Fundraising

1
Fundraising

• EDIT 6300 Collaborative Problem
• By
• Lauren Anderson, Cliff Garrett,
• Kristen Garner, Lisa Stanton, and Oreta Taylor

2
In the coming decades fundraising will literally
make the difference between mediocrity and
excellence for many of our libraries. B.L.
Hazard
3
Contents

• Rationale
• Reasons to Fundraise
• History of Funding
• Methods of Fundraising
• Action Plan
• Sources

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Rationale Why is more funding needed?

• Information of every type and sort is now
  available to anyone with a computer. School
  libraries have always been the place to go when
  students had questions that needed to be
  answered. However, in the past, that search was
  hampered by connectivity, storage space, limited
  research materials, time itself. Now,
  wondrously, those limits have been taken away and
  school libraries are once again the place to go
  when you need to know. One negative with all
  the new technology available to help our students
  complete inquiry-based work and research is that
  the equipment and maintenance of such equipment
  is very expensive. We must be willing to search
  out, locate, and buy whatever is needed for our
  students our future. There must be funding
  available to respond to our rapidly changing
  world and the needs of our students.

5
Reasons for Fundraising

• Federal spending on libraries annually is only 54
  cents per person
• A 2002 poll conducted for the ALA found that 91
  of respondents expect libraries to be needed in
  the future
• Libraries in general are the 1 point of access
  to the Internet for Americans without computers
  at home or work
• Research shows that the highest achieving
  students attend schools with good library media
  centers

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Reasons for Fundraising(Continued)

• Higher than average student reading scores
  correlate with higher funding for school
  libraries
• Reference librarians answer more than 7,000,000
  questions weekly
• Students visit school library media centers
  almost 1.5 billion times during the school year
• Libraries are centers of learning that encourage
  new insights and critical thoughts

7
Reasons for Fundraising(Continued)

• School library programs
• are close partners with educational programs in
  every discipline
•  promote information literacy an absolute
  necessity for successful integration into todays
  information-driven society
•  provide curriculum support for all teachers
•  can be centers for after-school remediation
  programs
•  provide free access to important databases that
  most students would not be able to utilize
  anywhere else
•  educate students in the use of significant and
  vital software tools
•  provide up-to-date materials aligned with state
  and federally-mandated curriculum
•  encourage a life-long love of reading

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Funds are Available Through Many Sources
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History of Funding Federal Funds

• Elementary and Secondary Education Acts Title VI
  (ESEA)
• Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA)
• America Reads / Reading Excellence Act
• E-rate
• Improving Literacy Through School Libraries
  Program (part of No Child Left Behind Act)

10
Federal Funds Elementary and Secondary Education
Acts Title VI (ESEA)

• 1965
• Provides funding for impoverished schools,
  districts, communities
• Passed in 1965 as part of Lyndon Johnsons War
  on Poverty
• 1974
• Amended which then combined school resources and
  educational materials testing, counseling and
  guidance and financial assistance for the
  strengthening of instruction
• Essentially took funding away from media center
  purchases

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Elementary and Secondary Education Acts Title VI
(ESEA) Continued

• 1994
• Reauthorized/amended by the Improving Americas
  Schools Act of 1994
• Includes support for library services and
  instructional and media materials
• Provides for technology needed to implement
  programs under this act
• Many school systems use these funds for
  purchasing library books

12
Federal Funds Library Services and Technology
Act (LSTA)

• Administered by the Institute of Museum and
  Library Services (IMLS)
• Visit http//www.ala.org/ala/washoff/
• WOissues/washfunding/LSTAfact.pdf
• for more information

13
Federal Funds Improving Literacy Through School
Libraries Program

• Part of No Child Left Behind Act
• Administered by the U.S. Department of Education
  in 2001
• The first program specifically aimed at
  upgrading school libraries since the original
  school library resources program established in
  1965
• The only federal program exclusively for school
  libraries
• Purpose --- promotes comprehensive local
  strategies to improve student reading achievement
  by improving school library services and
  resources
• Eligibility --- only local education agencies
  in which at least 20 of students served are from
  families with incomes below the poverty line are
  eligible to apply

