Part 5 of 5.
Continuing our series on fundraising ideas for schools. The conclusion of how schools are making money without selling door-to-door
MAKING MONEY BY RECYCLING
- Through the Funding Factory, schools can collect recyclable empty printer cartridges and exchange them for top-quality computer equipment and printers. Each year, more than 350 million inkjet and laser cartridges are thrown away. In addition, more than 35 million cell phones are discarded. The Funding Factory is alleviating the volume of waste in landfills while providing a beneficial fundraiser — hard cash — for nonprofit organizations nationwide.
Collecting printer cartridges, advertising in schools, providing video game rooms in school buildings, holding auctions, riding donkeys on the gym floor, delivering singing telegrams, operating teacher- and student-run stores each fund-raising method has its own advantages and disadvantages, time commitments, and consequences.
SELLING SPONSORSHIP
- Schools are making money by selling opportunities for families to purchase a “theater seat” or building “tile” or stadium “bench”. These are opportunities for families to assist with funding school programs in return for name recognition in the form of a mounted engraved plaque.
And then there is another solution not yet mentioned — and very rarely implemented. Community members could always push for PUBLIC financing of a school’s needs or do without.
- Some school districts have schools located in areas that prove to be strategic cell tower locations. This is usually not a quick fund-raiser, but one which could prove very lucrative over the years.
SUPPORTING PARENT BUSINESSES
- Many times parents are looking for trusted service referrals and would be willing to support parent businesses. An easy fund-raiser would be to sell advertisement for these businesses and list them in the school directory. Another fundraiser would be to have these parent business owners honor a discount through a community fundraising app that parents would purchase and schools would receive over $10.00 per app. purchased.
- Some districts like Newport Mesa School district sponsored a community 5K fun run which requires a lot of planning, but the rewards are high. Other schools have had parent golf tournaments, casino nights and evening galas.
THE PTA’S VIEW OF FUND-RAISING
In some school districts, booster clubs made up of parents and patrons or the PTA are also making money to supplement activities that are important to them. In other school districts, the student body and faculty are the primary fund-raisers. But the national PTA does not feel raising funds should be a primary part of their program, and many PTA officials question whether students and faculty should really be selling products or their time.
So how do we want students and faculties spending their time – on schoolwork or on selling? That’s one of the fundamental questions each school district and the people in it need to answer. But as long as school budgets buy less and less of what educators and parents believe students need, many school districts will continue to discover – or create – new ways of raising the needed funds.
ONLINE FUND-RAISING RESOURCES
No-Hassle Fundraisers: See more at www.jirehinfosystems.com/community-fundraiser
Selling of Our Schools: Advertising in the Classroom
This October 1998 Education World article describes different ways in which schools have used corporate advertising to raise huge amounts of funds.
S&S Worldwide Grants and Funding Help
A free service where nonprofits can search for grants, recruit a grants writer, and even apply for grants offered by S&S Worldwide, a distributor of arts and crafts, sports, and educational supplies.
OTHER RESOURCES USED FOR THIS STORY
“Schools Take a Hard Look at Dangers of Student Selling,” Seattle Times (11/03/98). This article describes Seattle schools’ move from student solicitation to organized district-level efforts to raise funds.
– See more at: http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin105.shtml#sthash.FOeyAZaw.dpuf
