When selling items, try to stick to items the families would be buying anyway. Instead of buying else where, they would be buying from you. Luxery items are not going to go over as well as the basics.
Look for sponsors. Say you are doing a fun run or a walk-a-thon type event. Can you find a sponsor to print the water bottles with XX Elementary on one side and their ad on the other side? Can you find a sponsor to pay for one-color Ts for all the kids that raise at least $10 in donations? Your design on the front, their ad on the back. This way you will get some donations from families, but won't have any of the costs of putting on the event.
Keeping looking for businesses to partner with. Would a new restaurant in town want to host a lunch for your teachers (saving you money)? Would another business sponsor a family fun night? (donate the snacks, provide $ for supplies) Will a greenhouse donate flowers to plant in front of the school? If you can't raise more money look at creative ways to reduce costs.
I work hard at fundraising for my daughter's school which has a high poverty level as well. We held a dinner auction last year and raised $38,000. It was hard work, but well worth it. The only thing I didn't like about it was excluding the lower income families. Those who could afford it, came and purchased everything. This year we are having a fund run, followed by a spaghetti feed. Those are things every student and family can participate in. But to get a little extra money, we are having a silent auction online and we are going to get businesses to sponsor our event. That is where the big money will come in hopefully. We'll have t-shirts with sponsors names, and other advertising opportunities around the event area. Most schools don't need to raise as much as we do, so this may not be exactly what you're looking for. We run our school with a special program called MicroSociety, which costs $40,000 to $50,000 a year to run, so fundraising is very important for us. Good luck with your efforts.
Don't forget about grants. There are out there. I think is something about grants in the files on this list. Do a Google search. Wal Mart also give a grant for projects. Our school got a $1,000. Several cooperation’s give grants. It may take some time searching but they are out there. Good luck.
Look at the Adopt a Classroom program (adoptaclassroom.com). There purpose is to link businesses with schools to support the school by "adopting" classrooms. It may be a conduit to getting a program at your school and hopefully getting some dollars linked to your classrooms. Good luck!
Is there a more afluant school you can hook up with? I don't want to presume too much but 'diversity" is a huge buzz these days.
many private schools will brother sister up with another school to collect coats, books, school supplies to become "good neighbors"
My older son is at a catholic HS school, they have occational friday dress down days (one a month) where the kids pay $3-5 (if they can, it is not manditory) and the money goes to a different local charity each time...they do "oporation backpack" in the fall and families donate school supplies and backpacks, they did a coat drive this fall, a turkey drive, a toy drive...you get the idea, nothing is manditory but with 1200 boys the turn out is good. there is no reason your school couldn't hook up with another school...
I don't see very many ideas about how to raise funds in a school with a very high poverty level. I feel so guilty while organizing fundraisers--asking parents who have nothing to contribute in some way. We're doing okay so far but I'd like to try something new and different.
Our focus is to do all we can to help the families. We offer free food at all events, work with our Parent Liaison to see if families need transportation to events, and started a clothing closet to make sure everyone is properly dressed all winter. But we need money to keep coming in so we can continue to provide for our families!
