School Fundraiser Prizes: 25+ Ideas to Incentivize Students!
One of the toughest parts of school fundraising is getting your community engaged. After all, students and parents alike have their own responsibilities to juggle, and your fundraiser might not be at the top of their minds. So, how do you spark excitement and get everyone involved?
Adding appealing fundraiser prizes can encourage higher community participation, making the experience more fun, rewarding, and profitable. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about school fundraiser prizes:
- FAQs About School Fundraiser Prizes
- Best School Fundraiser Prize Ideas
- Supercharge Your School Fundraising with Funds2Orgs
While some fundraisers naturally engage school communities by being easy to participate in and offering educational value, such as shoe drive fundraisers, incorporating prizes can be a game-changer for events that need a little push to attract attendees.
Are you ready to engage students, increase revenue, and enhance the school fundraising experience? Let’s get started!
FAQs About School Fundraiser Prizes
Why and How Do Fundraiser Prizes Work?
Offering prizes for school fundraisers is a great way to draw attention and promote greater community and student involvement.
Your school can award prizes to specific pupils or participants, whole grade levels or classes, external supporters, and the larger school community. Prizes may be given out at various points in time, such as when particular fundraising targets are met or the campaign ends. These strategies can also be combined to inspire people, groups, and the broader community to strive toward multiple fundraising goals.
Using school fundraiser prizes wisely can help you raise enthusiasm, drive participation, and raise more money for your school’s programs and needs.
How Can I Offer Prizes Without Breaking the Budget?
Whether you’re trying to engage students, parents, or other community members, there are plenty of no-cost or low-cost prizes you can offer to spark interest. For example, if your fundraiser is based on having elementary school classes compete against each other, you could provide extended recess for a week as a prize. Or, for parents, the prize could be a special parking spot for a month or front-row seating at the next couple of school events.
What Types of Prizes Actually Motivate Students?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as it depends entirely on your school’s unique group of students and their preferences. However, when deciding what prizes to offer, consider your students’ age group and interests, as well as popular trends amongst kids and teenagers.
For instance, elementary and middle schoolers may be interested in prizes like stickers, cool pens, fun erasers, and candy. High schoolers may be more interested in prizes like extra credit, homework passes, art supplies, and gift cards.
Ultimately, you may need to go through a few rounds of trial and error before you nail down exactly what gets your students excited to participate in your fundraisers.
What Are the Most Profitable School Fundraisers?
If you’re looking for fundraisers to host, we recommend checking out the Funds2Orgs list of top ideas for schools!
Best School Fundraiser Prize Ideas
Each school fundraising team is unique, with different resources, goals, and supporter bases. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of school fundraising prizes suited for all kinds of educational institutions. We’ve broken this list into the following categories:
Cheap and Easy Fundraiser Prize Ideas
If your school is strapped for cash and has a limited fundraising budget, these cheap, simple, and easy school fundraiser prizes are the perfect way to engage your students without breaking the bank.
Branded T-shirts
Everyone can use an extra t-shirt, whether incorporated into their everyday wardrobe or a new addition to their pajama collection. T-shirts are easy to produce, distribute, and can be branded to your cause with fun and eye-catching designs.
Additionally, making branded merchandise has the added benefit of bringing more eyes to your mission! As students and other supporters wear their complimentary shirts, people get drawn to the design and learn about your fundraising campaign, improving your school’s marketing reach.
Just be sure that your t-shirts are comfortable and include an aesthetically-pleasing design to ensure your supporters wear them instead of pushing them to the back of the closet.
Caps, Beanies, and Hats
Who doesn’t love a new hat to complete their outfit? From cool baseball caps that shield from the sun to cute fuzzy beanies that keep the cold away, the right headwear can appeal to many supporters and get them excited about your cause.
Pay attention to your community’s climate and stylistic tastes to pick the right merchandise. For example, beanies might not sell as well as caps if you live in a sunny beachside town.
Like the t-shirt prize idea, you can brand this merchandise to your campaign so that students remember your fundraiser and your school for years to come!
Temporary Tattoos
Temporary tattoos are all the rage, particularly as an elementary school fundraiser prize. These tongue-in-cheek accessories allow your supporters to express themselves and level up their wardrobes in a fun and risk-free way.
Consider these fun ideas to give your tattoo selection plenty of variety:
- Cute images, such as hearts or glittery rainbows
- “Tough” and cool images, such as tigers or sharks
- Characters from popular films and tv-shows
- School-themed images, such as books or your mascot
Be sure to offer your temporary tattoos in plenty of different styles, such as cartoons and more realistic images. It ensures every kid (or adult!) gets the chance to pick out a design they love in return for their fundraising participation.
