Where Can I Get Donations for My PTA?

I don't have any great suggestions, but just want to give a shout-out to Julie F and TF Plano for their hard work with the PTA. Pulling together and organizing fundraisers is a huge task and requires a lot more time and effort than most of us are aware of. Thanks for doing right for the kids! :)

Ask the parents. That's what the PTA at my daughters school does. Parents are willing to help so start there. Good luck!!

You start with members of the PTA. My daughter is 21 and a senior in college and I am still active in the PTA where she went to elementary school. It is THAT good of a school that I still donate my time and $$. There are several members who had children go through this school who are still active in the PTA. Don't write off people who have had children age out of your school!!

For general fundraising for the PTA... Solicit donations from parents and have a "write a check campaign", walk a thon where people pledge money, etc.

Our PTA sets up a system where you have levels of membership. Think of this as the tier levels of the airline/hotel frequent flier programs for example where you earn more benefits per your level. For instance, a business can choose to be a level that is $500+ and those benefits might include that business name in the handbook and all programs that are passed out at meetings, etc.

In Sr High school we had game day t-shirts and a business would purchase the advertising (at the time $1500 for 1000+ t-shirts). We had game day shirts made where students would wear to the game and the business had the back of the shirt as advertising. It was a HUGE money maker. We chose 5 of the best games of the season, came up with a slogan for the front geared toward the game that week, then the business that sponsored that shirt had the logo of their choosing on the back. We sold the pack of 5 game day shirts to the student body, parents, PTA for $30/pack. The $$ from the sponsors completely paid for the shirts, printing, etc and the $$ raised was 100% profit.

For donations to use in things like carnivals, silent auction... again, go to the parents. Many are employed or own companies with perks. Sometimes they will donate some of those perks for auction. For instance... we had season tickets to the Dallas Stars and we donated 4 tickets plus parking which was about a $400 value and it went into the silent auction with hockey towels and Stars gear. We happen to have some Dallas Cowboys and Mavericks who have children in the system or we know from networking and they would often donate a signed jersey or ball.

Go to your local businesses as well... nail salons and car detailing is a hot one around here, lessons for music, sports, etc, have a sports car for the weekend, groceries, wine tastings, dinners for 6-12 people, etc. The list goes on and on.

Be creative. It is a lot of work but is very effective. We've found that the silent auction is our largest fundraiser. Last year, we raised over $20,000 on silent auction alone.

I apologize for the novel but I do this all the time and hopefully one or two of the ideas will spark some interest for you and your group.

ETA:

There will also be many generous families who like to donate to a particular project or event. For example, for our 5th grade breakfast this past year, we had several families donate cases of sausage and bacon. We just got the cases from Costco, or similar place. So, it wasn't the business, but individual families donating in addition to whatever items other businesses donated. That is always a HUGE help with the budget!

Original receipts have to go to the treasurer for reimbursement, but each committee should either make copies of receipts or otherwise note how much they paid for items for their events. Be sure to have each committee keep good notes so that the committee for the following year has some idea where to start and what to expect. (We have a binder for every committee where all of this information is kept. It's updated for the new year and then passed on with the pertinent information from the previous year's event to help guide the new committee chairs). Often, depending on what donations are given, the final budget can look different from the projected budget. Make sure to note for those who follow how much your committee(s) receive in donations, because if they don't get the same or similar for the next year, the budgets may have to be increased or adjusted. It is often the case that donated items vary from year to year.

We do a "Back to School" coffee the first day of school where parents can come and learn about all of the various committees, have some coffee and pastries, and meet other parents.
It's been a great way to get people involved. Also, do you have a "Back to School Night" at the beginning of the school year? If so, ask the principal if you can have 2 minutes to introduce yourself and the board so parents know who to contact if they want to become involved or have questions. I always told our parents that we know how busy they are with work and families and that we appreciate ANY time they can give us, that we would happily accept 30 minutes to help with one event or whatever time they could share. We were grateful for any and all of it!

