Online fundraising: districts are turning to the Internet for creative fundraising.School districts and parent-teacher organizations have traditionally used various programs to raise supplementary funds for school activities, such as selling products, collecting soup labels and cereal box tops The Box Tops were a Memphis pop music group of the late 1960s. They are best known for the hits "The Letter," "Soul Deep" and "Cry Like A Baby," and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. for rewards, and getting rebates from community purchases at participating stores. Educators are always looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. alternate ways to fund programs and purchase supplies. But many feel that "pay to play" assessments for school activities are unfair, door-to-door promotions hold inherent dangers for students, and supporters may be reluctant to buy overpriced o·ver·price tr.v. o·ver·priced, o·ver·pric·ing, o·ver·pric·es To put too high a price or value on. overpriced Adjective costing more than it is thought to be worth Adj. "$20 wrap ping paper and $15 boxes of chocolate with six pieces in it for a fired-raiser," as one parent said. Growing numbers of districts are therefore turning to the Interact for fundraising solutions. For example, thanks to a Web site hosted by Indiana's Lawrence Township Lawrence Township may refer to:
1. to cut apart, or separate. 2. to expose structures of a cadaver for anatomical study. dis·sect v. regurgitated owl pellets to learn about what owls eat. "Without a special donation, we wouldn't have been able to provide this hands-on opportunity," she said. Canfield's current wish list includes gift certificates to a bookstore, a color printer A printer that prints in color using three (CMY) or four (CMYK) colors of ink, toner or dye. Four color ribbons have been used in dot matrix printers, but these are rare today. See color laser printer and printer. and more owl pellets. Similarly, the "School Kids Come First" Web site in Washington solicits donations for teachers and administrators in Seattle schools to provide unique experiences for students beyond textbooks. Recent wish lists have included a digital camera for yearbook pictures, a couch for a primary-level reading comer, plants for a peace garden and hosting a family skate night. The program charges a 15 percent administrative fee, and as projects are funded, the coordinators make the purchases, deliver the materials and notify donors that the request was fulfilled. The new program has raised more than twenty-five thousand dollars to fund more than filly proposals for the district Exploring Options The Internet is becoming the most powerful fundraising vehicle and offers countless opportunities. At the simplest level, you can compare and learn about options through resources such as Fundraiserhelp.com, Fundraising-ideas. org and School-fundraisers.com. For example, the popular Schoolpop.coin program has contributed more than $200 million to more than 60,000 designated schools and other nonprofit organizations through purchases of brand-name products. Teachers and administrators can also sign up for online fundraising Online fundraising is the use of Internet-based technology, marketing and communication techniques by non-profit organizations to bring in revenue, frequently as donations. individually, such as Classroom Wishlist or DonorsChoose, a not-for-profit site where educators from all over the country post funding requests. Proposals can be searched by keywords and browsed by categories including region, subject, level, type of school and cost. For example, last summer a teacher in Louisiana who works with low-income students requested $1,590 for a digital projector that was almost 10 percent funded before the school year started. DonorsChoose is "a simple way to provide students with resources that schools often lack" and was responsible for funding $2.5 million worth of resources in 2006. Linking District Sites But your own district Web site is the most valuable online fundraising tool, and few schools take advantage of this powerful resource. For example, the homepage of Oregon's Parkrose School District The Parkrose School District is in Portland, Oregon. The district contains four elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. History The school district originated in 1885 as a one-room schoolhouse, though the district's name at that time was informal. offers prominent links to fundraising programs that include purchases from Amazon.com, Safeway markets and Target stores. RESOURCES Lawrence Township School Foundation www.msdltf.org School Kids Come First schoolkidscomefirst.com Classroom Wishlist www.classroomwishlist.com DonorsChoose www.donorschoose.org Parkrose School District www.parkrose.k12.or.us Make Money With Your Site www.lights.com/how-to Odvard Egil Dyrli, dyrli@uconn.edu, is interim editor-in-chief and emeritus professor of education at the University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut is the State of Connecticut's land-grant university. It was founded in 1881 and serves more than 27,000 students on its six campuses, including more than 9,000 graduate students in multiple programs. UConn's main campus is in Storrs, Connecticut. . |
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