15 July Fundraising Ideas

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Swim-A-Thon

Stay cool and earn money for a good cause! Host a swim-a-thon where patrons donate either per minute in the water or per lap swam during a certain time frame. 

This activity is pretty customizable: you can gather all the participants together to do it in a single pool or allow for everyone to do it separately while logging their time. After the allotted time is up, allow the participants to collect from the donors and everything goes towards the Booster Club!

See also: 20 Summer Fundraising Ideas for Your School

Dance Marathon

In a similar vein to the traditional “a-thon” style fundraiser, the dance marathon is where participants sign up to dance for a period of time, usually around 24hrs. 

You can have the dancers pay to enter the marathon and/or have them find sponsors and secure donations from peers. The dancers are traditionally supposed to stay moving for the whole 24hrs, but you can provide rest options to the dancers if you so choose. Having different activities for them to engage in during the course of the marathon plus food to keep everyone fueled and full of energy is essential. Also don’t forget to use social media to your advantage and drive up spectating and fundraising even more. 

This event is extremely customizable and requires a fair bit of planning to make sure to keep it entertaining and safe. Done well, though, you’ll be sure to set the PTO/PTA up for a great start to the new school year!

Comedy Hour/Roast

Have any budding comedians in your community? Here’s an opportunity to let them try out their material in front of an audience and raise some money for your cause! Host a comedy show featuring new local comedy talent. If a prominent community member is feeling especially brave, he or she can volunteer to be the subject of a comedy roast. However you set it up, charge an entry fee to be in the audience and offer a reward to the most popular comedian of the night!

Spin Class

Find a local spin studio and ask them to host a spin event for the Booster Club where the club and the studio can share the proceeds. If you have your own bank of spin bikes, you can ask an instructor to donate their time to lead it and collect donations from the participants to sign up!

No Run Run

Host a no run run event, where your patrons play a series of sllooooow games. Slow activities can include competitions to see who can do the LEAST amount of pushups in a minute, the LEAST amount of crunches in a minute, or the LEAST amount of pull ups in a minute. 

The catch? Competitors’ feet have to stay moving the whole time. Its a lot more difficult than it sounds. Move to the track or set up some cones to see who can go the least amount of distance in a minute. Have fun with it! The donations come in when the competitors secure pledges from sponsors and collect donations via their friends and family.

Movie Marathon

Who doesn’t love a good trilogy or multipart series? Set up a day (or weekend depending on the series) to host a movie marathon, featuring the movie series of your choice! Patrons pay a flat fee to experience the franchise from beginning to end and the PTO/PTA can provide popcorn, drinks, and other concessions.

Knit, Crochet, Spin-A-Thon

Host a knit, crochet, and spin-a-thon in your community! Participants can find sponsors to donate based on yards worked during a certain window of time with all proceeds going towards the school’s Booster Club.

24 Hour Relay

Weather permitting, host a 24 hour relay! This idea is pretty open ended as you can designate whatever type of relay fits your community. Have serious runners, bikers, or swimmers? BOOM! You have your 24 hour relay event. 

The rules are the same for all events: participants may enter the relay in teams or solo but at least one person from the team must stay moving the entire time. Participants can pay a flat fee to enter and/or get donations from friends, family, and local businesses. 

Pot Marbles

This activity would work beautifully as part of a bigger party style event! People that wish to play stand on an upside down flower pot and use a spoon to put nearby marbles into the drainage hole on the bottom of the pot. Theres a flat fee to enter and the winner, whomever puts the most marbles into the pot within a minute, gets a small prize.

Pringles Ping Pong Bounce

This is another activity that would work really well as part of a larger event! Set up a few empty pringles cans (add sand or dirt at the bottom to keep the ball from bouncing out/the can from blowing away) and encourage people to bounce their ping pong ball into one of the cans. 

Each can could mean the participant gets a certain prize or a certain amount of points which add up to the type of prize they could get once their turn is up. Event organizers can collect a flat fee for a certain number of tries (like $3 for 5 balls) or collect on a per try basis ($1 for 1 ball). 

July 4th Bake Off

Have participants present their star-spangled best dessert for judging! The PTO/PTA can collect a flat fee per person and the participant can try out as many of the baked goods as they want and vote for the winner, or you can collect a donation in exchange for tickets which they will then use to “pay” to try the baked goods.

You can also have the people judge the baked goods and pick their favorite or have a judging panel come in and pick their favorite. You can even throw in categories if you want: best looking dessert, best tasting dessert, overall best dessert. The winner can get a prize, bragging rights, or both. The possibilities are endless!

Sell Patriotic Pretzel Rods And Dipped Oreos

Never underestimate the power of a good bake sale! Pretzel rods drizzled in red and white chocolate and oreos dipped in blue candy melts with white sprinkles will always be a delicious yet simple item that turns a profit.

Pie Eating Contest

What’s more American than apple pie? A pie eating contest! Collect a flat fee to give competitors the opportunity to be the pie eating champion of 2022!

July 4th 5k Run

Organize a 5k for the 4th of July weekend! Have the participants register and pay in advance so you know how many people will be attending. You can specify a trail and put together goody bags for everyone once they finish the race and include music and some activities for anyone who feels like partying after they finish.

July 4th Pool Party

Enjoy the sunshine with friends at a themed pool party! Party goers pay a fee to enter and get to come in and enjoy splashing around and catching up with friends. Depending on your venue, you can add some concessions for when people get hungry and possibly even play a movie in the evening to cap off a great day!

Are you looking for more fundraising ideas? Check out our seasonal fundraising idea articles for ideas no matter the time of year!