Finally, based on your SWH, remember the PTA 3-to-1 rule. For every PTA fundraiser, you must do three "give backs." What qualifies as a "give back" is very broad, but this rule helps families to know that they are getting something in return for their generosity and not just being asked for money over and over and it going into some black hole. I'm sure you already do this, but always be sure to thank your families and volunteers after the events. Without them, nothing would happen!

Good luck to you! It's always great to see parents getting involved in their kids' schools to whatever extent they can. That's how great schools are made!

--------------------------------------
I've been doing this for a long time for our schools. I just "retired" from our PTA board after several years because our youngest is going to middle school. However, I still help and just this morning was helping organize materials for one of their events next year.

So, hear are a few things to consider:
Establish relationships with local businesses. Usually, there are parents who own businesses, and they often donate goods and services to their kids' school. Even if they cannot donate everything, they may also offer steep discounts to things you may need for your events. (Make sure you understand the rules regarding "sponsorships" and the things you are allowed to say in exchange for goods and services. You have to be careful not to promote any specific business, although you can and should certainly thank them publicly at your events (e.g. You can display a sign at your event, near the items that says something like "Thanks to Bubbe's Bakery for donating all of the muffins for our breakfast!" However, you CANNOT say, please be sure to go to Bubbe's Bakery and support them since they were so generous in donating muffins for our breakfast today! Your PTA officers should have received guidance on this at their annual training, and you can also always consult your state PTA for guidance).

When you are requesting donations, make sure you have your tax exempt letter with your tax ID number. Many businesses require that.

Keep in mind, if you are hitting up a chain, say, Whole Foods or Starbucks, that they get TONS of requests from all kinds of schools throughout the year. Some of them have limits on how much they give in a certain tax year, so if you don't request formally, in writing, and early, you may not be able to get any donations. Also, sometimes large businesses have to go through their corporate office to get donations approved, so be sure to place your requests WELL in advance---three months prior to event is the minimum as it can take some time to hear back from corporate whether you will get your donation. If you end up not getting the donation after a long wait to hear, you're left scrambling to get the items you had requested.

When asking for donations, it helps to be specific. "We will be serving a total of 500 dads and students on the morning of our event." If you just say you need donuts, you may just get a few dozen instead of anything close to what you need.

If the businesses cannot donate your requests, it doesn't hurt to ask if they can offer you a discount. We have such a large, active PTA and do so many events each year, we would never think to ask for everything. Try to make sure your committees communicate well so that if you need something from Starbucks, you're not asking after another one of your committees just had them donate a few months ago. Your board should try to keep a master list of which businesses have been asked, and for which donations, so you don't wear out your welcome!

Be sure to write a letter thanking the business after they have donated and enclose a separate receipt for their donation. They need this for tax purposes.

I have to go now. Kids are hungry!!! If I think of other things, I'll add later.

Ask parents to write a once per year check and they are off the hook for fundraising for the year.
That's the only way the PTA gets money from me.
If I can write a check, then we're all good!

ETA: Your letter MUST include your PTA's tax ID number!

Welcome to mamapedia.

you go to the school's parents.

You go to local businesses with a letter with your PTA's tax ID and information on what you are doing. I have gone to Office Depot, our local grocery stores, Staples, Massage Envy, Florists and other local businesses to ask them to donate to the school.

Our school's PTO is pretty much all parent-funded. In the fall they have a big festival and raffle prizes made up entirely of donations from parents.

Our Cub Scout Pack solicits local businesses for donations. They are usually very eager to get their name out. I would try that route.

Old fashioned legwork. We've done this many times.

