Fundraising for Service Clubs and Honor Societies

This guide is part of fundraising for school clubs, teams and boosters. It's written for advisers and student officers of community service clubs, honor society chapters, volunteer clubs and similar groups whose purpose is helping others. Those groups usually raise money for two different things: their own costs, such as induction ceremonies, service project supplies and chapter dues, and gifts to outside causes. The rules for the two are not the same.

Money for the club vs. money for a cause

Most clubs keep their money in a student activity account held by the school. That account exists to pay for the students' own activities, and the district sets rules on what it can be spent on. A donation to a food bank, a hospital or a family after a house fire doesn't benefit the students the way a field trip or a supply order does, so many districts treat it differently. Getting this wrong is a common reason a well-meant fundraiser gets stuck in the bookkeeper's office with nowhere to go.

What district and state rules say

Rules on giving school activity money to outside causes differ a lot, and many districts put them in an activity fund manual rather than a board policy. Two published examples show the range.

• Washington sets the rule in state law. RCW 28A.325.030 requires money from associated student body programs and activities to go into the district's associated student body program fund. Separately, subject to school board policy, student groups may raise money in their private capacity for scholarship, student exchange or charitable purposes. That money is held in trust in separate accounts, isn't treated as public money, and requires notice of its intended use. The district may withhold its direct costs, and charitable purposes don't include helping a candidate's campaign or promoting or opposing a ballot measure.
• Chicago limits what internal accounts can buy. Chicago Public Schools Policy 401.21, on school internal accounts, says those funds "shall only be spent on educational programs and activities that benefit the student body." A gift from a club's internal account to an outside charity would have to fit that test, so ask the school's business manager how a charity drive should be set up before it starts.

The common thread: money raised for an outside cause should be identified as charity money from the start, held apart from the club's regular funds and paid out through the school's process. If your club is supported by a booster club or parent group that is its own nonprofit, that group may be a simpler place to hold the money, as long as its bylaws allow gifts to other charities. The comparison of school accounts and booster clubs explains the difference.

Setting up a charity fundraiser

1. Choose the cause with the adviser

   Pick a specific organization, ideally a local one students can visit or hear from. Check that it is a recognized charity, and avoid anything partisan, which many districts and some state laws exclude.

2. Ask the bookkeeper how to hold the money

   Find out which account or ledger line will hold it, what form opens it, and how the school pays an outside organization. Do this before you advertise.

3. Get approval in writing

   Submit the fundraiser to the principal or activities director like any other, naming the charity and the dates. The district approval guide covers the usual steps.

4. Announce the purpose everywhere

   Every flyer, announcement and donation jar should say who the money is for. Donors deserve to know, and some state rules require notice of the intended use.

5. Count, deposit and pay the charity

   A two-person count, a same-day deposit with the bookkeeper, and one check from the school to the charity. Ask the charity for a letter acknowledging the gift.

6. Tell everyone the result

   Share the total and what it paid for. A photo of the check handed to the food bank does more for next year's drive than any flyer.

Use this wording on flyers and announcements so the purpose is clear from the start:

When an outside charity wants to fundraise at school

Charities often ask schools to run their campaigns, sometimes with collection boxes and materials ready to hand out. That's a different situation from students choosing a cause. Some states restrict adults soliciting students for outside organizations. California's Education Code section 51520 says that during school hours, and within an hour before or after, students may not be solicited on school premises by teachers or others for organizations not under the control of school authorities. The exception is a chartered, nonpartisan charitable organization whose solicitation the county board of education or the district's governing board approves. The same section allows students to solicit other students for lawful purposes. In practice, a student-run drive that the club organizes is usually simpler than a campaign run by the charity's staff. Ask your district what applies.

Fundraisers that suit service clubs

A service club's advantage is willing hands and a community that trusts it. The best ideas put both to work.

Each has a fuller guide: car washes and service fundraisers, recycling and donation drives, running a matching challenge, the live charity walk-a-thon guide and penny wars.

Volunteer grants from parents' employers

When parents and other adults volunteer alongside students, some employers pay a grant for the hours, under eligibility rules that often limit payment to schools, districts or registered charities; the volunteer grants guide explains how adults log and claim them.

Honor society costs and fairness

Honor society chapters often have costs of their own: an induction ceremony, certificates, graduation cords or stoles, and dues to a national organization. Whether the school covers those, the chapter raises the money or students pay depends on the chapter and the district, and some states limit what public schools may charge students. California's Education Code section 49011, for example, bars requiring a student fee to take part in an educational activity; whether that reaches a particular chapter cost is the district's call. A chapter that budgets the year and raises the money itself avoids the question, and no eligible student turns down membership over a fee.

Example A chapter inducts 40 members and graduates 25 seniors. Its year costs $300 for the induction ceremony (programs, refreshments and decorations), $120 for certificates ($3 × 40), $250 for seniors' graduation cords ($10 × 25) and $250 in national dues, or $920. Four tutoring nights at about $150 in donations each bring in $600, the chapter's share of a fall service day adds $200, and the school or parent group covers the $120 in certificates. That is $600 + $200 + $120 = $920, with no required member fee.

• Check the national rules first. Some national organizations set chapter dues or limit what chapters may charge members; the adviser's handbook says which.
• Keep chapter costs in the chapter's account, separate from any money raised for an outside cause.
• If members do pay something, make it voluntary where state rules require that, and let the adviser waive it quietly for any student who asks.

Two more points for chapter advisers. First, check your chapter's own rules on whether fundraising counts toward members' service hours; some service programs count only direct service, not money raised. Second, keep chapter money pooled for the whole chapter rather than credited to individual members, the same approach pooled funds versus individual accounts recommends for every student group.

Sources

1. RCW 28A.325.030: Associated student body program fund, fund-raising activities, nonassociated student body program fund moneys, Washington State Legislature (accessed 2026-10-30)
2. Policy 401.21: School Internal Accounts Management (Board Report 08-0924-PO3), Chicago Public Schools (accessed 2026-10-30)
3. California Education Code section 51520: Solicitation of pupils on school premises, State of California (statute text as published by FindLaw) (accessed 2026-10-30)
4. California Education Code section 49011: Pupil fees, State of California (statute text as published by California Public Law) (accessed 2026-10-30)