A-Z of fundraising

Whether you want to participate in a sponsored activity or organise your own fundraising event, the options are infinite. We have put together an A-Z of fundraising ideas to get you started, which we hope you will find inspirational.

Assembly: organise a FoodAid assembly or concert – invite other classes and/or parents along, provide them with information about FoodAid, perform a FoodAid song or two. Better still, create a dance routine for them and ask for donations.

Barn dance: organise a barn dance in your school hall.

Bring and buy sale: have a major clear out of old toys, clothes and books at home and hold a “bring and buy” sale in your school hall.

Cake sale: get baking some delicious cakes, using a favourite recipe of your own or one of these Fairtrade recipes, and organise a mouth watering cake sale. Click here for our delicious recipes for Mince Pies, Christmas Flapjack and the festive Yule Log for your extra special Christmas fundrasing!

Coin art: paint a simple design on the playground, maybe a map of Africa or the FoodAid logo, and get pupils, teachers and parents to place coins in the appropriate place to build up the picture. Click here to read about how one school really got into the spirit of FoodAid.

Collection boxes: don’t forget to make use of collection boxes in your classrooms, at the school reception and at events that you are holding. See the fundraising tips and materials section on the CD-Rom for stickers for your collection buckets or boxes.

Cookbook: get everyone in your class or school to provide their favourite recipe and create a recipe book to sell to parents and the local community. Or, you could collect recipes from around the world like curry from India, Japanese sushi and pad thai from Thailand and make your own “FoodAid Around the World Recipe Book”.

Disco: organise a disco for your classmates or the whole school. You could even theme the night and all go dressed as your favourite pop star or celebrity. Charge for tickets, sell drinks and have a raffle to raise funds for FoodAid.

Dress up day: a creative alternative to non-uniform day. Dress up in national costumes from around the world and pay for the privilege.

Exhibition: design your own FoodAid posters. Display them in the corridor or assembly hall and charge parents or other pupils to come along to see them. You could also make this into a competition.

Fashion show: organise a fashion show, charge entry, have a raffle and sell refreshments.

Fete: organise a school fete or have a stall at a local event – ideas include a cake stall, an arts and crafts stall or a games stall. See below for ideas for games stalls.

Fasting: get people to donate the money they would have spent on lunch to FoodAid.

Games session: organise a games session and get people to pay to play each game. Games could include FoodAid’s Snakes and Ladders, guess the number of rice grains in the jar, pin the truck on Africa (like pin the tail on the donkey), roll a truck onto Africa (like roll a penny) or maybe you have your own ideas.

Harvest festival: ideas for fundraising for Harvest Festival are endless. From a simple collection asking for donations for FoodAid rather than food, making up a big pot of soup to sell to holding a Harvest lunch or organise a FoodAid assembly or concert. Whatever you choose it is bound to be fun and informative for all involved.

Hat day: get creative with your theme – one favourite is fruit or vegetables, so hold a “Fruit and Veg Hat Day” to raise money for FoodAid.

It's a knockout competition: organise an “It’s a Knockout” competition.

Jumble sales: get people to donate their old clothes and organise a jumble sale to sell them on – all money made goes to FoodAid.

Karaoke session: organise a karaoke session in your lunch break or after school. Get people to pay to come along or sponsor people to get up and sing their heart out to their favourite tunes.

Lucky dip: all you need is a box, some sawdust and some small presents. Charge people to enter and get dipping!

Make over sessions: bring in your dressing up boxes and make up from home and charge your friends to get made over by a team of fashion and beauty experts. Alternatively, for the younger ones organise a face painting session.

Non uniform day: get to go to school in your own clothes for the day and pay for the privilege. Maybe you could take it one step further and get your teachers to dress up in school uniform?

Opera night: contact your local operatic society and see if they would stage a benefit night on behalf of FoodAid.

Party: organise a themed party or day. Examples include a Beach Party, 60s or 70s night, James Bond, “Around the World in 80 days”, “Foods from around the world” or a Thai evening. Costumes and food can follow the same theme and you could sell tickets in addition to organising a raffle.

Poster competition: organise a FoodAid poster competition. Everyone pays an entry fee and designs a poster – the winner gets a prize.

Pantomime/play: put on a pantomime or play and sell tickets and refreshments to raise money for FoodAid.

Quiz night: organise a FoodAid Quiz. Charge 50p to participate and get the prize donated. Click here to view and print off a Food Quiz.

Raffle: hold a raffle or a tombola as part of another fundraising event you are organising. Get as many prizes donated as possible to reduce your overheads and increase your fundraising total.

Sponsored events: this could be any event you like: walking, running, swimming, knitting, skipping, cycling, silence, spellathon and many more.

Smartie tubes: each get a Smartie tube and fill them up with 20 pence pieces, donated from friends and family. You will be amazed at how much you raise.

Songs: register now and make use of the FoodAid songs on the free CD-Rom you will receive when you sign up. You can learn one or all of them, dress up as pop stars and put on a FoodAid concert for parents or the rest of the school. Alternatively play the songs during your FoodAid assembly.

Talent contest: discover your friends and teachers’ hidden talents whether it be singing, dancing, juggling or making people laugh by organising a talent contest.

Uniform day: dress up in a uniform (police, fireman, pilot, navy etc) for the day and pay for the privilege.

Valentines disco: who said that we need to celebrate Valentines Day around the 14th February – why not organise a Valentines disco as part of your FoodAid fundraising.

Washing cars: get your sponges out and offer to clean cars inside and out for your teachers, parents and friends.

Walk: sponsored “water walks” are a popular FoodAid fundraiser. The aim is to walk approximately four miles, as this is the distance some young children have to walk to fetch water in the developing world. If four miles seems like a long way the class can do this as a relay, the combined distance for the whole class being approximately four miles.

X-mas cards, gifts and decorations: fundraising for FoodAid usually takes place around World Food Day on 16th October but why not boost your fundraising total by getting creative at Christmas. Design and make your own cards, gifts and decorations and sell them to your friends or at a stall at the school Christmas fete.

Zoo quiz: test your pupils’ knowledge of exotics birds and animals.