Thirty Fundraising Ideas
Having trouble figuring out where to start? We have some suggestions that we have seen work in the schools we have worked with! These range from Elementary Level to High School. We have a lot of other resources to support you in student learning and in making a project meaningful in your community!
1. Walk for Water:This is the most common fundraiser done by schools! A Walk for Water teaches students how children around the world must walk daily for drinking water, raises awareness in our local communities about water issues, and helps raise funds for WASH projects around the world! Learn more about organizing your own Walk for Water here.
2. Sell H2O for Life T-shirts: Looking to raise awareness and create some school pride around your H2O for Life Project? Lots of schools have visited our online store and ordered H2O for Life Shirts to sell at their school stores. Visit our online store for easy ordering.
3. Drop in The Wishing Well: Penny Wars:This is a fundraiser that promotes a little bit of friendly competition to raise funds for a prize. Each classroom has a designated donation container. Whichever classroom raises the most funds receives a pizza party over lunch! Another way to host is to have designated buckets for something to happen based on whichever bucket is the most full. For example, each container has a teacher or administrator’s face on it and whichever container has the most funds in it at the end of the fundraiser has to dye their hair blue or some other silly idea for the students’ enjoyment! Schools that do this fundraiser tend to have a lot of success and a lot of fun together! See the success that Centennial Middle School has had hosting Penny Wars over the years.
4. Watercolor Paint and Learn: Host an event after school in the art space for members of the school community to enjoy some guided watercolor painting while students explain issues connected to the global water crisis. Participants can pay what they can as a donation to the project and the art can further promote your cause! Check out what they accomplished at an NHS Chapter at a High School in Puerto Rico with this idea!
5. Water Drop Pledge Wall: As your students have been learning about issues connected to water access and water conservation, ask them to pledge their support. Schools have cut out water droplets on paper with room for students to put their names and a pledge of how they are going to take action on water. By selling these for a small price over lunch and covering the lunchroom wall with these pledges, students have been able to see the differences they are making as a community globally and the changes they are making locally. See an example here.
6. Valentine’s Day Candygrams: Who doesn’t want something sweet on Valentine’s Day? Simply selling small cards that can be sent to friends in some other classes with some sweet treats can go a long way! Just try to avoid buying Nestlé candy, they are not a very responsible company when it comes to people’s water drinking rights. Want to see this in action? Check out what they accomplished at Lydia Middleton during their last annual Candygram fundraiser.
7. Water Crisis Teach-In: One of the best ways to learn is to teach. Older students love the chance to mentor younger students. Hosting a teach-in where the older students teach the younger students can be a great way to demonstrate and share their learning while building a culture of service at your school across grades. Older students can visit the younger students’ classrooms and teach for a short period of time about the water crisis and encourage students to bring in donations throughout the week. Check out how 5th Graders at Forsyth Community School took their learnings and shared them with younger classrooms here.
8. Sustainable Fashion Clothing Swap: Do you know how much water goes into producing clothing? The fashion industry is the second biggest consumer of water each year and emits close to 10% of the world’s carbon emissions. Fight back against fast fashion with a back-to-school clothing swap! Students pay a small fee to participate to bring in their old clothes to exchange with peers or donate to younger students what they have grown out of. A high school fellow of ours hosted one at their high school with success!
9. Mother’s Day Plant Sale: All living things need water to grow and that includes plants in our house and gardens. Students can learn about how much water goes into growing our plant life, why it is so important for our ecosystems, and how to manage responsible water use. Hosting a plant sale where students can bring the plants home with watering instructions gives them the chance to demonstrate what they have learned while hosting a unique and fun fundraiser! That is what students in the Science Club at P.E.M. Middle School do each year and you can learn more about that here.
10. Rock for Water (Musical Performances and Open Mic Nights): Have some talented musicians at your school? We have seen schools host open mics for students to participate in and attend, concerts put on by the school’s jazz bands, and rocking bands putting on a show to raise funds! Music is a universal language and can bring people together for a good cause. Need an example? Check out one of our High School Fellow Anna’s Open Mics at Hill Murray High School.
11. Coffee for Water: Reach out to your local coffee shop to see if they would be willing to donate some crafts of coffee and a local bakery to see if they would be willing to donate some bagels or donuts. Some schools have included acoustic guitarists playing music for students as they walk into school in the morning. All proceeds from the sale go towards your project. White Bear Lake High School South had a lot of success with this kind of event!
12. Lemonade Stands: Maybe your students are not old enough yet to appreciate coffee. For the younger students, we have seen similar things done with lemonade stands! A true classic! Bluff Creek Elementary has seen a lot of success with these over the years.
13. Make it Rain Dodge Balls: We were surprised by the success of a high school that decided to host a dodgeball tournament as their fundraiser. Teams paid a sign-up fee and came dressed up for the chance to become champions for water! Please use the foam balls if you go with this one. Learn more about what this high school did here.
