20 Fundraising Incentive Ideas for Kids

Last week we shared fundraising tips to help groups use school fundraising incentives to boost participation rates and maximize sales. We believe fundraising can be fun! With that in mind we thought we’d share to top 20 Fundraising incentive ideas for your school group, sports team or non-profit. This post is packed full of easy to implement no and low-cost ideas suitable for a wide variety of seller ages. Without further ado, let’s dive into all of these fundraising incentive ideas.

20 Fundraising Incentive Ideas 

1. Flamingo Treatment- Get flocked. Place pink plastic flamingos in the grass outside your facility or the school building. Advertise to your students that the birds will fly once your fundraising goal has been met. Share pictures of your birds on your school website, in parent letters and via social media to make it even more fun.
2. Themed School Days Incentive– What about a fundraising incentive idea like themed school days? Choose specific days of the week to award as your sellers reach important sales milestones. Some examples: “Dress like a Zombie Day”, “Crazy Hair Day”, “Wear your clothes inside and backwards day”…Get as creative as you want here. This incentive is low cost, easy to implement and kids love playing dress up.

1. Character Days- Would your kids love to see the faculty and staff participate in silly stunts such as dressing like a clown for a day? Be a good sport and get in on the FUNdraising action. Make this part of your fundraising campaign and see how much fun you have!
2. Dress Down Days- Does your school have a dress code or do your students wear uniforms? If so, they will likely appreciate a dress down day. This is a great one for middle and high school age students. Who wouldn’t love a “jeans day” as a reward for participation in their fundraiser?

1. School Mascot Lock Up- Put the school mascot in “Jail” until a specific sales goal is met. Be sure to share photos across social media and keep your jailed mascot visible so it will be top of mind for your students.
2. Jell-O Jump- Have the school principal jump into a swimming pool full of Jell-O as a stunt when sales goals are reached.
3. Have a SIT IN- a Roof Sit actually. Invite a teacher or principal or even partner with a local celebrity to camp out on the roof of the school until your sales goal is reached.
4. Ice Cream Social- Partner with an ice cream vendor and give the kids free ice cream once sales goals are reached. This would be particularly effective if you are fundraising in the summer. Does your cafeteria serve ice cream? Treat your students to a free cone!
5. Pie Toss- Student with the highest sales in each class get an opportunity to through a pie at their favorite teacher or coach.
6. Shaved head challenge- Some fundraising incentive ideas are not for wimps. Have a willing teacher or principal challenge your students to a fundraising goal. If the goal is met the teacher has to dye or shave his/her head. The key here is to follow through 🙂
7. Prize Raffle- For every bag of pasta sold, students earn a ticket to put into the grand prize drawing. The more they sell, the more chances they get to win. Reach out to local retailers. Would one be willing to donate an iPad, a new TV or a laptop? Consider your seller’s ages and interests when choosing your grand prize.
8. Pie the Principal in the Face– What’s the deal with kids and messes? Seriously, the messier the better. Kids love an opportunity to make messes. What could be more fun that getting to throw a pie into the face a favorite teacher or principal?
9. VIP Premier Parking- Give your high school students the opportunity to earn premo parking for a week. This is one of the most popular fundraising incentive ideas and won’t cost you anything!
10. Treat Jar Shopping Spree- As each sales tier is met students earn “Group Dollars” to spend in the classroom or school treat jar.
11. Ugly outfit challenge- Have principal wear an “ugly outfit” for a day when sales goals are reached.
12. Healthy competition- Have girls and boys compete against each other for prizes and bragging rights. For high schools have upper and lower classmen compete against each other for highest sales.
13. Lunch with your favorite teacher or a local celebrity- Highest seller wins a special lunch with their favorite teacher or get a local celebrity involved to up your ante.
14. Concert tickets- high sellers win concert tickets
15. Crazy Hat Day- let your students win a crazy hat day as part of your fundraising event. This is simple, requires no planning and doesn’t cost anything.
16. Extra Recess or Electronics day- Let kids bring their electronics to school and have half an hour of extra time to play.

As you can see, there are many fundraising incentive ideas and we’ve only scratched the surface. Fundraising is vital and necessary for most schools and nonprofit groups. Let’s have some fun while we raise money. EVERYBODY WINS!!! What incentives has your group used?