How to Finance a Fall Festival

Fall festivals are becoming more popular as many school districts no longer use Halloween as a theme for such festivals. Whether the school district or PTA is footing the bill, it can be expensive to finance a fall festival unless you use good resources and a little creativity. Use these steps to learn ways to save money and even make money in order to finance your next fall festival.

Instructions

1. Have a brainstorming session about finance at your first committee meeting for the festival. Involve kids in a brainstorming session, asking how they would like to help raise money. You might be surprised at some of the great ideas they have.

2. Hold a fundraiser at the beginning of the school year to prepare for the fall festival. This could be something like a candy sale or school-wide rummage sale, so all the kids can participate.

3. Charge vendors a nominal fee for their booth space or get the some of the costs of operation donated. "In kind" donations -- vendors providing free services -- are often great incentives to businesses in the community to be involved.

4. Have an auction or raffle to raise money for the Fall Festival. Have local businesses and parents donate an assortment of gift baskets and sell raffle tickets or auction them off. A silent auction, with people making bids on paper, works well here.

5. Get a corporate sponsor. Contact some of the larger businesses in town with the total cost of the festival and see if they will donate the money to you. They get to write it off as a donation while supporting a part of the community. Large companies have a budget just for this type of thing.

Tips & Warnings

• Give "in kind" donors a receipt for their services or other donation so they can claim it on taxes.