Funding Sources
Register for supplies
One teacher said their PTO encouraged teacher to register for wanted supplies at their local Dollar General Store. This could be anything: poster board, crayons, cotton balls, paper cups, etc. PTO invited parents wanting to purchase a teacher gift for Christmas or National Education Week / Teacher Appreciation events to purchase the requested supplies. The Dollar General Store kept a list of requested items for each teacher.
Rewards programs for purchases
Restaurant fundraisers
- Donors choose (A few months ago, a sponsor funded every single project in Donors Choose! It's worth your time to submit a project.)
- Scholastic Book Fair
- Barnes & Noble Book Fair
- Follett Book Fair (new) - Press release about Follett's new books fairs
- Birthday Book Club - Parents/grandparents can purchase a book for the library in honor of their child's birthday. This Knowledge Quest article gives some great tips for running this program at your school.
- Christmas Tree Wish List - Public librarians reported success listing wanted books and supplies on tags hung on Christmas trees and patrons could purchase the items in honor or in memory of a friend or family member.
- Amazon Wish List
- Follett Titlewish
- Bound to Stay Bound “Support our Library” wish list
- Mackin Funds4Books program
Register for supplies
One teacher said their PTO encouraged teacher to register for wanted supplies at their local Dollar General Store. This could be anything: poster board, crayons, cotton balls, paper cups, etc. PTO invited parents wanting to purchase a teacher gift for Christmas or National Education Week / Teacher Appreciation events to purchase the requested supplies. The Dollar General Store kept a list of requested items for each teacher.
Rewards programs for purchases
- Dillons Community Rewards makes fund-raising easy. All you have to do is shop at Dillons and swipe your Plus Shopper's Card! Designate the local group you want to receive rewards from your purchases, and local schools, churches, and other nonprofits can earn money. Funds are paid to the beneficiaries on a quarterly basis. You can sign up to make your library a beneficiary and invite Dillons shoppers to choose your group to receive a percentage of their purchases.
- AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when customers shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers. Learn more about the AmazonSmile program and learn how to sign up to receive benefits.
Restaurant fundraisers
- Many local restaurants will designate special fundraising days and donate a % of total sales on that day to your organization. Wendy's will donate 5%.
- Restaurant coupon sales - Some restaurants will give you free or low-cost coupons to sell for their restaurants. In Sterling, our locally-owned Gambino's store provides coupon sales as a low-cost fundraiser to our elementary school.