About Expressions Fundraising
27 years of making fundraising mean more
For over 27 years, Expressions has been turning children’s artwork into cherished keepsakes while helping schools and communities across Australia raise valuable funds.
We’re a small Australian team with a big heart and we genuinely love what we do.
What started at a kitchen table has grown into one of Australia’s most trusted school fundraising businesses, but the idea behind Expressions hasn’t changed: make fundraising easier for volunteers and create something families will genuinely treasure.
Our Story
From a kitchen table to a school tradition
In 1998, I tested the idea with two schools. It was a hit, and in 1999 Expressions Australia was officially born from my kitchen table.
I’d already spent several years working in school fundraising and could see how important fundraising was to school communities. I could also see how much work fell to the volunteers organising it.
At the time, many fundraising options centred around food or products that were quickly forgotten. I wanted to create something different, something families would actually want to buy and keep.
The idea was simple: bring children’s drawings together to create a tea towel that was part fundraiser, part yearbook and part treasured keepsake.
Families loved them.
More than 27 years later, some of the children featured on those first tea towels are now bringing home Expressions tea towels featuring the artwork of their own children.
From large city schools to tiny remote communities, what began as a fundraising idea has become a tradition for families across Australia.
Meet Emma
Fundraising has always been personal to me
I’m Emma McNeilly, founder and director of Expressions Australia, mum of three and a passionate supporter of small business and the communities around them.
I built Expressions while raising my family, and the values I started with are still at the heart of the business today: quality, service, sustainability and genuine care.
I’ve worked in fundraising for more than 29 years and have spent plenty of time on the other side of the fence too — volunteering on playgroup, kindergarten, sporting club and P&C committees. So, I understand what it means to be the person who puts their hand up.
I know you’re often fitting fundraising around work, children and everything else life throws at you. That’s one of the reasons we’ve spent so many years refining the Expressions process. We want to take as much work off your plate as possible while helping your group run a fundraiser everyone can feel good about.
I’m incredibly proud of what Expressions has become, but I’m even prouder that the business still achieves what I set out to create all those years ago.
The kids love seeing their artwork in print. Families receive something meaningful. Volunteers are supported. Schools raise valuable funds.
Everyone gets something good from an Expressions fundraiser.
Our Team
Real people who understand the juggle
Expressions is powered by a small, close-knit team of working mums, many with their own committee and volunteer experience.
We know how valuable your time is, and we know that sometimes you just want to pick up the phone and speak to someone who understands what you’re trying to achieve.
That’s exactly what you’ll get here.
Behind every Coordinator Kit, every carefully prepared drawing and every finished order is a real person who cares about getting it right.
Experience You Can Trust
Proud of the recognition. Even prouder of the reason behind it.
Over the years, Expressions and our team have been recognised nationally for our service, sustainability and commitment to small business.
In 2026, Expressions was named Best Specialised Small Business at the Australian Small Business Champion Awards, and I was incredibly honoured to receive Gold for Small Business of the Year at the Women Changing the World Global Awards.
We’ve also received multiple awards for customer service and have twice been recognised as Best Eco-Friendly Fundraiser.
Those awards mean a lot to us, but what matters most is what they represent: a team that genuinely cares about our customers, our products and the communities we work with.
Made With Care
For your community, your families and the future
We believe a good fundraiser should create value beyond the money it raises.
That’s why we make products designed to be used, loved and kept, rather than forgotten or thrown away.
Our products include certified organic cotton options and are printed with care using eco-conscious processes. And every child’s drawing is carefully handled by a real person because we know these aren’t simply pieces of artwork—they’re memories.
For us, doing things properly has always mattered.