Organize volunteers in 3 groups - 1 group to pound the pavement, 1 group to contact corporate offices for those stores/merchants that do not make the decision at the local level, Group 3 to handle all the thank you notes. Group 1 starts with small businesses: hair salons, nail salons, florists/garden centers, restaurants (non-chain). Divide it up so no business is bothered by multiple volunteers. (Let people sign up for places where they have an "in".) Group 2 starts calling the big stores to ask who handles community donations. Prepare a letter explaining the "cause" and the due dates, what the store will get (e.g. listing in a program guide, acknowledgement on a poster at the event, etc.) and have it signed by someone "official" (principal and event chairperson, for example). People stopping in randomly asking for gift cards, with no proof of their association with you, cannot be accommodated by stores.

Once Group 2 identifies local stores that need to have managers called on, Group 1 hits those stores too). For example, around here, Walmart stores have community dollars determined by each store, Target uses a central office. Supermarkets make local decisions, usually. Chain restaurants do some of each.

Be sure to get a value on every gift card so you know how to auction them off. Indicate on the raffle that the recipient is supposed to tip based on the full value (face value) - wait staff and hairdressers should not get stiffed because someone got a free haircut.

Primary donations would probably come from parent businesses and employers.

my kids school does 2 fundraisers a year. makes enough money for stuff like ice cream socials and other fun gatherings. one is yankee candles, the other is worlds finest chocolates. both do well

Go to all of your local businesses.

Please, PLEASE, keep in mind that people are struggling everywhere with finances. A friend of mine is upset that no one will help with their school fundraiser. It's way too expensive!

Those plastic cups, right?, tumblers. $18 each. I won't even pay $4.98 at Walmart for one in my favorite color. We live on SSDI and have to make every penny count. I get to spend about $40 per week on food so spending half my food budget for the week on a fund raiser is never ever going to happen.

That is just crazy that someone would spend that much money on something for a fundraiser. Sorry, it's just nuts to me.

Our dance teacher wants us to do some fundraisers for the competition team. One she has always wanted to do is chicken pooping, yes, that's really what I put.

You spray paint out a grid on your lawn then put the chicken out. People buy a square off the grid and if the chicken poops in that grid you win a prize or something. I almost would rather buy a cup!

Can't people do normal fundraisers anymore? Sell something everyone uses. Have a garage sale, everyone can give donations of clothing, dishes, excess anything. Then the school prices it and has the sale. All the money, except for the license, is free money.

The excess is donated to a homeless shelter or clothing room or given away to the community freely.

We did that several years in a row for Habitat. We made thousands each time. We also did other things and made money each time. BUT we didn't expect anyone to spend more than a few dollars and they got things they could use.

We've done the cookie dough but it's about double what it would be if you just went and bought cookie dough and a LOT more than if you just made it.

Perhaps you can have some bake sales at the garage sale. Donations of baked goods if your school allows that, ours doesn't anymore. They figured that we don't know the conditions of those kitchens so food wouldn't be done outside of the school grounds.

But there are tons of great fundraiser ideas.

One of the things that has gotten a lot of response at the school I teach at is to ask families to donate experiences or services.
A parent who is a chef always donates a cooking class. Sometimes for adults, sometimes for kids.
A parent who used to work in a bakery donates a special occasion cake that can be ordered anytime.
A parent who loves to garden has donated a landscaping consolation.
A parent who fishes has donated a guided fly fishing trip.
A family that has a pontoon boat has donated a guided river trip.
A family with a timeshare donated it one year when they weren't going to be able to use it.
A parent who is a photographer donated a sitting for a family portrait.
A parent who does a lot of scrapbooking donated time to teach a class.
There has been some pretty unique things donated. They always get a lot of bids in the silent auction they do.

I am very good at getting donations. The key is to have people ask who are regular customers and friends or family of the business owner. We get $25 from most restaurants but sometimes $125. We get $400-1,000 jewels from two different jewelry stores. A car dealer donates a weekend in Vegas. We often get portrait packages donated with x prints. Also, make sure they are publicly thanked and customers thank them after donating. That keeps them saying yes every year.

