Schools are back for Spring! Last week saw England’s primary and secondary school pupils get back in the classroom. Reunited with friends and teachers after a few months of home-schooling, schools across the nation are welcoming their children back with open arms.
But while pupils might be back to their lessons, social distancing regulations haven’t gone anywhere. There are still rules to follow and limits on what schools (and other organisations) can do to continue fundraising.
So here are our top ten socially distanced fundraising ideas for schools. Ideal for your PTA to send out to your school families. Get everyone involved! Schoolwork may have returned, but weekends are still in lockdown.
Top Ten Socially Distanced Fundraising Ideas for Schools
- Social Media Challenge – Dress Up to Wash Up
When is the last time you got properly dressed up? There’s not a lot of opportunity for that right now, and people are missing it. So why not challenge your school parents to Dress Up to Wash up – Or another mundane task like taking out the bins. Get them to snap a photo in their glad-rags doing chores and share it to your social media page. All entrants must make a small donation. People can then vote for their favourite! - Sporting Challenges – Individual or Group
There seem to be two main lockdown camps. Some people have turned to exercise to get them through these challenging times. Others have turned away from it, towards Netflix and the sofa. Both totally valid ways of coping! But why not encourage your supporters to a sporting challenge – A sponsored run, walk or cycle. All funds raised go towards the PTA! - Community Clear Up – Make it a Competition!
School communities are pretty close knit, and usually most families are all within a certain catchment area. A community clear up is a great way to help your local environment. Make it into a competition – Which family will collect the most litter in a given time period? Ask all entrants for a small donation, and reward the winning family with a prize! Don’t forget to ask local businesses to donate prizes – So many are willing to support their local schools. - Photograph Competition – Share on Social Media!
We don’t know about you, but our phone galleries are full of lockdown photos! Mainly flowers and nature based from all those lockdown walks. You could hold a photography competition, with different age ranges so the children can join in too. Entrants make a small donation, and the winners of each category win a prize! Share the photos on your social media pages for even wider support. - Family Challenges
Home-schooling was tough, but it gave many families the chance to spend more time together. Now that children have gone back to school, encourage your families to complete some challenges at the weekends. They could be sporty – Tag teaming a sponsored run or cycle around your local park. Or perhaps a Come Dine With Me evening where family members take in turns to cook the family dinner (age appropriate, of course). The school PTA could hold a competition for each challenge, where there’s a prize for the winning family each week. Don’t forget to ask for a donation to enter! - Sponsored Online Tuition
If your community has some talent as well as some spare time, ask them to do some sponsored online tuition. Whether it’s to help children catch up on anything they might have found difficult to learn at home, or learning a new musical instrument. The family pay for the tuition, and the money goes to the PTA. All you need are some willing volunteers to donate their time! - Virtual Book Club
Some of us have devoured Netflix shows, others have read new books and old favourites long into the night. There’s nothing quite like discussing a well-loved book with your friends! Your PTA could set up a virtual book club – Or several small groups depending on the level of interest. Not only would it give parents a great chance to become more social with the mums and dads in their child’s class (online, for now) but it’s also a great way of raising money. Each person makes a donation, maybe the cost of the book, each month it’s running. - Covid Swear Jar
Let’s be honest, we’ve all had enough of the C word now. Covid, coronavirus, pandemic, unprecendented… Make a list of all the words you’re sick of hearing. Then share this list with your school families, and ask them to put loose change in a jar every time one of the words is said at home! At the end of each month, each family donates the contents of the C*vid swear jar to the school PTA. This is a win-win! - Online Bingo
This one might take a bit more logistical organisation, but Bingo is great fun and relatively straightforward to do online! School families can buy their Bingo cards from school, and then the PTA can host an online gala to announce the numbers. The winners get a prize, and the rest of the money goes towards school funds. - Readathon
This is such a great one to do with the children as well. Choose a set time period – Perhaps a half term – And ask your school families to gain sponsors for a Readathon. See how many books the children can read in half a term, with friends and family sponsoring them per book! All the sponsor money goes to the PTA, and the top 3 children who read the most books could win a book voucher! You could even get a local book shop involved.
School PTA’s have really struggled over the last 12 months, with traditional fundraising methods grinding to a halt. We hope this list will give you lots of inspiration for getting your school fundraising back on track whilst children are back at school but social distancing regulations remain in place. There are lots more socially distanced fundraising ideas on our blog!
Here at Donater we have a suite of online fundraising tools that are perfect for schools and other charitable organisations. Our online fundraising pages, Smart Stickers and personalised QR Codes are the perfect combination with the above socially distanced fundraising ideas, helping you to raise vital funds in a contactless, Covid-safe manner. For more information, please get in touch with us today.