Your school provides a lot to its students, from a quality education to after-school sports to a sense of community. But these efforts need continuous funding—and it’s often on your teachers and administrators to secure that funding.
We know fundraising can be a challenge, especially during times of economic shifts and uncertainty. To make your fundraising efforts more efficient, effective, and easy, we’ve put together a list of the top school fundraising platforms:
This technology will help you streamline your campaigns, save time through automation, reach more supporters, and ultimately grow your revenue. If you’re ready to start raising more money for your school, let’s dive in with some school fundraising FAQs!
12 Powerful Fundraising Platforms for Schools
1. 99Pledges: The Best Choice for Engaging School Fundraisers
99Pledges’ fundraising platform allows your school or classroom to easily set up a fundraiser, with each participant getting their own donation page. You can then encourage students to share donation pages, collect donations online, and track your progress toward your goal.
At 99Pledges, we specialize in “a-thon” fundraisers like Walk-a-thons, Dance-a-thons, Read-a-thons, and more. Here’s how these fundraisers work:
- Step 1: Your school works with a fundraising platform to set up campaign-wide and individual pledge pages for each student.
- Step 2: You invite students to share their individual pages with friends and family on social media.
- Step 3: Students secure pledged donations from their networks. If you’re holding an event like a Walk-a-thon, they might collect $5 pledges per mile walked.
- Step 4: Your school carefully tracks your progress to see if it’s likely that you’ll meet your goal. This way, you can course-correct if you start falling behind.
- Step 5: You hold your fundraising event and record each student’s performance. Then, you’ll receive the proceeds. For example, if a student walks three miles, the campaign will receive $15 from their fundraising efforts.
The best part is that 99Pledges is free—there is NO platform fee and NO startup fee. The only costs are the standard credit card fee of 3.49% plus 49 cents per transaction, which goes to credit card companies. These affordable prices make 99Pledges a great alternative to other, more expensive solutions.
When to Consider 99Pledges
Choose 99Pledges when you want to host a successful, affordable fundraiser that can involve a wide variety of age groups.
99Pledges is one of the most affordable options for school fundraising, making it an excellent choice for anyone. But it’s especially helpful for those looking to get their communities involved in their fundraising activities to maximize their support. Capping off your 99Pledges campaigns with a fun event will draw out large crowds of supporters who want to spectate the Walk-a-thon, Dance-a-thon, or Hoop-a-thon.
Additionally, 99Pledges offers data tracking and communication tools, keeping all of your fundraising activities on a single unified platform. You can secure a donation, funnel that donor’s information into your database, and use it to send tailored communications to them. This way, you’ll make long-lasting relationships you can count on for future campaigns.
2. DonorsChoose: Classroom Supplies Fundraising
DonorsChoose is a platform for teachers to raise money for classroom supplies. Teachers can create their own fundraisers for the supplies they need. They can then share these fundraisers on social media to help them reach their fundraising goals.
When to Consider DonorsChoose
Share this tool with teachers at your school to use alongside your school-wide fundraisers. This platform is easy to use and puts the power right into teachers’ hands. The best part is that this platform is completely free for teachers!
3. Funds2Orgs: Shoe Drives
The Funds2Orgs platform allows you to set up a shoe drive to raise money instead of asking for monetary donations. They have different plans that offer varying levels of support to best fit your needs. All the donated shoes get repurposed and sold at a low cost to micro-entrepreneurs who can then sell them for a higher price. Their goal is to help you raise money while giving individuals in low-income communities a chance to earn a profit in their small businesses.
When to Consider Funds2Orgs
If your supporters are not often in a position to donate much or at all, or you have recently done a fundraiser based on monetary donations, Funds2Orgs can be a great way to raise money for your school without asking your community for their hard-earned dollars.
4. Bonfire: Product Fundraising
You can use Bonfire’s platform to create custom t-shirts that your school can sell in a fundraiser. This way, your supporters will receive something in return for donating, encouraging more of them to give. Additionally, the custom t-shirt helps bring awareness to your school and your fundraiser.
Selling t-shirts also pairs well with traditional peer-to-peer campaigns, serving as an additional revenue source. For example, if you hold a charity 5K, create custom t-shirts for participants and supporters to purchase.
It’s 100% free to get started on Bonfire. Setup is easy, and the platform offers fast, secure payouts. Your school won’t need to purchase or hold any inventory, meaning there is no risk of over-purchasing shirts and wasting resources. Bonfire also handles order processing and shipping, taking the burden off your plate.
When to Consider Bonfire
If there is a specific event or fundraiser that your school is hosting, making custom, branded t-shirts to sell for that event can be a really successful, low-lift fundraiser. Their donation processing fees are typically 8%, but if your school qualifies as a nonprofit, the fee is lowered to 3.5% once you’re verified.
