Seeking alumni donations isn’t just about fundraising—it’s about connecting with former students. By tapping into emotional motivators like nostalgia, recognition, and shared impact, you can inspire former students to stay engaged and give back.
Next to the winter holidays, Thanksgiving is one of the best times for school groups to raise money. And to help you get inspired, our team at FutureFund has created this list of fall-friendly Thanksgiving fundraiser ideas for PTAs!
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Run Your Thanksgiving Fundraiser with FutureFund
Our platform comes with powerful tools that can help you fundraise more effectively this Thanksgiving. These include:
- Ready-to-go campaign templates so you can sell tickets or items for different events.
- A built-in messaging system you can use to announce your fundraisers and provide details.
- Powerful financial reporting tools to help you track your earnings, stay compliant, and plan future fundraisers more effectively.
Now, let’s move on to the list! Use these suggestions to guarantee a fantastic fall for your whole school community.
Donation Campaigns
These campaigns encourage parents and volunteers to donate directly to your school group. FutureFund makes it easy to collect money online during the campaign, but you can also include an in-person event with a Thanksgiving theme if you want to make your fundraiser more meaningful.
Learn how to run a donation campaign with FutureFund here.
Tip: Use FutureFund’s messaging system to announce the fundraiser and include a link to the online campaign so that people can still donate even if they can’t attend the event.
Thanksgiving Volunteer Groups
The best way to show your thanks is to give back to the community! Organize a community volunteer group and help out at a soup kitchen or a similar nonprofit that beautifies and enriches the community.
When announcing these tasks, don’t forget to mention that you’re collecting donations for your school group and specify where the money you’ll raise will be going.
Food Drive
Partner with a shelter or food bank in your community and collect canned and dried goods to deliver to them during the holiday.
When collecting the donations from the community, mention to them that you’re also collecting monetary donations to share with the food bank or the shelter and to support your school group.
Toiletries Drive
Partner with a shelter to figure out what items they need for their residents, then hold a toiletry drive. While collecting supplies from the students and the community, make sure to announce that you’re also collecting monetary donations to help support the shelter and the school.
These fundraisers can be potential opportunities for sponsorship as well—so make the rounds to local businesses and see if they would be willing to donate.
A-Thons (Pledge Campaigns)
An “A-Thon” fundraiser is a special kind of pledge campaign you can run in FutureFund. Once you create the campaign for the event, students who sign up to participate each get a link they can use to collect donations from family and friends.
Find step-by-step instructions for successful pledge campaigns here.
Tip: The link you’ll share when you create the campaign is what you’ll use to sign up student participants. When they register for the event, they’ll each get their own unique link that they can use to raise money.
Turkey Trot
Set up a turkey trot event for your donors, either at your school or around the community. The turkey trot can be any length—but make sure to include some prizes like school merch or a goody bag for the winners!
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Get StartedFall Leaf Tour
Nothing is more beautiful than the leaves in the fall. Set up a guided tour of a park or nearby forest as a Walk-A-Thon event, and use FutureFund to manage the accompanying pledge campaign.
Purchase Campaigns
Any kind of fundraiser where you sell physical items or event tickets is a Purchase campaign. Add each item type to your online store in FutureFund by creating a specific Purchase campaign for it.
Learn how to run a purchase campaign here.
Tip: Always run Purchase campaigns alongside physical events like bake sales, since this allows you to make sales 24/7 and lets people make purchases even if they can’t attend the event.
Fall Craft Sale
Showcase the creativity of your students by organizing a community craft sale and selling all things fall! Handmade crafts are a big hit with these events—kids can even sell homemade holiday decorations for the holidays coming up in December!
Thanksgiving Bake Sale
Everyone loves a bake sale—and Thanksgiving is the time to pull out all of those pumpkin spice flavors and other holiday goodies for a seasonal smorgasbord! Your PTA can either make the goods you’ll sell, or seek out sponsorship from a local bakery.
Pie Sale
Hold a pie sale, either at school or online by using FutureFund to create different Purchase campaigns for each flavor. Accepting pie orders online can save you time and money planning a physical event—you’ll just need to deliver the pies by Thanksgiving so families can enjoy them after their big dinner!
Pumpkin Sale
Have a pumpkin sale around Thanksgiving so that community members can bake up that one and only tasty pumpkin pie. Adding pumpkins to your online store in FutureFund is as simple as adding school merch or any other item you’re selling.
Turkey Dinner
Sell tickets to a Turkey Dinner event! Your PTA can either make the turkey dinner yourselves or buy it from a local restaurant and portion it out for each of the ticket holders.
Selling tickets for fundraising events is easy with FutureFund. Just create a Purchase campaign in the Admin, write your event description (with important information like the date and location), and set your ticket price.
Fall Festival
This is a great way to combine several events together in one big money-making event! Throw a fall festival and charge admission to enjoy games, the fall atmosphere, and spending time with friends and family during the holiday season.
Like the turkey dinner suggestion above, selling tickets for this kind of event is easier when you use FutureFund—instead of dealing with long lines at the door, students and their families can simply purchase online ahead of time.
Corn Maze
Partner with a local corn maze in your area and sell tickets via FutureFund for a special PTA event! Ticket holders will arrive on the day to find their way through the maze and enjoy a treat at the end like hot chocolate or seasonal baked goods.
Pumpkin Painting Contest
Let your patrons show their creative side with pumpkin painting! Sell tickets for the event ahead of time with FutureFund, which each attendee can redeem for a pumpkin and art supplies when they arrive at the event.
Other Fundraising Ideas
Leaves For Change
Collect donations to rake and haul away leaves in your community! If you have a community garden, the leaves will be especially useful in making compost, which should be ready right around spring if started around your leaf collection time. If you don’t have a community garden but still want to compost the leaves, you can sell prepared compost by the bag at a spring flower and bulb sale.
Basket Raffle
Use a weekend to put together some themed baskets and then hold either a raffle or a silent auction! Themes can include: a smores night basket, a cooking basket, a Netflix-and-night-in basket, self-care baskets (both his and hers), or anything else you can think of!
Power Your Thanksgiving Fundraisers with FutureFund
You don’t need anything special to run most of the fundraisers above, but the right tools can help you raise more money while spending less time and effort. Learn more about how FutureFund can help you promote, launch, and manage successful fundraisers this Thanksgiving—get started today with a quick discovery call.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I use FutureFund’s messaging system to promote my fundraiser?
FutureFund’s messaging system lets you:
- Send messages to every parent in your school community or filter your audience to reach specific groups.
- Create unique sender profiles to make sure the message is always coming from the appropriate party.
- Use customizable message templates to save time when broadcasting updates or announcements.
Should my Thanksgiving fundraiser be a Purchase or a Donation campaign?
Use Purchase campaigns to sell event tickets or physical items (like baked goods, merchandise, or arts and crafts).
Use Donation campaigns to collect money from community members in support of a specific goal or cause (like a food drive).
How do I sell sponsorships with FutureFund?
FutureFund displays sponsors on your school group’s online directory once they have agreed to make a contribution. You’ll be able to set the price for sponsorships on your own—but our team can provide guidance and support if you’re not sure what to charge.
How can I use FutureFund to track my fundraiser’s success?
FutureFund gives you the ability to generate financial reports for your fundraising campaigns in just a few clicks. To do this, navigate to Store and click the Reports tab near the top of your screen. Then choose Campaign Summary from the drop-down menu and click Generate Report.
