15 Spring Fundraising Ideas for Your K-12 School 

April through June is a busy time at schools! It is full of concerts, field days, end-of-year celebrations, plays, recitals, and spring fundraising. Did you know that nearly half of overall K-12 school fundraising happens during these three months? 

In 2022, K-12 schools raised $101.4 million from April to June via GiveSmart 

Looking for fresh fundraiser ideas for your elementary, middle, or high school? There are a lot of opportunities with better weather, end-of-year celebrations, and spring events to raise money for your school! 
 

Elementary  

Easter Egg Drop 

Offer families pre-filled Easter eggs that they can either pick up to hide or offer the Bunny’s helpers to hide eggs in the yard. For $10-$20 per family, parents can save time and sleep in! Offer local high school students service hours to help fill and organize.  

Offering the eggs as a take-home fundraiser as opposed to a morning hunt makes your planning and volunteer logistics more manageable. 

Parents’ Night Out 

Offer babysitting at school, in the gym or as a movie or game night. Local high school students can receive service hours, and you can consider asking staff to donate a bit of time. For $25-$40 per family, parents can get an affordable babysitter in a safe place that they trust.  

Teacher and Principal Dare 

Students are motivated by having their beloved teachers and administrators do silly things. Things like duct taping a teacher to the wall, silly stringing them, pie in the face, asking them to dress in their rival team/school’s spirit wear, and more are great fundraisers to pay per opportunity or do as a voting competition. Families will pay $1 per vote to pick a teacher for the daring activity! 

These also make a great incentive to motivate fundraising or participation in any of your school initiatives!  

Middle/High 

Tournaments 

Any bracket tournament is a perfect spring event for a fundraiser for your school. Students can create teams for the sport of choice, you draw teams, and let the play begin! You can offer prizes to the winner, as well as the best team name, costume, and more. 

Sports Clinics 

Have your teams offer sports clinics for elementary and middle school students for any sport you offer at school. Not only are clinics a good fundraiser, but they are also an entry point for any summer sports camps your teams may host.  

Spring Clean-Up 

Spring is the time to get flower beds and yards pruned, mulched, edged, seeded, and planted. Have students be extra hands to families who are willing to donate for help.  

All 

5K/Color Run 

A neighborhood 5K or color run is a fun way to bring your community together. For a registration fee, students and families can run/walk your course, spend time together outside, and come together to celebrate and support your school! 

Coffee/Tea Cart 

Offer a weekly or monthly coffee or snack cart in the morning for parents, teachers, and high school students. For a nominal purchase price, people can get their morning fix right at school. 

Buy-a-Brick/a-Bulb 

Offer people the opportunity to get naming rights via engraved brick if you are beautifying a part of your school with a new garden or grotto. For something that is a bit less labor intensive, consider offering people the chance to “adopt” a bulb or flower, as your school does its own spring refresh.  

Movie Night 

Bring students together for a movie night at school either in your auditorium, gym, football field, or projected elsewhere outside. Consider offering concessions, too! This is also a great “Parents’ Night Out” alternative for an elementary school.  

Out-of-Uniform Pass Sale 

By spring, uniforms can be losing their luster. Give students the opportunity to dress down by selling out of uniform passes. Take payments online, $20 for five passes, and move closer to your spring fundraising goals. 

Paint and Sip 

Do you have an art department that can teach a Paint and Sip class for adults? Parents can bring their own food and snacks, as well as BYOB, and create a masterpiece—or at least try.  

Plant Sale 

Partner with a local nursery to host a plant sale at school. You have the space, and with the right online platform, the ordering, reporting, and fulfillment can be very manageable for your staff and volunteers.  

Selfie Scavenger Hunt 

This fundraiser is an all-ages hit! Provide registered students with a list of places or items that participants have to find and take a selfie with. They then upload their photos and tag your nonprofit, giving you some promotion, too! 

Consider setting this up as a peer-to-peer fundraiser and giving mulligans or a head start for top fundraisers. 

Teacher Wishlist  

Teacher appreciation week is in May. Honor your hardworking staff with a teacher wishlist campaign, where parents, community members, alumni, and other supporters can give to fulfill specific teachers’ needs. Simply set up your wishlist as items within your donor management system and share it with your network.  

GiveSmart allows you to run any of these fundraising events online, via ticket sales, instant buys, store setup, registration forms, voting competitions, and many other easy-to-use features. 

Now is the time to freshen up your school’s fundraising and donor management tools, too! Connect with GiveSmart experts to chat more about your upcoming fundraising campaigns.

With GiveSmart, enjoy one contract, one payment, and one vendor partner that provides endless fundraising possibilities.