Toys and Puzzles
Children and preteens are at a stage of life where toys, puzzles, and games are at the forefront of their minds. It’s at the top of their wish lists for every birthday, so why not offer your students the opportunity to earn these sought-after items through your fundraising campaign?
For example, you could include these games in your fundraising prize catalog:
- Brainteasers, like Rubix cubes
- Picture puzzles
- Fidget toys, such as slime
- Plushies, like stuffed animals
You’d be hard-pressed to find a kid who wouldn’t be eager to get their hands on one of these fun fundraising prizes!
Candy and Treats
If you’re looking for a fail-proof fundraising prize to pique your young students’ interest, sweet treats are always a safe bet. Even the pickiest kids tend to have a sweet tooth, which makes these snacks a surefire choice to encourage students to get involved in school fundraising:
- Sweet and sour candies
- Cookies or cookie dough
- Cakes and cupcakes
- Custom ice cream sundaes
Be sure to alert students to possible food allergens in each treat and offer a wide variety of goodies for kids with unique dietary restrictions or preferences. For example, you could offer gluten-free cookies, dairy-free ice cream, and plenty of snacks without tree nuts.
Goodie Bags
Maybe you love several of the prize ideas on this list, and you’re looking for a way to combine them into an even better, stronger incentive for your school fundraising campaign. That’s where goodie bags come into play, the affordable yet effective idea for incorporating several small prizes into one prize package for standout fundraising participants and donors!
From temporary tattoos and hats to toys and t-shirts, a mix of prizes will entice students from all backgrounds and grade levels. You can even create a prize scale, starting with smaller individual prizes before moving up to bigger and more elaborate goodie bags as students raise more on behalf of your school.
Classroom Trophies
While bragging rights is certainly a strong incentive for many youngsters, an actual plaque or trophy can be an even more powerful motivator for classes of students to try and “beat” their peers by raising more.
Plastic trophies or low-grade metal trophies are incredibly affordable. In fact, you could even buy large class trophies and smaller, individual trophies for each winning class’s students—all without putting much of a dent in your fundraising budget.
Remember to properly engrave each victorious fundraising class’s victory with the year, the teachers’ names, and the campaign in question.
Extended Recess
Recess is a sacred half-hour during children’s school days that virtually any kid would extend if they had the chance. From playing tag on the school field to monkeying around on the jungle gym, recess activities are a built-in pastime of play you could incorporate into your fundraising prize program without having to go out and buy anything.
All you have to do is print out tickets or certificates that declare the recipient receives an extra half hour of recess on a specific date. Then, when students or whole classes achieve their fundraising goals, their names are signed on the dotted line and they get to enjoy an entire hour of play.
High-Cost, High-Reward Fundraising Prizes
Maybe you have a little more wiggle room in your school fundraising budget. Or perhaps you’re looking for even more desirable items to incentivize your students to participate, their families, and other community members.
If that’s the case, consider these slightly more expensive but highly effective school fundraiser prizes.
Community Celebrations
There’s nothing like a local event to cap off the end of your campaign and commemorate your community’s work in helping you achieve fundraising success. Whether you’d like to host a small party on your school’s soccer field or a big end-of-campaign bash in the middle of the town square, the promise of a party is a great idea to motivate supporters to push towards your fundraising goals.
On top of that, community events can act as their own additional fundraising idea. Between the concession sales, ticket sales, and merchandising opportunities, you can bring in a wave of additional revenue for your cause.
True, it will take a good bit of investment and pre-planning, but this can be a highly rewarding experience for your supporters and your school!
Class Parties
Speaking of parties, why not organize class-wide parties to celebrate specific classrooms that excelled during your fundraising campaign? Set a fundraising goal for classes at each grade level, monitor their progress, and provide food, games, and other rewards for standout classes to celebrate on a particular day.
Here are just a few examples of class parties that students—especially those in middle and elementary school—will enjoy:
- Pizza parties
- Ice cream parties
- Field day celebrations
The promise of essentially getting a day off of school to chat, eat, and play should be enough to excite any student.
Travel Experiences
While many school fundraising teams focus on how students can be motivated to participate in the campaign, don’t forget that parents and families can also play a huge role in your fundraiser’s success!
If you’d like to incorporate entire families into your fundraising campaign and encourage their support, offering travel experiences as a prize can be a compelling strategy. For example, you might offer to cover resort, hotel, or transportation costs to desirable vacation destinations, a reward many families will jump at the opportunity to win!
