Healthy School Fundraising

Many schools, sporting teams and clubs regularly fundraise to raise vital money to purchase resources and equipment. Fundraising activities can be a great opportunity to promote a healthy lifestyle to the whole school community.

Selling confectionery and unhealthy snack foods sends the wrong message to students, especially when most schools now have healthy nutrition initiatives elsewhere in the school environment.

Healthy foods, goods and services and fun school community events can all be successfully implemented as healthy fundraising alternatives. See some examples from Australian schools here.

With a little bit of inspiration and creativity, parents can work with schools to ensure that they do not rely on the sale of unhealthy, high fat, high sugar, junk food options that send out the wrong messages to students, parents and staff.

The options for healthy fundraising activities are endless and we encourage The Parents Jury members to become Parent Champions on behalf of their children, to advocate for healthy change within schools.

• Healthy fundraising activities
• What schools think - we surveyed Australian schools on their approaches to fundraising
• Healthy fundraising resources
• Parent Champion advocacy suggestions
• Healthy fundraising case studies

Healthy fundraising activities

Some examples of common healthy fundraising activities are listed below:

• Auction/sale of donated goods and services
• Auction/sale of students' artwork
• Car wash
• Casual dress/dress up days
• Entry fee from school play/concert
• Gala/Ball
• Hot Cross Buns/Christmas cakes
• Mother's/Father's day stalls
• Purchasing from a fundraising catalogue
• Raffle
• Selling home baked foods or healthy foods (ie fruit drive)
• Selling home made goods and crafts
• Sports event (ie, fun run, lapathon or similar)
• Trash and treasure/car boot sale
• School fete

Schools and parents can source discounted or donated goods and services from local traders to be sold or auctioned off for profit. The Parents Jury members have contributed the following suggestions :

• Apple slinky machines (makes spirals of apple) and apple slinky stall at school
• Apples direct from grower
• Children's stickers and labels
• Children's toys
• Craft project kits
• Energy efficient light globes
• ‘Entertainment' Books
• Frozen fruit ice creams (mashed banana base and add other fruit)
• Greeting cards printed with children's art work
• Jobs around the house such as window washing, gardening, etc
• Locally written books
• Newspaper and magazine subscriptions
• Personalized t-shirts
• Printed tea towels with kids' drawings or photos
• Punnets of seedlings or bulbs
• Re-usable cloth shopping bags with school logo or children's own designs
• Stationery items
• Theatre and movie tickets
• Toiletry products that can bought in bulk
• Toothpaste/toothbrush

If you have a terrific fundraising idea you would like added to this list please email us at enquiries@parentsjury.org.au.

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What do schools think?

In October 2008, The Parents Jury surveyed Australian schools on their experiences with confectionary fundraising, the barriers they face in implementing healthy fundraising policies, and their examples of fun and successful healthy fundraising alternatives.

Key results:

• 39% of the schools surveyed have held a confectionery fundraiser twice or more in the last 12 months. 31% have held only one, and 30% have not held any.
• 71% of schools that held a confectionery fundraiser found them successful.
• In response to Have staff or parents ever complained about the use of unhealthy fundraising methods at your school?:
  • 13% responded Yes, and the school now has a healthy fundraising policy, a further 33% responded No, but we would consider their concerns if they did.
  • 22% responded Yes, but we need to continue to fundraise this way, and 22% responded No, this is not seen as a problem at our school.
• An encouraging 88% of schools surveyed have implemented their state or territory government's school nutrition guidelines or a similar health/nutrition policy of their own, however of these, only 14% choose not to hold confectionery fundraisers.
• The two biggest barriers to implementing a healthy fundraising policy were that confectionery fundraisers are easy and profitable and using healthier alternatives alone cannot raise the money we need.
• Schools rated the following as the most successful healthy fundraising alternatives:
  1. Casual dress/dress up days
  2. Raffles
  3. Mother's/Father's day stalls
  4. School fete
  5. Auction/sale of donated goods and services
• 94% of respondents believe that schools have a responsibility to teach children about healthy food and lifestyles.

The results show that schools are aware of the need to provide a positive nutrition environment and educate students on healthy lifestyles, but they still find confectionery fundraisers easy and profitable, and they believe that using healthier alternatives alone will not raise the money they need.

But you can make a difference, because the survey also shows that schools welcome parents' feedback and that many school haven't considered abolishing unhealthy fundraising because no one has complained about it so far. So become a Parent Champion and get in touch with your child's school with some healthy fundraising suggestions and an offer to get involved.

The Parents Jury encourages all concerned parents to get involved with their children's school's fundraising efforts and provide alternative healthy ideas to the school. Our healthy fundraisers case studies page highlights healthy fundraising initiatives that schools have undertaken which engage their students and local community, and ensure that students aren't receiving mixed messages about health and nutrition.

See the resources section below for information of healthy fundraising manuals.

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Healthy Fundraising Resources

Write a letter:

Often schools don't have the time or resources to sit down and plan alternatives, especially when they know that the confectionery drive will be easy and profitable. The principal or school council may be very happy to hear from you with your alternative suggestions and an offer to get involved.

Download a template (MS Word document).

Healthy fundraising manuals:

The following organisations have fantastic resources for healthy fundraising activities:
Many of the resources apply to that state or territory's school nutrition guidelines, but each contains great suggestions and assistance that anyone can use.

Aus - Fundraising Ideas for Healthy Kids, Nutrition Australia

- Healthy Fundraising - ideas to promote health while still making a profit, Cancer Council NSW

ACT - Healthy Fundraising Ideas for ACT School Communities PDF (2.9 MB), Department of Education and Training,

NSW - Healthy Kids School Canteen Association

QLD - Fresh Ideas for Fundraising, Queensland Association of School Tuckshops

TAS - Fruitful Fundraising Directory CD ROM
Contact:

Tasmanian State School Parents and Friends Association
Telephone: (03) 6223 7937
http://www.parentsandfriendstasmania.asn.au/

Community Nutrition Unit, DHHS
Telephone: (03) 6222 7222
Email: community.nutrition@dhhs.tas.gov.au  

VIC - Healthy Canteen Kit - Getting Started PDF (1.3 MB), Go For Your Life

WA - Fundraising by Parents and Citizens' Associations PDF (156 KB), Department of Education and Training

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Healthy Fundraising Case Studies

Schools tell us about their healthy and profitable fundraising activities. More...

 Back to School Food Settings