Proven PTA and PTO Fundraising Ideas for Schools

Parent Fundraising Leading the Way

Parent organizations are fundraising more and more. In fact, 45% of parent teacher organizations (PTOs) and parent teacher associations (PTAs) plan to increase their fundraising efforts this school year.

Many of these organizations typically represent elementary schools, but parent-led fundraising is the lifeblood of fundraising for not just elementary, but middle and high schools as well.

A 2025 survey from PTO Today showed that 97% of parent organizations were maintaining or increasing their fundraising. Budget surpluses aren’t really a thing right now, which if you’re reading this blog, you know all too well!

"We have already been asked to help with supplying Chromebooks, auditorium renovations, and classroom supplies. Beside those, I anticipate the teachers reaching out for assistance with website and app subscriptions, gym equipment, and other curriculum resources. Our district has already cut so much and I think this is just the beginning. The PTO/PTA groups will be asked to do so much more with less money. It would be very helpful if there were more opportunities to work with companies to bridge the gap,” one parent noted.

Company to bridge the gap? We’re here to help. With all that in consideration, parent-led groups like PTAs, PTOs, and PTSOs play a key role in the essential services of our schools whether public or private. Each type of organization has its own structure and style, but all share the same mission: to strengthen the school community. In this blog, we’ll look at what makes each group unique and explore practical fundraising ideas you can put to work right away.

Parent Teacher Organizations (PTO)

Let’s Talk… Parent Teacher Organizations

If you’re not familiar, a Parent Teacher Organization or PTO, is an independent parent group that supports a single school or in the case of smaller schools, school system.

Unlike PTAs, PTOs are not connected to a national body. They set their own rules, dues, and fundraising goals, giving them flexibility to focus on what matters most to their specific community. PTOs often take the lead on events like book fairs, classroom supply drives, or teacher appreciation weeks.

PTOs are significantly more common than PTAs and are often a little less rigidly structured, however these organizations run with no access to national resources. PTOs are needing fundraising more than any other organization type.

PTO Fundraiser Ideas - The Efficient Fundraiser

PTOs thrive with fundraisers that bring families together, such as walk-a-thons, restaurant nights, and school spirit gear sales.

With less resources, scaling of the fundraiser is important. Parents on PTOs are often looking to help their children and classmates, with full time jobs elsewhere. If you’re on a PTO, you don’t have a lot of time to run a fundraiser. You’re looking for efficient fundraising. Some of the most efficient fundraisers out there include:

PTO Digital Fundraising

Fundraisers like calendar fundraisers, crowdfunding, and “a-thon” fundraisers like walk-a-thons and fun runs are great ways to efficiently fundraise, without the need for an army of volunteers.

School Spirit Gear Sales

An easy fundraiser for schools, set up at parent-teacher conferences, open houses, or school sporting events and sell school apparel. It usually takes just one parent volunteer, and can be a consistent fundraiser while getting your school's brand out there.

Talent Show

Popular still to this day, a talent show night is a minimum effort fundraising event that is great for elementary, middle, and high schools. Charge a $5 admission, so one parent takes tickets. One or two parents help coordinate backstage and on the microphone, and one parent on sound. You can even add in a concessions element. It requires a few more volunteers than other fundraisers, but it is an uplifting community event.

Book Fair

It’s not just something only 2000’s kids will remember, book fairs are still commonplace at schools and are loved by both parents and students alike. A book fair is a school event where publishers or vendors set up temporary displays of books for students and families to browse and purchase. It doubles as both a fundraiser and a way to encourage reading.

Read-a-thon

We talked briefly about a-thon fundraisers earlier this year, but this is a perfect fundraiser for elementary school students.  A read-a-thon is a fundraiser where students collect pledges or donations based on how much time they spend reading or how many books they finish. It motivates kids to build literacy skills while raising money, often with prizes or classroom competitions to keep excitement high.

How to Run a PTO Fundraiser

We’ve discussed some of the different ways to run a PTO fundraiser. Now let’s go into the best ways to run these fundraisers effectively. 

“Dozens of fundraisers over a year can cause fatigue, spread out fundraisers, and consider doing a main online fundraiser.”

Because PTOs are independent, leaders should establish a clear plan, recruit volunteers early, and promote widely through school newsletters and social media.

When it comes to digital fundraising, frame it as a “We don’t want to do fundraisers” this year, so let’s all do it at once. 

By asking for donations from the entire school all at once, it funnels your donations into one fundraiser. Think about it. 10 different fundraisers like magazine fundraisers, sub sales, cookie sales, you can do a bunch of those throughout the year and put a lot of effort into them. If they raise $200-$300 each, was that really worth the effort?

With digital crowdfunding or calendars, and an efficient team, you can raise well over $10,000 in one fundraising, creating a significant amount of funds in one run. 

Now, you can focus on things like merch sales and putting those funds to good use. See how much you can raise!

Best Practices for PTO Fundraising

Maintaining a consistent fundraising plan year after year, while adjusting to improve can help PTOs improve upon their fundraising.

Parent Teacher Association (PTA)

Let’s Talk… Parent Teacher Associations

A PTA is a local chapter of the National PTA, a nationwide nonprofit network. PTAs follow bylaws and pay dues but receive benefits like training, advocacy resources, and insurance coverage. Fundraising is central, but PTAs also focus on larger child advocacy efforts at the state and national level.

PTA Fundraising Ideas

Common PTA fundraisers include auctions, digital crowdfunding campaigns, product sales, and holiday events that align with the school calendar.

PTA’s typically serve a wealthier school district and should adjust their fundraising based on this to maximize those efforts.

