How can I raise money for a school trip?

BONUS: Get 99 fundraising ideas for trip and adventures in a free PDF!  Download our resource to raise funds for the trip of a lifetime!

Download Now

If you have a few geography buffs in your friend group or family, you can host a game of geography bowl to put their knowledge to the test and raise money for your trip!

A geography bowl is essentially a trivia night, but with only geography questions! You can host the event in your home, or you can reach out to a local restaurant or bar.

Charge a small admission fee and encourage people to make donations throughout the night. Everyone will have fun guessing the answers to tricky geography questions, and you’ll have a way to raise money for a mission trip or other travel adventure!

No one can say no to a comfortable t-shirt, which is why this is the perfect fundraising idea for your travel costs.

Work with an online t-shirt fundraising service to create t-shirts you know your friends and family will love to purchase. You can offer multiple product options, too, so that everyone receives something they’ll actually wear again and again.

Bonus points if you can tie your t-shirt designs into your upcoming trip. You can make your apparel as unique as you want, so be creative!

Writing letters is a great way to raise money for your trip or adventure. You can send letters to family, friends, and anyone else who would support your endeavor.

Your letters should be genuine and personal. Always start with your recipient’s first name and thank them in advance for their generosity.

You can use letters to direct people to your online crowdfunding page, but you should also include a self-addressed envelope within your letter to encourage people to send in checks (make sure you tell donors not to send cash!).

If you’re a recently graduated college student (or even someone who just loves books!), you likely have stacks of publications that you won’t read or have read too many times to count!

If you need to raise money for an upcoming trip, you can try to sell some of your gently used books for some extra cash.

If you have used textbooks, you can sell them back to your college or university bookstore or to other students who will need them for classes.

If you have an eye for art, you can take artistic commissions in the weeks leading up to your trip or adventure to help pay for airfare, lodging, and other expenses.

Advertise your artistic services on social media and let people know what your rates are for different works of art.

Just make sure that you stay on top of all of your requests. You wouldn’t want to leave on a plane only to remember that you forgot to complete a painting for your biggest supporter!

A cultural cuisine night is perfect for the adventurous and food-loving traveler looking to raise money for a trip. All you’ll need are some friends who like to cook and eat!

Invite people to submit their unique and exotic dishes with a small donation attached. You can keep the meal specific to a country or region or just cook whatever you want.

People can then vote on their favorite dishes with their dollars. Whoever has the most “votes” at the end of the night can walk away with the pride of being the best exotic chef in your friend group.

If you haven’t picked a location for your trip yet, you can host a location-setting party to help you choose a destination and raise money for your upcoming adventure!

Invite your friends and family members over and have them donate a dollar or two to write down the name of a country or city to visit. They then place the piece of paper in a container.

After everyone has made their suggestions, you pull a piece of paper out of the container. Whatever is written on the piece of paper is where your destination is (within reason, of course!).

Selling luggage tags is a fun and simple way to raise funds for your upcoming trip. You can opt to create your own luggage tags or buy them from a wholesale provider.

Whichever route you decide to take, make sure that people have different designs to choose from. The more unique and creative your designs, the more people will want to buy them!

Make sure to let your friends and family know that you’re selling luggage tags and post about your fundraiser on social media.

Recycling ink cartridges is not only environmentally friendly, but it’s also a simple travel fundraising idea you can use to earn money for your next trip.

Start collecting cartridges from your own printer as well the ones at work (if your boss lets you). Ask your friends and family to donate their ink cartridges as well.

Gather as many as you can and send them to a recycling place that pays for cartridges. You can try this fundraiser with batteries, too!

Everyone could use a day to relax and unwind, and you can give your friends and family some spa treatment and raise funds. Creating a spa day can be a fundraising idea for mission trips, vacations, and other travel expenses.

The spa day fundraiser works best with you and a few volunteers to help with the facials, pedicures, and manicures. 

You can charge donors per spa service and offer food and drinks for an additional fee. This a fundraiser that can help your supporters relax as you raise funds for your next trip or adventure.

Coffee is enjoyed by many people all around the world, and selling it can be a great travel-inspired fundraising idea.

Connect with a local coffee shop or a wholesale coffee bean distributor and sell bagged coffee beans or grounds to your local community. You could even sell cups of coffee in the mornings.

Make sure that you explain where the coffee comes from and how buying it will help you raise funds for your next excursion aboard.

Often, between work and our personal lives, we have too many tasks to accomplish. You can help your community members by completing some of their errands in return for donations.

If your next-door neighbor needs help finishing their laundry or you have a friend that needs you to walk his dog, you can complete all these tasks and raise some extra money for your trip. 

To start earning money, you’ll need to promote your services around the community. Put up flyers, tell your friends and family, and post on social media to spread the word.

As an adventurous traveler, you’ve probably taken some unique pictures of your experiences abroad. Why not use those photos and sell prints to raise funds for your next journey?

For this fundraising idea, pick some of your favorite pictures, print them on nice photo paper, and sell them around your community. You can even frame a few and charge a little extra.

