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Choosing a fundraiser at a Catholic school comes with a few extra steps. You're working with a development office, a pastor and a diocesan policy, and some popular formats won't clear that review. At least one diocese names candy sales, pizza discount cards and coupon books as unacceptable in writing.
The good news? Plenty of great options do clear, and many of them ask very little of your volunteers. Every idea here is sorted by volunteer load, because a small school office and a busy Home and School Association only have so many hands. Each one comes with what it takes to get approved.
At a glance
The "Approval-First" Shortlist
- Get the approval before you book the date. Many diocesan policies (like the Columbus Catholic Schools policy in La Crosse) require Development Office sign-off before you book dates or solicit volunteers.
- The lightest lifts: Managed pledge-based student events, targeted annual appeals, restaurant partnership nights, and online spirit-wear stores.
- Generally accepted: Bake sales, car washes, pancake breakfasts, and student-created art sales.
- Generally rejected: Third-party product sales (candy, coupon cards) involving students selling door-to-door.
- Raffles follow state law. California, for example, requires a 90% charitable payout and prohibits online ticket sales. Your diocese has to approve them too.
- Point the proceeds at the tuition assistance fund. It is the most powerful, mission-driven destination for funds, resonating deeply with parishioners, alumni, and grandparents.
In this guide
The best fundraisers for Catholic schools, ranked by volunteer load
A small front office and an eight-person HSA board can only take on so much. Here is how the most common formats stack up when it comes to your team's time and energy.
Light load, little or no event-day staffing
- 1An Apex pledge-based student event. Your local Apex team comes to campus and runs the whole two-week program, from the kickoff pep rally to event day. Families, parishioners and alumni pledge online, and more than 70% of donations come from outside the student's household. Your school picks the dates and sends the emails, and every cost comes out of the funds raised. Pick a Fun Run, Glow Run, Obstacle Course or Remix dance party, or Color Games and Apex Games for grades 6 to 8.
- 2A focused ask that feeds the annual appeal. One beautifully written letter with a clear destination, sent by the development office. There is no event to staff, and the donations are easily receipted because no goods are exchanged.
- 3A partnership night with a local business. A local restaurant hosts and staffs the evening. Your school promotes the date, and the business cuts you a check for a percentage of the sales.
- 4An online spirit-wear store. One volunteer approves the designs, the vendor handles the printing and ships directly to homes. Your only job is putting the link in the weekly newsletter.
Moderate load, a crew for a morning or an afternoon
- 1A pancake breakfast in the parish hall. A classic that brings in parishioners who don't have kids at the school. It requires a dedicated kitchen crew, a Sunday morning after Mass, and a spot on the parish hall calendar.
- 2A bake sale attached to something already on the calendar. The lightest of the traditional formats. Tie it to an event families are already attending (like a Christmas concert) so you aren't asking them to make a second trip.
- 3A student-created art or craft sale. Explicitly approved by most dioceses because the work is genuinely student-made. Just remember that the labor falls heavily on your art and classroom teachers, so get their buy-in first.
- 4A car wash run by the older grades. Great as a service activity for older grades. It requires a Saturday, a large parking lot, intense adult supervision, and a backup plan for rain.
Heavy load or gated by outside approval
- 1A gala or auction. Incredible for reaching wealthy benefactors and alumni. However, they require months of intense procurement work, usually falling on the shoulders of one or two highly connected volunteers. Tax receipting is also complex.
- 2A raffle, and only after two offices say yes. Only attempt this after clearing it with two different offices. State charitable-gaming laws are incredibly strict, and your diocese will want to see your paperwork.
The one to leave off the list: third-party candy, pizza-card and coupon-book sales. More on why below.
