School Brick and Paver Campaigns: Pricing, Wording and Tax Questions

A brick campaign is one of the capital-project options in school fundraising ideas. It asks families, alumni, staff and local businesses to pay for an engraved brick or paver that becomes part of something the school is building. It raises less per hour of effort than a pledge event, but it raises money from people a pledge event rarely reaches, such as grandparents, former students and retired staff, and it leaves a thank-you that lasts for years. It fits a defined, physical project: a new playground, a garden, an entrance plaza or a memorial bench area.

Is a brick campaign right for your project?

Bricks work when people can picture where their name will go. They work poorly for things nobody sees, such as a technology refresh or a field trip fund. Before you announce anything, settle four questions:

1. Who owns the ground?

   School grounds almost always belong to the district, so the walkway is a district facilities project even if the parent group pays for it. Facilities staff decide the location, the base, drainage and accessibility, and who installs. Start with the district approval process, because a brick walk that facilities won't approve can't be sold.

2. Who installs and when?

   Engraved bricks are usually laid in batches. Agree on whether the first batch goes in when the project is built, with later orders added each year, and who lifts and resets bricks for those later batches.

3. What happens in 20 years?

   Schools are renovated. Write down now what happens to the bricks if the area is rebuilt: relocated, offered back to the buyer, or kept in a new display. Families who bought a memorial brick will ask.

4. Is the project bigger than the bricks?

   Bricks rarely pay for a whole playground. Treat them as one source among several, with business sponsors, a grant and a pledge event, and set a brick goal that is realistic on its own.

Pricing the tiers

Most campaigns offer two or three sizes: a standard brick with a few short lines, a larger paver with more lines or a small logo, and a few feature stones in prominent spots for lead donors or sponsors. Price each tier from its true cost: the brick or paver, the engraving, a share of installation, and a share of any site work the campaign must cover. Ask your engraver for per-unit prices at your likely quantity, the characters per line and the number of lines each size allows, and the minimum batch.

Example A PTO wants $15,000 toward a school garden. Its engraver and installer quotes work out as follows:

Notice where the money comes from: four feature stones raise more than half as much as 100 standard bricks. Ask lead donors and sponsors for feature stones personally, before the public launch, and announce the campaign once those are committed. Site preparation for the walkway itself (excavation, base, edging) is a separate cost; put it in the fundraiser budget as its own line, and cover it with a sponsor or a grant if you can. The fundraiser profit calculator compares the campaign's net with a pledge event or a donation drive for the same goal.

Keeping it fair

A walkway of family names can quietly show which families could afford a brick. Two habits help. Offer class bricks ("Mrs. Lopez's Class, 2026–27" or "Class of 2027") paid from a pooled class fund or by a sponsor, so every child's class is on the path. And never publish lists of who bought what tier. The principles for fair fundraising at Title I schools apply to any campaign where giving is visible.

Planning the walkway

Lay out the design before you sell, so you know how many bricks fit and where each tier goes.

• Count the spaces for each tier, and sell no more than the design holds.
• Reserve a block of plain bricks that can be swapped for engraved ones in later batches. A "legacy walk" keeps selling for years only if it has room to grow.
• Decide whether buyers choose a location. Most campaigns place bricks in order received, with feature stones assigned.
• Keep a numbered map that matches each brick to its order, so families can find theirs and a damaged brick can be re-engraved.

Inscription rules

Every brick is permanent and public, on school property. Publish the rules with the order form and review every inscription before it goes to the engraver.

Point 3's ban on phone numbers and web addresses is a recommended policy for permanent inscriptions, not an IRS rule: the IRS regulation on sponsorships lists a sponsor's locations, telephone numbers and internet address as acknowledgment, not advertising. The reason to leave them off a brick is practical. Numbers and web addresses change while the brick lasts for decades, and many districts restrict commercial contact details on school grounds. Check point 3 against your district's advertising policy, and point 4 with the principal; some districts have their own rules on messages placed on school grounds. A memorial brick for a student or staff member deserves a personal conversation with the family before anything is engraved.

