Updated October 2025
Every week we bring hands-on fundraising advice meant to help K-12 school groups smash their fundraising goals. Join our 10,000+ member community!
Fundraisers are fun, and they’re often necessary for affording school trips or educational materials. However, they can be quite the production to pull off, requiring lots of people, time, and start-up cash to put together. Since teachers often don’t have a lot of time or a lot of extra money to put towards a big event, here are 10 easy and affordable fundraisers that you can organize at the drop of a hat!
Future Fund has helped countless PTAs and PTOs set up successful fundraising events, so we’ve seen how easy it can be to organize these events with our own two eyes. Check out the list below and use it to inspire the next event you plan.
| Ease of Implementation | Very easy – just sell tickets and draw a winner |
| Time to Implement | 1–2 days prep |
| Expenses Required | $ (printing tickets) |
| Volunteers Needed | 1–2 to sell tickets & draw winner |
| Ideal For | Any size event or standalone |
These raffles are among the simplest and most straightforward to pull off. You sell tickets to participate (which you can do by setting up a custom online store in Future Fund) and pull a winner at the end. Whoever wins gets half of the money collected during the event.
| Ease of Implementation | Very easy – announce theme and collect donations |
| Time to Implement | Same-day setup |
| Expenses Required | $ (promo posters, optional prizes) |
| Volunteers Needed | Minimal (teacher or class leader) |
| Ideal For | Spirit days & student engagement |
Collect donations from the students to participate in a special dress up day. Themes can include superhero day, pajama day, or a day where they don’t have to wear school issued uniforms.
If you want to get fancy with it, include a costume walk where the students can see each other’s costumes. You can also incorporate a costume contest where they can vote on their favorite outfit of the day.
| Ease of Implementation | Easy – prep envelopes ahead of time |
| Time to Implement | 1–2 days prep |
| Expenses Required | $$ (envelopes, display board) |
| Volunteers Needed | 1–2 to manage display & cash |
| Ideal For | Booster for existing events |
This is an easy fundraiser that can be tacked on to any larger event. Number 100 envelopes from $1-$100 and post them in clear view of the event. As the event progresses, people can donate by putting the corresponding dollar amount into the envelope that they select. If all of the envelopes are filled, you’ll raise an extra $5,050 for the club’s budget!
| Ease of Implementation | Easy – needs jars & tracking |
| Time to Implement | 1–3 days |
| Expenses Required | $ (containers) |
| Volunteers Needed | 1 per class to track totals |
| Ideal For | Friendly classroom competition |
To run this fundraiser, each class needs a fishbowl, vase, clear lock box, or clear container of some sort. Each class adds money to their box and whichever class has the most money in their box wins a prize at the end! Here are some fun and easy fundraiser prizes for your students!
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Get Started| Ease of Implementation | Very easy – one jar and filler |
| Time to Implement | 1 day |
| Expenses Required | $ (jar + filler) |
| Volunteers Needed | 1–2 to collect guesses & tally |
| Ideal For | Younger grades, quick events |
Fill a jar with marbles, jelly beans, or coins and collect a donation from students to let them guess how many items are in the jar. The student whose guess is closest to the mark gets to take the jar home at the end of the event! For more of a challenge, include items of the same type but different sizes.
| Ease of Implementation | Easy ongoing program |
| Time to Implement | Year-round |
| Expenses Required | $0 (requires registered school) |
| Volunteers Needed | Minimal (teachers to collect/submit) |
| Ideal For | Long-term, low-effort funding |
Collecting box tops is an easy way for students to support schools that have registered with the Box Tops 4 Education program. All they need to do is make sure their parents purchase products from their local grocery stores that feature clippable box tops.
As they use the items, collect the box tops and turn them in to their teachers. The teachers can then exchange all of the box tops that they’ve collected through the program for items like books, computers, markers, and other supplies.
| Ease of Implementation | Easy – partner with businesses |
| Time to Implement | 1–2 weeks setup |
| Expenses Required | $ (tip jar, signage) |
| Volunteers Needed | 1–2 to collect periodically |
| Ideal For | Community partnerships |
Partner with local restaurants and businesses and leave a tip jar by the register of their business. Feel free to include a hand-drawn picture or card from the kids explaining what the donation will be used for and thanking the patrons for their generosity.
| Ease of Implementation | Easy – relies on student participation |
| Time to Implement | Ongoing or seasonal |
| Expenses Required | $0 (may need bins) |
| Volunteers Needed | 1–2 to transport recyclables |
| Ideal For | Eco-friendly campaigns, holidays |
Ask your students to bring in their used cans and bottles for recycling. When they bring them in, the teachers can take the recyclables to the recycling center and exchange them for cash.
Teachers can also pair this fundraiser with a lesson on recycling and keeping the planet healthy to motivate students to do their part. This kind of fundraiser is especially effective around holidays, when there tend to be more containers because people are eating and drinking more!
| Ease of Implementation | Moderate – needs space, equipment |
| Time to Implement | 1–2 weeks planning |
| Expenses Required | $$ (licensing, snacks) |
| Volunteers Needed | 3–5 for setup, tickets, cleanup |
| Ideal For | Family engagement night |
Accept donations from families to put on a movie night. If you can secure the space, add a costume contest to fit in with the theme of the movie!
| Ease of Implementation | Easy but needs tracking |
| Time to Implement | 1 week+ |
| Expenses Required | $ (collection jugs) |
| Volunteers Needed | 1 per class to monitor |
| Ideal For | School-wide competition |
The penny war is a classic game-turned-fundraiser. Each teacher leaves a big water jug outside of their classroom. The students then bring in change. The pennies count towards positive points for the class and the silver coins subtract the value of the coin from the class total.
For example, if the class has 87 pennies but two nickels in their jug, the total points for the class is 77. At the end of the war, whoever has the most points wins a prize!
Some of the fundraisers above can be organized with very few tools—but anytime you’re selling tickets or collecting donations, Future Fund can make the process even easier with built-in ecommerce features, payment processing tools, and financial reporting capabilities. Sign up for a free demo of our system and see how it can work for your school.
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Your alumni newsletter can do more than update former students—it can also encourage them to donate to your fundraisers. Learn how to maximize the potential of every newsletter you send in this guide from the team at FutureFund.
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