Raising money for your school....simple ideas

As the kids go back to school, we are hearing more and more about budget cuts in the school system.  As a parent, I want my kids to get the best education possible. I think it’s important to help our schools raise money, but I don’t really like the door to door sales for kids. As I thought about the budget cuts, I tried to think of some simple ways we as parents can help our schools earn extra income. Some of the ideas are things we already have at home and may just be throwing away. This trash could be money for our schools.

If you have a printer at your house or your office, start saving the empty ink cartridges. Did you know that every “used” ink cartridge is worth at least $2? If every parent of a school turned in just one empty ink cartridge the school would raise over a thousand dollars. Not only are you raising money for your child’s school, but you are also recycling. I started an ink recycling program in my daughter’s preschool last year and without having to do very much work, we raised $200. The preschool director was thrilled and the teachers were happy because they had some extra money to spend on school supplies. It’s easy to start at a school and you can recycle the ink cartridges locally at any Staples or Office Depot.

How many of you use the computer to look up things? I know I do. I just discovered that by using Yahoo and the GoodSearch.com as your search engine, you can raise money for your school. It’s simple and easy to do. Every search you do, GoodSearch.com will donate a penny to your school.

If you drink Coke products including: Dasani, POWERADE, Minute Made, Sprite and other drinks, you can donate your points to help get rewards for your school. You just register at mycokerewards.com and click on the “donate to your school” tab and enter the codes to get points.

Have you seen those small little labels on some of your boxes of food? They are called Box Tops. Last year America schools earned $49 million dollars from Box Tops for Education by collecting those labels. My daughter’s elementary school earned $2,500 cash. Schools can receive 10 cents for every box top collected. Start looking at you food boxes more closely and start clipping the box tops. If you don’t save the box tops, it’s like throwing 10 cents out the window.

Another great idea is to start collecting Sunny Delight UPC labels for your school. This the 4^th year Sunny D is running the books spree program and giving away 20 books for every 20 UPC labels collected.  We know teachers spend hundreds of dollars of their own money on books and materials every year, so why not make it a little easier and help increase their library with new books by collecting labels?

Several stores like Target and Office Depot have a way to donate to your school. Target’s program is called Take Charge for Education. When you use your Target visa or Target card, a percentage of the amount of each purchase can be donated back to your school. You will need your school’s ID number, but you can look that up on Target’s web site. Office Depot has a similar program; it’s called the 5% Back to Schools Program. When you shop 5% of your qualifying purchases go back to your school for free supplies.

The companies are out there willing to help our schools, we as parents need to make sure we are doing our part by participating in these easy fundraisers. It only takes a minute to clip a box top, cut a label or send in an ink cartridge. If each family helps we can make a difference in our children’s education. Enjoy!