From Classroom Creativity to Real Fundraising: How St John’s Primary School raised money while teaching real-world financial skills

Teacher Emily Tulip from St John’s CofE Primary school shares her experience of using Fundraising Studio in Purple Mash to raise much needed funds for her school.

Fundraising Studio in Purple Mash is a simple way for schools to raise money by turning pupils’ digital artwork into real printed products, like tea towels, that families can buy. It’s quick to set up, easy to run, and links directly to learning in the classroom. At St John’s Primary, where funding is tight, this made an immediate difference.

We are always short of money. I don’t actually have a budget for Computing, so I have to plead for resources.

Emily Tulip, Computing Lead, chose Fundraising Studio knowing it would engage pupils and deliver results.

I also LOVE Purple Mash and knew anything created by 2Simple would be a success.

Raising funds for school projects with Fundraising Studio

Teaching Financial Literacy Through Real Experience

Launched on National Numeracy Day, the project aligned perfectly with the growing focus on financial education. Pupils explored cost vs price, and profit and decision making.

It really helped them understand the cost of things and how profit is made.

- Emily Tulip, Computing Lead, St. John's Primary School

Fundraising Studio comes with financial literacy lessons for KS1 and KS2 which are aligned with this creative fundraising project. They provide children with an immersive real-life application of maths from conception through the creative process, marketing and point of sale.

St John's Fundraising Success

St John's tea towel project culminated in a summer fair, where enthusiasm was high and results followed:

Results:

• All tea towels were sold
• £288.50 raised from one class
• Strong demand, the school hadn’t accounted for families wanting multiple items, so will take orders in advance next time
• They have already planned further sales to maximise impact

We hadn’t anticipated how successful this would be and every tea towel was sold.

- Emily Tulip, Computing Lead, St. John's Primary School

Bringing the school community together

Parents from the school also loved the project and the skills it taught their children:

• “This has been amazing for my child’s social skills.”
• “I love how they are getting to handle real money for a real purpose.”
• “After doing the project, my son has set up a little stall at home, selling unwanted toys.”
• “It’s such a good way of teaching costs and change in a real-life context.”
• “I love how my son’s personality comes through in his artwork.”

Easy fundraising for your school

Teachers highlighted the ease of running the project and the support provided throughout, with one noting:

“The help and support provided by Purple Mash was immediate. The tea towels were a great quality too.”

The project also supported learning across subjects:

• English: writing persuasive letters and posters
• Maths: understanding money and profit
• Computing: creating digital artwork

With its combination of creativity, curriculum links, and real fundraising impact, Fundraising Studio offers schools a powerful new way to engage pupils and raise money.

I would highly recommend it to other schools.

- Emily Tulip, Computing Lead, St. John's Primary School