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Top High School Fundraising Ideas

$16 Gourmet Cookie Dough

Cookie Dough

All your favorites in a great $16 format!

Snackin in the USA

Snackin In The USA

Sell 20 delicious, sweet and savory treats for only $10 each!

Scratch & Help

Scratch & Help

Fun and easy way for your group to earn up to 100% profit!

$1 America's Variety Pack

$1 Candy Bars

The quality, price, 5 flavors, and sweet taste will make these a favorite

High School Fundraising Enhances Student Life!

Best high school fundraising ideas

High school is back in session, and it’s time to get into the fundraising spirit again. And with that comes the need for a fresh batch of high school fundraiser ideas.

From freshmen’s very first homecoming game to senior prom, high school is chock-a-block with extracurricular activities. And since school budgets are more often than not stretched to the limit with supplying the basics, it’s usually up to the students themselves to come up with money for any extras. This is what makes school fundraisers such a common occurrence in communities across America.

Fortunately, highschoolers have the advantage of being pretty experienced fundraisers by this point. However, with their busy schedules of classes, clubs and sports, part-time jobs, and volunteer work, there is often little time left for fundraising.

The best way to raise money while avoiding student burnout is to plan one or two impactful fundraisers that will have you reaching your financial goals in a short time. Event fundraisers are a great way to boost school spirit and raise your school’s profile in the community. Product fundraisers, on the other hand, are easy, stress free, and bring in a lot of coin. We’d recommend focusing on one big event fundraiser for the year and supplementing with easy-selling product fundraisers for maximum profit.

To help you sketch out this year’ high school fundraising action plan, we’ve compiled a list of our 8 best selling product fundraisers for high school students. We’ve also listed our 8 favorite DIY high school fundraiser ideas, with both fun and profit in mind. With a little planning and a motivated team of sellers, you’ll earn your varsity letter in fundraising in no time!

Get A+ Results with A Just Fundraising High School Fundraiser

  • FREE Virtual Website For Contact-Free Fundraising
  • Fundraising Experts To Help Guide You
  • Free Order-Takers and Free Shipping
  • High Quality Products That Sell Themselves
  • 20+ FREE-to-Start Fundraisers
  • The Highest Profit Guarantee!

JustFundraising® has 24 years of experience helping teachers, parents, students and school boards successfully reach their fundraising goals. We know that fundraising can be challenging so we work with you to make the experience easy, fast and of course, profitable. We have helped high schools achieve their goals with fundraising profits as high as 90%! Our winning line-up of no money-up-front fundraisers means you can achieve your fundraiser objectives with no financial risk. Join the thousands of groups that we’ve helped raise over 70 million dollars for!

For helpful fundraising tips on how to setup your school fundraiser click here or scroll-down the page.

Top 8 Best-Selling Product Fundraisers for High Schools

Product fundraisers allow high school students to raise thousands of dollars selling quality food products and other items to friends and family. JustFundraising® guarantees the highest profit margins in the business, allowing you to maximize your revenue. What’s more, since many of our fundraisers require no money up front, they’re virtually risk free!

Cookie dough fundraiser

1) #1 Seller For High Schools – Gourmet Cookie Dough Fundraiser

Everyone loves the comforting gooey goodness of fresh-baked cookies. This is why cookie dough has been our all-around top seller for several years running. Busy parents? They’ll jump at the chance to provide delicious homemade treats for their families without the mess. Siblings in college? They won’t be able to get enough of the stuff (and neither will their friends).

Our quality cookie dough comes in a variety of fun flavors – with a few classic favorites – and formats, such as 2-lb tubs and pre-portioned. Plus, JustFundraising® is one of the only fundraising companies to offer a low-priced cookie dough option, at only $15 per tub! With no upfront costs and free shipping for orders over 150 units, it’s the sweetest deal out there.

Scratch card fundraiser

2) Easy Scratch Card Fundraiser

Many school activities, such as sports or band, require students to lug around quite a bit of extra gear. Adding boxes of fundraiser products to their loads might be impractical, and order-takers might wind up lost in the shuffle. Luckily, our Scratch & Help scratch card fundraiser is small enough to fit in your back pocket. Don’t let its size fool you, though – it can bring in some big bucks!

