Fundraising for teachers is essential — without it, few schools can provide everything necessary for students to thrive. Coming up with creative ways to raise funds for classrooms is a challenge. Fortunately, educators and students are well-equipped to meet this challenge.

Involve the students in brainstorming and planning — any school fundraiser ideas will benefit from their boundless imaginations! Consider building a fundraiser around a custom Mixbook photo book as a starting point. Teachers can order books in bulk at a discount, with no upfront money, and add a small markup when selling them to families.

Selling a beautiful photo book with an education theme is just the beginning. Use this idea as the foundation of a classroom fundraising idea, which you can build upon with endless creative variations. Here are some of our favorites.

Graduation book with advertising options

Take inspiration from traditional yearbooks, but instead of the whole school, create a photo book dedicated specifically to the graduating class. Selling photo books to graduates and their families is a no-brainer. But you can raise even more funds by selling advertisements to families. Offer quarter-, half-, and full-page ads at different price levels. Families can use their ad space to write a message to their graduates.

Mixbook offers many graduation themes that make it easy for students or teachers to publish a stunning photo book that will become a treasured memento.

These are just a few of Mixbook's graduation themes:

Art show and portfolio sale

Hosting an art show is a delightful way for schools to show families their children's works of art. It can be part of an open house or a stand-alone event. To turn an art show into a fundraiser, schools can sell tickets and offer the artwork for sale.

To enhance the potential of this fundraiser:

Create an art portfolio photo book.
Photograph each work of art before the show.
Ask the artists to write something about their piece, its name, and the media they used, which can be included as a caption.
Either print copies of the book in advance and sell them during the show or take orders to fulfill later.

My Kid's Art Portfolio Book is a great theme choice for an elementary-age art show, while high school student's art could be showcased in a more sophisticated coffee table book theme.

An essay or short story contest

The Mixbook Studio allows for beautiful typography and images, making a photo book ideal for publishing essays and short stories. Hold an essay or short story contest, with illustrations if appropriate, and compile all the entries into a beautiful book. You can scan the original works or ask students to type them up and potentially work on the typography and layouts themselves.

This kind of book idea could be incorporated into a holiday or special celebration day. Students could write about their grandparents for Grandparents' Day, or take inspiration from the themes of Veterans Day or Memorial Day, for example.

To use this type of book as a classroom fundraiser idea, charge a small entry fee for the contest and sell copies of the book once it's printed.

Drama club playbook

Any educator or student who has ever been involved in a school play knows it's the experience of a lifetime. Make the performance truly unforgettable by creating a photo book to capture the play. Take photographs during a full dress rehearsal, incorporate the play's script into the book, and include interviews or profiles of all the cast and crew.

You can sell the photo book to attendees instead of a traditional program and offer it to everyone involved with the play as a souvenir. The Theatre Club Yearbook theme could inspire your drama club playbook.

Tip: You can find the perfect theme for any photo book with the Theme Explorer feature.

School sports almanac

Sports are a big part of school life and often a fundraising focus for teachers and coaches. Start with one of Mixbook's many fun sports themes and show off the achievements of all your athletes. You could include:

A photo and profile of each player
A page of stats
A summary of the season
Other fun details

Offer these books to players' parents and set up a book-selling stand at your games and meetups.

Custom school calendar

If your school's calendar is just a PDF that parents can print or pull up on their phones, it's time to do something more creative. Make a custom calendar on Mixbook featuring the best photos of your school and its students.

Mixbook lets you choose your starting month so the calendar matches the school year. You can also add custom text, making it easy to display the school schedule. Be sure to only include events in the school calendar that have fixed dates, such as:

Spring, winter, and summer breaks, along with any early dismissal times
Federal and state holidays
Teacher training days
Back-to-school nights and open houses
PTA meeting schedules
Picture day
Talent shows, art shows, dances, homecoming events, etc.

Parents will gladly buy this kind of custom calendar because it's genuinely useful.

Student-authored local history book

Writing a local history book is a rewarding educational project for students and a creative way to raise funds for the classroom. Students can research the history of the local town or region and write about their findings. They can include old photos and other paraphernalia and interview local elders or historians.

The best thing about publishing a history book is that it has sales potential outside of the school community. Students and teachers might collaborate with the library, local newspaper, or history society to help promote and sell the books.

The school's "best recipes" book

Your whole school can get involved in publishing a recipe book to sell as a fundraiser. Ask students, teachers, and other staff to contribute their favorite recipe, ideally with a photo or drawing of the finished dish. If your school has a cafeteria, you could publish the recipes for the most popular items.

"Find the school mascot" books

A fun idea for a photo book to sell as an elementary school fundraiser is a "find the school mascot" book inspired by the classic "Where's Waldo?" series. Take photos around the school and during events with the school mascot in the background. Or, use Mixbook's photo editing tools to insert an illustrated version of the mascot into the photos.

You could incorporate this idea into a specific fundraiser goal, such as funding new playground equipment or new library shelving. Photograph the mascot around the library or playground and add playful captions about the need to upgrade those spaces. Families might be more inclined to buy books when they understand the fundraiser's goals.

Best of the school awards

Most schools have awards each year or semester for various academic, social, and extracurricular achievements. Expand upon this with a "best of the school" photo book showcasing award winners. You can also create some just-for-fun awards and "most likely to" nominations.

Create a nomination form or other voting system for each grade. Consider the categories to ensure the entire book is kind and positive. Big winners could receive a book as a prize, with the rest available for sale.

Planning a school fundraiser?

Educators, we'd love to hear your customer stories about classroom fundraising ideas with Mixbook. Share your story on social using #mymixbookstory or send it to us at social@mixbook.com.