Ideas of easy fundraisers for homeschool groups

UPDATE: This podcast episode originally aired in 2014, but it is still very applicable in 2021, except that Box Tops has now gone digital! No more clipping coupons. 🙂

Your homeschool organization probably looks for extra ways to bring in money. Carol Topp, the Homeschool CPA, shares ideas for easy fundraising in this episode of the Dollars And Sense Show podcast.

Listen to the podcast here

Show Notes

Coupon and reward programs
Box Tops for Ed cation. Need 501c3 status
Shopping reward like Kroger Plus program
E Scrip

Food as a fundraiser
Pizza sales, bake sales to members
Candy, popcorn sales to public could impose a reporting to you state’s AG office
Restaurant (Chik-Fil-A) give a percent of proceeds from one night to your organization
Dinners as fundraisers

Donations
Via email, website, crowd funding, etc
Read-a-thon or walk-a-thon
Car washes and bake sales

Sell products
Ideas at TopSchoolFundraisers.com
Used curriculum sale. Charge an entrance fee, or a table fee to the sellers (or both!)

Reporting the Fundraiser income:
The IRS considers fundraisers to be unrelated to your nonprofit purpose and therefore, subject to taxation. Exceptions to the Unrelated Business Income tax:

• Under $1,000 income from fundraisers in a year
• All volunteer labor (no hired help to run the fundraiser)
• Not regularly carried on
• Selling donated items

State Charity Registration for fundraisers

Your state may require reporting to their Charitable oversight agency (usually the state Attorney General) if you sell to the public or solicit donations from the public. Some exceptions to registering with your state include: only making sales to your members, a dollar threshold ($25,000 is common), using all volunteer labor for your fundraisers. These exceptions vary by state.

Unsure about what reports your state requires or what exceptions you qualify for? HomeschoolCPA offers a service to research your states laws and required reports. IRS and State Filings Research

Here’s a helpful link to start researching what your state requires. Fundraising Compliance Guide

Warning: No Individual fundraising accounts!
See Scouts don’t allow individual fundraising account (and neither should you!)

More information

Money Management in a Homeschool Organization book

Blog posts on fundraising

Article “Easy Fundraisers for Homeschool Groups”

Unsure about what reports your state requires? HomeschoolCPA offers a service to research your states laws and required reports. IRS and State Filings Research

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Carol Topp, CPA
HomeschoolCPA.com
Helping Homeschool Leaders