I think this is the best place for this post.

I am primarily a writer, but also teach writing & composition, and Spanish at a local private school (don't be deceived, my students are not wealthy).

I love to travel and appreciate how it teaches better than any book or lecture can, and I want to share it with my students. They seem to be so close minded and I know introducing them to different cultures can change that, not to mention travel looks great on college applications. I have information from all of the educational touring companies (EF, etc.) but the cost is what I can't get parents and other decision makers past, and if I do, what are some good fundraiser ideas? The school is small and already holds numerous fundraisers throughout the year. I don't want to overload anyone.

Any advice is welcome!

After having chaperoned two student trips to Europe, I can tell you that the best advice is to have your travel plans be student-driven. If you are the one who is trying to motivate the school/parents to get over the sticker shock of an expensive trip, you will have a long road ahead of yourself.

However, if you can find two or three key students who are very enthusiastic about travel, you will have half of your work done for you. Is there a travel club in your school? If not, starting one this year will help you to find students who are passionate and excited about travel. Passionate and excited students make excellent pests. They will work harder to find the money to do the thing that they want than you ever could. This is the perfect chance to exploit that typically irritating trait of adolescence to everyone's benefit.



Next, have them help you think about ways that they can work to fund their trip. Since the students will be the ones who will be doing most of the work involved in the fundraiser, having them decide what they could do to make money for their trip is a useful way to proceed. This also will take some of the pressure off of you.

Here are a few other ideas:

Do you know any teachers in your area who have already organized/participated in a student trip? If so, see if you can partner with them. Having a group made up of students from more than one school will help you to recruit more students for your trip as well as create a larger pool of labor for your fundrasing work.

Are there other teachers at your school who are interested in student travel? Partner with them. They can work with you to develop fundraisers as well as 'advertise' the trip in their classes. A foreign language teacher who decides to partner with a history teacher and an English teacher will have much better luck in organizing a trip than just a single teacher.

There is no need to reinvent the fundrasing wheel. Review what your school already does to fundraise. Are any of these strategies potentially useful to you?

Consider your destination and the culture of that place. Create events that are fun and academically supportive based on the place. Traveling to Spain? Have a monthly Spanish movie night and charge admission. Perhaps you could focus on movies that are filmed in the area where you will be traveling.

Traveling to Mexico? Celebrate a Mexican holiday/tradition. Have students prepare food and charge a 'buffet' fee.

Consider fundraising outside of the school environment. Is there a business/professional club outside of your school who would be willing to help pay for a portion of your trip? Perhaps the students could return the favor in some way -- such as giving a presentation upon their return or doing an act of community service.

I'm not a big fan of selling items to fundraise, however, there are these fabulous discount cards that are relatively inexpensive to the buyer (about $10) that can be used repeatedly for some really great discounts. The key to a good card is in the selection of sponsors -- I bought one of these cards last year simply because it had a 'buy a coffee get a free donut' option. I used that card several times each week and saved a gob of money -- I ate a gob of donuts, but it was worth it. I bought this card from a student who was selling them in front of a grocery store. This student sold more than a 100 of them in just two hours by sitting at a table on a Saturday. Why? They weren't going door to door and they were fundraising outside of the school environment, which means that they were accessing people who weren't already fundrasing fatigued. I think that this is key to a successful campaign -- tapping new people who aren't constantly being hit up for money.

Good luck!

Thanks! I've thought about a Travel Club for a while, and I think this is the year. Then, even if we don't get to go anywhere right away, I can still do some cultural activities with them and hopefully, they will be enlightened.

She has some great advice. A travel club is a great idea