You can ask your friends and family if they’d like to purchase a photo, but you should also ask local businesses as well. Restaurants and offices could always use new artwork to put on their walls.

What’s better than hosting a party to create excitement for your upcoming trip? Raising money while doing it!

You can host a party that’s themed to match your upcoming travels. Include food and decor that reflects the places you’ll be visiting and invite your friends to enjoy the festivities with you.

To add a fundraising component to the fun, you can charge a small door fee or set up a donation jar inside. When your peers get a glimpse of the culture you’re about to enjoy, they’ll be happy to get out their wallets.

No matter how convenient a phone or laptop calendar may be, everyone enjoys having a physical calendar hanging on the wall or sitting on their desk.

You can give your friends and family a taste of your trip year-round by creating custom calendars that highlight your favorite destinations. 

Put your calendars up for sale before you leave. Then when you return, send your travel photos off to an online calendar creator and present them to your generous supporters. Talk about a creative (and useful) souvenir!

Charity auctions can be a fast-paced and energetic way to raise more money and interact with your supporters face-to-face. You also have the opportunity to form some solid business connections!

Ask for charity auction items from local businesses; try to get as many items donated for close to nothing. That way, you can put your budget into creating a great atmosphere for your attendees.

Hire an auctioneer, send out invites, and cater in food and drinks. Make sure that everyone is aware of the rules of your charity auction beforehand. People will walk away with some unique items and experiences, and you can raise more money!

Silent auctions are a fun way to get a little more face time with your donors while they bid on unique and appealing items up for grabs. Plus, if you find the right auction items, you have the potential to raise a lot of money!

Ask local businesses and individuals if they would like to donate items to your silent auction. Common items include gift cards to restaurants, signed memorabilia, lessons from a professional of some kind, gift baskets, and more!

You can enlist the help of a mobile bidding tool to create a tech-enhanced bidding experience for your attendees. Mobile bidding software also makes checking in, checking out, and item monitoring easier on your auction volunteers and staff.

Walkathons are perfect for active supporters who like to show their passion for a cause. Walkathons are well-suited for healthcare-related issues and causes, but they can technically be used for any type of fundraising effort!

You’ll need to determine a location and time for your walkathon. Choose a season that is a good temperature with minimal risk of rain. Make sure you have a backup location just in case!

Then, send out invitations and design some merchandise like t-shirts and water bottles. You can sell these for an extra fee to raise money above any entrance costs you charge. Make sure you have medical and first-aid supplies nearby in the case of an accident.

Fundly Makes it Easy to Raise Money for Your Upcoming Trip or Adventure

It’s Fast & Simple
Quickly raise money for your trip or adventure with your personalized and completely unique crowdfunding campaign. Get up and running in five minutes and start accepting donations from your friends and family members.

It’s Personalized
Create a beautiful fundraising page for your adventure or upcoming trip with simple tools to upload images and videos. You can tell your story and let people know why traveling is so important to you.

 It’s Free
You shouldn’t have to invest money to raise money for your trip or adventure. With Fundly, there are no start-up costs! We charge a small fee on donations only if you raise money.

This adventurous woman started a crowdfunding campaign after being accepted into a hiking program that challenges women to hike three mountain peaks in three weeks across three South American countries. The money raised went to an organization that supports impoverished women and girls.

This campaign succeeded because of the story that the organizer told with words, images, and videos. She created a YouTube video that explained her cause and why she was raising money, which helped supporters connect with her campaign.

This crowdfunding campaign was started to help a young woman travel to England for a mission trip. She still has three days left in her campaign timeline, but luckily, her supporters have already helped her reach her goal of $2,500! Even though she only had 13 donors, this campaign is very successful.

One of the best things about this campaign was the update that the organizer posted that let people know about the increase in the price of a plane ticket. By keeping people in the loop, she was able to meet her fundraising goal!

After I graduated college, I wanted to take a year and travel through India to learn more about the culture. I knew that it wasn’t going to be cheap, so I started a crowdfunding campaign on Fundly and asked my friends and family for donations. They helped me fly overseas and experience the trip of a lifetime!

Jerome Barkerhttps://fundly.comStart Your Fundraiser

My school’s study abroad program is great, but when I found out that they didn’t cover airfare, I was devastated! I thought I wasn’t going to be able to spend the summer studying in Spain. When I found Fundly, I immediately started a campaign and within weeks had enough money to pay for a round trip ticket to Barcelona!

Madilyn Kent https://fundly.comStart Your Fundraiser

My husband and I decided to skip a registry and asked our wedding guests and family members to donate to our honeymoon crowdfunding campaign instead. We were able to spend three weeks in Europe thanks to the generosity and support of our friends and family!

Amy Chenhttps://fundly.com/Start Your Fundraiser

Additional Resources for your Fundraising Success

7 Tips for Fundraising Success

Discover 7 actionable tips for crowdfunding success!

10 Fundraising Examples

See how these 10 campaigns succeeded!

Understand Crowdfunding