5. GoodUnited: Social Media Fundraising
GoodUnited can help you run Facebook fundraisers, thank donors, start a Facebook Challenge, and cultivate your community with personal automated messages. You can use all of their Facebook functionalities or focus on one aspect, like hosting a Facebook Challenge to get your community engaged.
When to Consider GoodUnited
Because many of the parents at your school are likely already on Facebook, this can be a successful fundraiser at just about any time. Especially when you’re not together, like during virtual or hybrid schooling, or just over the summer break, Facebook fundraisers and Challenges offer a more connected way to fundraise together.
6. ShopRaise: Raise Funds While Shopping
With ShopRaise, your supporters can use the ShopRaise app to shop for items they would normally buy. Up to 10% of their purchases will go to their cause of choice which is, in this case, your school! Their app is simple to use and comes at no extra cost to you or your supporters.
When to Consider ShopRaise
ShopRaise is a great way to raise extra money in addition to your planned fundraisers. This platform allows your parents and supporters to contribute funds without spending more money than they would in a normal month. Because it’s at no additional cost to you or your supporters, ShopRaise can be used simultaneously with any other fundraising tool on this list!
7. RallyUp: Grassroots or Team Fundraising
RallyUp is a comprehensive fundraising platform designed to help users plan and execute fundraising events. While it has expanded, RallyUp was initially created to help youth groups and sports teams raise money. Organizations can create campaigns and websites complete with their branding, promoting events like raffles, auctions, and charity livestreams.
When to Consider RallyUp
RallyUp can help your school put on interactive events with minimal stress. It has the tools needed to keep all the moving parts of a raffle or auction organized.
8. Allyra: Fundraise & Expand Your Audience
Allyra is an online donation platform that streamlines the process of reaching more donors and offering top-of-the-line experiences. Its highly customizable donation forms allow you to streamline giving, tailor suggested giving amounts, and collect the information needed to personalize follow-up communication.
Allyra also offers text-to-donate capabilities, making it easy to launch customizable SMS campaigns. Share direct, personal messages with supporters, enabling them to quickly and conveniently donate via text.
When to Consider Allyra
Are you beginning to see signs of donor fatigue, or are your campaigns not performing as well as they once did? It might be time to expand your audience using a solution like Allyra. This tool can help you broaden your donor base and make your marketing efforts more targeted and personalized.
9. Smartwaiver: Digital Waiver Software
Smartwaiver’s digital waiver software helps nonprofits transform their paper forms into digital smart waivers that they can fully customize and share. Embed the waiver on your school’s website and share links to the form on your social media pages and in emails. You can also have supporters sign waivers in person by setting up waiver kiosks—all you need is a tablet and the Smartwaiver app!
Once waivers are signed, they’ll automatically save to a secure database. If you ever need to find a specific waiver, just search the participant’s last name or birth date.
When to Consider Smartwaiver
Before allowing participants to join in events or activities that involve a risk of injury, theft, or other losses, it’s best to have them sign a liability waiver. Using a digital provider like Smartwaiver streamlines the process by allowing participants to sign the waiver ahead of time.
10. Double the Donation: Matching Gifts Software
Double the Donation’s matching gift platform is the top matching gift automation software that schools and nonprofits can use. With access to one of the largest and most comprehensive matching gift databases, you can identify and send automated asks with all the necessary information to match-eligible donors.
Double the Donation is on the cutting edge of matching gift technology with its auto-submission tool. The platform checks whether a donation is eligible for a match, asks donors to authorize a matching gift request, and then automatically submits that request. With this feature, you can speed up the matching gift process, limit the number of steps donors are asked to complete, and ensure requests are completed properly.
Boosting the number of matching gifts your school secures means that you can easily double the impact that donors make, all without asking them to contribute more from their own pockets.
When to Consider Double the Donation
If many of your parents and community members are already donating frequently, investing in this software may be well worth it. Those donations you’re already getting can be greatly increased through corporate matching gift programs that many of your donors are likely eligible for.
11. Jotform: Custom Donation Form Tool
Jotform is an online form builder that makes it easy to create custom forms in minutes. It offers special tools for nonprofits and other mission-driven organizations, allowing them to create the forms needed to raise funds. With Jotform, your school can create custom donation forms and volunteer and event registration forms using a simple drag-and-drop editor.
Choose from templates to get started and integrate Jotform with the tools your school already uses to manage fundraisers and events, such as payment gateways. Jotform will also track metrics like the number of responses to your form, so you can easily measure progress.
When to Consider JotForm
Consider using Jotform if your school doesn’t already have a way to accept donations or needs to be able to fully customize its donation forms. The tool is also great for schools that host a lot of events or have a robust volunteer program.
12. GoFundMe: Simple Crowdfunding
GoFundMe is a popular crowdfunding platform that individuals, schools, nonprofits, sports teams, and other organizations can leverage. To get started, users will simply start a campaign, add a description and photo or video, and set a goal. Then, they’ll share the campaign page online with friends and family to raise money for their cause.
GoFundMe allows organizations to send updates during the campaign and thank contributors.
