Great fundraisers for elementary schoolers are not hard to find. When setting up an elementary school fundraising plan, you could have events, sales, an opt-out or a year that includes each of these ideas. If you maximize fun and profit potential, you can get buy-in from as many people as possible.

Selling Food
Having a bake sale or a candy sale is one way to go. A bake sale will net you the best profit since the set-up costs are so low. For a twist on the bake sale or candy sale, why not try a healthy alternative, such as selling bottled water, healthy snacks, fruit or low-fat baked goods instead? Think creatively, and parents will thank you.

Events
Carnivals are popular elementary school fundraisers because people love coming. Be careful to keep costs down by recruiting volunteers and asking local businesses to donate prizes. Schedule lots of activities so people will buy tickets and stay. Think about including an auction or raffle. The only cost associated with a raffle is tickets, and people will stick around to find out if they won. Other event ideas include a 5 or 10-k run/walk or a swim-a-thon for health, and you can sell bottled water or fresh lemonade at the event, too, for an extra money-making opportunity.

Opt-Out
Sometimes an opt-out fundraiser is the best fundraiser of all! Here’s how to get the families that don’t want to participate in a fundraiser to participate anyway. Offer an opt-out option for all school fundraisers. If families pay a certain fixed amount at the start of the year, then they don’t have to participate in fundraisers for the rest of the year. The money all goes to the school, too, so it counts a donation, which means parents can deduct the donation from their taxes.