Sustainable School Fundraising
I was delighted to team up with Sam Shelley from Eco Essex to co-host a webinar on Sustainable School Fundraising.
If you're on the PTA or a member of a school team, fundraising and putting on events for the children can feel all the more difficult if you're trying to do it in a more sustainable way.
We asked attendees of the live webinar what some of the barriers are when it comes to 'sustainable school fundraising'...
- "Kids love plastic tat!" came up a few times
- Cost was a big one
- Not wanting to make more work for already over-stretched volunteers
- Ease and convenience - Amazon is cheap and easy, and looking for more sustainable alternatives takes time and can be more expensive
- Resistance from other members of the PTA was also mentioned - 'we've always done it this way' can be a difficult one to challenge!
Here's the replay:
Supporting documents
Useful links
- Eco Essex website (more education resources coming soon!)
- Eco Essex Facebook page
- Eco Education Facebook group
- Sustainable(ish) Facebook group
- Easy plastic-free(ish) ideas for school fundraising (blog post)
- The Ink Bin
- The Ink Bin Eco Kids section (packed with resources and ideas for eco club activities!) - Party Kit Network
- Party Kits for Schools - How to set up a reusable party kit (blog post)
- How and why to set up a reusable party kit (podcast)
- Uniformerly
- Final Straw Foundation - Christmas Jumper swap resources
- Eco Racing - virtual balloon races
- Terracycle
- Recycle to read
- Repair Cafe website
- Podcast chat with Edd Moore at Damers First School in Dorchester
- Podcast chat with Ellie Jackson - author of The Wild Tribe Heroes books (Ellie's books are amazing for gently introducing environmental themes to young children, and she has a host of school resources on her website)
Top tips/ideas from the chat
- Get the kids on board
- One school had surveyed their pupils around attitudes to sustainability and found that 88% wanted the school to be more sustainable. Faced with this hard data, it's much easier to persuade members of the PTA to go in a more sustainable direction!
- Another school had pupil reps from each class on the PTA - a great way to ensure that the events that the PTA puts on are ones that the kids want and will enjoy! - Hook up with local sustainable businesses
- If you have an existing Party Kit business in your area, hook up with them to promote it, and see if you can negotiate a small donation to the PTA when families from your school book a Party Kit (you can find your local party kit here)
- Invite local eco/sustainable businesses to your school fairs and other events
- See if there are any local businesses that would be interested in sponsoring things like an Ink Bin, or even helping with the upfront costs of something like a Party Kit - Plastic-free prizes at school fairs
- Have a go at a token system, or a stamp card. Kids collect tokens or stamps at each stall, and when they have a certain amount, they can exchange them for a prize at the stall. And the prizes can be made up of donations of secondhand books and toys from the school community!
The rag wreath I made from donated school uniform that was too stained/worn to re-sell
What are your takeaways from the session?
What awesome Sustainable(ish) stuff are your PTA doing?
Please do share your ideas in the comments!
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