Student Council Fundraising: Ideas, Approvals and the School Store

This guide is part of fundraising for school clubs, teams and boosters. A student council, student government or associated student body is different from every other club in the building. Its audience is the whole school, its events (homecoming, dances, spirit weeks) are the ones students remember, and in many schools it also has a say over other groups' money. That makes it a good place for students to learn how real budgets, approvals and audits work.

The council's two money jobs

Most councils handle two kinds of money, and mixing them up causes most of the trouble.

• The council's own account. Money the council raises for its own events and for school-wide purposes, such as dances, spirit days, senior activities or a gift to the school. It is usually a student activity account held by the school.
• Oversight of other groups' accounts. In some states and districts the student body organization is the umbrella for every club account in the school, and a student representative must approve spending. California's Education Code section 48933 requires three approvals for every expenditure from a student body organization's funds: an employee or official the district board designates, the certificated employee who advises the organization, and a representative of the student organization.

If your council has the second job, take it seriously. Reviewing a club's purchase request isn't a formality; it is a check on how public money is spent, and council members should ask what the purchase is for and whether it matches what the money was raised for. The guide to school activity accounts explains how deposits and approvals usually work.

The council is also often the keeper of the school's fundraising calendar. With a dozen clubs and teams all raising money, someone has to stop three groups from selling candy in the same week. The free fundraising calendar maker lays out a year so the council, the activities director and the parent group can see every request in one place.

Fundraisers that suit a council

The best council fundraisers are school-wide, cheap to run and fun enough that students take part without being pushed.

Each has its own guide: school and family dances, dress-down and theme days, running a school store, penny wars, candy-grams and spirit wear. For class-against-class formats, the prizes and incentives guide covers leaderboards and rewards that cost nothing. Middle school councils can also draw on the middle school fundraising guide, which covers dances, movie nights and spring fairs with student-run booths.

A council school store

A school store, whether a cart at lunch or a window by the gym, gives a council steady income and students real practice with inventory, pricing and cash. Two things set it apart from the council's other fundraisers. It is a standing operation, so it needs the principal's approval for the store itself (location, hours, what it sells and which adult supervises), not just an event approval. And a store open on a regular schedule can owe sales tax where an occasional sale wouldn't: Washington's Department of Revenue, for example, says associated student bodies can qualify for tax exemptions on periodic fundraising but lists a student store open during lunch every day as taxable. Anything edible it sells during the school day falls under the food rules below. Stocking, pricing, inventory counts and staffing are covered in the guide to running a school store.

Dances and spirit weeks

Dances

Homecoming, winter formal and themed dances are the council's biggest earners and biggest responsibilities. The ticket price has to cover the DJ, decorations, security, any facility or custodial charges and refreshments before a dollar is profit. Run the numbers at a low, middle and high attendance estimate before you set the price, as in the example below. Agree with the administration on chaperone numbers, the guest policy for students from other schools and the rules for leaving and re-entering. For a dance that also raises pledges, the live guide to middle and high school dance-a-thons shows how to combine the two.

Example A winter formal in the school gym, with tickets at $15. Fixed costs are a $600 DJ, $300 in decorations, $400 for two security officers and a $200 custodial charge, or $1,500. Refreshments cost $2 a student.

Each ticket contributes $13 toward the fixed costs ($15 − $2), so the dance breaks even at 116 students. If last year's dance drew fewer than about 150, the council should cut a fixed cost or sell tickets in advance before committing to the DJ. The profit calculator runs the same comparison for other events.

Spirit weeks and dress-down days

A theme day where students donate a small amount to wear a jersey, pajamas or a costume costs almost nothing to run. Keep it voluntary: students who don't pay should still be able to dress normally without being singled out, and the themes need the principal's approval against the dress code. Tie each day to a visible goal, such as new equipment for the student lounge or the council's gift to the school, and post the running total.

Food sold during the school day

This is where councils get caught most often, because so many of their ideas involve food: candy-grams, bake sales, snack carts and the school store. The diagram below is the whole test; the Smart Snacks rules and state exempt-fundraiser limits have the details for each state. The candy grams guide shows how the food rule applies to grams and how to switch to non-food ones.

Under the federal rule, the school day runs from midnight before until 30 minutes after the official end of the school day, so a sale right at dismissal still counts. Each state agency decides how often exempt fundraisers may happen, and a state can set that number at zero. Wisconsin, for example, allows two exempt fundraisers per student organization per school year, each lasting no more than two consecutive weeks, and, as the federal rule also says, they can't be sold in competition with school meals in the food service area during meal service.

Where a limit counts per organization, as in Wisconsin, the council is the natural keeper of the count: add an "exempt fundraiser number" line to every proposal (the template below has one) so no group uses an exemption the school doesn't have.

A fundraiser proposal for council meetings

Ask every fundraiser idea, the council's own or another group's, to come with the same short proposal. It speeds up meetings and teaches students to think through costs before they vote.

Once a fundraiser ends, report the actual numbers back to the council at the next meeting. The results and thank-you guide has templates for a short report to the school. Councils that want to give money to an outside charity should read the service and honor club guide first, because the rules on donating school activity money to outside causes can be strict.

Sources

1. California Education Code section 48933: Student body organization funds, State of California (statute text as published by California Public Law) (accessed 2026-10-30)
2. 7 CFR 210.11: Competitive food service and standards (Smart Snacks), including school day and exempt fundraisers, U.S. Department of Agriculture regulation (text as published by Cornell Legal Information Institute) (accessed 2026-10-30)
3. Exempt Fundraiser Tracking Tool, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (accessed 2026-10-30)
4. ASB, PTA, PTSA and Booster Clubs industry guide, Washington State Department of Revenue (accessed 2026-10-30)