When to Consider GoFundMe
This platform is a good option for urgent needs because it’s so fast and easy to get started. It can also help you reach and engage a broad audience by circulating the page on social media. However, this platform isn’t the most sophisticated, so you could be missing out on crucial donor data.
Fundraising Sites for Schools: 4 FAQs
How can I raise money for my school?
There are many ways to raise money for your school. Your chosen method and idea should align with your goals, fundraising capacity, and students’ interests. We recommend following these tips and strategies:
- Fundraise online. Online fundraising allows your school to reach donors near and far, expanding your pool of potential donors at no extra cost. Plus, you could raise more money with less effort, as online donations are, on average, 25% higher than offline donations.
- Listen to supporters. Let your target audience and their preferences guide your fundraising strategies and ideas. Are they burned out on buying and selling popcorn or cookie dough? Are they craving fun events that allow them to connect with your school and spend time with their families? Ask for their feedback at the end of your campaigns and carefully consider their opinions for the next fundraiser.
- Connect with your community. Your school likely has a built-in community of supporters: students’ families. Take advantage of this key asset by inspiring these supporters to donate, volunteer, and support your campaigns. For example, peer-to-peer fundraisers require supporters to fundraise on behalf of your school and help you reach a large audience of potential donors online.
To avoid donor fatigue among your direct school community, consider seeking other forms of financial support, too. For example, you might seek a corporate sponsorship from a local business to cover costs for an upcoming event. In this case, your school should add the company’s logo to event signage or incorporate some other perk that makes the opportunity mutually beneficial.
What should you look for in a school fundraising platform?
While the exact features your school needs will depend on your goals and priorities, there are some basic ones you should look out for:
- Excellent customer support that will be there if you run into any technical issues.
- Data reporting and analytics tools to help you track your fundraising progress.
- Easy, simple set up, though some providers will even take care of this for you.
- Free or affordable pricing to use the platform.
- A variety of flexible payment methods, allowing you to accept donations and many different sources.
- Individual donation pages that your students will use to fundraise on behalf of your school.
Additionally, note any specific requirements or capabilities you need in your fundraising software, including your budget and the number of users you’re able to have on the software.
Are there free fundraising platforms for schools?
Yes! There are free tools that can help your school effectively fundraise even if you’re on a tight budget. Often, these tools are free because they rely on tips from donors. Additionally, your school will still need to cover credit card transaction fees.
Keep in mind that not every free fundraising platform is created equal, however. Some red flags to look out for are required minimums, platforms that take a set percentage of your earnings, and “freemium” solutions that seem free but require you to upgrade to a paid plan for necessary features.
What are some fun ideas that will help my school raise more?
While choosing the right fundraising platform is an important first step, you also need engaging fundraising ideas to inspire support from your community. Here are some fun options to spark your creativity:
- Pledge drive: When a donor pledges a gift, they’re simply agreeing to pay that pledged amount at a later date. At its most basic, a pledge drive would involve collecting pledges to your school from supporters, but you can apply this model to many different fundraising ideas.
- A-Thon fundraisers: During these fundraisers, participants engage in a specific activity and collect donations based on their performance or time spent on the activity. These activities could include walking, dancing, reading, biking, or even knitting! A-thon fundraisers often, but do not always, follow the pledge fundraising model.
- Cook-off competition: Choose a specific dish, such as chili, banana bread, or salsa, and challenge your community to enter their recipes into the competition. Fundraise by charging each contestant to enter, and make sure you have a panel of culinary experts to judge and rank the entries.
- Art exhibition: If you have talented artists in your classrooms, organize a gallery-style event to showcase their work. Have the students’ parents and other family members visit your “gallery” one night after school. Offer refreshments and fundraise by selling tickets and the pieces of art themselves.
Feel free to add a creative twist to these more classic ideas. For example, you might organize a Walk-a-thon but have participants wear pajamas or a silly costume during the event. Or, have them show their school spirit by dressing in your merchandise in school colors.
Additional Resources
99Pledges is one of the highest-quality, most affordable platforms for hosting successful fundraisers that bring in revenue and bring your community together. Our method of fundraising through peer-to-peer fundraisers is great for any time of year and age group, and you can get started in just a day!
From Walk-a-thons to Read-a-thons, the possibilities are endless for planning exciting and engaging fundraisers for all ages. Get started today to experience our simple and effective platform for yourself.
To learn more about school fundraising tips and technology, explore these additional resources:
- Everything You Need to Start a Read-a-thon Fundraiser. Curious about Read-a-thon fundraisers? Learn how and what you need to get started with this guide.
- The Only Guide You Need to Team Fundraising Platforms. If you’re raising funds for your school’s sports teams or clubs, start with this guide to find the best fundraising tool.
- 55+ Genius School Fundraising Ideas: Shatter Your Goals. Feeling burned out or stuck with fundraiser planning? Check out these fresh ideas to reinvigorate your efforts.
