My daughter and some friends are trying to earn money to help pay for a school choir trip to NYC. Right now they are selling candy bars, but I was wondering if anyone had a unique idea that worked well for them. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

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Car wash is a good one. And in our community companies pay youth groups to do things like hold signs advertising mattress store sales and the youth group they belong to gets the money.
Another thing that works well is some kind of message delivery. Maybe singing telegrams, gift baskets (requires time, work and up front cash) or cards made by the people in the group to be delivered.
A walkathon maybe with the track or walking area made to be like NYC with "landmarks" like the Statue of Liberty, Times Square etc.

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Thanks! Several good ideas!

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"Too blessed to be stressed...too anointed to be disappointed!"

When my kids were smaller the local high school had a club that did a babysitting Saturday at the school gym for Christmas shopping parents. It was a set price for like 5 hours. You could drop of your child anytime during that 5 hours and pick up any time. Same price. It was packed. They did it the first 2 saturdays of decemember. I took my children the first Saturday and they begged to go the next one too. They had a blast. They had several little groups set up, with games, story reading, a quiet area for reading alone, homework help area, a movie areas. It was great and my kids loved it. If your kids were going to be there for lunch it was an extra amount. And they had bagged lunches with sandiches, chips and a drink. The group also had a bakesale set up right where you were picking up and dropping off the kids and they were very successful with the entire event.

Raffles are always a good fundraiser too. ALot of restaurants and stores are very happy to donate a meal for 2 or gift card, or other items to raffle off. If your a couponer you can probably make up some really great gift baskets for a few dollars, and make quite a bit on them.

Our high schoool did a fundraiser that was different. They had a huge yard sale. Instead of pricing items, they charged a $5 per person admission fee. Whatever you could carry, was yours for the fee. It was a great idea and they got a huge amount of people. It also was very quick, they only did it for four hours and made a good amount of money in a short amount of time. All the yard sale items were donated, so it was all profit!

What a great idea with the babysitting days! I'm going to run that one past the group! Thanks so much!

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"Too blessed to be stressed...too anointed to be disappointed!"

Our schools soccer team also had a giant yard sale at school. A school wide email went out asking for donations. It was a huge success. (They were raising $$ to go to Spain!)

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Macy's is having a fundraiser for non-profit organizations. If their school can provide a tax-exempt number they can apply. They are given tickets that they can sell for $5 each. They keep ALL the profits. The people who purchase can use their tickets October 17th ONLY but use their tickets as a $5 gift certificate. So no one loses out and you get $5 each ticket you sell.
Shop for a Cause is the title.

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I don't know what your time frame is for needing the money, but one of the most successful fundraisers I've seen around here is a cookie walk at holiday time. The people in the organization donate their favorite holiday cookies - these are placed on tables and people are given a bakery box at the start of the walk and they walk along the tables and take however many of each kind they want. At the end of the walk, the amount is tallied and you pay for your cookies.

I have been to one cookie walk where the price was set per dozen and another where they were weighed and you paid a certain price per pound. I love this fundraiser and seek them out each year because I am not a baker and I can get a nice variety of cookies. My only complaint is that around here they are usually held in November so you can get cookies for Thanksgiving and freeze some for Christmas. I wish someone would have one a little closer to Christmas because we end up eating the frozen ones long before Christmas gets here.

This post got me thinking since my daughter just found out that her softball team is going to raise $$ to go to Orlando this spring.
Next week they are having a fundraiser at Fuddruckers (and maybe in the future at Chick-fil-a). Anyone that eats there and says they are there for the school gets a % put aside for the school. You might want to check into this.
I have also suggested to her about 1.) "Sundaes on Mondays" at school. For $1 students can fix ice cream sundaes at lunch. 2.) Spaghetti Hot Lunch at school. For $5 a plate the students can have spaghetti with sauce, garlic bread, salad and dessert. (Hot Lunches at our old school were a monthly thing done by each class. The profits went right to the class fund and paid for the end of the year class parties. The food was prepared and donated by parents in the class)
I do not know if your school has a dress code or uniform but since ours does then it is being suggested that for $1 you can have a Jeans Day.

Tomorrow they are having a meeting so I will let you know if anyone suggests something else that you might can use.

(OH and I think that the yard sale at our school was a much bigger success becasue the school gave tax reciepts when you turned in donations)

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You could do a "rummage sale" where you rent a table or space to those who want to bring their own items in to sale. You charge $10 per table, or space and they do all the setting up. You will have to check to see if your school will allow the use of your gym or cafeteria. If not, many church's have the facilities to do this. Huge money maker if done properly and advertised well. Great opportunity for those who didn't have time to do garage sales in the warmer months also.

If you specialize in this such as a "mom to mom" sale where the only things being sold are for babies and maybe up to 8 years you could charge an admission fee like a dollar. I've been to some in Michigan and the line outside to get in is very long. Again, advertising is the key.

Successful things done around here:

restaurants that donate a percentage of sale (10-20%) back to the school/organization on a designated night (Chick Fil A, Papa Murphy's, Domino's, Red Robin, Black Eyed Pea, 31 flavors are a few that do it)

silent auction: students ask for donated items that go with certain *themes* and then create gift baskets. Then they are displayed on a certain night and people can bid on them

I know the babysitting nights that local churches have are PACKED! If you have a place that will donate space (school, church, etc), you could do Friday or Saturday nights that have nothing to do with a holiday and set up "date night". Maybe find some restaurants that will give discounts to couples who have a flyer and have dropped their kids off. That sort of thing will appeal to some people while others might just like to have the time to do whatever. I think "admission" is like $5 for the first kid and $2.50 for each additional one for up to 4 hours

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My daughter's orchestra group collect soda/beer cans (Iowa 5 cent refund).

They are also working with the local Sodexho concession stands and we run concessions (both parents and kids over 16) at hockey games, roller derbies, craft fairs, concerts, whatever the company has a need for.

I talked to a friend and her daughter's sports team were baggers at a grocery store and worked for tips for 3 hours.

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well there were not alot of ideas "shared" yesterday but one that they are doing was not mentioned here.
50/50 raffle
Next month is the middle school play and they are going to hold one there. The girls are also hoping that an adult will win and just say "keep it".
I do not know if your school is having a large event or not OR if the school would let the band hold the raffles at lunch time maybe once a week for a month.

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Check out my pictures!! Just click below:
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