5 Amazing virtual fundraising ideas for schools

Discover virtual fundraising ideas for schools that will get everyone excited to participate, from a games night to a social media challenge.

School fundraisers raise money for programs that are vital to helping our kids thrive. In the U.S. alone:

• School groups raise $1.5 billion annually selling products.
• Two-thirds of principals give PTAs and PTOs fundraising autonomy.
• More than one-quarter of schools raise more than $75,000 each year.

And thanks to the growing popularity of virtual fundraising and platforms like Raisely, running creative, successful campaigns has gotten a lot easier!

Is your nonprofit looking for a cool concept for your next online fundraiser?

Here are 5 amazing virtual fundraising ideas for schools:

1. Jackbox Games Night

If You Don’t Know Jack, class is in session.

Jackbox Games makes party games that are low-cost, fun ways for family, friends, and groups to play games together on their phones. Jackbox currently has eight party packs, and each has five different video games for you to choose from. Their most famous titles include:

• You Don’t Know Jack, a fun take on a trivia game show
• Drawful, a modern version of Pictionary
• Quiplash, which challenges players to make hilarious statements using preset prompts, then vote for which is funnier

No matter what game you choose, you’re in for a lot of laughter — and the occasional face-palm.

Jackbox Games are easy to play and perfect for all ages. It's a great virtual fundraising idea for schools because you can play them anywhere, in a classroom or over Zoom. All you have to do is log on to Jackbox.tv and enter the four-letter game code provided. Only one person needs to own a party pack, and most games can have up to eight people (plus audience members), so your entire debate team can play!

Most Jackbox party packs are available at multiple online stores for $24.99 USD or less. Once you download them, they’re yours to keep, so this is an online fundraising idea you can use throughout the school year.

Using Jackbox Games for Fundraising

Jackbox doesn’t have a built-in fundraising component, but that’s where Raisely’s fundraising platform comes in handy.

Create a fundraising page using one of our templates, and personalise it with your school spirit colours, fundraising goal, and information about your cause. Include a registration form where donors can buy tickets for the fundraising event, and a donation form where parents, teachers, and community members can choose one of several donation amounts to give.

Get an ‘A’ for effort by mentioning your fundraising page in your school newsletter and high school newspaper. Encourage the PTA, friends, family, and followers to share the fundraising event on their favourite social media platforms.

During the virtual event, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to take short breaks between games. Use this time to talk about your good cause and share the link or the QR code to your donation page. A QR code is an especially quick way to pull up your website, and you can add it right to your site using the Raisely page builder’s QR Code block.

If you like the idea of hosting a virtual game night but don’t want to use Jackbox, you have plenty of other options. In 2021, Gaming for Charity in New Zealand ran a virtual gaming marathon, which raised just under $30,000 NZD.

2. Run a Virtual Awareness Campaign

Virtual awareness campaigns make for amazing peer fundraising and crowdfunding campaigns. These are excellent virtual fundraising ideas for schools. They require social media engagement and encourage younger audiences to get involved.

These fundraising campaigns are about highlighting a meaningful story surrounding your mission and purpose. Often these campaigns consist of short, emotional videos or montages paired with a trending song, a captivating call to action, and a link to your fundraising page. For example:

• Video clips of teachers at grocery stores buying school supplies for elementary school kids in need
• A snippet from a singer in your drama club hitting an incredible note during last season’s musical, followed by students asking for donations to keep their club funded
• Footage of a football team beating the odds and winning the game that will take them to the state championships, followed by players explaining that they lack the funds to go

Fundraising Strategies for Virtual Awareness Campaigns

The most successful virtual awareness campaigns have four ingredients:

• A user-friendly online donation page
• An engaging video
• Social sharing options and a memorable hashtag
• Downloadable resources like fundraising toolkits and social assets — Liptember is a great example, check theirs out here!

