School fundraising has come a long way from bake sales and car washes. These days, it’s all about working smarter, not harder, and peer-to-peer fundraising makes that possible. With the right tools (we’re looking at you, Cheddar Up templates!), your school community can rally together in new ways that are simple to launch and easy to share.
This toolkit rounds up some of our favorite peer-to-peer fundraising examples that work beautifully within broader school and PTA fundraising efforts, along with tips to help you launch them successfully. Whether you’re raising money for a trip, a program, or a project, this list will help spark ideas and set you up for fundraising success.
Helpful Resources on Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Before we dive into specific examples, here are a few resources that can help you understand and plan your next peer fundraising campaign:
- What is Peer-to-Peer Fundraising? – Learn how to set up your first campaign and why peer-to-peer fundraising works so well.
- Athon Fundraiser Guide – Step-by-step advice for launching your own walkathon, danceathon, or other “-athon” event.
- Fundraising Sales Guide – Tips for getting started with product-based fundraisers and how to launch them successfully with peer-to-peer tools.
These articles pair perfectly with the peer-to-peer fundraising templates below, giving you a full picture of how to run a successful campaign.
10 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Examples for the 2025/2026 School Year
Movement-Based Fundraisers
Walkathon
A classic school fundraising event that never loses momentum. Students and families gather pledges per lap or donation goals through their individual fundraising pages, then show up for a day of movement and community. It’s low-cost to organize, builds school spirit, and creates a visual sense of achievement as participants cross the finish line.
Perfect for: PE departments, wellness weeks, or back-to-school season.
Danceathon
Turn up the music and let the energy flow. Students can dance solo or in groups, while sponsors pledge per hour or routine. This fundraiser works well indoors, making it great for colder months. Add costumes, themes, or glow sticks to keep the energy high and create share-worthy moments for social media posts.
Perfect for: Winter months, spirit weeks, or school celebrations.
Color Run
Bright, messy, and tons of fun, a color run creates lasting memories. Ask local businesses to sponsor color stations to cover costs and involve the wider community. Providing plain white t-shirts ensures every participant ends the day with a colorful keepsake.
Perfect for: Spring events, field days, or end-of-year celebrations.
Sales-Based Fundraisers
Cookie Dough Sales
Cookie dough is a staple because it combines indulgence with simplicity. Families simply share their campaign page, and supporters can place their cookie dough orders online in just a few clicks. Peer-to-peer functionality helps extend the reach far beyond local neighbors.
Perfect for: Fall fundraising, holiday prep.
Holiday Wreath Sales
Holiday wreaths are easy to sell because they double as gifts and seasonal décor. Boost sales by bundling add-ons like bows or ornaments. You can even set up a pickup day with holiday music and cocoa to turn it into a festive community event. Built-in shipping options on Cheddar Up make it simple to reach supporters outside your local community.
Perfect for: Holiday drives and winter fests.
Plant Sale Fundraiser
Bring some greenery into your school community while raising funds. Offer a mix of flowers, herbs, and veggie starters so there’s something for everyone. Use eCheck payments on Cheddar Up’s team and pro plans to save on processing fees and keep more of the funds you raise.
Perfect for: Spring events, Earth Day, or outdoor school projects.
T-Shirt Fundraiser
Branded t-shirts are a great way to build school spirit. Launch before a big event, like homecoming, so everyone can wear them together. Offer variations (like long sleeves or hoodies) using Cheddar Up’s item options to give families more choices. Post your campaign link on a social media platform to quickly spread the word.
Perfect for: Spirit weeks, sports teams, or school clubs.
Creative & Community-Based Fundraisers
Readathon
A readathon encourages literacy while raising money. Set class or school-wide reading goals and celebrate progress with fun incentives, like a pajama day or popcorn party. Encourage team fundraising between classrooms to build collaboration and friendly competition.
Perfect for: Library programs or cozy winter fundraising.
Raffle Fundraiser
Raffles bring excitement and anticipation. Ask local businesses to donate items or create themed baskets like “Family Game Night” or “Sports Fan Kit.” Announcing winners at a school event adds energy and creates a memorable moment for the community. This type of online fundraiser works for any nonprofit organization.
Perfect for: School carnivals, holiday events, or as an add-on to another fundraiser.