14. School-Wide Water Fair: Another chance to get students to work together across grade levels. Older students plan games and activities for younger students and community members to participate in throughout the day that teach them about the Global Water Crisis and encourage them to take action! Check out what Daystar Academy IB School in Chicago did in K-12 classrooms here.
15. Water Poems Student Book/Zine: We are borrowing some ideas from another great nonprofit, 826MSP, which is an after-school writing center. Throughout their programs, the youth write stories and poems that are put together into a book at the end of the semester and are sold in the community. This a chance for your students to share their creativity, educate others, and be published authors using their writing for social justice!
16. COVER THE LEAK (Tape The Teacher to The Wall): For the more mischievous students and the teachers who are truly willing to do extra for students. We have seen teachers volunteer to be taped to the wall during the lunch hour. Students sell strips of tape to put across their victi…teachers and manage to raise a lot of money for their partner community. Check out what some of our devious high school fellows got up to at Wolfson High School’s Interact Club here.
17. Social Entrepreneurship Focused on Water: We have seen schools have student councils sell T-shirts and treats at their school store designed by students, birdhouse sales done by Shop Classes, CDs made by music classes, and even dog treats made by a high school group and sold at the local pet store! Students have a lot of unique ideas on products they can design and sell to raise funds. We even have a grant program to support those ideas! Apply for an H2O for Life Mini-Grant for up to $500 to support your students’ creative ideas!
18. Water Ball (School Dance): Every year H2O for Life hosts our own Water Ball as our big annual fundraiser! Now sadly, at ours, there isn’t much dancing. And come on the themes could be SO GOOD! Under The Sea? Classic. Beach Bash? Gnarly! Spring Splash? We are sure the youth will come up with something better…
19. Frozen Water Treats to Cool Off! Snow Cones! What is more refreshing at a sports game or school fair than a snow cone? Some good old fashion, frozen, flavored water! Students will have fun making them and telling people about the fact that, although most of Earth’s Fresh Water is Frozen and we can’t access it, they can certainly enjoy this frozen freshwater! Westridge has had success with a Snow Cone Booth at its water fair over the years.
20. Water Way Clean-up: Get your community together to clean up the beach, your local lake or river, or to pick up trash in the storm drain. Keeping our waterways clean is part of our civic duty. While participating ask for donations towards your project with H2O for Life. Protect your water access while helping others with theirs.
21. Dunk Tank: Yeah, obviously this is water related! Who hasn’t wanted to dunk a teacher during the school carnival? We have witnessed schools have a lot of fun with this one and raise a lot of funds from something that is really simple.
22. Earth Day Water Art Exhibit: Let your students show off their art skills with an Earth Day Art Exhibit. All proceeds from attendees and art sold can go towards supporting your project. One of our High School Fellows, Paige, had a lot of success with this as her project!
23. STEM Learning Fishing Lures: While learning about hydraulics, students at Sedgwick Elementary School’s 4th Grade decided to design and sell fishing lures out of recycled materials to support their project. How cool is that?!
24. Water Film Night at The School Auditorium: Who doesn’t like a night out at the movies with their family and friends? Sell popcorn and tickets and watch some educational films like Brave Blue World or something more fun like Elemental where one of the main characters is made of water!
25. Social Media Challenges: We don’t pretend to know what the next big social media trend is, but your students could be the ones leading it! Take advantage of social media and let the youth come up with creative ways to teach about the water crisis while encouraging donations.
26. Informational Posters With Donatable QR Codes: We all know that students are going to the bathroom just to look at their cell phones (as are the teachers, administrators, and parents). So why not hang a poster up in the bathroom stall that educates people about the importance of water and sanitation? A little QR code in the corner can link to your school’s page and people can donate there! Even the bathroom can be a place for learning!
27. School Play: We were surprised when the cast of a local theater group reached out asking if they could donate funds to our nonprofit. Turns out the play was about a town that had restricted access to clean water and sanitation! They donated a portion of their ticket sales to supporting projects! What was that play called? Oh…uhhh…well, Urine Town. IT’S A REAL THING! GOOGLE IT! But it can be any play you want!
28. Water Trivia Night: How about a water-themed quiz night? It can be trivia, it can be Jeopardy, it can be some other game show format. Teams can pay for the opportunity to compete and the winners all receive new water bottles!
29. Smarty Pants Presentation Party: The older generation might call this a TEDx Party, younger people might be familiar with the Drop Out TV Series Smarty Pants. No matter what you call it, this is a fun event where students present on topics as “experts” on something niche. These can be funny or serious, water-themed or not, and a great way to build community as a school. Donate the funds from this event to your school’s project!
30. Personal Fundraising Pages: Creating your own individual fundraising page in support of your school’s campaign is one of the best ways to raise money. Create a personal fundraising page
Remember to keep activities that involve sales or donations accessible for students, families, and your community. If you need some help affording supplies, H2O for Life does have a mini-grant program to support schools working on H2O for Life projects. These are just some suggestions that we have seen work in our communities! We would love to see your ideas join the list. Make sure to select a school to support from our “Explore Projects” page. If you are looking for other resources, consider our: