Freebee Friday: The Sound of Money

Any school with old or extra gear can trade it in for hard cash that can be used for any school purpose. Califone and FundingFactory have teamed up to let any school recycle old sound equipment. The list of items includes headphones as well as old toner cartridges and cell phones.  They’ll even send you a prepaid shipping box to send the stuff in.

Freebee Friday: Going Green

Thanks to Funding Factory, going green can put some green back into schools. That’s because the online fundraising company, which specializes in recycling, is running a contest that with Scholastic (the corporate parent of Tech Tools), will award $5,000 to schools that have eco-friendly programs and practices. Everything from recycling to eliminating e-waste to cutting energy bills count, but you’ll need to enter by March 1, 2013.

Fund Raising the Web Way

The next step in fundraising for schools is to go to the Web so that parents and organizations can pitch in. Razoo can help with an easy to use platform that takes a few minutes to set up a fundraising campaign. Just name your cause, publicize it and wait for the money to roll in. The system can work with donation matching from employers and can create a unique QR bar code for the school to print on things like newsletters. Every donation gets a receipt for tax purposes and Razoo charges a 2.9 percent fee for processing the credit card or bank transfer donation; the platform doesn’t work with Paypal. As the campaign proceeds, the administrator can monitor donations and even send thank you emails to the generous ones. There’s even a status widget for the school’s Web site that shows the progress.

Money in Minutes

Whether it’s a bake sale or a car wash, every school raises money for extracurricular activities and to fill in budget shortfalls. Few, however, depart from the established methods, but Rally.org has a new money-making idea. Supporters can be notified for the fundraising drive via email and a variety of social media networks. The organization sets up a fundraising Web page for consolidating donations in a matter of minutes. It not only shows what’s been collected but the drive’s goal and what it will be used for.

 

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.