I wanted to encourage folks to look beyond corporate donors (there is a lot of donor fatigue) and be creative with your own school community.
- Teacher for the day - kids get to plan with and "be" the teacher. We'll average $75-$150. Some go for just $35, but my own daughter's teacher went for $600 last year. We live auction principal of the day - sold two and brought in close to $1500.
- VIPs - Front row at the Kinder year end program, prime seating at 5th grade graduation, lunch with the principal, your child's name on the school marquee on their birthday, pull the fire alarm during the last (and/or first) first fire drill of the year. This year we are even auctioning off a much coveted chaperone on a popular field study to the state capital!
- Parties (adults) - parents host parties and individuals sign up for a spot at a set amount - Monday Night F'ball at the Man Cave, Wine & Food Pairing Dinner, ABC's of Mixology, Beach Party Bingo, Limosine Treasure Hunt, Dad's Golf Tournament, Cupcake & Champagne tasting, Learn to Knit, Flights of Scotch were some of our recent ones. These brought in anywhere from $200-$700 per party, but each individual only paid $25-$80 for there own spot.
- Parties (kids) - parents or, even better, teachers host sign-up parties for kids. Our much beloved creative movement teacher offered a dance party for 25 kids at $25 per child and ended up adding a second party! "Art with Mrs. A", Student vs Teachers Dodgeball, "Four Square with with Mr. D.", a football skills event and picnic with a local high school coach, a Night at Travis with Mrs. T. (evening party at the school). Anything with beloved teachers goes great!
- Ways to honor your teachers - we had parents who own a bakery and offered the opportunity to bid on a bakery goods to be delivered to the school's staff on the last day of school with a banner noting it was given compliments of the winning bidder. "One-on-One Catered Lunch with your teacher" - $50 the first bidder won the chance to treat their teacher to a catered lunch as well as gifting their child special one on one time at the lunch with that teacher.
- Class Projects - We are fortunate to have many artistic parents in our community who have come up with amazing child-sourced projects. We are also a school that has 40-50% of our children below poverty level who's parents don't attend the auction. Some class projects are definitely directed at parents who are opting to buy something representative of their child and their child's class. But some class projects are made to be appealing to anyone - like a sleepover goodies basket or a gardener's basket. Even more clever, last year, two classes used small canvases, paint and melted crayons and had each child write an inspirational messages on each one. Most of those children's parents didn't attend. Those parents who did, snapped up their child's sign for $25, but all the signs went like hotcakes, because of their universal appeal.
quite honestly, these items probably brought in as much or maybe even more that items donated by businesses.
hope this is a help...