My PTA asks parents who have season tickets to sports teams to donate tickets to a game that they can't attend. Then the PTA raffles them off.

If you want items for raffles and incentives, then you go to local businesses. We get raffle prizes from local dance studios, gymnastics schools, theme parks, bowling, mini golf, restaurants, tickets to major league sporting events, bookstores, toy stores, arcades, and so many more. Think about the places your kids like to go and that's who you ask. Think about things like going to the American Girl store in NYC and getting a doll donated. Draft a letter - including your tax ID number - and have people in the PTA (and/or the whole school community) bring the letter to local businesses. It really helps to create a shared google doc where people can record what businesses they have visited and the status of the request so you don't have multiple people soliciting (and therefore annoying) the same businesses. One thing you will learn quickly is that businesses are MUCH more likely to donate if you visit them in person with a letter in hand rather than try to conduct business via phone or email.

We do two major fundraisers a year. In the fall, we have a Pledge Drive, which is just a straight up request to families for money. As far as I'm concerned, this is so much better than having to sell stuff and I happily write a check if it means I don't have to sell things like wrapping paper or chocolate. The Pledge Drive usually raises $25-30,000.

In the spring, we have a jog-a-thon. For this, kids run laps for 30 minutes and collect sponsors (usually friends, family and neighbors) either for a flat fee or for a per-lap fee. We offer prizes for most laps run (one boy and girl win in each class), most money raised (per class), top 10 fundraisers in the school, etc. We also have a huge raffle and kids get one ticket for every $10 they raise. To offset the cost of our jog-a-thon, we solicit monetary donations from local businesses. Those most likely to contribute are local realtors, any of the doctors, dentists, and orthodontists that the kids from school go to, car dealers, or parents from school who own businesses. We also get local grocery stores or bakeries to donate things like water and donuts for the parents who volunteer at the event. Our jog-a-thon typically raises $45-50,000.

I'm not sure how big your school is, but we are a K-6 school with around 625 students.

ETA: Just remembered another idea I had...
There is a company here that does shoe drives for schools or other non-profits. Basically, you have everyone at school bring in old shoes to donate. They must be in pairs, but it does not matter what condition they are in. You arrange a day with the company to come and pick up all the shoes. They pay by the pound - so the heavier the shoes the better (steel-toed boots are awesome!!). This can raise a to of money. We raised several hundred dollars at our preschool with fewer than 50 families. Imagine how much an elementary school could raise! Look into things like that in your community - shoes or used clothes or something could bring in a ton.

We also raised a few hundred dollars doing a used book sale at school. Families brought in old books and we sold them. Soft covers were $1 and hard covers were $2. Any unsold books were donated. Obviously it's not as big a moneymaker as our two major fundraisers, but it worked.

Last idea: we do monthly restaurant nights were local restaurants will donate a percentage of the evening's sales back to the school. The restaurant usually provides a flyer that customers need to show in order to have their purchase recognized as part of the fundraiser. Many businesses give 15-20%. If you have a Chipotle or a Veggie Grill near you (both are big chains out here), they donate 50%.

Many at home businesses do fundraisers. I have a friend who is a Tupperware Lady and they do fundraisers all the time. You can also organize a fundraiser with local home businesses: Tupperware- Mary Kay - Avon - Pampered Chef etc. set up a Facebook event page and invite all your friends and have them invite all of their friends and on and on. also invite venders. Anyone who does flea markets is often willing to set up a booth. Instead of charging them for booth rental ask for a basket of goodies from their inventory to use in a silent auction. Also ask all vendors to donate 10%- 20% of sales generated that day for the fundraiser including any parties booked. Then go to business owners and ask for donations for a silent auction. Make up a flyer and ask a local printer to donate 100 to pass out.
I did this for two families who lost their home in a fire and raised about $1000.00 in one day. We did have silent auction items that did not sell so they were sold on EBay and the monies donated.
Ask the school to donate the gym or cafeteria space for the day.