How to Raise Money for an Unschool Adventure

Travel is expensive by nature. To raise money for your Unschool Adventures trip, here are a few strategies to consider.

Crowdfunding

Dreamfunding: How to Raise $500-$5000 For Your Travels, Projects, and Education - an article by U.A. director Blake Boles

Get a job! (Previous students saved $4000+ through a half-year's work at a rock gym and movie theater.)
Work for a family member's business or a family friend's business. Ask if there is anything you can do!

Design and sell t-shirts through sites like Zazzle or Skreened; ask people to buy a t-shirt in support of your trip.
Design and sell an artistic product through that utilizes your skills or relates to your trip in some way (e.g. Carnivale masks related to your Italy trip) on Etsy. Advertise to friends, family, and strangers that all proceeds will go toward your fundraising efforts.
Sell popsicles at a homeschooling/unschooling conference. (Previous students earned $200+ per day at conferences in Washington and California.)
Busk!
Clean houses, babysit, sweep yards, deliver newspapers, clean Mrs. Crapabble's gutters...the classic stuff. Find short-term work opportunities on craigslist.
Design a website or blog for someone you know who sorely lacks one. More generally, ask yourself: What kind of tech skills do I have that the older generation lacks?
Tutor local middle/high school students in English, math, science, etc. Advertise with paper flyers and Craigslist posts in the "Lessons" section.
Offer to list, sell, and ship your family's (or grandparent's, friend's) unwanted stuff (esp. antiques or other valuables) on eBay or Craigslist in return for a cut of the sale.
Sell stuff specifically designed for fundraising. (We haven't evaluated this website, but it looks promising.)
Advertise all this stuff on your Facebook network. Ask friends with really big Facebook networks to repost your announcement. We will gladly repost for you on the Unschool Adventures fan page (1000+ fans).

Start a blog and write about your fund-raising efforts. (Make some actual fund-raising efforts first--this is the important first step for gaining sympathy.) Share with friends, family, and distant family.
Slap a PayPal donation button on your blog to solicit direct donations.
Start a ChipIn or IndieGoGo page. Send potential donors directly to the fund-raising page or put widgets on your blog and Facebook.
Get an "advance" on your next birthday or holiday present from family members.
Do a matched contribution donation drive. This is where you work your butt off doing independent fund raising and ask friends/family to donate $1 for every $1 that you raise.

See if your desired trip has a work-trade opportunity (it will be listed on the trip web page).
Suggest a work-trade! What skills do you have to offer Unschool Adventures or the specific trip? Could you help us out at a conference or do local promotion? We're open to suggestions.

Use previously accumulated airline miles to pay for your trip's international airfare. (Make sure that your airline flies to the specific destination.)

Wait for Bill Gates outside of his mansion, say "Boo!" when he walks by, and then grab the hundred dollar bills that fall out of his pockets.
Get elected President. You'll make $400,000 per year with a $100,000 travel account. You might have a few other responsibilities too.
Time machine --> buy Southern California housing in the 1980s or earlier --> sell it in 2006.