Raise money with this list of healthy fundraising ideas for schools, childcare centres and community groups.
A healthy fundraising option is one without all the sugar (sorry, chocolate fans) but substituted with lots of active fun for school students.
Active Healthy Fundraising Ideas for Schools
Ride-a-thon
Ride-a-thons are a simple but hugely popular active fundraising idea for kids. Our kindy does one every year, and the little ones love it! Kids are asked to bring along their bikes, scooters or skates and complete a course, with the children being sponsored by family or friends for each lap they complete.
Jump Rope for Heart
Jump Rope for Heart is the Heart Foundation’s ready-made fundraising and skipping program that helps primary school students move more and have fun whilst raising vital funds for heart research, patient support and programs that help save lives.
Colour Run
Colour Runs are one of the most popular and healthy fundraising ideas for schools and it is not hard to see why. There are numerous fundraising sites that once you register your school will send you the powder packs, fundraising booklets and sunglasses and then offer different fundraising options! Children can collect cash with their sponsorship booklet or get donations via an online fundraising profile.
The kids pay an amount to take part in the day, get their glasses and have a ball running along a track as parents, teachers and sometimes even other seniors spray them with the colourful powder. What is not to love about this? They are outdoors. They are active. And at the end of it all, they are very colourful and messy! The kids LOVE it.
We have also seen a trend towards schools taking care of all the organisation themselves and providing more eco friendly prizes in exchange for participation.
School Discos
School Discos as a healthy fundraising idea have been around forever and this is because it is an activity the kids love to do and it offers a number of different ways to make money for the school on the day. Maybe you will have a theme for your disco and get the kids to dress up? Maybe it will be during the day for different year levels at different times? Or maybe it will be an after school event for older years?
Whatever you decide, schools can raise funds by charging a small entry fee for students, and then selling some food items and drinks as well as a range of glow sticks and other fun accessories at the event. In all of the excitement and music, those kids will be moving and grooving non-stop for hours with their friends too. A great way to keep them active while fundraising!
Dads on Kids Bikes
This is another hilarious fundraising event that is actually similar to the ride-a-thon but involves the dads (or mums) as well. Basically, parents are asked to see how many laps they can do of a course with their children. The only hitch? They have to complete it on their child’s bicycle. People can either sponsor the event based on a per lap basic (sponsoring the dad and saying they will pay a certain amount for every lap they complete) or just donate a one off amount. Watch the hilarity ensue with this one.
Healthy Food Fundraising Ideas for Schools
Instead of loading your school bake sales with cupcakes, sweets and lolly bags, there are actually a lot of healthy fundraising alternatives when it comes to food. Below is a list of fundraising ways to incorporate fun and healthy food options.
Fruit Box Raffle
Raffling off a fruit box or a voucher at the local fruit store is a fantastic way to promote healthy eating and raise money. Many local fruit shops will be more than happy to donate a box or basket of fruit to the school and kids can sell raffle tickets to their families and friends at a small price. The winner will love this fresh box of goodness to share with the family and fill lunch boxes with.
Healthy Food Meal Deals
Food meal deals are another huge hit with kids that are keen for something other than their usual lunchbox items. Running a Meal Deal is not like other fundraisers as parents see a meal deal as an extension of your schools tuckshop and parents see it as a great way to support your school at the same time as feeding their children.
Subway and Sushi are two super popular options that are healthy and easy to organise too. Kids take home an order form, select the items they want and pay the money prior to an order date. My School Lunch is one company that will do all the organisation for you and link your desired food type with a local business. Schools can usually organise a bulk item deal with the company organising the food and can therefore make some funds for the school without having to charge the kids any extra.
Healthy BBQ
Everyone loves a BBQ and sausage sizzles are a regular fundraising tool for schools. Sausages and bread are cheap and easy and the kids come for them in droves. You can also add some other healthy options to the bbq item selections such as grilled vegetables (e.g. corn cobs, mushrooms, tomatoes) and vegetable kebab sticks, wholegrain and wholemeal breads and a range of salads.
Pancake and Fruit Breakfast Mornings
Pancake and fruit mornings are one of our most popular fundraisers at our school. Kids love an early morning treat and parents love to have a different option for breakfast that doesn’t require them to make it in amongst the usual morning chaos. Made from only a few ingredients and packed with energy for the kids, you can add toppers like fruit and honey to keep them healthy and offer fruit juice drinks for purchase as well. Parents will love sending kids along with a gold coin donation per pancake or drink and know their kids will be starting their day with full bellies and big smiles.
Fruit Ice Block Sale
Fresh fruit ice blocks are a popular way to fundraise for the school and also keep kids cool during the never-ending heat of our Aussie summer days. You can either purchase some sugar-free fruit ice blocks in bulk from your local store or make some and freeze them before the day. Advertise with parents and around the school in the weeks leading up to it and watch as the children order them in droves. A simple, cool treat that parents will not say no to, that the kids will love and that schools will be able to get some funds. A definite win-win for everyone.
Popcorn
Popcorn is a cheap and cheerful (insert healthy) food option with or without a movie night. As an addition to the tuckshop on rainy movie days or as the official food for movie nights, popcorn can be bought and sold for a tidy profit.
Holiday Event Fundraising Ideas for Schools
Easter and Christmas Raffles
Easter doesn’t need to be just about chocolate and Christmas not just about candy canes. The truth is, these two holidays are actually one of the best ways to fundraise for the school and in a way that doesn’t have to be all about sweets. Our school has a fantastic fundraiser that they run around the festive events.
Every year, each class in the school is given a basket or box and a theme. This could be things like sporting, water play, family night in, movies, cash tree, games, pampering etc. Each child from each class then donates a small gift to the basket in their theme. In the end, for the small price of a small gift each, every class ends up with a basket filled with about 25 different gifts. Parents buy raffle tickets (maybe at $1 each or 10 for $10 – whatever you decide) and have the chance to win one of around 30 different baskets, depending how many classes you have. It makes for a fun, exciting, lively final parade when the winners take their baskets home!
Other Fundraising Ideas for Schools
There are many other fundraising ideas too – that do not need to include unhealthy practices. Some of these are listed below.
Free Dress Day
This is the biggest fundraiser we have at our school and one that is done quite regularly during each term. For a simple gold coin donation, kids can come to school in either free dress or clothes matching a certain theme. This may be something to do with events happening around that time (red for Day for Daniel, red, white and blue for Australia Day, green for environment day etc). Kids love not having to wear their school uniform for a day and the gold coin from each student adds up to a good amount of funds for the school with no outlay needed.
Parent Quiz Night
Quiz nights at school with parents are hilarious! A chance for parents to have a night out without the kids and play a little friendly competition is always a hit. Advertise the quiz night with a theme in the months before hand to give parents time to organise babysitters and possible teams and outfits. Charge a fee for team entry and also for drinks and food deals on the night if you like. When parents arrive in their teams they then answer a range of questions on the theme over the course of the evening with the winning team being the one that answers the most questions right.
Family recipe fundraiser
Bringing together family recipes for an entire school and turning it into a book may seem like a huge effort but with the right systems set up from the get go, far less effort than you think. And, when it can be collated into an ebook and cost literally nothing in printing costs, you can imagine that selling it for a few dollars can add up especially if every family across the school is invested in seeing their family receipe published.
There are so many great ways to fundraise for your school and hopefully the list above has given you some good ideas for your next one. If you have any other healthy fundraising ideas for schools we haven’t mentioned, we would love for you to let us know and we will add them on.
Join the conversation