School colour runs are brilliant fun. Children get messy, parents get some fab photos and the PTA gets an event that people actually want to take part in.

But there’s another reason we’re such big fans of them: a well-planned school colour run has fantastic fundraising potential.

Rather than thinking of your colour run as a one-off event where everyone pays a few pounds to take part, think about all the fundraising opportunities you can build around it.

Sponsorship, donations, Gift Aid, local business giveaways, refreshments and a few colourful extras can all add to the total, meaning those extra pounds soon add up!

Start with the sums

Before deciding what to charge, work out roughly what your colour run will cost to put on.

Colour powder will obviously be one of the main expenses, alongside any medals, sunglasses, refreshments, printed materials or other bits you want to include. If you’re going all out, we can offer bespoke printed t-shirts (this is a great way to offer more sponsor visibility).

Once you know your costs, you can decide how you want the fundraising side to work.

Some schools charge an entry fee that helps cover the cost of putting on the event and then encourage children to collect sponsorship on top. Others subsidise the event and concentrate heavily on sponsorship and donations.

There isn’t one perfect formula. The important thing is knowing your costs from the start so you have a clear idea of how much money the event is actually raising.

Sponsorship is where things can really take off

Imagine 300 children taking part in a colour run. If every child simply pays £5 to enter, that’s £1,500 coming in before you’ve taken your costs into account.

Now imagine those same 300 children each raise £20 in sponsorship -that’s £6,000! Suddenly you’re looking at a very different type of fundraiser.

Not every child will raise the same amount, of course. Some might raise £5, while another child with particularly generous grandparents could bring in £100 – the important thing is giving families the opportunity to fundraise and making it as easy as possible for them to do it.

Online fundraising pages are particularly useful because parents can share them with family, friends and colleagues without having to chase people around with a paper sponsorship form.

Put your donation QR code everywhere

If you have an online donation or fundraising page for your colour run, create a QR code that takes people straight to it.

Put it on your colour run posters. Add it to letters going home. Include it in the school newsletter. Put it on your social media posts.

On the day itself, print a few larger signs and put them where parents and spectators will see them.

You could have one at registration, another near the finish line and one next to your refreshments.

Keep the wording simple:

Enjoying our Colour Run?
Scan here to support our school!

Someone watching their child cross the finish line covered head-to-toe in a rainbow of colour powder is already having a lovely time. If they can scan a code and donate £5 in a few seconds, you’ve made supporting the school incredibly easy.

The golden rule? Test your QR code before you send 500 flyers to print. Nobody wants to discover on Colour Run morning that they’ve created a beautifully designed QR code that leads absolutely nowhere. Platforms such as Canva have a free QR code generator to add to promotional materials.

Make the most of Gift Aid

If your PTA or fundraising organisation is eligible for Gift Aid, this is something worth looking into before setting up your fundraising page.

Gift Aid allows eligible charities to claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated by an eligible UK taxpayer.

So a qualifying £20 donation could potentially become £25.

Multiply that across hundreds of donations and it can make a meaningful difference to the final amount raised.

There are rules around what qualifies, though. An entry fee or payment for something isn’t automatically a Gift Aid donation, for example, so it’s important to structure things correctly.

If you’re eligible, choose a fundraising platform that makes it easy for supporters to complete a Gift Aid declaration and check the latest HMRC guidance before your event.

Give everyone something to aim for

“We’re doing a colour run to raise money for school” is fine, but “We’re trying to raise £5,000 for our new playground” is much more powerful!

Give your school community a target and tell them exactly what the money will achieve. Then make some noise about your progress – both in newsletters and on social media.

But don’t stop at the big school target. Give the children their own fundraising goals too.

Small incentives can make fundraising feel like part of the fun. For example, raise £10 and receive a small prize such as a bouncy ball. Reach £20 and perhaps there’s an extra treat added. You could then have a bigger prize for the highest fundraiser in each class, year group or across the whole school.

It doesn’t need to cost much. In fact, inexpensive prizes can create a surprising amount of excitement when there’s a challenge attached to them!

And let’s face it, a little friendly competition between parents can sometimes do wonders for the fundraising total too…

“Sophie’s only £3 away from the next prize!”

“Someone in Year 4 has already raised £75!”

Suddenly, that fundraising page might be getting shared with a few more grandparents, aunties, uncles and work colleagues.

You could even create a simple Colour Run Fundraising Challenge:

£10 raised – Colour Run prize
£20 raised – Prize + extra treat
£50 raised – Colour Run superstar reward
Top fundraiser – All of the above & an extra special gift

Choose rewards that work for your budget and school. The aim isn’t to spend lots on prizes; it’s to give children achievable little milestones that encourage them to keep going.

Combine those individual goals with a visible whole-school fundraising thermometer and you’ve got plenty to shout about in the run-up to your colour run.

Every milestone becomes another reason to remind families about the event – and another opportunity to push that fundraising total a little higher.

Get local businesses involved

Don’t overlook the businesses around your school. Local businesses are often keen to support schools in their community, particularly when they receive a little recognition in return.

You could ask a local company to sponsor the whole colour run or offer smaller opportunities such as sponsoring the medals, finish line or one of your colour stations.

Their logo could appear on your event banner, newsletter, social posts or signs around the course.

Even if the sponsorship simply covers part of your event costs, that’s money that doesn’t have to come out of the amount you’ve raised.

Keep the fundraising going on Colour Run day

You’ve got a playground or school field full of excited children, parents, grandparents and teachers.

Make the most of it!

Refreshments are the easiest option. Think popcorn and candy floss, cakes, ice creams and drinks can all add a little more to the fundraising pot.

You could also finish your run with one huge group colour throw.

Sell additional cups or bags of colour powder, gather everyone together, start the countdown and…

3… 2… 1… COLOUR!

Not only can this create another source of fundraising income, it makes a fantastic finale to the event.

And you’ll get some amazing photographs.

One colourful event, lots of fundraising opportunities

This is the bit we really want schools and PTAs to take away.

Don’t think of a colour run as just a sponsored run, think of it as an entire family-friendly fundraising event.

You have your entry fees. Then sponsorship. Then online donations. Potential Gift Aid on qualifying donations. Business sponsorship. Refreshments. Extra colour powder. Perhaps a raffle or another simple activity on the day.

Individually, some of those things might only add another £100 or £200.

Together, they can completely change the profitability of your event.

And unlike some traditional fundraising ideas, a colour run gives children something they’ll genuinely look forward to.

They get a brilliantly messy afternoon with their friends, parents get the photos, The PTA gets the fundraising – it really is a win-win for all involved!

And the school gets a day everyone will still be talking about on Monday morning.

Now that’s what we call putting the fun into fundraising.

Planning your own school colour run?

At Ministry of Colours, we supply authentic colour powder and colour run accessories to schools and PTAs across the UK.

Take a look at our Colour Run Guide, explore our Fundraising Zone, or browse our colour powder range to start planning your next fundraiser.