number of laps for each child, take names of sponsors and donation amounts.

I think it sounds like fun and hopefully we will have a good turn out.

 

My boys' preschool just did a fundraiser with a company called "Innisbrook." It's gift bags, wrapping paper and little gifts. They share 50% of the profits with the school; and it's nice stuff. We also participate in Box Tops 4 Education - the little coupons you find on cereal and stuff.

I saw the note about private preschool & why ask for funds. I probably would've asked or thought the same thing before my kids started going. I'm a single mom working FT and was reluctant to send my kids to school due to the cost. This school generously provided me with a partial scholarship - allowing me to send the kids. I am so grateful. I assume that's the sort of thing funds go for - and I can only imagine the expenses of a school are very, very huge. Every little bit helps. When I see how hard these folks work - how much patience they have and how much my kids enjoy the experience, I know it's worth it.

 

I was just reading about this in a magazine. (don't know if i can mention it here or not, so IM me if you want the name of it) but they had an article pertaining to a handful of really good ideas. One that sticks out in my mind is, having a Heavy Duty Truck show. Ask the local fire department and emergency services, dump trucks, cement trucks, etc to help with your fundraiser. Have them park and then have the kids pay like 3 dollars each to tour the machinery/trucks. Little kids love big trucks. Hope you find some good suggestions.

 

My girls go to a preschool that is held in a church, so we do pay to send them there. The funds that we raise help to off set some of the costs like heating, lights, sending the teachers to some of the required classes (I think), to help lower the tuition a little, I'm sure there is more but can't remember.

We have done Scholatic books (twice a year), ice cream social, yankee candle (first time this year), easter candy, pizza hut (you take a slip of paper there and they give so much of the sales to the school based on the amount of slips they get), clothes (and other stuff) drive: where you bring in clothes, sheets, etc to the school and then some kind of Russian company picks them up and we get a certain amount of money for every pound of stuff we have (then of course they go and sell the stuff in Russia (or where ever) and make more money).

 

Let's see -- some of the things they've sold (for a percentage of the proceeds) are:
butter braids (basically a loaf of bread)
things made with your child's artwork -- keychains, picture frames, mugs, etc.
books

They also have a silent auction once a year -- parents and staff ask local businesses to donate things, then parents bid on them, and the school gets to keep all the proceeds. The money for this goes to the Staff Appreciation Fund. This is always a big success, but it's a lot of work to pull it off.

They also have a straight donation campaign for the SAF -- once a year, parents are asked to contribute a certain amount per child.

The parents all really appreciate the teachers at the school and are usually happy to contribute to stuff like that. Personally, I don't usually buy the other stuff they sell -- I would rather give money straight to the school (as a PP said, the "write a check" fundraiser) than have part of it go to another company, in return for which I get some object that I don't really want.

As far as why they need to raise money, it's because (as I understand it) they can't charge enough in tuition to really cover their costs, particularly not salaries. My mother used to run a daycare and this was a constant issue. Parents would complain about tuition increases, but the money has to come from somewhere.

 

One year my center had this really cute idea. One of the parents was an aspiring photographer so we asked if he would take pictures of all the kids, the classes and many candids. His photos came out beautifully and parents could buy individual or class photos or choose multiple photos to be bound in a book. He offered the pictures in color, b&w or with a blue hue and they were gorgeous. It worked out well for everyone - he did the job for free and got to add to his portfolio and the parents got professional pics of their kids for very cheap!