Theme Park Tickets
Kids and amusement parks go together like peanut butter and jelly. If you want to get your students and their families excited to fundraise, including theme park tickets as a part of your prize package can be a worthwhile investment.
You could even cut down on costs through corporate sponsorships. Try to connect with an amusement park in your local area or region and negotiate complimentary or discounted tickets as in-kind donations. This kind of corporate philanthropy can lay the foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship that brings in positive publicity for your business partner and more support for your school!
Restaurant Gift Cards
Restaurant gift cards are an excellent way to get entire families involved in your fundraising efforts and leverage corporate philanthropy to minimize high costs and build future business relationships.
Reach out to local eateries in your area to obtain donated or discounted gift cards you can award donors or fundraising participants with during your campaign. It’s probably a little easier when it comes to fast food establishments, but be sure to get a wide range of gift cards, including higher-value restaurants that your school’s families will be excited to visit.
Fair Rides
The chance to enjoy fair-ride activities is a thrilling prospect for many young students and a fun night out of the house for their families. Pledge to your community that if your school meets or exceeds a specific fundraising goal, then you’ll organize a school fair, which might include these rentals:
- Mini Ferris wheels
- Mini carousels
- Bungee trampolines
- Dunk tanks
- Game booths
And don’t forget—these event-style fundraising prizes can also bring in additional revenue in ticket sales, merchandising, and concessions sales!
Bouncy Houses
If you don’t quite have the money for a full-blown school fun fair, renting out some bouncy houses is a sensible investment that can still engage students and their families. If your community can meet a particular fundraising goal, then in return, they’ll enjoy a fun day of play organized by your school.
Once again, this could be a great opportunity to bolster your fundraising revenue by selling snacks, drinks, branded merchandise, and other goodies at your event!
Limousine Lunch
Give students a chance to enjoy bit fancier piece of transportation than the regular school bus with a complimentary limousine lunch ride! For groups of students who accomplish a set fundraising or donation goal, a rented limo pulls up to your school and chauffeurs them to a restaurant during their typical lunchtime.
This simple yet effective fundraising prize idea has been around for years, and it’s easy to see why. Students are not only dazzled by the experience of riding in a limousine, but they also appreciate the hour or two of extended lunch where they can chat with their peers over pizza, burgers, or whatever else is on the menu.
Sporting Event Tickets
From high school teens and their parents to young elementary school students, everyone can enjoy a day out at the stadiums, rooting for their favorite sports teams. That makes sporting event tickets such an enticing prize for school fundraisers. It rallies your school’s families together to win an experience where they can all participate in.
In advance, research the most anticipated and popular teams, leagues, and sporting events within your area to reserve tickets that your supporters will want.
Creative and Unique Prizes for Fundraisers
If you’re looking to shake things up, surprise, entertain, or engage your supporters with more creative fundraising ideas, you’ll love these out-of-the-box and unique school fundraiser prizes.
Special Costume or Clothes Days
Special costume or clothes days are a cheap, fun, and unique way to reward students for participating in your fundraising efforts while also adding excitement to the school experience. For example, you could create a week of different themes that students are free to interpret, like:
- “Throwback” Days
- Heroes
- As Seen on TV
- When I Grow Up
- School Spirit
In addition to letting students rock whatever outfits and costumes they’ve put together, you can also decorate the hallways, provide themed snacks, and play on-theme music that creates a lively atmosphere for the entire school.
Pie-in-the-Face Contest
Your faculty and staff are the heroes of your school, doing everything in their power to keep operations running smoothly and enriching students’ lives and educational experiences. That said, many students would jump at the chance to “pie” their favorite coaches or teachers if given an opportunity.
This wacky and unique fundraising prize involves classes getting to choose a faculty member to undergo the prank in return for meeting specific fundraising goals. The volunteer will then get a faceful of whipped cream for a silly yet oddly effective incentive for students to fundraise!
“Prank the Principal” Prize
Speaking of pranking school faculty and staff, a “prank the principal” prize serves as one of the ultimate rewards for schools that exceed their fundraising objectives. You might choose one of the following pranks or hijinks for your principal to take on:
- Pie in the face
- Hair dye for a day
- Funny costume for a day
- Dunk tank
Students and staff will not only get a kick out of the activity, but this can also be a great opportunity for your school’s highest administrative authority to bond with the student body and show their dedication to the institution.
