High School Stage Crew Fundraising Ideas

[chrispo86]

Before I say anything, I want to acknowledge the fact that there's a couple other threads on fundraisers, but I'm looking for something a little more specific.

I work for a high school and unfortunately due to administrators in another local district misusing district funds last year (i.e. buying jewlery, taking vacations, adding extensions to their houses) there are some very tight financial constraints in place this year. The school never really gave us much money in the first place, but now the funding is almost non-existant.

Our equipment is well past the point where it needs replacing, but the school doesn't really seem to care because it's not athetics related (I have a bias, they dropped $2 million into astroturf and new bleechers for our crappy football team but won't spend $20 on the auditorium which rakes in ticket sales). I've been saying we need to do fundraising for a while, but now that the money flow has stopped completely, I want to do something about it.

So now to the question. What are some things that people have done as fundraisers for a high school tech crew? I'm looking for ways to not only raise some decent money (I know it's not going to come all at once), but also to raise awareness to the condition of our auditorium (falling apart). This is solely to raise money for new equipment. I've thought of the usual car wash, bake sale, etc, but I'm looking for something a little different. It needs to be something that high school kids can do.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks!

[Footer]

Benefit Concert. That type of thing maybe?

[ruinexplorer]

I recommend searching for a grant. Try Foundation Center - Knowledge to Build On as a start. Also, at my HS (granted this was years ago) we courted groups that would use our facility (local symphony) to help in replacing some of our instruments. We had no operating budget from the school/district; our budget was funds from ticket sales and donations. You might be able to get businesses to place adds in your programs to get funding. That can be one of the most pain free fundraisers since you don't have to worry about volunteers not showing up for a car wash, nor people to bake goods and sell them. Obviously if you are looking for capital improvements, that is going to have to go through the district.
Make the most of what you have. Make it a learning experience in nursing your gear back to health (cleaning lenses and reflectors, replace lamp sockets and worn wiring, etc.), this way classmates better understand how the gear works. Of course, you should have qualified supervision when repairing anything electrical.

[lieperjp]

Originally Posted by chrispo86

Before I say anything, I want to acknowledge the fact that there's a couple other threads on fundraisers, but I'm looking for something a little more specific.

I work for a high school and unfortunately due to administrators in another local district misusing district funds last year (i.e. buying jewlery, taking vacations, adding extensions to their houses) there are some very tight financial constraints in place this year. The school never really gave us much money in the first place, but now the funding is almost non-existant.

Our equipment is well past the point where it needs replacing, but the school doesn't really seem to care because it's not athetics related (I have a bias, they dropped $2 million into astroturf and new bleechers for our crappy football team but won't spend $20 on the auditorium which rakes in ticket sales). I've been saying we need to do fundraising for a while, but now that the money flow has stopped completely, I want to do something about it.

So now to the question. What are some things that people have done as fundraisers for a high school tech crew? I'm looking for ways to not only raise some decent money (I know it's not going to come all at once), but also to raise awareness to the condition of our auditorium (falling apart). This is solely to raise money for new equipment. I've thought of the usual car wash, bake sale, etc, but I'm looking for something a little different. It needs to be something that high school kids can do.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks!

I think a lot of the previous threads cover a lot of suggestions...

---start a concession stand: have actors bring in cookies, brownies, etc. as permitted by health code/school administration. Sell for profit.

---some sort of benefit performance

---sell ads in your program (at my high school we had a senior interested in sales do this, if you don't have the time. Then a group of students and parents put together the ads and took them to a printshop. Little work was done by the producer/director other than defining what it needed to look like and then final approval.)

---dinner theatre. See if a local restaurant or two would donate food, sell a ticket for dinner starting two hours before the show. At my high school, we got a local Italian restaurant to donate spaghetti and lemonade, a local bakery to donate rolls, a local Starbucks to donate coffee/hot chocolate, students were to bring in cookies/brownies for the dessert. $8 for the dinner (roughly) and $10 for the show.

---hold a theatre camp for local grade school. Charge for sign-up, get students to lead the sessions with the goal of performing a short skit for parents - this will also help train future people for your program! Maybe combine the skit with a benefit concert.

---The traditional car-wash, bake sale, rummage sale, magazine sale, coupon book sale... Sometimes easier to do but not as profitable.

I guess the most important aspect is to figure out the strengths of your program and capitalize them. It sounds ruthless, but whatever works.

[elite1trek]

Originally Posted by Footer4321

Benefit Concert. That type of thing maybe?

I do three a year and it brings a lot (for my theatre, anyway).

