Parent-Teacher Associations or PTAs commonly host school dances yearly. Why? Students get overwhelmed by daily classroom activities, and this often results in poor academic performance. That is why it is important to have after school activities such as school dance. School dance creates memories that students will forever remember. However, hosting a school dance can be costly. It will take a lot of money to prepare for the event. The decoration for the venue, rentals of lights and sounds, hiring of official photographers, performing band, etc. are just some of the expenses to cover for the event. As most schools are limited with funds to spend, PTAs extend support by thinking of ways to fundraise for a school dance. The Parent-Teacher Association may consider some of the ideas we will discuss to raise enough funds for a school dance. For a more guided approach, check out Fundraising Zone to get started.
Deal with the School Dance Vendors
Students prepare a lot of things for a school dance. They will very be busy finding hair salon or barbershop, services for manicure and pedicure, dress (or gown), tuxedo rentals, new pairs of shoes, and even car rentals. These vendors will be very busy servicing the students before the school dance. How about contacting these school dance vendors beforehand and ask them for a commission for every client you bring? To do this, the PTA may provide special coupons for the students to present to vendors they made a deal with. Be transparent by revealing that the school dance vendors can help pay for the school dance expenses by giving out a portion of their income. This PTA fundraiser will rake in several hundred dollars to support the school dance.
Dinner for a Cause
How about hosting something that will bring families and the whole community together? Yes, PTAs can come up with a “dinner for a cause” event to raise funds for the school dance. This event will easily help the PTA collect a huge amount of money for the fundraiser. The idea here is to make a deal with restaurants in the community, especially the newly opened ones. A high percentage of new restaurants stop doing business during their first year of operation due to a lack of loyal customers. To help a newly opened restaurant, the PTA may offer them a deal. The PTA will bring in customers for the event and in return, the restaurant will give a portion of their income to the school fundraiser. Furthermore, it’s better if they can give a small discount to customers with special coupons.
To prepare with the event, the PTA will print and distribute coupons to every family, friends, and neighbors. Tell them to present the coupons to the participating restaurant. Spread the word about the PTA fundraiser. It is better if you will be transparent that the fundraiser is about funding the school dance. This will bring in more supporters and that means more funds to be raised. This PTA fundraiser is a great idea since you help create loyal customers to the restaurant. To help the restaurant, even more, you may ask them to choose the date when they have the slowest day of the week, and choose this as the event date.
Another way of helping the restaurant is by making them the official caterer for the school dance. However, be sure to secretly conduct a survey to the customers you brought in to the new restaurant. Know if they liked the food and the service, and how likely they would agree if the same restaurant caters for the school dance. Luckily for the restaurant, if the catering service deal pushes through, ask them for a huge discount for the service.
There are plenty of fundraising ideas for PTAs when it comes to funding a school dance. The key is creativity – to make fundraising more enjoyable for everyone involved. The PTA must also be very supportive of the school’s annual activity plans. The school, however, must also be very cooperative with the PTA. Transparency and open communication is the key to a successful relationship between PTA and the school. The school and PTA must also learn to give back to the community. If possible, any excess money may be given back to the sponsors by sending simple tokens of appreciation. A simple thank you letter along with a small gift will definitely convince the people who supported the PTA fundraiser. The next time the school needs the PTA to raise funds for another school dance, they will surely have no second thoughts in extending their support again.