Each card contains $100 worth of scratch dots, with each dot concealing a value between $0.50 and $3. Supporters simply scratch off as many dots as they wish and you collect the money on the spot. In exchange for their contribution, donors receive a coupon card with $50 in savings from various businesses in your state. Want something more personal? Sign up local merchants, and we’ll make a custom coupon sheet for you with savings specific to your community!

Here’s another pro tip: have your teacher, coach, or other adult in charge set up a Venmo account or email address for e-transfers. This will allow people who don’t have cash on hand to play, and might encourage donors to give even more (note: students should only share it with people they know and trust).

Snack fundraising program

3) Nuts & Snacks Fundraiser

As both teens and parents will tell you, high school students love – and need – to snack. Our nuts & snacks fundraisers offer a huge selection of sweet and salty treats. Parents will love the assortment of nuts and trail mix as a healthy option for their kids. Teens on the other hand won’t be able to resist the decadent array of chocolate and candy.

Our classic Snackin’ in the USA fundraiser is the go-to for most student groups and clubs. Sports teams, however, might opt for our Nuts About Sports fundraiser. It’s got the same tasty treats, but with a fun sports theme for that extra team spirit flair.

tshirt fundraiser

4) T-shirt fundraiser

Give your donors the opportunity to proudly show their support for your school by offering custom T-shirts! Simply choose from our selection of premade designs, or submit your own.

These quality T-shirts are perfect for selling to students as a memento commemorating an epic high school experience. They also make excellent holiday gifts for parents and relatives. Plus, they’re a steal at $15-$20. Remember, the more you sell, the more you make. If your group sells 300 shirts, that’s a $12 profit per shirt for you!

Face mask fundraiser

5) Yummy Lix – A Perfect High School Fundraiser

Who doesn’t love lollipops? Our Yummy Lix are colorful and offered in a variety of flavors. A couple of my favorite flavors are watermelon and banana split. Selling them for only $1 each means many supporters will want to buy more than one.

In fact, many school groups will package the pops in sets of 5 to generate a lot more sales. Your group can sell them in your school or at sporting events.

Popcorn fundraiser program

6) Gourmet Popcorn – A School Fundraiser Favorite

Seriously, who doesn’t love popcorn? It’s light, it’s satisfying, and it can pack some serious flavor punch. Our gourmet popcorn fundraiser features 8 yummy flavors – a little sweet, a little salty, and a little bit of both.

This fundraiser is great for combining with a movie night fundraiser. Presell popcorn alongside tickets to your event – just be sure to give yourself enough time to send in and receive your order. Supporters can then collect their orders at the door on the day of the event. They get a delicious snack for the movie, and you get double profits – it’s win-win!

Fortune cookie fundraising program

7) New High School Fundraiser – Gourmet Fortune Cookies

If you’re looking for a school fundraiser with a small price tag and a big impact, try our $1 gourmet fortune cookies! Each cookie contains a fortune with an uplifting message. And, with their delicious chocolate and colorful candy coating, your supporters won’t be able to stop at one.

Another advantage to this fundraiser is that you already have the product on hand. This means that the transaction is over in an instant (until they come back for seconds!). You get to keep whatever money you’ve earned, and you can keep your fundraiser going until you run out of stock – which won’t take long, believe us!

Online fundraisers

8) Run An Online High School Fundraiser For Even More Sales!

8 out of 10 Americans regularly shop online, and that number will likely continue to grow. Add to that the difficulties of running a school fundraiser during COVID-19 and you’ve got every reason to take your fundraiser online. In fact, you can cast a wider net with your online store by sending the link to friends, family, and followers, and by sharing on social media. And the more people you reach, of course, the more sales you’ll get.

JustFundraising® is rolling out online stores for many of its popular order-taker fundraising products. You can now sell cookie dough, popcorn, snacks, face masks, and more, absolutely contact-free. All you have to do is distribute items to your supporters once they’ve been delivered. This can be done easily and safely through coordinated drive-through pickup or driveway drop-off initiatives. Not only is it a good teamwork exercise, it also gives your students the opportunity to personally thank their supporters.

Browse our Other Categories of High School Fundraising Products

JustFundraising offers 2 methods of product fundraising – order-takers (or brochures) and direct-sellers (also known as show-and-sell).

Order Takers

Order-Takers are brochures featuring quality items to sell, such as cookie dough, gourmet snacks and gift items, usually priced between $5 and $25. We’ll send them to you free of charge so you can start selling, and earning up to 55% profit.

