Fundraising Tips For Your School Trip

Traveling Next Year? Save Up This Summer! If you’re traveling on an ACIS educational tour in the next year, there is no time like the present to start saving up! In this post we’ve put together some key ways that former students and teachers have raised money in the past. Even though some may seem simple, they can make a great difference in your financial planning. Here are some fundraising tips for your school trip.

Sign up for ACIS Automatic Payments

There is an easy first step to making your trip-budgeting easier: Enroll in autopay for free! Automatic Payment plans allow you to spread payments out over a longer period of time and in custom amounts that fit your financial needs.

And here is the best part – Everyone who enrolls in autopay is automatically entered to win their trip for free! Just make sure you enroll at least 101 days before the start of your trip.

Start an ACIS Personal Fundraising Page

Last year, ACIS began offering students a personalized crowd-funding resource. Upon registration for your trip, you’ll be able to create a page that details why going on this trip is important to you and how donations can help you participate in a life-changing cultural experience. Share with family, friends and kind people of the internet and you may just find yourself ahead of budget schedule.

The current total of all donations to all personal fundraising pages? Over $244,000!

Track Your Spending

Taking time to document your spending habits outside of your monthly bank notices can offer surprising benefits and improve the way you think of your finances. Download a free app such as Mint or start an excel document to track how much you are spending per day, week and month. You’ll start to observe trends, such as how much you spend on that morning cup of coffee at Starbucks, that can be altered to save money for those authentic Italian gelato stops!

Organize a Summer Sale

It doesn’t have to be lemonade! Call up a group of your fellow travelers and organize a summer benefit. We’ve had past groups throw bowling alley fundraisers, pizza parties and cultural bazaars. Even if you aren’t ready to have the event itself over the summer, the free time is an excellent opportunity to make plans for fall.

For inspiration on what products to sell, see our blog post on 20 items to offer at your next fundraiser.

Have a Summer Job? Put Away a Few Dollars of Each Paycheck

Funds from your summer job may be going toward daily life expenses or college preparation, but if you are planning to travel in the coming year, consider setting aside a fraction of each paycheck for your time abroad. It could be as low as 0.05%, but that will still go a long way toward helping you reach your travel goal faster. Use our fundraising tips for your next school trip. We’d love to hear your ideas too!

What are your strategies for travel fundraising? Share with us in the comments!