PTA Digital fundraising

Equally as powerful as their roles in PTO’s, digital fundraising doesn’t just bring in local donations. Online fundraising brings in funds from outside your community as well, and you get to keep what you raise. Think of how many extended friends and family members you know outside of your community. Traditional fundraising doesn’t reach these people easily. That’s why we consistently see PTAs and school run fundraisers raising thousands, tens of thousands of dollars without a substantial effort.

Check out this guide on one of our favorite fundraising tools, the digital pick-a-date calendar, which is raising thousands of dollars for organizations across the country.

Live and Silent Auctions

The monster fundraisers made popular on tv shows and movies, it’s true, auctions are great for PTAs and they do raise a lot of money. It’s also a ton of work. With a silent auction you need to reach out to local businesses and community members for donations, you can purchase packages to raffle off, secure a venue, and facilitate running the silent auction efficiently.

A live auction involves all of that and then some, with a hired auctioneer significantly helping drive funds raised. A lot of work? Yes. A lot of money raised? Often, yes.

Golf Outing

A golf outing is a fundraiser where teams of golfers pay an entry fee to play in a tournament-style event, often held at a local course. PTOs and PTAs can boost revenue through sponsorships, raffle prizes, and extras like longest-drive or closest-to-the-pin contests, making it both a social event for adults and a strong source of school support.

Sound like a good fundraiser? Check out our FAQ on how to run a golf outing.

Color Run

A color run is a fun-run style fundraiser where participants are showered with bursts of colored powder at different stations along the course. Schools can raise money through registration fees, sponsorships, and merchandise sales. A great family friendly event that elevates your traditional 5k.

Like with golf outings, we have an FAQ on color runs too!

How to Run a PTA Fundraiser

Because PTAs operate under bylaws, it’s important to vote on fundraising activities, document spending, and communicate openly with members. Fundraisers in PTAs require more planning and lead time. Again, while there’s a little more structure here, it allows for bigger and more robust fundraising.

Best Practices For PTA Fundraisers

Emphasize transparency and inclusivity. PTAs do well when every parent feels welcome to participate, even if they can’t give financially. Encourage a mix of big annual events and smaller, easy wins.

Parent Teacher Student Organization (PTSO)

Let’s Talk… Parent Teacher Student Organizations

A PTSO works much like a PTO but with a key difference, students are officially part of the group. They have a voice in planning, decision-making, and fundraising activities. This often leads to creative, student-driven events that build school spirit while raising money. While PTSO fundraisers aren’t always the most lucrative, go forward with some student fundraising ideas even if they don’t make a lot of money, and balance with high performing fundraisers.

PTSO Fundraising Ideas

Talent shows, spirit nights, student-run concessions, and game nights all give students a chance to take the lead.

PTSO Digital Fundraising

Digital fundraising works for any school fundraising organization.

Calendars, “a-thons”, and crowdfunding can rival any other type of fundraiser, as the most efficient and highest producing fundraiser styles out there. It’s why so many organizations are raving about the power of digital fundraising.

"The product worked perfectly for us! I only expected $3k at the most but being able to bring in $5k for our program with minimum effort is amazing!" - Jarrod Miller, Director of Operations at Jacksonville University

School Dances

• Elementary School Dances – Events like father-daughter dances or mother-son nights are popular fundraisers that create lasting memories while raising money through ticket sales, photos, and concessions. They’re easy to theme around holidays or seasons and bring strong parent participation.
• Middle School Dances – An eighth-grade dance is often a highlight of middle school, giving students a fun, semi-formal event. Fundraising can come from tickets, snack sales, or photo booths, while also preparing students for the bigger events ahead.
• High School Dances – Larger events like prom, homecoming, or sweetheart dances generate significant fundraising potential through ticket sales, sponsorships, and extras like T-shirts or professional photos. These dances double as school traditions and important social milestones.

School Carnival

A school carnival is a community fundraiser built around games, food, and entertainment right on campus. If your school fundraiser is in the fall, consider layering in some other fall fundraiser ideas.

It’s a flexible event that works at any grade level and often becomes one of the most anticipated nights of the year, though is more commonly held at middle schools and elementary schools. Bring out a couple food trucks to help raise even more money!

Spaghetti Dinner

Specifically for elementary or middle school students, have your students in the PTSO be integral parts of the fundraiser. With adult supervision of course, students help serve a spaghetti dinner to the community. Students help facilitate the entire process from selling tickets to cleaning up after the event, giving students in the PTSO a sense of responsibility, and helping lead the rest of their class. Spaghetti dinners became popular because of the ease of cooking spaghetti, it’s economical to make, and pretty universally loved.

If you want to layer on additional fundraising, consider Teamfi donation pages attached to a QR code. Set them on the tables, and raise additional money for your cause without lifting a finger.

How to Run a PTSO Fundraiser

Make sure students have real responsibility and feel involved in the process. You’re running a PTSO for a reason, and be sure to note the good work the students are doing to help their school. Encourage them to market the fundraiser to their peers and contribute fresh ideas.

Best Practices for PTSO Fundraisers

Use student ideas and balance them with traditional fundraising to bring “fun” fundraisers and “best practice” fundraisers to your school.

Choosing the Right Fundraiser for Your School

Raising money for your school and bringing your community together is support of student learning is the crux of every organizing community. PTAs, PTOs, and PTSOs may have different structures, but their purpose is the same, and fundraising is essential to that purpose.

Every school is different, and depending on where you’re from, a fundraiser may be better suited for your school than others. In Hawaii? Fall fundraising ideas might not be for you. In Alaska in the winter? Maybe skip on the color run. Digital fundraising though, that can be done anytime, anywhere.

Whether it’s a calendar, crowdfunding, donation pages, or something like a walk-a-thon you want to run, let us know how we can help turn your good fundraiser into a great fundraiser. Let’s chat and make it happen.