Wouldnt it be amazing to have our children bringing home school fundraiser options that are good for our bodies and the planet rather than the usual sugar-filled, packaged food fare – I’m looking at you Cadbury chocolate boxes.   Well, it is totally possible – a few years ago I started compiling this list of fundraiser ideas that are not only good for our bodies but also for our amazing planet!  There are some amazing companies who are really striving to make a difference in the way they go about all aspects of their business – thinking about their impact on people, animals, and the planet, and by thinking about profit for others rather than just themselves.  That’s pretty cool as far as I am concerned.   So share this list far and wide and hopefully together we can help our schools fundraise but in a way that supports our bodies and our planet too!!

Food-Based Ideas

Bowan Mango’s – Mango fundraiser 

Who doesn’t love mangos?  This is obviously an end-of-year fundraising option to tie in with mango season.  Register your school on their page – print out the forms and return them by the 31st of October each year.  Mangos are delivered for collection on a date determined by you.  They have a minimum order of 64 trays. Trays are usually around $19 and you determine what markup to put on the trays and therefore what profit you generate.

Tropical Harvest – Dried Fruit

Tropical Harvest offers a wide range of quality dried fruits, all available from snack size to bulk packets.  They are all-natural, contain no preservatives or sulphur dioxide, and not surprisingly are delicious.  The process is really easy for schools.  The school prints a short article in their newsletter about Tropical Harvest with a 5% discount code. Parents then purchase straight from the website. The school gets a 10% commission from all the sales that use the discount code on the website. There is literally no work and no monetary outlay involved at all.

Gingerbread Folk – Gingerbread House Kits

Aussie-made gingerbread that has no artificial additives from an ethical business that aims to care for ‘people, creatures, and the earth’.  They also have gluten-free gingerbread house kits available as well.  Another end-of-year fundraising option as the gingerbread houses would obviously go well in the lead-up to Christmas time.

I was a little hesitant to include these given they do contain added sugar, around 2.5 tsp per serving.   It would therefore be really important to take note of the suggested serving size and maybe include an educational note on the WHO recommendations on sugar intake as an educational tool.  However, I have included them because they tick most other boxes including being additive and preservative-free.   As a company, they also endeavour to consider their environmental impact with their cookies packed in compostable wrappers, and all cardboard packaging is made from recyclable, chlorine-free material. The Gingerbread Folk use Green Power and rooftop solar panels generating their own clean, green electricity to power their business.

Apple slinky machine

The company that used to organise apple slinky fundraisers in Australia doesn’t exist anymore – but this is such a great option that it would be worth finding a way to still run an apple slinky fundraiser.  Organising it yourself does add a bit of extra time, but it could be a simple as drafting up a simple form and getting families to pay upfront, that way you would have the funds ready to go and purchase the machines and then keep any profits for your school or child care centre.  A store like Spotlight often sells slinky machines for around $12 which you could then sell on for $20. Otherwise, with a little bit more research, you may be able to find a wholesaler who would sell them to you for your fundraiser.

A great way to get kids eating more apples and possibly a few other fruit and veg. My kids are not fans of raw beetroot but pop one through the slinky machine and they crunch away happily!

 Kiddies Food Cutters – Kiddie safe knives, peelers and safety scissors

This is a great idea for those who love to cook with their children or who like their children to eat a wider range of foods. Did you know that CHILDREN WHO COOK BECOME CHILDREN WHO TASTE!  The American Academy of Nutrition has done research that indicates that children involved in cooking experiences where they are handling the food themselves are much more likely to have an acceptance of eating a greater variety of foods (and less neophobia = fear of food ). Not only that, but you are supporting the development of hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, sensory skills as well as building independence.

Download all instructions and order forms from their website. Makeup to 100% profit on each item.

Personal Care Products

Eco Store Soaps 

Eco Store have a fundraising program for their natural soaps! There are two types of soap and your school gets back $1 per bar.

Gardening, composting, worm farms, recycling

Beautiful Bulbs – Bulb Fundraiser

Beautiful bulbs – this is a great fundraiser for the beginning of the year.  It is so much fun for your children who can help plant the bulbs and then wait eagerly for them to emerge in spring.  They have a low minimum order of $150 with orders closing in early April each year.  They offer a 40% profit.

Good to Grow Fundraiser

Lifecykel – Bee Pollination, Mushroom and Microgreens Grow kits

I really love these kits and what this company is about – children can buy the bee pollination kits with 100% of profits going to the Beemunity™ Research to find a solution to Colony Collapse Disorder which is impacting bees globally – how cool is that.  Their Mushroom and microgreen kits help to give children a homegrown food connection and curiosity by growing mushrooms and microgreens all by themselves.  This is done in a fun, sustainable, and educational way. Win, Win & Win!  They provide 5 free classroom boxes for every 100 ordered as well as a free educational kit.  Orders are placed online and you don’t need to pay until after you have finalised your orders with parents.

