How to Raise Money

Hold a Parent’s Night Out or sleepover. With these events, parents can get a few hours rest and quiet by getting the kids out of the house for a while. Have teachers and parent volunteers chaperone as parents pay a fee to drop off their kids for a few hours or the whole night at the school’s gym, cafeteria or other large room. Feed the kids dinner, play games or screen a movie, and be sure that parents bring sleeping supplies if it’s a sleepover. Charge $10 per child and you’ll make a lot of money very quickly!

Turn your staff into entertainment. You can hold a talent show for teachers and the principal, but said employees must first get funding by asking their students for donations, like a walk-a-thon. Any student that pays gets free admission to the talent show for them and their family. Alternatively, you can have the principals or teachers agree to do entertaining acts in response to how much money is raised by the student body.

• For example, at $500 the teachers all have to wear silly hats for a week, at $1,000 the teachers have to wear their underwear on the outside for a week, at $1,500 the Principals will have a bad-singing duel, etc. Your students will fall over themselves at the chance to make their superiors look silly.

Have a Rubber Duck Game. Get a donation from a sponsor or create one to use as a grand prize. Then sell small rubber ducks to families or students over the course of a week, a month, or just in one evening. These families will be given a number which will be put on the duck (they can even customize their duck, if you want). Now hold a race, where the ducks are placed on any body of flowing water. Whichever duck gets to the finish line first wins a prize for the family who purchased it. Everyone else can take their ducks home, so no one goes home empty-handed.

• You can do an alternative duck game where all of the ducks are floated on top of a large water surface, such as a kiddie pool. One duck will have a star drawn on the bottom. People pay to pick a duck and whoever picks the star wins the prize. This can be played multiple times, so long as you have prizes to hand out.

Grow your green. Get donations of empty soup cans and remove all labels and sand down rough or sharp edges. These will serve as a flower pot. Then, have kids paint or decorate the outside of the cans. Once you have your flower pots ready, fill them with dirt and help the kids plant and grow herbs, flowers, etc. Once they're decently sized, hold a sale for everyone in the community to come and buy the plants.

Hold a chair auction or sale. Auction off or sell the chance to paint or decorate the student seats. Families will pay to create a totally custom chair that their child can sit in and will act as a symbol of their donation for years to come. Way better and less boring than brick engraving! You can even get local hardware stores to donate spray paint and other appropriate paints, as well as stencils and other tools that can be used to customize the chairs.

Do housework. If you just want to make some quick money, offer to do extra chores around the house in exchange for a few extra bucks. You can work around your own home or you can help other people clean their homes too. Just make sure that you only help out safe people whom you can trust.

Babysit. Babysit for people that you know or strangers. You can make an ad and put it up at your school or church. In your ad, write down what hours you are available and how much money you charge. Just make sure you know how to babysit before you start!

Become a paper boy. If you live in an area where the paper is still delivered, you can become a paper boy (though you don't need to be a boy to do it!). Check with your local papers to find out if they have any openings.

Do some yard work. You can mow lawns, trim hedges, pull weeds, plant flowers, and do other yard work for people in your own neighborhood, for your parents, or for other people you know. Make a flyer and pass it out to people you know and ask them to pass it along if they don't need help. Just make sure you don't ask for too much money!

Walk dogs. Walking neighborhood dogs is another way you can make some fast money, especially if you end up walking dogs that get along well with other dogs because then you can walk more than one dog at a time! Put up fliers in your neighborhood or hand them out to your neighbors that you know own dogs.

Tutoring. You can also tutor to earn money. Decide what you're good at and know a lot about and then make a flier with your hours and how much you want to charge. Put it up at your school or a lower school in the area. You can also get your teacher's help by having them share it with teachers they know in the area.

Pick a website to use. There are now a number of websites devoted to online fundraising. You will want to choose one which is reputable and associated with the kind of project you’d like to do.^[4] For example, Kickstarter and Indiegogo are the two most popular platforms for arts projects and creating physical products for sale, where GoFundMe, Fundly, and Crowdrise are for charities and individuals raising money.^[5]

• You can even start a fundraiser on Facebook if you are social media savvy.

Have a solid plan and share that with your backers. You will need to have a solid plan for the money you get, carefully laying out exactly how you’ll use it and when you’ll meet deadlines.^[6] Share these plans with your backers so that they know you’ve planned ahead.

Have great rewards. In order to encourage people to donate, it is important to have great rewards or incentives, if the platform you are using allows this. Make sure these rewards are something you can provide and that they will not set you back financially. Get as many donated rewards as you can.

Update often. You will want to frequently let people know what’s going on as your donation period progresses. This will keep people interested and engaged, as well as encourage them to share the project with their friends.

Interact with people. Interact with donors as well as potential donors. This will draw more people into your project, as well as keeping current donors engaged and interested in what you are doing.^[7] Message back everyone who sends you questions or feedback, post videos talking about your plans, and go out on to forums which relate to your project to find more interested parties.

Advertise. See if local papers or new programs are interested in reporting on your project. Find online blogs that may be interested in what you are doing. Post on forums and take advantage of social media to make sure as many people as possible know about what you are doing and why they’d love to help you out.

Be thankful. Be extremely gracious with everyone who donates. Let people know how much you appreciate their money. This will make them want to support you more in the future, or maybe even donate more money than they did at first.

Search for grants. Grants are, essentially, free money. You don’t have to pay them back like you do a loan. However, they are often competitive and difficult to get, so be ready to put some work into it. Search for grants which apply to you, where the money is intended to fund people like you or the sorts of things you want to do.

• You can find grants through a number of websites, through your local library, or using university or college resources. Just be sure that whatever you’re applying for is from a reputable organization. You should never have to pay money in order to get a grant.

Apply for grants. Filling out the applications can be time consuming and complex, so prepare for that. There is often a large associated writing element, generally in the form of an essay or letter describing what you are doing and why (and how!). It may be helpful to hire or find a grant writer or at least someone who writes well, as this will increase your chances of getting the grant.

Follow through. Grants will often have a long list of requirements that they want met. Rise to meet those requirements and be sure to use the money for what you said you would. You can find yourself in a lot of trouble if you don’t.

Investigate loans. If you are raising money to start a business or other activity which will have returns, consider getting a loan. There are many different types of loans, all with different benefits and downsides. Investigate these to see which type is best for you.^[8]

Apply for a loan. Apply for the loan. You will probably need to go in to whichever bank is offering you the loan (be sure to choose a reputable bank, preferably that you have a history or account with) and talk to them about your options and what is expected of you. The paperwork will probably be long and complex, so pay attention to what you are signing up for.