Direct Sellers

Direct-Sellers are any product that you have in-hand to sell such as lollipops, Hershey’s candy bars, beef sticks and scratch cards, usually priced between $0.50 and $5. Free Shipping on all.

8 Best DIY High School Fundraiser Ideas

Because most DIY fundraisers are more involved than product fundraisers, it’s wise to stick to one or two fundraisers per school year. That said, you’ll really want to make ‘em count. Here are our 8 favorite fun and impactful fundraisers for high school students, in no particular order.

DIY high school fundraising ideas

1) Talent Show Fundraiser

High school is teeming with budding musicians, dancers, and performers of all kinds. A talent show fundraiser gives them a chance to show off their talents while raising funds at the same time. You might want to give yourself a good amount of time to plan for this one. This will give participants time to prepare, along with giving organizers time to get the best deals on any equipment or rentals they may need for the event.

Raise money by charging admission to your event. Make it an evening affair if you can, so parents and other members of the community can attend. You can also set a minimum fee to perform and invite participants to solicit donations to cover it. To boost donations, ask a teacher, or better yet, the principal, to volunteer to sing a song chosen by students to close out the show – but only if you reach your goal.

COVID-19 hack: if you’re unable to hold a live event, you can always live stream your show online on Facebook or Instagram. Have your emcee direct viewers to your donation page between performances, and interview performers about what the money raised means to them.

2) 80s/90s Party Fundraiser

This fundraiser is great because it’s a good time for both teens and adults. Parents and teachers get to relive their glory years, and kids get to laugh at how silly they look. You can raise money by charging admission, or you can combine your event with other fundraising activities. Try a silent auction, for instance, or raffles and games (we like the heads or tails game). You can also sell snacks and drinks, or thrifted 80s and 90s paraphernalia.

The beauty of this fundraiser is that it’s relatively inexpensive to plan and execute. Decorations can be anything neon, and you can set up movie stations with old school party flicks showing. Plus, given the abundance of 80s and 90s playlists on Spotify, there’s no need to hire a DJ.

3) Babysitting Fundraiser

Parents of younger children need a night off once in a while, so why not offer your services? The average rate for a babysitter in the US is around $17 per hour. That can add up to quite a bit of money over the course of the year.

You can work on a rotation basis, with a few volunteers dedicating one night per week to babysitting. Or you can advertise “date night” in your community offering your services on a particular Friday or Saturday night. You can even hold a daycare in your school gym around the holidays so parents can get their shopping done. You might also consider combining babysitting with another event fundraiser, such as 80s night or movie night, to help increase attendance.

4) Movie Night High School Takeover Fundraiser

Students will jump at the opportunity to put their feet up on the desks and snack on popcorn in the dark in their classrooms. You can raise funds by charging admission and by selling snacks as well (see popcorn fundraiser above).

Have a few “theaters” on the go at once, each with a different theme, such as horror, action, and comedy. You can restrict it to students only, or you can invite family and friends. This gives you a perfect opportunity to offer child care services as well, in a separate “kids’ theater”.

5) Prom Dress Drive

Most girls will never wear their prom dress again. Why not recycle them and make some money doing it?

Put out a call on social media that you’re collecting old prom dresses, shoes, and other prom accessories. If you cast a wide enough net, you should get a decent collection of newer designs as well as some vintage gems. Post pics of your finds online to promote your upcoming sale, which you can hold in your school’s gym. Don’t forget to advertise to other high school students in your community as well.

Given that a new prom dress can cost hundreds of dollars, eager prom-goers will be happy to spend $40 to $50 on an upcycled dress. And the environment will benefit, too!

6) High School Bazaar Fundraiser

Another way to practice the 3 R’s while raising money is to hold a yard sale or bazaar at your school. Invite friends and family to donate gently used books, household items, and clothing. Given that it’s a fundraiser, you might be able to score some higher quality items that people would have otherwise sold themselves. Once you’ve got enough stuff, you can start promoting your event.

You can hold your bazaar in the gym, or if the weather’s nice, outside on school grounds. If you’ve got a few really good items, up your revenue by selling them silent auction-style. This is a great community event that can be combined with other fundraising activities, as well. Have a bake sale at the same time, or sell homemade lemonade or iced tea. You can even invite a local food truck to set up shop and donate a portion of their sales to your cause. The opportunities for profit are endless!