Living Fundraisers – NOW Seed Creations

Seed Creations have taken over from Living Fundraisers – they have a really interesting range of products including, Herb Growing Kits, Flower Growing Kits, Veggie Growing Kits, Grass Hair Kits, Birthday & Greeting Cards, Soy Candles, Seed-embedded Christmas Cards, Spring Flowering Bulbs and what they consider as Healthy Snacks. Again this is a fab way to teach children about where food comes from and experience the joy of raising plants and flowers.  To be honest I would stay away from their nut-free snacks as most contains highly processed ingredients and/or additives that are really going to help nourish little or big people’s bodies.  You can also set up your own web-based shop for people to shop from. Make up to 50% profit.

Plant a Difference

The ultimate sustainable fundraiser – Helping to change the world has never been easier. Help restore landscapes, reproduce natural ecosystems and reduce carbon emissions whilst delivering high profits for your school or group with the Plant-A-Difference™ Fundraiser. For every $20 raised, you can choose to plant a tree in the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor, or one coral in the Great Barrier Reef! The Plant-A-Difference™ Fundraiser directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  And your school gets a whopping 65% of profits!

Chooktopia – the Ethical Eco Store – Worm farms and composting kits

Chooktopia is another really interesting company whose core values are about ‘promoting grassroots sustainability without the misleading ‘greenwash’’.  They stock products designed to promote a ‘healthy garden, healthy home, and a healthy planet’.  Hit the ‘Request a Pack‘ button on their website to get more details on how the fund-raising process works.

Envirobank – container recycling

Now that most Australian states and territories have container deposit schemes – Envirobank has established a fund-raising option for schools.  You pay a small fee for Envirobank to provide collection bags and collect them once full and they take care of all the other logistics.  All you need to do is encourage families to bring in their eligible recyclable containers and Envirobank takes care of the rest. In terms of funds raised – they say that if every student in a school of 250 brought in only two items a week each, the school would make around $2,000 every school year (assuming 40 weeks of school).

Clean up Australia Day

Many Australian schools participate in Clean Up Australia day each year.  You could combine Clean Up Australia Day with a gold coin donation to be used toward purchasing composting, waste sorting or educational resources to place around the school. 

Nude-food Lunchbox supplies & Eco household goods

My Green Lunchbox – Lunch boxes, drink bottles, re-usable wraps

This is a great way to encourage parents to invest in some ‘nude-food’ lunch boxes, drink bottles, or reusable wraps, help them to reduce the amount of packaging making it into landfill plus raise money for your school.  Profit margins aren’t huge, but could still be a good fundraiser if you think enough families will order.

Munchbox – Lunchbox Fundraiser

Another fantastic way to encourage parents to invest in some ‘nude-food’ lunch boxes.  $10 from every Munchbox sold goes to the school.  You set up the account for the school on their website and parents can order directly from the website. Email them to register your school at info@mymunchbox.com.au

Biome – Zero Waste Fundraiser

Biome Eco Stores have two fund-raising options – a zero waste box (with a selection of green products) or online shopping where your school can earn 5% of online sales with a special code. Biome is a certified B-Corporation and offers all the products and tools needed to live zero waste, toxin-free, and ethically, ranging from reusable coffee cups and beeswax food wraps to organic skincare and toxin-free homewares.

For My Earth –  reusable wraps, food covers and food pockets

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Another fab Australian company that stocks great products to include in your children’s nude food lunchbox kit.

Sinchies – reusable pouches for lunchboxes, home and camping

Sinchies have a great range of reusable pouches perfect for yoghurt, iceblocks, snacks and a specific line of pouches for camping. They are “…the healthy and environmentally friendly version of the popular throw-away yoghurt pouches and disposable ziplock bags you’ve seen at the supermarket”. Lots of fun designs to choose from. Their fundraisers are 100% online and have up to 40% profit margin.

Eco Basics Fundraiser

Another awesome fundraiser by the Fundraysia Group. Their great selection of products such as bamboo toothbrushes, bamboo clothes, biodegradable garbage bags, stainless steel pegs, shopping bags, and cleaning clothes – are all products that focus on zero waste, sustainability, and reducing chemical usage. Fundraysia set up a customised webshop for you that you direct families to in order to make their purchases. You make 25-30% profit.

