With so many budding artists at your school, tapping into their unique artistic talents is a simple way to raise funds. Turning kids’ art into everything from gifts to greeting cards can make the perfect successful fundraiser that everyone will appreciate.
From preschoolers to high schoolers, and pretty much every student in between, these easy art fundraising ideas can help drive donations to your school, all while celebrating your students’ amazing abilities, and the teachers who support their work in their classrooms, every single day. This can open up doors for potential future donors to want to donate to your good cause, who now see the efforts the students are making in their work.
Here are 5 creative art fundraiser ideas that use the amazing art your kids are making as a way to support your school. Grab those crayons, markers, and other art supplies and start drawing!
1. Turn kids’ art into gifts
These days, you’ll find no shortage of companies who can take a simple drawing and print it on various gifts that friends, family, and community members would love to purchase. From t-shirts and mugs, to tote bags, even cell phone cases and water bottles, all you’ll need to do is scan your young artists’ work, upload it to the company’s site, and they’ll do the rest of the work. Parents and family members can order these gifts directly from the website, and have them delivered right to their home, with the school earning a percentage of each order. For this to be extra successful, plan this fundraiser close to a gift giving holiday, like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day to boost your toward your fundraising goal.
2. Host an art gallery event
Transform your school walls into an art gallery, by displaying student artwork in the hallways and host an opening event with ticket sales going directly to support your school. Make your art gallery opening a night to remember, with snacks and beverages for the attendees, and even a photo booth. Encourage all the students to invite friends, family members, and the community to attend. What a wonderful way to showcase your students’ work, as well as the work your school is doing for the students, and get potential donors, beyond this fundraiser, into your school.
3. Set up a silent auction for kids’ art
Here’s an idea for a different type of silent auction. All you’ll need to do is take photos of the kids’ art, then create a silent auction where friends, family, and community members can bid on each piece via an online auction or virtual event. Even though the piece of art is certainly enough for bidding, you might consider offering a picture frame along with the signed work of kids’ art to the highest bidder.
If you’re looking for art fundraiser ideas beyond the silent auction, or if the works of art include sculptures and other 3D pieces, you could offer prints of the original artwork for immediate sale at a lower starting price. These could be kept online beyond the auction end date, giving you more time to raise funds throughout the entire year.
4. Sell digital cellphone backgrounds of kids’ art
Everyone loves a favorite photo on their cellphone or tablet background, so why not create digital backgrounds using your students’ art and offer it up for a small fee? With the help of your school tech teacher, you can simply upload scans of the artwork, resize them to fit a cellphone or tablet background, then offer a PDF for a price, all of which will go back to supporting your school. Students can create different types of art, from seasonal backgrounds to ones that celebrate a little school spirit. This creative fundraising idea works for art students of all ages.
5. Print kids’ art as greeting cards
Looking ahead to the holiday seasons, a wonderful way to use kids’ art to raise funds for your school is to turn it into greeting card or postcard sets. You can certainly use existing art from classes, of course, but it could be fun to encourage kids to draw their favorite part of the holiday season, whatever holiday they celebrate, then enlist the help of a local printer to create boxed sets to sell to friends, family, and community members.
With the amazing amount of artwork that kids of all ages are creating at school, hosting an art fundraiser that uses their amazing creations to help support the school can be a smart, simple idea to raise money for your school.
For more fundraising ideas check out:
6 Easy Spring Fundraising Ideas for Schools
15 Auction Basket Theme Ideas for Every Season
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