7) Community Cookbook Fundraiser

Everyone has a favorite recipe, or one that means a lot to them. Have students, teachers, and parents submit their favorite recipe, along with a story of why they love it. You can organize sections alphabetically, or based on difficulty or type of food, whatever you want. It’s your oyster, so to speak.

You can design and print it in house for a more affordable option, or you can opt to use a professional cookbook printing company. Note that the latter will cost more, but you’ll get more sales with a professional-looking product, and your supporters will have a keepsake they can use for a lifetime.

You’ll want to get started on your cookbook right at the onset of the school year to make sure it’s ready for holiday shoppers!

8) Reverse Raffle – The Easiest High School Fundraiser

50/50 raffles are a tried and true method of raising money quickly and easily. The reverse raffle offers a twist on the traditional game, making it more exciting and potentially more profitable. And it couldn’t be easier.

Sell raffle tickets as you normally would, and have supporters follow your school’s Facebook page to see the contest results. The twist is that the big winner is the last ticket in the pot. In other words, if your number gets called, you’re out. As you might have a large number of participants, you can drag out the raffle by eliminating 5 or 10 tickets each day. Post the eliminated numbers on Facebook. Keep doing so until one ticket remains.

You can add an extra twist – and boost your revenue – by giving participants the option to pay to have their ticket thrown back in the pot. The bigger the pot, the more people will want to buy back in. When you’ve reached your goal, you can halt the buybacks and work your way down to a winner.

Check out our Ultimate School Fundraising Guide for even more tips, tricks, and helpful hacks to help make your high school fundraiser the most memorable and profitable yet!

 

Fundraising Strategies for High Schools

Find Your #1 School Fundraiser!

Before starting your next fundraising activity, you will have to get a good feeling for what people in your area want to buy – something unique, practical, delicious, affordable… Listed below are some points to consider before deciding on which fundraising products you should sell:

  • Price Point - Get a feeling for the economic situation of your neighborhoods you will find yourself reaching out to. You should offer a solution that is in line along with your community’s means. Be sure that the products offered by your fundraiser will be priced reasonably for your neighborhood.
  • Demand - Discover what is well-liked or in-demand within your location. You need to make certain you are supplying a product that your contributors really want. Supplying an in-demand solution removes the sales stress from your sellers by letting the product speak for itself. Abide by this easy suggestion and it's going to assist your fundraising sales hugely.
  • Quality - While a great cause such as your high school fundraiser is often a strong enough incentive for prospective supporters, you cannot underestimate the influence of a good quality fundraising item. An awesome item like gourmet cookie dough or delectable snacks, may encourage multiple purchases from the same supporter due to the fact you’re supplying a product they genuinely desire. A quality product also implies they’re more likely to support your cause next time you visit them.
  • Profit Level - It is vital you obtain a solution that has an excellent balance with the above listed points but it's just as significant to not ignore your profit level. If the item fulfils just about every other requirement but doesn’t produce earnings for your fundraiser, then it’s not contributing towards your school’s fundraising objectives. Choose a fundraiser that offers at the very least a 40% profit earning. Conversely, don’t go with a product just because it’s offers a  high profit level - make sure the quality is there too!

 

We want to help. Call one of our experts at 1-888-440-4114. We’ll answer your questions and help you find the perfect fundraiser for your school.

 

Get Organized

If we consider the sellers, their parents, extended family, in conjunction with teachers and employees, your fundraising program may require you to coordinate hundreds and even thousands of adults and youth students. With this in mind, you are going to need to get very-organized and build a fundraising program that factors in all your communication and management needs. Right here are a handful of tips to assist you to get started:

  • Set up an overall fundraising profit objective, along with individual sales targets, and be sure they’re communicated frequently to your sellers and parents throughout the fundraiser.
  • Put together a listing of adult volunteers and describe their tasks - weekly funds collection, distribution day, and so forth.
  • Put together a list of date ranges from kick-off date, to collection dates, to distribution day, and stay with them.
  • Organize a list of weekly meeting dates for the Fundraising Board, so you can handle any problems in a timely fashion. Acquire all of their emails and ensure your CCed on any fundraising-related topic, so you remain inside the loop.
  • Organize an incentive strategy that's certain to inspire the sellers (and their parents!). Be sure you have a spot inside the school where students can see the rewards during the fundraiser.
  • Have your best public speaker, possibly the principal, be part of your kick-off sales pitch.
  • Prepare weekly letters and or emails to help keep the children and parents informed about the fundraiser status.