Create your donation page and include the video you’re sharing, a few lines about your cause, and what hashtag to use. Then, encourage everyone involved in your nonprofit to share the page on social media or create their own posts, so they can express what the organisation means to them. Incentivise more giving by setting a fundraising goal and a progress bar, and create a leaderboard to inspire friendly competition.

Peer-to-peer fundraising expands your reach beyond your network — you can catch the attention of community members and local businesses. If you’re lucky, the campaign will go viral and attract people from all around the world!

3. A Talent Show

If you’re running low on virtual fundraising ideas for schools, rely on the talent of your students!

Talent shows are always fun, whether they’re an in-person event or over Zoom. Virtual talent shows are often even more entertaining, because students have access to more materials, allowing them to let their creativity run wild.

Fundraising for a Virtual Talent Show

Virtual talent shows allow your nonprofit to take advantage of multiple fundraising methods. Here’s how:

• Create an event page where performers can register, and where family members, friends, and other attendees can purchase tickets.
• Use the time between acts as a fundraising opportunity by having the emcee talk about your school group or cause.
• At the end of the show, ask everyone to donate $1 per vote to determine the winner!

However, your fundraising efforts don’t have to end when the event does. Earn a high grade by sharing some of the best acts on social media with a link to your donation page. You never know when one of the acts will catch everyone’s attention and raise more for your cause!

4. Virtual Trivia Night

We’d land in detention if we failed to mention virtual trivia nights as a school fundraising idea.

Trivia nights are perfect for any school group or club. You can create rounds of questions directly related to your organisation, or keep the game more generalised with questions about current events and pop culture.

Fundraising Strategies for Virtual Trivia Night

Pick up your thinking caps, because virtual trivia nights require some planning. Once you come up with a theme and several rounds’ worth of questions, create a fundraising page for the event with a registration form where teams can buy tickets to play.

Encourage some friendly competition by providing prizes for the top three high-scoring teams, like T-shirts, trophies, and gift cards to local restaurants.

You can also play with the format by turning it into a trivia game tournament, where teams go head-to-head in each round to see who advances.

And don’t be a dunce by forgetting to talk about your cause between rounds!

5. Create a Social Media Challenge

Ever since the Ice Bucket Challenge changed the game for ALS research, everyone has tried to replicate that success.

Social media challenges are pretty simple and can be an ideal virtual fundraising idea for schools: You describe an action or activity and encourage followers to video record themselves performing it. Then they post their videos on social media, challenge others to do the same, and include a hashtag and a link to the school’s donation page.

For example, if you’re trying to raise funds for your school’s band, challenge people to record themselves playing a trending tune by using a random household item as an instrument. At the end of the video, publicly challenge a specific friend, family member, teacher, or administrator to record themselves participating in the challenge or to post a screenshot of them making a $10 donation — or both!

Running a Social Media Challenge

Create a donation page using one of Raisely’s templates, and explain the rules of the challenge. Each video post should contain:

• Footage of the person doing the activity
• Your campaign’s hashtag
• A link to the donation page
• A call-out to a specific person — this is who you’re challenging to do the activity next (and then ideally they will also post a video)

Keep in mind that the video should be 15 seconds or less if you’re going to share it across all social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Publish some of the best videos on your donation page, and be sure to keep it current!

To make the honour roll, contact a local business or foundation before the challenge and ask if they will provide matching gifts. This will amplify interest and can help turn your challenge into a rousing success!

Using Raisely for Virtual Fundraising Ideas for Schools

Whether you’re running a Jackbox Games night, hosting a talent show or going viral with a social media challenge you’ve devised, Raisely is your study guide for achieving fundraising success!

For extra credit, read our post about the five key ingredients you need to cook up a successful school fundraiser, or consider additional virtual fundraising ideas for schools, including:

🚶🏻‍♀️ Walkathons
📚 Readathons
🎤 Virtual karaoke night
🕺🏽 Virtual dance party

Are you ready to earn an ‘A+’ on your virtual school fundraiser? Sign up for Raisely’s all-in-one fundraising platform today!