How to Raise Money for School Field Trips and Class Trips

Field trips, outdoor education camps and class trips are among the most common reasons schools raise money, and they are covered here as part of fundraising for school projects. This guide is about trips for a class or grade: a day at a museum, a fifth-grade outdoor camp, a two-night science program. The fairness rules, pricing and pooled-fund approach here also apply to bigger trips; the multi-year 8th grade trip plan is in the middle school guide, and senior trips sit with the high school and senior class guide.

What the rules say about paying for trips

Trip money raises questions of fairness that other projects don't, because a child either goes or stays home. Some states and districts have written that down.

• Rhode Island. State law lets school committees budget for field trips if the trips meet the state's basic education program regulations and all students have the same ability to attend. Fundraising to supplement that budget is allowed only if it is voluntary, students aren't required to meet "individual fundraising targets as a condition of attendance on the trip," and parents may donate toward the cost (R.I. Gen. Laws 16-38-6).
• Frederick County Public Schools, Maryland. Board Policy 414 says required field trips are offered at no cost to the student. Elective trips may charge fees, and fundraising may help offset the cost, but students experiencing financial hardship may not be excluded. If school funds aren't available to support those students, the policy says the superintendent or principal shall cancel the trip.

Rhode Island's law is unusually specific, but some district policies point the same way: trips during the school day should be open to every student, and money raised for a trip should lower the cost for the group. Ask the principal for your district's field trip and fundraising policies before you set a price.

Work out the real cost per student

Most trip budgets come up short for the same reasons: the bus costs more than expected, chaperones need tickets too, and nobody planned for the students who can't pay. Build those in from the start.

1. Transportation

   Get the district's or the bus company's quote for the number of buses, the hours and any driver wait time. It is often the largest single cost.

2. Admission and program fees

   Ask the venue for its school rate and whether chaperones, teachers or students on free or reduced-price meals get a lower price. Many venues have school pricing, but ask rather than assume.

3. Chaperones

   Decide whether chaperone tickets, meals and (for overnight trips) lodging come from the trip fund or from the chaperones themselves. Put the answer on the volunteer form.

4. A scholarship reserve

   Add a line for students who can't pay. Some schools add a percentage; others estimate from the share of families who asked for help last year. Either way, put it in the budget rather than hoping donations cover it later.

Example A day trip for 100 fourth graders: two buses at $700 each ($1,400), admission at $12 per student ($1,200) and ten chaperone tickets at $12 ($120). The total is $2,720, or $27.20 per student. The PTA funds it from its field trip budget line, so families pay nothing.

Example A three-day fifth-grade outdoor education camp for 80 students: the program charges $240 per student ($19,200) and the bus costs $1,800, so the trip costs $21,000, or $262.50 per student. The PTA's budget line covers $6,000, the spring walk-a-thon's share covers $7,000 and two business sponsors give $1,000 each. That leaves $6,000, or $75 per student, as a suggested voluntary contribution. Plan for about 70 percent of families to pay it: 56 × $75 = $4,200, leaving $1,800. A "send a camper" option where families who can give more add $75 for another student closes the gap with 24 gifts.

Test your own numbers in the fundraising goal calculator, which adds a cushion for fundraiser costs, or lay out every line in the budget worksheet.

Pool the money: no individual targets or accounts

It is tempting to let each student's fundraising pay for that student's trip. Don't. Beyond the Rhode Island rule above, it can create a tax problem for a tax-exempt group holding the money. In a determination letter released in 2023 revoking a youth sports booster group's exemption, the IRS said the organization may not maintain individual accounts earmarked for a particular person. Determination letters aren't precedent for other groups, but this one follows a 2013 Tax Court decision. The guide to pooled funds instead of individual student accounts explains the background, including that Tax Court case. Ask your treasurer or an accountant how this applies to your group.

A pooled fund still lets you celebrate effort. Thank the class that raised the most, post progress on a fundraising thermometer, and tell families exactly how much the fundraiser lowered the price for everyone. What you don't do is send one family a bill for $262.50 and another a bill for $40 because of what each child brought in.

Field trip fundraising ideas that work

A budget line from the year's main fundraiser

The simplest and fairest approach. The parent group sets aside a field trip amount per grade in its annual budget and pays for it from its main fall or spring fundraiser. Families see one ask instead of a collection for every trip, and teachers can plan without waiting on a bake sale. The elementary school guide shows how a field trip line fits a K–5 budget.

A grade-level pledge event

For a bigger trip such as an outdoor camp, a walk-a-thon held by the grade going on the trip reaches relatives outside the school and needs little up-front money. See the elementary school walk-a-thon guide for a format that fits.

"Send a student" giving

Let families, grandparents and alumni give the cost of one student's place, with no name attached to which student it covers. It is a clear unit, it funds the scholarship reserve, and it lets families who can afford more help quietly.

Business sponsors for a bus or a day

A local business can sponsor the bus or the camp program, thanked in the trip letter and on a banner at the send-off. The sponsorship letter templates have wording to adapt.

Small events by the grade

A concession table at an evening concert or a coin contest between homerooms can close a gap of a few hundred dollars once the main sources are in. Keep each one modest and voluntary.

Grants and community partners

Ask the venue whether it has a fund for school visits, and ask local foundations and service clubs, especially if many of your students come from low-income families; the grants guide covers finding them.

Quiet scholarships for students who can't pay

The scholarship reserve only works if families can use it without embarrassment. A few habits help:

• Ask on every permission slip. Add one line: "If cost is a concern, check here or contact the counselor. No questions asked." Every family gets the same form.
• Keep requests with staff. The counselor, principal or teacher handles requests. Parent volunteers and the treasurer see only a total, never names.
• Cover extras too. Spending money, a packed lunch, a sleeping bag or a jacket can keep a child home from an overnight trip as surely as the fee. Plan for them.
• Never announce who paid. No lists of paid and unpaid students on a classroom wall or in a group message.

Schools that fund scholarships for programs beyond trips can use the same approach; see scholarships and after-school program funding.

Cutting fundraisers without losing trip money

Many parent groups run a separate collection for every trip, every assembly and every grade. Families feel nickel-and-dimed, and the totals are smaller than one well-planned ask. To cut the number of fundraisers without cutting trips:

1. Add up last year's trip costs

   Include every grade and every trip, plus what families paid directly. That total is what the budget line needs to cover.

2. Move trips into the annual budget

   Fund them from the year's main fundraiser, and say so in the fundraiser letter: "This year's walk-a-thon pays for every grade's field trips."

3. Keep one optional top-up

   For the one big trip of the year, such as a fifth-grade camp, add a single voluntary contribution with a scholarship option, rather than several small collections.

4. Publish the plan in August

   Show families the whole year's asks at once. The PTA and PTO fundraising calendar covers spacing.

If you raise more than the trip costs

Decide this before the fundraiser and put it in writing. The usual answer is that extra money stays in the pooled fund: it carries forward to next year's trip for the same grade, lowers the cost of another trip, or tops up the scholarship reserve. Pooled fundraising money shouldn't be paid out to individual students. Payments families made directly are a separate question, and your school's policy decides whether those are refunded.

Sources

1. R.I. Gen. Laws 16-38-6: Restrictions on commercial activity and fundraising in public schools, State of Rhode Island General Assembly (accessed 2026-10-30)
2. Policy 414: Field Trips, Frederick County Public Schools Board of Education (Maryland) (accessed 2026-10-30)
3. IRS letter 202334016 (revocation; individual accounts), Internal Revenue Service (accessed 2026-10-30)