Freebee Friday: Green Money

A great way for a school to raise money and its green profile is to collect old electronics and turn them into cash. The FundingFactory will recycle everything from music players, laptops and phones to inkjet and laser printer cartridges and pay you for it. They’ll even pay to ship the stuff to their facility. It’ll not only put some cash into the school, but keep hazardous materials out of garbage dumps.

 

 

 

Freebee Friday: Cell Phone Fund Raiser

Here’s a good fund raising idea: Every school can pick up some cold hard cash by collecting old cell phones from kids, parents and outsiders. Just collect them, register on Secure Trade-In’s site and they’ll tell you approximately how much it’s worth and pay for shipping them in. For example, an iPhone 3GS can yield as much as $138 while a Blackberry 9650 can net the school $75. They’ll also take old computers and gadgets and even tell you how to wipe all personal data from the devices. It takes about two weeks to get paid for the phones.

 

 

A Fundraiser that Grows on You

Forget about candy or wrapping paper because selling plants, seeds and bulbs can rake in more money for a school. FlowerPower offers 17 varieties of bulbs and perennial plants that come with a satisfaction guarantee. The best part for schools is that half of all money brought in is kept by the school. The fundraiser can be accomplished via a printed brochure or online for those that want to reduce paper use. All the materials come from Dutch Gardens and Gardener’s Supply.

Cashing in on the Stimulus

With billions set aside in the Stimulus bill for education and infrastructure, every school should be trying to its fair share. Curriculum Associates has created a Web site with a plethora of help for districts looking to cash in on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Better known as the ARRA or the stimulus bill, there’s a look at how the money can flow to educational institutions, guidelines in interpreting the law as well as a good list of links for other helpful stimulus sites.

 

Fund Raising is Now in the Bag

Forget about selling magazine subscriptions, candy and wrapping paper to fill the holes in your school’s budget because any school can raise more money – and have a clear conscious – by selling a new line of green bags. EcoBags for Good are created to the standards of Fair Wage/Fair Trade, are made of recycled materials and with minimal production waste. To get the school’s logo printed on the bags requires a minimum order.

Funds For Learning Releases E-rate Report

Were you one of 2007’s 23,000 applicants vying for e--rate funding? See how you match up with the other schools submitting in a new Funds For Learning report titled, "The Average E-rate Applicant."  In this report, Funds For Learning creates a profile of the average E-rate applicant based on funding requests received for the 2007 Funding Year, looking at issues like site averages, funding request averages, and average request by category.

Buy Software, Make Money

Tired of pushing candy on parents to raise money? A new fundraising program from Knowledge Adventure lets parents buy educational software for home use and raise school cash at the same time. Once your school and parents sign up, the school gets 25 percent of the purchase price for any home order of $25 or more. Email fundraising@adventure.com for details.