I also sometimes have a karaoke contest. If you have connections with a local DJ or karaoke person, see if they will donate their time in exchange for promotion. The last contest I held had a $500 dollar prize, and we made good money.

The only problem I see with these suggestions is that you are a student at a school, so you would have to get permission.

[chrispo86]

First of all, thank you for the responses! I appreciate the help that I can always find on this forum.

Originally Posted by Footer4321

Benefit Concert. That type of thing maybe?

I like the idea of this, but who would you recommend perform, student groups or an outside group? Getting permission to hold such an event would not be a problem (just to clarify, I'm not a student, though everyone seems to think I am. I'm a former student who now works for the school as a contractor for their shows). My concern is that we have so many concerts put on by students that only have so-so attendance (our big ticket sales are drama/musicals), I feel like throwing another one in the mix wouldn't do any good...

Originally Posted by ruinexplorer

I recommend searching for a grant. Try Foundation Center - Knowledge to Build On as a start.

I've always liked the idea of a grant. Who wouldn't love free money?! My problem is that I haven't been able to find any grants that I can use towards the purchase of equipment. I'll definately have to sit and take a look at that website though. Thanks!

Originally Posted by ruinexplorer

Also, at my HS (granted this was years ago) we courted groups that would use our facility (local symphony) to help in replacing some of our instruments.

Unfortunately, no outside groups use our space, otherwise I'm sure that would be a nice source to tap into.

Originally Posted by lieperjp

---start a concession stand: have actors bring in cookies, brownies, etc. as permitted by health code/school administration. Sell for profit.

Unfortunately, student council AND Internation Thespian Society already have a monopoly on that market...

Originally Posted by lieperjp

---sell ads in your program (at my high school we had a senior interested in sales do this, if you don't have the time. Then a group of students and parents put together the ads and took them to a printshop. Little work was done by the producer/director other than defining what it needed to look like and then final approval.)

A couple of people (including myself) have been pushing for this one for years. The director stands very solid on this point though and won't do it. He doesn't like the way it looks, feels that it clutters the program. I disagree and think it would be a great source of income, however he makes the program and has final say on the subject.


As I said, I appreciate all of the suggestions. It's also not helping that the school has very strict rules on fundraising. They're rather dumb as well. For example, I thought of the simple idea of putting a donation jar in the lobby during shows. But, we're not allowed to do that, though I didn't get to hear the specific reason as to why.

I know somebody somewhere mentioned showing movies, and this is one that we had thought of ourselves. Anybody have any luck with this kind of thing? We were thinking along the lines of kids movies once a month. How would you go about getting the rights to show a movie to an audiance (I assume you would need rights since we'd be charging admission).

[cdub260]

Is there any type of local fundraising organization that you could work with? In Laguna Beach there is a local organization called Schoolpower who's sole purpose is raising money for the local schools. If there is a similar organization in your area, you should approach them and see if they would be willing to work with you in raising money for your theatre. If there is not, are there any other local organizations you could approach? Even if they can't help you raise money, they may be willing to teach you about the process of raising money.

Be as specific as you can about what your needs are. The general statement "We need money for our theatre." is far less compelling to potential donors than "We need $15,000 for new lighting equipment."

[seanandkate]

Generally, copyright doesn't allow you to show a movie for profit, and I doubt Disney is giving ANYBODY rights to their stuff.

Nothing is preventing you from showing a movie for free and charging for concessions however (heck, it's how regular film houses make their dough . . .)

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by seanandkate

Generally, copyright doesn't allow you to show a movie for profit, and I doubt Disney is giving ANYBODY rights to their stuff.

The fact that Beverly Hills Chihuahua has grossed $29mil in three days seems to contradict those statements.

Fundraising Idea of the Month - Movie Nights by Doug Nash

[chrispo86]

Originally Posted by cdub260

Is there any type of local fundraising organization that you could work with? In Laguna Beach there is a local organization called Schoolpower who's sole purpose is raising money for the local schools. If there is a similar organization in your area, you should approach them and see if they would be willing to work with you in raising money for your theatre. If there is not, are there any other local organizations you could approach? Even if they can't help you raise money, they may be willing to teach you about the process of raising money.

I've never heard of anything like that around here, but I'll definately have to look into it.

As for the movies, the stage crew director of the school is also the TV Journalism teacher and he's the one who originally suggested a movie day. I know he said something about getting the rights, and that for older movies they're relatively cheap. I was just wondering if anybody knew how to get them. I'll have to have a chat with him one of these days...