by Jamie Jefferson
Whether you are a parent of a teen or a teen yourself, you know the importance of having funding for extracurricular activities. Youth groups, sports teams, bands and other high school activities all need to raise money. Fundraisers can be fun if you know how to put a new twist on typical fundraisers. Successful fundraising is just a few steps away if you follow these ideas.
1. Baked Potato Dinner. A lot of groups do pancake breakfasts or spaghetti dinners, but serving baked potatoes and all of the fixings is a great way to raise money. Potatoes are relatively inexpensive and can be baked in bulk. You can buy cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, broccoli, butter and chili in bulk packages. Find somewhere to hold the dinner, like the school cafeteria, where there is enough room for everyone. The students can sell tickets ahead of time and also at the door.
2. Picnic Basket Auction. This idea works well at another event, like a back to school night or school carnival. It can also be done independently. Provide a picnic basket for each student and then have them decorate and fill it with food with a budget of $10. Each picnic basket is raffled off in a silent auction.
3. Singing or Musical Telegrams. These are perfect for a high school band or chorus and work well around Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. Students can sell telegrams at school and participants fill out the recipient’s name, their address (or room number if the telegrams are to students) and then have the students deliver the telegrams on a specific date. Search online for lyrics for a singing telegram, or have band members play a piece of appropriate music.
4. Growing Kit. Buy seeds in bulk for fast growing flowers and then purchase some clay pots from a surplus garden store. Have a meeting with the teen group where you all fill the pots with potting soil, attach the seeds to the outside and then wrap up the pot with cellophane and ribbon. Sell the pots at a flat rate around school and in the community. This fundraiser works well in the spring and before Mother’s Day.
5. Candy selling with a twist. Instead of selling the standard bars of candy why not make some candy from scratch and sell it at a premium price? People enjoy homemade candy more than commercially made bars. You can distribute recipes to the group, or if the high school club is small, you can organize a candy making party. The pieces can sell for higher amounts that regular candy and you can keep most of the profits.
6. Group yard sale. This one requires a bit of organization, but it’s well worth it. Have all the members bring clothes, toys and household items the week before the sale. One group of students can organize the items and price them, while the other can canvas the neighborhoods with signs. The day of the yard sale you can sell muffins in the morning and chili toward the afternoon as an additional form of fundraising.
Jamie Jefferson writes for http://www.Momscape.com and http://www.Susies-Coupons.com, where you can find the latest office supply coupons, including any current offers for $30 off $150 coupons.
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