This page covers what a high school actually needs to fund, the constraints that shape how you can raise it, and which event formats fit. If you want the general guide first, start with fundraising by group.
What a high school is usually funding
- club and activity budgets
- senior class events and graduation
- athletics and arts programs
- scholarship funds
- campus improvements
What makes this group different
These are the constraints that decide whether a fundraiser works here, and they are the reason generic advice underperforms.
- Students can and should run this themselves, and adult-run events at this level generate resentment and low turnout
- Every club is fundraising simultaneously, so the school-wide calendar is crowded
- Students have jobs, sports and coursework competing for the same hours
- Anything that requires school-day time competes with instructional minutes
Why an event-based fundraiser fits
High school is the one level where student leadership is an asset rather than a constraint. Formats with a longer arc and real student ownership produce both more money and better participation than an adult-planned event students are asked to attend.
What is realistic to raise
High school is the one level where student leadership raises both the money and the participation. Adult-planned events students are asked to attend consistently underperform events students actually own, and the leadership experience is part of what you are funding anyway.
A working timeline
The dates that matter here are set by this group’s own calendar, not by a generic fundraising season.
- Get on the school activity calendar early, before every club claims a week
- Students plan; an adult holds money, liability and facility logistics
- Launch four to six weeks out through student networks, not a parent email
- After: hand the written process to next year's officers
What goes wrong
- Adults running it, which produces low turnout and visible resentment
- Six clubs each running a small campaign into the same exhausted parent body
- Scheduling into instructional time and spending the planning period defending it
Formats that suit a high school
You are not doing this alone
Every Get Movin' group is paired with a Personal Event Coach — a former PTO/PTA volunteer who has run this before. Get Movin's company president and all of its fundraising coaches are former PTO/PTA members, teachers and volunteers. For a high school, that means someone who has already helped other groups like yours through exactly this.
Your coach:
- strategizes your budget goal with you
- brainstorms incentives that actually motivate your participants
- advises on promotion and timing
- steers you away from the pitfalls they have already watched other groups hit
You also get the FundHub Event Toolbox — 100+ guides, templates, playlists and printables. Meet the coaches.
The platform behind a high school fundraiser
FundHub is Get Movin's online donation platform, built specifically for schools, teams and community groups by former PTO/PTA leaders. It carries 35+ tools. These are the ones that matter most here:
- Personalized student webpages. A parent sets one up in about five minutes, and each page raises an average of $140.
- Teacher access and classroom webpages. Every class gets its own page that the teacher controls, with their own log-in and class-specific incentives.
- Classroom Leaderboard, showing real-time progress by class.
- Family Sharing. Siblings share one Family Webpage, and FundHub splits incoming donations evenly between the participating children — so families with three kids are not asking the same relatives three times.
- Incentive Tracker. Enter your incentives and FundHub produces the distribution list by class or student automatically.
See the full platform on the FundHub page, or book a walkthrough with a coach.
How Get Movin’ runs your high school fundraiser
- Book a call or a FundHub demo and get matched with your Personal Event Coach.
- Your coach helps you set the goal, pick the date and choose incentives.
- Your group page and student pages go live; parents set theirs up in about five minutes.
- Families share by text, email and social; the coach checks in through the campaign.
- Event day, with volunteers organized through FundHub.
- Funds arrive by automatic ACH transfer after the event.
What it costs and what you keep
Get Movin’ groups keep 95-97% of every dollar raised. Donors pay however they want — cash, check, credit or debit, PayPal, Venmo, or Apple and Google Wallet. Automatic ACH payout after the event, straight to the group's account.
Full detail on the pricing page.
Next steps
See what a high school fundraiser costs on our pricing page, or browse free templates including printable pledge sheets.
Common questions
Should students run the fundraiser themselves?
Yes, with an adult handling money, liability and facility logistics. Student-run events at this level consistently outperform adult-run ones on participation, and the leadership experience is part of the value.
How do you avoid competing with every other club's fundraiser?
Get on the school activity calendar early and negotiate. A single coordinated school-wide event usually raises more than six clubs each running their own small campaign into the same exhausted parent body.
Start your high school fundraiser
Get Movin’ has powered 10,000+ events and raised more than $200 million for groups like yours since 2007, with 1,300+ five-star Google reviews.
Take a FundHub tour with a coach, or book your event. Questions first? Contact us or call 248-895-0206. Also useful: the free school grant guide, the parent and donor FAQ, and our fundraising webinars.