School Trip Fundraiser
Trips are memorable but often costly, making this fundraiser especially impactful. Encourage students to share why the trip matters to them — personal stories resonate with supporters. For extra credibility, add a verified nonprofit badge through Cheddar Up to reassure donors that their contributions are tax-deductible.
Perfect for: Class trips, out-of-state competitions, or senior activities.
How to Launch Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Examples
Exploring peer-to-peer fundraising examples like these is a great first step, but putting them into action is even easier.
Here’s how to get started:
- Pick a template that matches your fundraiser type.
- Customize it with your school colors, images, and fundraising goals.
- Invite participants students or families can quickly create their own pages to share.
- Track progress with Cheddar Up’s built-in reporting, goal meters, and automatic tallies.
With Cheddar Up, you’ll have everything you need in one place — from setup to tracking — so your peer-to-peer fundraiser runs smoothly from start to finish. It’s that easy!
Before you go
Make your next school campaign stress-free and impactful by choosing one of these peer-to-peer fundraising examples and launching it on Cheddar Up!
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End-of-year banquet planning templates
An end-of-season banquet is the chance to bring everyone together one more time, without the pressure of a practice, game, competition, or performance on the schedule. It’s where teams and groups recognize seniors, hand out awards, thank coaches and volunteers, share favorite moments, and celebrate everything they accomplished together. Sports teams, cheer squads, marching bands, and clubs hold them in the fall, winter, and spring, usually within a few weeks of the season’s end.
This guide covers how to plan an end-of-year or end-of-season banquet step by step, how to sell banquet tickets and collect RSVPs online, and banquet templates that you can customize for your sport or club.
Easy Elementary School Fundraising Ideas Kids Love and Parents Support
Elementary school kids are energetic, playful, and not into anything too complicated, so why should their fundraisers be? The best elementary school fundraising ideas feel like fun for the kids while staying simple for the volunteers who make them happen.
Below are 20 ideas built for elementary schools, grouped by how you want to run them, plus an easy, online way to collect payments.
Elementary school fundraising is different because younger children can be active participants, but they still need adults to take the lead on money, sales, and logistics. The best fundraisers play to both strengths: kids bring the creativity, excitement, and school spirit, while adults keep everything running smoothly.
Take payments, for example. A first grader isn’t going to manage a cash box, make change, or operate a point-of-sale system. Keeping payments with adults (and collecting online when possible) makes it easier to track every dollar, so cash doesn’t get lost in backpacks.
Door-to-door selling can be tricky as well. Young kids need adult supervision, and caregivers may not be comfortable sending them out to sell to strangers. Fundraisers that families can support from home or through a school event tend to make more sense.
So, what can elementary students do? All the fun stuff. They can color posters, run laps, cheer on classmates, perform, create something to sell, or proudly share the fundraiser with family and friends.
Fun Run Fundraiser: How to Plan One, Plus Ideas and Costs
Few fundraisers pull a community together like a fun run. If you are weighing a fun run fundraiser for your school or nonprofit, here is the full run-down (yes, pun intended): how to plan it, what it can raise, theme ideas, and how to collect every dollar you earn. A fun run is a walk or run, often themed, where participants raise money for a school or nonprofit by paying an entry fee or collecting pledges for each lap or mile they complete. The goal is participation over speed, so anyone can join regardless of age or ability.
In schools, a fun run is one of the most common PTA fundraising events because it needs little equipment and gets students, teachers, and families moving together. Nonprofits use the same format to raise funds and awareness for a cause.
You can organize a fun run in six steps. Give yourself at least six to eight weeks so you have time to line up volunteers, promote the event, and accept pledges.
Potluck sign up sheet template + planning tips
You offered to help pull together the potluck. Now you are the one texting a dozen people to find out who is bringing a main dish, and so far the table is shaping up to be all chips and desserts.
A potluck sign up sheet is the fix. Guests open one link and claim a slot, and the sheet sends the reminders so you are not following up all week. Below is a free online version you can grab in a minute, along with a quick setup walkthrough and category ideas for any kind of gathering. Start here. Our free potluck sign up template works for any gathering, from a backyard BBQ to an office lunch to a holiday feast, and you can have it live in about a minute.
It runs as an online potluck sign up sheet, so the whole list lives on one link. You share it once, guests open it on their phones, and everyone sees which dishes are already claimed and which slots are still open. There is no paper sheet to pass around and no file to email back and forth.
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