Fundraising as a school group is a great way to contribute to a better Tasmania!

As a school group you’re in a great position! You already have a network of hundreds, if not thousands of students, teachers and parents. They can all lend a hand to make a huge impact!

The possibilities are endless for fundraising activities with your school group. Here’s a list of three ideas we’ve seen work time and time again across a whole range of schools!

Here goes:

1. Free or Theme dress day

We all know that a lot of students hate their school uniforms! So why not give them the opportunity to cut loose for the day? And raise funds for a good cause while they’re at it.

Work with your school administrators to organise a date that students can wear free or fancy dress in exchange for a small donation. We’d recommend somewhere between $2-$5 depending on the school.

Free dress days are definitely the easier option but fancy dress can help raise greater awareness for your cause. It can even help generate indirect funds for your chosen charity. For instance a City Mission Op Shops themed free dress day, where students wear the craziest clothes they could find at City Mission Op Shops!

It’s an easy way to get the whole school involved with your cause, a very effective fundraiser and heaps of fun. Everybody wins with a free or fancy dress day!

2. Teacher or Head Teacher Challenge

Getting the teachers involved is a great way to raise awareness for a cause and motivate students to take part in fundraising.

We’ve seen some super effective teacher challenges that range from sliming the principal to skydiving teachers and even office staff spending the day in a chicken suit.

The premise is always the same though:

The school staff agree to take part in the challenge if, and only if, the school hits their fundraising target.

Eg. Mr Smith the principal will skydive and play the video recording in assembly if the school hits it’s $10,000 sleep rough target.

If you’re lucky enough to have more than one teacher willing to get involved, why not stagger the fundraising targets?

Eg. If the school hits a $1000 target, Mr Vinh the science teacher will get slimed in assembly. If the school hits a $2000 target Ms Chol will also be slimed in assembly and so on. Increase effectiveness by attaching the highest fundraising goals to the teachers students would most like to see participate!

If your school staff are able and willing, the options are truly endless when it comes to teacher challenges. Check out this article with a heap of ideas from our friends in the USA

3. Crazy Hair or SOCK Day

Not every school will be willing to let their student body attend in free or fancy dress. Some may worry about the pressure on students or even their schools reputation. But that doesn’t mean you can’t organise a smaller version of a fancy or free dress day!

If your school is unable to host a free or fancy dress day, then a crazy hair or sock day might be a great alternative. They work in exactly the same way, with the added bonus of avoiding too much change to the school uniform.

Raise greater awareness for your chosen charity or cause by choosing certain colours. Eg: blue, yellow and green for Hobart City Mission or Pink for breast cancer. Another easy way for your school to raise awareness and much needed funds!