School Trip Fundraising Ideas: How to Fund Your Next Trip

A school trip is an incredibly exciting and academically rewarding experience for students of any age. However, sourcing funds for it can be challenging. You want your students to experience the world without breaking the bank.

Luckily, it's not impossible. There are plenty of school trip fundraising ideas that have been proven effective, time and again. Here are five of the most practical projects you and your students can do to make their educational trip a reality.

Crowdfunding 

Crowdfunding is essentially the act of multiple people working towards one big goal by making small financial contributions. These fundraising campaigns are typically hosted online. Details of the goal are listed out, including reason, intention, and milestones.

Then, the campaign is circulated to reach as many donors as possible.

After all, it's arguably easier to find 1,000 people willing to donate £1 each than to find one person willing to donate £1,000 for a stranger's goal.

Our Recommendation: Fund your students' next school trip with a crowdfunding campaign on a reputable platform. It's quick, easy, and convenient for everyone involved.

GoFundMe, one of the most popular and reliable crowdfunding platforms, even has dedicated resources for education fundraising.

Donation Sales  

Ever had piles of books, clothes, bags, shoes, jewellery, furniture, or other miscellaneous items that you wanted to get rid of but didn't want to just throw away? Trust that you're not the only one. Almost everyone has this decluttering issue.

This is why donation sales are a bit of a two-birds-one-stone solution. Students can gather unwanted items to sell, and invite others to do the same, all at reduced prices to the community. In exchange, their class gets to keep the profits for school trips abroad.

Our Recommendation: Organise a donation drive for pre-loved books, clothes, shoes, and the like. Once you have your stock, work with students and other adults to finalise inventory and prices.

Then, have a "grand opening" for the table-top sale to build excitement and encourage support. Hosting it in the school gym or hall rather than outdoors gives you a weatherproof space with room to spare.

You can also widen the event beyond your own donated stock. Invite other families or local vendors to book a table and sell their own pre-loved items. Take either a flat pitch fee or a percentage of what each stall makes, and the trip fund benefits either way.

We also recommend running these table-top sales as early and as often as possible. Planning for school trips takes dedicated time and effort. By raising funds for it as early as possible, you'll have one less thing to worry about when you and your team finally sit down to discuss logistics.

Plus, retail events are arguably one of the most sustainable fundraisers. You'll be surprised to know that a lot of people actually love perusing table-top sales and bargain bins. They don't mind spending their free time hunting down rare finds or retail gems for cheap.

Charity Auctions 

Another way to raise funds through community donations is through a charity auction.

Approach local businesses and ask if they'd be willing to offer their goods or services for your trip. Then, once you have enough pledges, organise a charity auction and "sell" these goods or services to the highest bidder.

Partner with local retail stores and request free/discounted items that you know you can auction off. You can even include donated furniture and other pre-loved home goods from generous community members in the line-up.

Doing these sales as a charity auction event can inspire a sense of community while encouraging friendly competition (as attendees try to outbid each other) to keep things exciting.

Our Recommendation: To keep things simple, partner with food-based businesses like restaurants, bakeries, and caterers. Good food is always easy to market and consumables are typically seen as reasonable purchases to make during one-time events.

Instead of auctioning actual food items though, offer related deals and prizes instead. You can auction vouchers for meal discounts, free upgrades, and free drinks or other select menu items.

Give a portion of the sales back to the business as thanks, then keep the rest to fund your students' school trip.

Bonus Tip: If you're organising a business studies tour, you can also frame this fundraiser as part of the experience. Working with established businesses can give students the opportunity to observe how they operate: their SOPs, common roadblocks, internal structures, and more.

Bake Sales 

A bake sale is one of the most effective school trip fundraising ideas. There's always space in someone's pantry for homemade cakes, biscuits, pastries, and pies.

The students don't necessarily have to do the baking themselves, either. They can ask for help from a parent or older friend. They can tackle it as a group. Or they can purchase baked goods at wholesale and sell them at retail.

Just remember to disclose this to the buyers beforehand.

Students can even partner with local bakeries and split the profits. They can frame the bake sale as both a charitable opportunity to fund students' school trips and a direct marketing opportunity.

Our Recommendation: Try to time your bake sale around major holidays like Halloween or Christmas for sure sales. People are usually more open to purchasing treats during special occasions — especially if they know it's for a good cause.

Plus, if the bake sale happens around the holidays, local bakeries can say their goods are seasonal. This can create a sense of urgency in window shoppers. They'll feel like they need to at least purchase one or two boxes before supplies run out.

Alternatively, you can also theme the baked goods according to the country you're visiting. For school trips to France, for instance, you can serve brownies iced like the French flag. Or try beginner-friendly French treats like Palmier (also known as Elephant Ears) and Sablé Breton (salted butter shortbread) biscuits. These are reportedly easy to make and store.  

Community Service 

Everyone can use a little help running everyday errands. From washing cars to mowing lawns, some small tasks just eat up so much time. But not everyone's willing to pay professional fees to get them done by someone else.

This is why community service is one of the most recommended school trip fundraising ideas. Students can run small errands for community members in exchange for a reasonable fee. For example:

• Wash cars
• Pick-up/drop-off laundry
• Pick-up/drop-off packages
• Mow the lawn
• Tidy the garden
• Wash windows
• Small grocery runs (for example, eggs, milk, flour, cereals, snacks, spices, soap)
• Pet-sit
• Babysit
• House-sit
• Water plants

The transactions are simple, straightforward, and incredibly sustainable. They can be done for as many weeks (or weekends) as it takes to reach the students' financial goals.

Our Recommendation: Pet-related services can be a godsend for busy pet owners. In cases of emergencies or packed schedules, many don't mind paying a little extra to ensure their fur babies are safe.

Here are some errands students can do for the community's furry little family members:

• Pet sitting
• Dog walking
• Pet bathing/grooming (with adult supervision for younger students)
• Purchase emergency pet supplies (in case the owner/s can't leave their home)
• Pet pick-up/drop-off (from the vet, the groomers, dog and cat daycare, etc.)

Just remember that the safety of the students and animals involved is paramount. This is true whether you're a student or a school administrator. Take necessary precautions and don't leave anything to chance.

Ask about allergies. Request proof of vaccines. And for the adults, make sure the student knows about basic animal handling and signs of aggression, just in case.

Bon Voyage!

Remember, you don't need to stick to just one of these school trip fundraising ideas. If you have the time, you can easily organise and run two or three of them over the span of a few months. Organise a used book sale and a bake sale at the same time. Or host a table-top sale one weekend and then offer community services the next.

After all, school trips are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that every student has the right to enjoy.

And if your institution needs help building the perfect educational itinerary, give us a call! At Interschool Travel, we have over four decades of expertise organising safe, fun, and rewarding school trips. Our goal is to instil a lifelong love for learning in the next generation through the power of experiential education.