 

Motivate Your School Fundraiser Volunteers

It may be difficult to preserve morale all through your fundraiser (some can last the whole school year!) so you, being an organizer, must employ techniques to help keep motivation elevated. Right here is actually a list to get you started:

  • Assign individual ‘accounts’ for people, groups or classes so their progress and contribution can be tracked separately. This could help add a healthful competitive spirit that may give a nice boost to motivation.
  • Offer gifts or other incentives to people, groups or classes that surpass certain milestones like quickest or most sales.
  • Do shout-outs to groups or individuals that are succeeding or improving. This can be accomplished in a weekly e-mail recap, a social media update or at a school assembly. Public recognition could be a powerful motivator.
  • Don't forget to maintain an enjoyable and light atmosphere so volunteers can go about their duties inside a pressure-free environment. A lot of strain on your volunteers can lead to issues with motivation. Don't forget to have fun!
  • Make certain you and your teams thank your supporters for their efforts and make them aware of the difference they’ve made in achieving your high school fundraising goals.

 

Turn fundraising activities into a helpful learning experience

Occasionally the frantic pace of a fundraiser can overshadow just how much of a helpful learning experience it may be for your students. Remember to draw focus on the abilities theses children are developing. Set up sessions to go over and train students and volunteers on how to develop or showcase these skills. These skills contain:

  • Communication and Sales Skills – Students will learn how to make an effective sales pitch to potential supporters. Communication abilities are crucial to a solid career and establishing them early can be an excellent asset.
  • Math Skills - Even though fundraisers normally only require addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, volunteers will have to perform these calculations on the fly on repeated occasions throughout the fundraiser.
  • Teamwork - Children working with each other within the buddy system or in bigger teams get to experience what it is like to work with others to work towards a common objective. As well, every seller’s personal efforts are for the good of the whole class or school, not themselves personally. Finding out ways to operate as an element of a group will come to be vital in their lives once they progress into higher education and the working world.
  • Leadership - Kids who choose to increase or sharpen their leadership qualities can take on the role of leader in their particular teams and assist in keeping their group organized and motivated. These experiences can help shape the leaders of tomorrow!

 

School Fundraising Safety Recommendations

There are plenty of constructive components to fundraising but even with all the positivity, we can’t forget to make sure all sellers are conducting themselves safely. Be sure to talk extensively about fundraising security during the fundraising kick-off meeting. Be certain to use the following recommendations to make sure your volunteers are safe and protected while they are attempting to reach your goal:

  • Always make certain young children are with parents when fundraising door-to-door.
  • Older kids and teenagers must always use the buddy system and have no less than 2 friends working together. A typical configuration involves 3 older children, 2 who are going to be ringing the doorbell and 1 who will remain on the edge of the property to have a safe view in case help must be called for.
  • Do not allow your volunteers to enter in the dwelling of strangers when going door-to-door. Instruct them to keep all door-to-door fundraising activities beyond the doorstep, quite a number of feet from the door to be sure neighbors and passersby have got a clear viewpoint.
  • Remind your volunteers not to carry a vast amount of funds. Have them store it at home safely throughout the fundraiser.

We had a very successful fundraiser with our Snackin' In The USA and managed to raise over $1000. We fundraise with just fundraising to fund our mentee program for teenage girls and pay for our non for profit certificate. We are looking forward to fundraising with just fundraising to raise money to fund our back to school picnic in order to send 100 to 200 children to school with school supplies and book bags.

 

The Lady Doves | Chicago, IL

 

Every year during the students April week long break we take a bus load of students to states farther west then New England to see colleges. We are a college prep program serving students from 9th grade to 12th in all the high schools in Worcester. With a mission of having them graduate high school, moving on to college and getting a degree. This trip gives them the opportunity to be exposed to colleges and areas outside of what they normally see. Each student is required to raise 500 dollars to cover the cost of travel, hotel and food and this year we will be traveling to the DC and Baltimore area to see school and expose the students to that areas culture. I just wanted to say thank you JustFundraising® for having these fundraising opportunities because we use them every year to help our students raise money for their extended college tour trip.

 

High School Prep Program | Worcester, MA

 
 


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