Looking to host a Schools Against Cancer fundraiser for cancer care and research at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center? Check out these A-Z ideas for inspiration.
1. Athletic Challenge
Whether you’re running the diamond, hitting the ice or lacing up your running sneakers, there’s always an opportunity to challenge yourself. Plan an athletic event, such as a tournament or race, and raise money while seeing how far you can go.
2. Bottle Drive
Ask to set up bins throughout your school for friends to put bottles in. Make sure to spread the word about the fundraiser so people remember to bring in their bottles.
3. Coffee for Cancer
Team up with your favorite café and create a specialty drink to sell for the month, with part or all of the proceeds going toward your fundraiser.
4. Donation Jars
Dress up an empty jar to put in your classroom, local coffee shop or favorite restaurant. Tape your story to the jar to increase donations!
5. E-sports
Grab a gaming console and compete against one another in an eSport competition for the ages! Whether it’s a FIFA competition, Call of Duty marathon, virtual NBA tournament or anything else, you can turn your favorite pastime into a fundraiser.
6. Facebook Fundraiser
Create a fundraiser on Facebook to easily share with friends and family. If you don’t have a Facebook, ask a parent or guardian to set up a Facebook fundraiser for you, then set a goal so followers can see your progress!
7. Give Something Up
Have students choose something to give up for the duration of the fundraising event and get sponsors.
8. Hula Hoop Contest
Encourage participants to find sponsors to pledge an amount per minute of hula’ing. Want to make it a marathon? Log hula time as “Gym” time in the Good Move app for an integrated experience!
9. Ice Cream Social
Charge per scoop or set a flat fee for an all-you-can-eat ice cream social. Ask your community and local businesses to donate supplies and help you get the word out. Consider adding an ice cream eating contest to shake things up!
10. Jersey Day
Choose a day where students and staff make a donation and wear their favorite jersey and have participants make a donation to participate.
11. Karaoke Night
Host a karaoke night! Charge a fee to get in and have snacks and refreshments for sale.
12. Livestream
Stream one of your fundraisers on social media to reach a wider audience and encourage additional donations virtually.
13. Miles of Pennies
Challenge your students to bring in enough pennies to add up to a mile (hint: it’s $844.80!). Encourage them to make it even further than a mile!
14. Neighborhood Walk
Unite your neighborhood and walk for a purpose. Houses can set up water stops; kids can chalk a start and finish line. There’s no end to the creativity.
15. Odd Shoes Day
Choose a day when students and staff make a donation and wear funky or mismatched shoes.
16. Pie Your Principal
Students can donate money to see their teacher or principal get pied!
17. Quiz
Test everyone’s knowledge with a quiz night to raise money.
18. Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament
Students make a small donation to enter the tournament, then compete in waves until there’s one final champion. First, students can compete in their classrooms or homerooms to find a winner in each. Then, have those winners face off in an assembly. Offer a prize like homework passes or pizza for lunch. The competition can be fierce!
19. Spirit Shirts
Hold a contest to find the best new design for a school spirit shirt. Then, make those shirts a reality, and sell them through Bonfire to raise funds.
20. Teacher Dare
Double dog dare you to make a bet with a teacher. Set a fundraising goal and dare your teacher to cut their hair or shave their beard if you hit it!
21. Used Book Sales
Help your whole community nurture a love of reading with a used book sale. Collect gently used books of all types, then have students sort and price them (or simply charge $1 for paperbacks and $2 for hardbacks). Hold your sale on its own or pair up with sporting events or other activities.
22. Valentine's Day Roses
Raise money for school clubs or initiatives by selling roses for Valentine’s Day. In the week leading up to the holiday, set up a booth in the cafeteria to sell roses and collect donations. Students can pay a dollar to send a rose to another student, along with a note, that volunteers will deliver on Valentine’s Day.
23. War of Coins
Create a bin for each grade level and make it a competition to see which grade has the most points based on the number and type of coins. Spice it up by adding this rule: Coins count as positive points and dollars count as negative points. Students can add dollars to the bins of other grade levels to decrease their points.
24. X-mas in April (or any month)
Choose a day during your fundraiser to have Christmas or Hannukah or any other holiday in the off-month of your choosing! Students and staff can make a donation to wear holiday-themed outfits, and you can host an ugly sweater contest. Consider making the contest where people donate toward their favorite sweater and the most donations wins.
25. Yard Sale
Host a yard sale and get students, parents and teachers to donate items.
26. Zodiac Night
Host a zodiac-themed evening filled with all kinds of mystical activities. Ask local psychics, tarot card readers, numerologists, palm readers, and astrologists to donate their time and then charge a small fee for readings. You can also charge an admission fee to the event.
These are just a few of the hundreds of unique fundraising events you can host to support cancer patients at Roswell Park. Every fundraiser makes an impact.
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