“Get-Out-of-Class” Hall Passes
As critical as school is for students and their developing minds, sometimes they just want an afternoon to blow off steam, rest, and take some time away from their lessons. This is where “get-out-of class” passes can be a creative tool to get students working towards key fundraising goals.
You can write these passes to be valid for a particular day or days, allowing teachers to organize low-priority lesson plans or activities on days where some students may choose to leave class.
Class Movie Days
A class movie day is a cost-effective and unique prize to get students motivated to work towards your fundraising campaign, supplement their lesson plans, and make the classroom environment more engaging.
While teachers can always choose to play popular blockbusters or tv shows during the days assigned for class movies, they can also pick content that ties into their lessons! For example, a high school American History class might watch Forrest Gump while an elementary Language Arts class could enjoy some classic School House Rock.
In fact, classes could even vote on what they’d like to watch on movie days that students have earned, maximizing engagement and enjoyment.
Homework Passes
Sometimes juggling the daily worksheets, prompts, and take-home assignments of school can be a little overwhelming, and many students would be eager to avoid a few of these tasks occasionally. That’s where homework passes come in handy, a fundraising prize that can be cheaply designed and printed in an afternoon.
Of course, teachers have the power to ban using passes for critical projects or assignments. The homework pass prize is simply meant as a way for students to catch a break, gain a bit of leeway, and avoid smaller tasks they might not have had time to complete.
Party Bus
Shake up students’ commute with a rented party bus! In return for their hard work in your fundraising campaign, groups of students will get the chance to ride the party bus and enjoy an afternoon of fun. You could offer your party bus prize as follows:
- Lunch on the party bus
- Afterschool drive and drop-offs
- Weekend commute to a restaurant, shop, or fun event
However you structure your party bus rise, students and their chaperones will get a kick out of this wacky school fundraising prize.
School Store Shopping Spree
If your school has an online or physical store, it’s the perfect opportunity to use it by giving fundraising participants and donors the chance to go on a shopping spree!
You can offer physical or digital coupons or even send a unique QR code to qualifying students. The code allows them to pick up $15, $50, or even $100 worth of free snacks, spirit wear, branded merchandise, and other items stocked in your school store, which can lead to higher interest in your shop and even future purchases!
Spin the Wheel of Prizes
If you’re overwhelmed with all the wonderful fundraising prize ideas on this list and brainstorming ways to combine them into your prize program, turn your attention to the “wheel of prizes.”
This wacky solution involves creating a multicolor wheel that students and other fundraising participants have the chance to spin to receive any number of fundraising prizes randomly. You could even create multiple prize wheels that cluster specific prizes, such as a wheel for high-value rewards or one for goofy pranks, games, and activities.
Supercharge Your School Fundraising with Funds2Orgs
Although you can incentivize participation and engagement by offering school fundraiser prizes, a successful campaign relies on having a compelling fundraising idea. That’s where Funds2Orgs can take your campaign to new heights.
If you’re looking for a fundraising idea that’s completely free, highly profitable, and incredibly engaging for your community, look no further than a shoe drive fundraiser. With this idea, you’ll partner with a provider to collect gently worn, used and new shoes from your community. Then, you’ll send the shoes to the provider and receive a check based on the total pounds of shoes you collected!
Learn more about the process of hosting a shoe drive fundraiser:
Funds2Orgs is committed to making your shoe drive fundraiser a success. We equip your team with everything you need to host your shoe drive, engage students, and raise more money than you thought possible. When you work with us, your team can make thousands of dollars in weeks through a safe, sustainable, and simple fundraising program your community will love.
Additional Fundraising Resources
When you choose school fundraiser prizes that appeal to your audience, you’ll incentivize more community members to participate in your events. In turn, that results in more funding for your school, allowing you to offer the educational experiences your students need. As you decide what prizes to offer, keep your audience in mind and pick ones that will make your fundraising events worthwhile.
If you’re still hungry for more information on school fundraising, fundraising best practices, and fundraising ideas, then be sure to check out these helpful resources:
- How to Host a School Fundraiser to Supplement Your Funding. School fundraisers inspire the gifts you need to provide stellar educational experiences to students. Learn how to host a school fundraiser in this guide.
- 75 Fun School Fundraising Ideas to Raise More Money. Are you on the hunt for great school fundraisers? Explore our master list of the most engaging school fundraising ideas!
- 30+ Fun and Easy Fundraising Ideas for Kids to Raise More. The more your fundraisers appeal to students, the more participants you’ll have. Discover the most fun and easy fundraising ideas for kids here!