| Format | Who does the work | Event-day volunteers | How the money comes in | Clears most diocesan policy | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apex pledge-based student event (managed) | Your local Apex team runs lessons, sign-ups and event day. Your school picks dates, clears the calendar, secures approvals and communicates with families. | Apex staffs it. Your team cheers. | Families and relatives pledge online through Apex's pledge platform. | Yes. Student participation event, no outside product sold. | A school that needs a real result without adding staffing it doesn't have. |
| Pledge-based student event (DIY) | Your HSA board owns lessons, sign-ups, pledge tracking and event day. | Many, across a full day | Pledges collected by your own team. | Yes, same category. | A school with a deep volunteer bench and a chair who has run it before. |
| Direct ask feeding the annual appeal | Development office writes and sends it. One person tracks gifts. | None | Outright gifts, online or by check. | Yes, with the standard approval. | Any school. It's the backbone the events sit around. |
| Partnership or restaurant night | Your school promotes the date. The business staffs the night. | None, though a greeter table helps | The business remits a share of qualifying sales. | Yes. Named acceptable in the Columbus policy. | A quick win between bigger efforts. |
| Online spirit-wear store | One volunteer opens the store. The printer fulfills. | None when the vendor ships to homes | Families order online, the vendor pays a margin. | Usually Though confirm it isn't treated as a product sale. |
Schools with strong school-spirit culture. |
| Gala or auction | A committee, over months. | A full evening crew | Ticket sales, bids and sponsorships. | Yes, with approval. Receipting is more complex. | Schools with an alumni and benefactor base to invite. |
| Raffle | A committee, plus filings. | Ticket sellers and a drawing | Ticket sales, under state gaming rules. | Only with approval, and only where state law allows it. | Read the raffle section first. |
| Third-party product sale | The company ships the product. Your families sell it. | Distribution days on campus | Your school keeps a share of product sales. | No under the Columbus policy, which names candy, pizza and coupon-card sales unacceptable. | Better left off the calendar. |
The Three Approvals You Need First
Getting the order of operations wrong is the most common misstep a parent group makes. Before you fall in love with a vendor or an idea, you need these three green lights.
1. The development or advancement office
The development or advancement office owns the fundraising calendar. They manage enrollment strategies, alumni engagement, and the annual appeal. Your event must harmonize with their schedule so families aren't overwhelmed with back-to-back financial requests.
2. The pastor
At a parish school, the pastor is a primary stakeholder. Many parish schools receive parish support, and he also controls access to your widest donor base: parishioners and alumni who sit in the pews every Sunday.
3. Your state's charitable gaming authority
If your fundraiser involves an element of chance (raffles, 50/50 draws), state law applies.
Navigating raffle rules
Raffles look simple, and the rules behind them are anything but. Raffles are highly regulated. In California, for example, a school must register (Form CT-NRP-1) months before a ticket is sold, pay an annual fee, and surrender 90% of gross receipts to the charitable purpose. Most importantly: operating a raffle over the internet is strictly prohibited.
A school can be fully compliant with state law and still cause a massive headache for the diocese by filing a report late. Go to your state's gaming authority for the law, and your diocesan development office for the license. If the answers are complicated, pick a different fundraiser.
The formats that often do not clear
Third-party product sales are the clearest example. The Columbus policy explicitly names third-party candy sales, pizza sales, and coupon-card sales as unacceptable. No amount of potential profit changes that answer, because the diocese objects to the format itself.
Two more patterns draw scrutiny even where policy doesn't name them outright.
Anything that sends children door to door. The National PTA’s fundraising standards clearly state that fundraising should never involve children in door-to-door sales. Diocesan policies and school handbooks almost universally land in the same place. It is a child-safety mandate before it is a fundraising rule.
Anything scheduled during the school day. Some policies limit fundraising during school hours, so ask your principal how your school applies that rule to student events before you choose a format.
Where the money should go, and how that changes the ask
If you want your campaign to resonate, point the proceeds toward the tuition assistance fund. In a Catholic school market, that is the destination that does the heavy lifting for you. It uses the mission-driven language the school already speaks every day.
A new sound system is a lovely thing to fund. But "keeping a family in this school" is a profoundly different kind of ask. It reaches people a playground campaign never will. Parishioners with no child enrolled, alumni who still sit in the pews, and grandparents who paid tuition years ago will all hear and answer that call.
The reason it lands is structural. Tuition doesn't cover the full cost of educating a student, so local fundraising is a real line in the school's operating budget. Our guide to how Catholic schools get funded walks through the numbers.
Three practical notes before you name tuition assistance in your materials.
Confirm the fund's restriction rules. Money pointed at tuition assistance is legally restricted, and your business office must track it differently from unrestricted proceeds. Ask what reporting they will need from you at the end of the year.
Coordinate with the annual appeal. The annual appeal usually funds this exact same tuition gap. Your development office will want your event to feed into their broader story and steer clear of competing with it. Have that conversation in your very first meeting.
Write the ask so every family can hear it. The NCEA reported for 2025-26 that 22.2% of students in Catholic schools are not Catholic. Your materials are going home to families who chose the school for its academics, its structure, or its community. An ask built around supporting the child and the school reaches all of them, and it costs the mission language nothing.
Fitting it to the Catholic school year
Timing dictates more than the format in this sector, and the Catholic fundraising year provides your framework. Policies (like Columbus) set the calendar from July 1 to June 30, meaning a spring event and a fall event land in the same reporting year.
