How to run a successful PTA fundraiser

How to run a successful PTA fundraiser

Steph Lewis – mum and chair of a school PTA

Schools are funded through the Department of Education but once you’ve paid out essentials such as staff salaries, building running costs, free school meals etc… you’re not left with much! Some schools are struggling with the tight budgets that they need to consider only being open for children 4½ days a week.

So, the Parent Teacher Association is invaluable. It rallies a group of volunteers (often parents or carers who have an interest in their school doing well for the sake of their children) to raise money for the non-essential costs but still deeply important ones. Like new equipment for the children, a web-based learning subscription or even the salary of a support staff member. If you can get the right balance of using people’s desire to help their school with having lots of fun, you can run some very lucrative events across the year.

I’ve asked Steph Lewis, once a chair of a PTA that would raise £15,000 a year, for her tips and advice.

1. What were the most popular stalls/activities that you would use again?

The best stall is a chocolate tombola. We also asked our headteachers if they would allow a non-school uniform day before the fair. In return for coming into school in non-uniform, the kids have to bring in a donation for the chocolate/bottle/Christmas item/general tombola. This way every child (well almost every child) brings in something that works out at roughly £1.50 of profit for the PTA. We say any ticket ending in 0 or 5 wins, tickets are 50p each or three for £1. We have a school of 800 kids and often end up raising nearly £1,000 from the three Tombolas.

A good money raiser that takes no effort in the summer is an ice cream van. They will come and run the van for the day and then give you around 10% of takings. We make an easy £100 most years for doing nothing. If you are going to run food stalls yourself (e.g. a BBQ) then consider getting a macro or bookers membership. They are free and you get to buy in bulk at wholesale prices.

We run a Great British Bake off with separate parents and kids sections. The cakes get judged 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each category and then we sell them off to raise funds. Prizes are a bunch of flowers or a bag of sweets. The only downside to this is each participant now needs to supply an ingredient list.  

2. What wasn't worth the time or effort?

Things that haven’t worked were face painting. It took too long and that meant it didn’t raise much. Second-hand toys used to be a good earner but more recently a large number of the toys coming in are broken, missing or unsuitable and a large amount of time is spent sorting the donations out. 

3. What stalls would you run again but need further consideration?

Glitter tattoos are an easy stall to run but have a larger initial cost. Once you have purchased the stencils and glitter, the glue and brushes can be bought from the pound store. Anyone can run this stall as they are so simple to do. A kit from eBay will cost about £15 and we used to raise £40+ each time. The stencils and brushes last for years if looked after and then you just top up the glitter and glue.

At a Christmas fair, the big draw is a grotto. Our grotto used to be the main attraction so we spent a lot of time decorating a winter wonderland. It didn’t use to make a huge profit but it drew large numbers who then spent money on other things. 

4. What considerations did you need to be aware of when running the event?

When running an event be aware of the number of people coming. For events over 1,000 people, you will need a qualified first aider. Even if you are holding your event on the school site, you may need your own insurance so check if you are covered under the school policy.  If you are hiring a venue then you need to check what is covered.  If you want the teachers to help out be aware they are using personal time. If you hold an event at the weekend you are asking them to come to work for free. Many parents feel teachers should do this but you wouldn’t expect someone who works in Tesco to come in on their day off and work for free. We used to give each teacher a small gift (bag of Maltesers, giant buttons etc.) as a small token but the staff really appreciated that it was acknowledged they were ‘working for free’.  If you are hiring equipment (bouncy castles) you need to check their insurance. 

If you intend to sell alcohol (mulled wine at Christmas or Pimms in summer) you will need a liquor license from your local council. They are easy to apply for and cost about £30. If you want to run a raffle you will need a gambling license. These are also available from your local council. Initial year cost is around £40 and then £20 each following year. You will need to fill in a basic form saying how much you raised from raffles. 

Be aware someone will always complain, don’t be disheartened by this. I often used to say “sorry to hear you are unhappy. We look forward to seeing you at the next committee meeting so you can help us improve”. They never turned up and always stopped moaning after that.  

5. What are your best tips for running a similar event?

With our summer fairs, we try to have a theme to draw people in from outside the school community. We have done the Olympics, Rugby World Cup, Football World Cup, royal weddings, jubilees etc.

6. Were there any good resources you used that you'd recommend to others?

A great resource is www.pta.co.uk. Lots of useful things there.

We also used to advertise our events in other local schools and would return the favour for them. Churches or local shops will often advertise if you ask nicely. 

Try hitting up local businesses. The manager of Sainsbury’s local has a small budget to support local causes. They supply us with about £100 worth of stuff a year from chocolate boxes to ice lollies.  You can also offer stalls at an event. Small businesses can pay £10 for a stall and then they keep their profits. There are always mums who run little businesses. Advertise on Facebook and numbers increase. We regularly get 10-15 independent stalls which, again, is easy money to raise.

Steph is a Primary school teacher who is mum to two boys. She remembers her Dad being involved in the school PTA Summer fair so it wasn’t a new idea to get involved herself. Steph was Vice-Chair for three years and Chair for three years. They would raise about £15,000 a year. After stepping down from the school PTA, Steph is now fundraising officer for Southend Diving Club.