Fundraising Ideas Gone are the days of simple, door-to-door high school band fundraising. Selling candy and magazines now falls on the shoulders of the parents, who end up making enemies of their coworkers and squeezing every penny they can out of grandma and grandpa. Here’s an idea: Let’s keep the parents happy, put the responsibility back on the students, and actually make some big-time money!

Teacher-tested and Kid-approved Fundraising Ideas for High School Bands

1. Can Drive

This works best when planned out and promoted at least a week or two in advance. Send notices home with all students (not just the band crew), letting parents know that the high school band will be collecting aluminum cans to raise money for their band trip. Get the community involved by asking local businesses if you can post flyers about the event, and set up as many drop-off areas as possible throughout the school and inside of local businesses to be collected at a certain date.

Fundraising Tip: Price check local recycling facilities to see which ones offer the best deals for your cans.

2. Spaghetti (or other easy-to-make food) Dinner

This one does require some work by the parents, but at least they will have fun in the process. Plan some sort of easy-to-prepare dinner at the school that students can sell tickets to. Parents are in charge of cooking and serving the food while the band students provide the evening’s entertainment. All ticket sales and tips go towards the fundraiser.

Fundraising Tip: These work especially well on Friday nights because parents are tired of cooking meals all week and welcome the much-needed break. Plus, you can capitalize on any traffic from high school sporting events that are often played on Friday nights.

3. Silent Auction

You can easily plan a high school band concert and silent auction event that will attract the whole community. Ask local businesses to donate goods or services to the silent auction. Create a flyer advertising the event, listing the businesses involved, and showcasing some of the most popular items up for bid. Ticket sales and silent auction revenues benefit the high school band fundraiser.

Fundraising Tip: Ask parents to work a concession stand during the event to help boost sales even further.

4. Dunk Tank

Everybody loves to watch other people get dunked in the dunk tank! Find 10-15 volunteers (teachers and students) willing to be dunked. Set up jars throughout the school designated to each volunteer where students, teachers, and parents can “vote” on the person they most want to see dunked.

Fundraising Tip: Keep an up-to-date record of who is in the lead and remind everyone of the results periodically throughout the voting period so that people will be compelled to donate more money to their “dunkee of choice.”

5. Rent-a-Kid

Offer a rent-a-kid program that allows local businesses (or trusted family and friends) to rent out a student for help with odd jobs for a set donation fee. People love to see kids working hard to earn money, so they’re often willing to pay more for these types of fundraisers. See for yourself how well it worked for this high school choir group.

Fundraising Tip: Create a list of odd jobs that students can provide so that they’re not asked to do something they’re not already prepared for. Assign students to the required tasks based on their skills and the areas they excel at most.

Share your own High School Band Fundraising Ideas!

Fundraising is not supposed to be easy, but it is supposed to be fun! Give these high school band fundraising ideas a try for your next big class trip and see for yourself how much more enjoyable they are than selling candy and magazines to disgruntled folks. And please, share your own high school band fundraising ideas in the comments below!

P.S. Once your high school band has raised enough money for a musical class trip, be sure to check out the featured performance tours that CE Tours has to offer!