ONYA – Think Reusable

ONYA have a great range of sustainble products like reusable drinkware, kitchenwear, compostable bin liners, and compostabe doggy waste bags. ONYA generate a unique code for you that you give to parents. Your school community goes to an online shop where they can purchase these products using the unique code – all of which are environmentally friendly, high quality, and actively contribute to reducing single use plastic. They pick, pack & ship the goods for you. You make 30% profit.

School Community Cookbooks

This is a great way to draw together the creative talents of the school community and encourage home-cooked meals.   You can have a focus for the cookbook such as a ‘Multicultural Cookbook’ to tie in with your multicultural day at school, or Mum’s or Dad’s favourite healthy recipes, to tie in with Mothers and Fathers Day.  If you are keen to make sure recipes are ‘healthy’ just pop some criteria that you feel are appropriate to your community, on the instructions page you provide for those who would like to submit a recipe.  For example, ‘Please provide your favourite healthy recipe that is  ‘free from artificial colours, flavours or preservatives’.

Eco or Re-usable bags, aprons & tea towels

Expressions – Aprons, bags & Tea towels

 This is a great way to combine your children’s creativity with gift-giving.  Children get so much joy seeing the things they design actually getting used, day in day out.  Can be run to coincide with special days of the year such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Reconciliation Day or Christmas. Their tea towels are manufactured from ethically grown 100% organic cotton and using 100% environmentally friendly inks.

Re-usable Tote bags

Another great way to ditch the plastic.  How beautiful are these reusable tote bags?  The Three End Company is a team of three mums who have a heart for sustainability and design based in the Northern Rivers of NSW.  Bags come in 2 sizes Medium (34×40) and Large (37x42x10) and a range of beautiful designs. For fundraising, you purchase the totes in boxes of 50 (you can choose a range of styles and sizes to make up the 50) and the markup is around 80-100% which becomes your profit.  Find them on FACEBOOK or you can email them at info@threecordcompany.com.au

Educational Games and Toys

Healthy Little Eaters Game

This is play-based learning at its best – your children will discover through play why it is so important to make healthy food choices particularly around fruits and vegetables.  In my own walk with my children, I have found that for them to truly take on board the importance of healthy eating for themselves and not just because ‘Mum says so’, it has been crucial to give them the ‘why’s’ and ‘how’s’ behind healthy eating and how it makes a difference in their bodies.   This game can be a wonderful tool in that ongoing educational process.  The game consists of bright, colourful cards that capture their attention and when teamed with simple messages about healthy eating  = loads of fun and a greater chance that they too will take on the importance of healthy eating for themselves.

School Community Gatherings

Family Movie Night at school

If your school has a gym or other large space with great AV you could run a family movie night – BYO picnic dinner and charge an entry fee per family.  Not only is it a great family night out but it also helps to build community amongst school families.

Clothing swap

We all know the three R’s when it comes to sustainability – Reduce, reuse, recycle.  This is a great event for REUSE-ing some of our clothing rather than just buying more new.  Start with a  Marie Kondo style clean out of your wardrobe and return from this event with just a few fun new pieces to add a bit of fun to your wardrobe.

This is such a great event for building relationships within your school community whilst also decluttering and re-stocking your wardrobe with some new-for-you clothes.   Here’s how it works:  you ask for donations of quality clothes and hangers (you may choose to do women or kids’ clothing only events to simplify things).  Once you have a location, date, and time, you then set up a pop-u style shop where people come and shop to refresh their wardrobes.  You charge an entry fee (which becomes your profit) which allows people to choose a set number of pieces of clothing for their wardrobe.  They can choose additional pieces for an additional monetary donation.  To make things really fun you can ask a few people or local businesses to sponsor the events with some wine and nibbles, others you can keep things simple and just offer tea, coffee, and a few homemade treats.  Advertise in your school newsletter and even use the school’s event booking system for people to purchase their tickets.  That way you don’t have to worry about exchanging cash.   A close friend of mine ran one of these at our school last year and it was a huge success.   You will need a team of people to help bring it all together – but even that process is an awesome excuse for spending time with some friends within your school community or making some new friends.  Any clothes left over after the event can be taken to charity or recycled through companies like H & M.

Quiz or Trivia nights

Quiz or trivia nights can be loads of fun and can be quite simple to organise.  There are lots of great quiz question templates that you can find online.  It can either be run as an adults-only or family event – some of the best fun comes from forming teams and then battling it out against each other.  BYO  snacks to keep things simple. Charge an entry fee to raise money.  The best trivia nights I have been to are the dress-up ones, as it creates a great sense of fun right from the start.  You could either set a theme for the night or each table can come up with their own theme that reflects their team name for the night.

Still to come: Active Fundraisers