Printable order form

Log each order in a spreadsheet with the same fields, and deposit payments with two counters following the cash handling guide. Show progress toward the goal with a fundraising thermometer drawn in bricks or in dollars.

Donor walls and other formats

A school without space for a walkway can use the same model indoors. A donor wall mounts engraved tiles or plaques in a lobby, library or gym entrance; it needs only a wall, mounting hardware and facilities approval, and it can't be damaged by weather or snow plows. Other variations work the same way: engraved pavers around a flagpole or memorial bench, tiles set into a garden border, or a "buddy bench" area surrounded by class bricks. Whatever the format, the pricing, inscription rules and paperwork on this page apply.

Is an engraved brick tax-deductible?

Donors ask this more than anything else, and the honest answer is that it depends on the recipient and on what the donor receives. First, the recipient has to be a qualified organization, such as a parent group recognized as a 501(c)(3) charity or the school district itself; your treasurer should be able to show the group's IRS exemption status. Then three IRS rules apply:

• Only the gift part counts. IRS Publication 526 says that when a donor receives a benefit, "you can deduct only the amount of your contribution that is more than the value of the benefit you receive."
• Token benefits don't reduce it. Publication 526 says a donor doesn't have to reduce the deduction when they receive only "a small item or other benefit of token value" and the organization "correctly determines" the value isn't substantial and tells the donor the payment is deductible in full.
• Paperwork thresholds. IRS Publication 1771 requires a written acknowledgment for any single gift of $250 or more, and a written disclosure with a good-faith value estimate when a payment over $75 is partly a gift and partly a purchase. The donor acknowledgment section of the results and thank-you guide has wording for both.

Neither publication discusses engraved bricks specifically, so your group has to decide, with its treasurer and an accountant, how it describes what a brick buyer receives. Two situations are clearer than the rest. A keepsake replica brick that the buyer takes home is an item with value, so it reduces the deductible amount unless it qualifies as token; on a payment over $75, that calls for the disclosure. And a business that buys a brick as marketing is a different case from a family making a gift (see the next section). Whatever you decide, put the same wording on the order form and the receipt.

Business bricks: recognition, not advertising

Local businesses like feature stones and pavers, and they're a good source of lead gifts. Keep the inscription to recognition. Under the IRS sponsorship regulation (26 CFR 1.513-4), a sponsor payment stays simple when the business gets only acknowledgment, such as its name or a logo; qualitative or comparative language, price information, endorsements and inducements to buy count as advertising. The recognition wording section of the sponsorship letter guide explains the line in full. On a brick, it looks like this:

Recognition keeps the tax treatment simple for your group, and it is also what most district advertising policies allow on school grounds; the district rules section of the sponsorship guide lists what to check. A business may treat its payment as a marketing expense rather than a gift; that's a question for its own accountant, not your group.

Timeline

1. Approval and quotes

   District facilities approval, a site plan, and written quotes for bricks, engraving and installation, including minimum batch sizes and lead times.

2. Lead gifts

   Ask sponsors and lead donors for feature stones personally. Sponsorship letter templates help with the follow-up.

3. Public launch

   Send the order form and inscription guidelines home, share them with alumni and the community, and set an order deadline that leaves time for proofs, engraving and installation before the weather turns.

4. Proofs and engraving

   Review every inscription, send proofs, and place one order once all proofs are approved.

5. Installation and dedication

   Install in good weather, then hold a short dedication so families can find their bricks. Share the map and a thank-you that says what the campaign built.

6. Later batches

   Reopen orders once a year, for example at graduation or a reunion, and install them in one batch.

Sources

1. Publication 526 (2025): Charitable Contributions, Internal Revenue Service (accessed 2026-10-30)
2. Publication 1771: Charitable Contributions, Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements (Rev. 11-2023), Internal Revenue Service (accessed 2026-10-30)
3. T.D. 8991: Taxation of Tax-Exempt Organizations' Income from Corporate Sponsorship (26 CFR 1.513-4), Internal Revenue Service (accessed 2026-10-30)