Action Tips: School Supply Drive Ideas

As you gear up for your Staples for Students collection drive this year, follow these tips to really up the donations.

1. Partner up. Get a bunch of different groups to take part. Are you on the soccer team? Get them on board! Member of student government? Pull them in too. The more people are involved, the more successful your drive will be.
2. Clean out the Competition. Compete with your friends or set up a competition between grades or homerooms to see who can raise the most donations. The winner gets bragging rights.
3. Trim grass in exchange for donations. It's simple and you’ll get exercise!
4. Host a Movie Night. Charge a donation as the admission price. Take it a step further: ask a local movie theater to host it. Now you can get hundreds of people & loads of donations!
5. Have a Pajama/Dress Down/Crazy Hair Day. Petition your principal. Set a goal. (Like, if 50% of the students bring in a donation, you get to dress down.)
6. Use Any Upcoming Event. Spring dance? Prom? Big baseball game? The cost to take part can be a donation to your cause. After the event/game, deliver donations together.
7. Create a Raffle – Win Cool Stuff! Visit a few local stores (try a pizzeria, deli, video store) and get good prizes donated. Price of a ticket? A donation to the cause.
8. Lock Up Your Teacher. Columbus High School in Iowa did it last year. They put teachers on the school roof on a drizzly, cold day. (Seriously!) Each donated item added a minute of lock-up time. The result? 6+ hours on the roof! We all have teachers we’d like to see locked up....
9. Lemonade Stand. Pick a good location. Get fun people to work it. Pick a good time—like right in front of school in the morning or right outside of the mall on a Saturday. Advertise it with posters a few days before: "Want some ice cold lemonade? It’ll cost you a donation!"
10. Sponsor a sculpture contest. Get awesome prizes donated. The person or group with the craziest sculpture made out of donations (pencils, notebooks, whatever), gets the loot.
11. Days of the Week. Make a theme for each day of the week & tell people to bring in donations that fit the theme:
    • Manic Monday
    • Tacky Tuesday
    • Wacky Wednesday
    • Thick Thursday
    • Fake Friday