End of the year Raffle: Ask local businesses to donate items for a raffle. Call or visit local restaurants, movie theaters, etc. Wal-Mart is pretty generous with our school!
Or, See if you can organize a student "Variety Show" and charge $1 for admission.
CapeDad posted on the inner-city fundraiser thread:
Something we tried this year (not inner city but very blue collar population) is a 'Fun Day' where kids can pay a dollar to do something special -- maybe where sunglasses or bring a stuffed animal 'friend' to school for the day. It is a little hectic when you start selling 'tickets' (we gave out labels that students has to wear to show they paid for the 'day') but otherwise doesn't require a lot of work. We ran it over 3 days and also allowed teachers to buy 'wear jeans' tickets for $5 for all 3 days.
It raised a little over $1000 to help pay for our Odyssey of the Mind team to travel to the state competition.
It was fun and so easy that we are hoping to do one per month next year, with the funds from each one going towards a specific area at school.
We are also going to add a 'donation' line to the order form so that if a parent thinks the cause (like the media center, for example) is worth it they can easily give more than the $1.
Could you incorporate any of this into the last week of school?
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."
"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the true perfection of one's character."
We run a penny war. Generally collect $800 or more in one week period. We only have 270 kids. Have an incentive that highest class wins pocorn, juice and a newly released movie (Chicken Little). Good Luck!
WOW! we have done a fundraiser where a local grocery store puts a jug at the end of each check out line. when the person is done checking out, they put their change into the jug. it does collect more than you'd think. but, not as much to run a school. it will probably get you guys enough to get you started. i know we got a couple hundred dollars in a weeks time. we just had someone go every night to collect the money and deposit it. it didn't cost us a penny. GOOD LUCK!!
How about a read-a-thon or walk-a-thon? Should be easy enough to put a flyer together.
Would a cash donation fly at your school? Might have enough time for a raffle if you can get some decent donations.
Could you do a summer event, maybe a car wash at the school or something like that?