Two weeks bring the whole community's attention to your school. Discover Catholic Schools Week runs November 15 to 21, 2026, and Catholic Schools Week runs January 31 to February 6, 2027. During both, your parish, alumni, current families and neighbors are already looking at the school, so an event there gets a wonderful head start!
The window to protect is Lent. Lent is a season built around prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (giving to those in need). Schools generally avoid running a self-benefiting fundraiser inside it, and Advent behaves much the same way. Plan around both before you pick a date, because a calendar conflict with a liturgical season is much harder to explain to a pastor than a scheduling double-booking.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need diocesan approval for every fundraiser?
Assume yes and verify with your own diocese. The Columbus Catholic Schools policy requires Development Office approval on a Fundraiser Request Form before planning, booking dates, or soliciting volunteers. It applies to every fundraiser. Policies differ, so pull your diocese's own document and treat any list online as a starting point.
Can our Catholic school run a raffle?
That depends on your state and your diocese, and both answers have to come before planning. State charitable gaming law sets registration, reporting and prize rules. California requires registration before any ticket is sold, and it prohibits raffles run over the internet. Your diocesan development office holds the policy and often the raffle license itself.
What fundraisers are usually off limits at a Catholic school?
Third-party product sales are the most common exclusion. The Columbus policy names candy sales, pizza sales and coupon-card sales as unacceptable, while bake sales, car washes, pancake breakfasts, student-created items and partnership events are acceptable. Anything sending children door to door draws objections on child-safety grounds as well.
Should the Home and School Association or the development office run the fundraiser?
The development or advancement office owns fundraising, and the Home and School Association supports it with volunteers, communication and energy. Bringing a provider to the development office as a joint proposal from both tends to move much faster than a parent group arriving alone.
A corporate sponsor asked for our 501(c)(3) determination letter and we don't have one. What now?
Most parish schools aren't separately incorporated with their own determination letter. Exemption usually flows through the USCCB group ruling, GEN 0928, with recognition tied to the school's listing in the current Official Catholic Directory. Ask your parish business manager or diocesan finance office for the group ruling documentation and the OCD listing, and send those.
Can we fundraise during Lent?
Most schools won't, and it's worth asking before you assume. Lent centers on almsgiving, which points outward to people in need, so a self-benefiting campaign sits awkwardly inside it. A service-focused collection is a different matter. Your pastor is the right person to ask.
Plan it with us
Send us two open weeks and we'll build the plan around your approvals
Choosing this year's fundraiser means satisfying a development calendar, a pastor, a diocesan policy and a Home and School Association board. That's real work, and you've got plenty else on your plate. You're already doing the hardest part by checking the policy before the date.
Your local Apex team comes to campus and runs the whole two-week program: the leadership lessons, the sign-ups, the pledge pages and event day itself. Your school keeps the pieces that belong to you: the dates, the calendar, the approvals, and the message that goes home to families.
Your calendar picks the program that fits. Every single student takes part, whatever their family is able to give. The costs come out of the funds raised, so nothing is due up front. You'll see the whole plan in writing before you decide anything.
Send us two weeks that are open on your calendar and we'll bring the full plan to your next Home and School Association meeting!
Sources
- Columbus Catholic Schools, Diocese of La Crosse, Fundraising Policy. Approval requirements, the July 1 to June 30 fundraising year, the school-hours restriction, the acceptable and unacceptable format lists, and the raffle reporting warning.
- California Attorney General, Raffles. Form CT-NRP-1 registration before ticket sales, $30 annual fee, January 1 renewal, 60-day application window, 90% of gross receipts to charitable purposes, Form CT-NRP-2 annual report by February 1, internet raffle prohibition.
- NCEA, Annual Statistical Report 2025-26. 22.2% of students in Catholic schools are not Catholic.
- NCEA, Catholic Schools Week schedule. Celebrate Catholic Schools Week January 31 to February 6, 2027. Discover Catholic Schools Week November 15 to 21, 2026.
- USCCB, Group Ruling FAQ. Group exemption GEN 0928 and the Official Catholic Directory listing mechanism.
- Healey Education Foundation, Hats off to advancement directors, October 23, 2019. Scope of the advancement director role.
- ISM, Working with parent associations. Coordinating development office and parent association asks on a shared calendar.
- California State PTA Toolkit, Standards for PTA Fundraising. National PTA standards, including the position against involving children in door-to-door sales.
- IRS Publication 1771, Charitable Contributions: Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements. Named as the governing document.