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Other Federal Funding

• America Reads / Reading Excellence Act
• Makes appropriations for childrens literacy
• E-rate
• Common name for the Universal Service Fund for
  Schools and Libraries

15
Other Programs/ Initiatives

• Library Power
• Sponsored by the DeWitt Wallace-Readers Digest
  Fund
• 45 million dollars provided to 19 communities in
  U.S.
• 96 of public schools have library media centers
• 80 of private schools have library media centers
  
• 68 of schools with library media centers had
  state certified media specialists
• 50 of these schools only had part-time
  librarians

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Other Programs/ Initiatives

• Library Power (continued)
• Program ran for three years
• Program had six goals
• A full-time library media specialist
• Improved library media collections with matching
  money from Library Power
• Flexible access that encouraged student use of
  the library media center whenever needed
• Professional development for library media
  specialists, faculty, and administrators
• Improved library media facilities (to accommodate
  multiple uses and to be more inviting to its
  users)
• Teams at both the building level and the
  site/community level that focused on planning and
  implementing Library Power goals

17
Local Funding Trends

• Local Funds vary by region
• Some schools do not receive local funding while
  others receive 1.5 million
• The median amount is 6,300
• Urban areas receive more funding than do suburban
  schools with rural schools receiving the least
  amount
• Spending varies by region
• Urban schools spend the least amount per student
  followed by suburban schools with rural schools
  spending the greatest amount per student
• Elementary schools have the highest budget
• Mostly due to greater community/parent support at
  this level of education
• Interesting Note Families spend an average of
  443.77 on back-to-school items while librarians
  have a median budget for books per pupil of 8.86

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Fundraising Methods Business Partners PTA

• Business partners
• Access to business partners is usually controlled
  by administration
• Once again, you need to sell yourself to your
  administration
• PTA
• If you can persuade your PTA that you are
  important, then they will help with bookfairs and
  other fundraisers, such as bake sales

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Fundraising MethodsTitle One Funds
Adopt-a-Book

• Title One Funds
• These funds are controlled by the administration
• Ask for a portion of those funds
• You may have to make a presentation it depends
  on the dynamics of your school
• In my experience, you can usually get smaller
  amounts, such as 1000
• Adopt-a-Book
• Create a list of books you would like and ask
  individuals, business partners and others to fund
  the purchase of these books
• Remember to ask for enough money to pay for
  processing
• You might ask for 25 a book
• Put a bookplate in the books that says donated
  by..

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Fundraising MethodsBook Fairs

• Book Fairs
• Scholastic (http//www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/)
  and Troll (http//www.trollcarnival.com/) are two
  of the main companies that offer book fairs
• Both use books from many different publishing
  companies to offer a wide selection of choices
• Advantages
• You can very easily earn several thousand dollars
  during the week of the book fair
• The amount of money that you can receive for the
  time (usually one week) and money spent (for
  promotion) is better than many methods

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Fundraising MethodsBook Fairs

• Book Fairs (Continued)
• Disadvantages
• Requires a lot of organization
• Times must be coordinated with the company
• Volunteers must be found and organized
• A large area for the fair is required
• If the fair is held in the media center, other
  services may be hindered
• May not make much money without promotion
• May need to work late so parents can shop
• Setting up, maintaining, and packing up displays
  may be time consuming

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Fundraising MethodsOnline Business Partners

• Partnering with Online Businesses
• By 2004 it is expected that 50 percent of
  Americans will shop online
• Several brokers such as for-schools.com and
  Schoolcash.com have retailers sign up with their
  site and then they register the schools
• For every purchase that is linked to the school
  (through parents, students or employees who are
  registered) the company promises to rebate a
  percentage back to the school

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Fundraising MethodsOnline Business Partners

• The percentage of the original purchase that is
  received by the school is between 2 and 20
  percent but averages 5 percent
• The owners of the fundraising sites generally
  will give the school 75 percent of the refund and
  keep 25 percent
• For example, on a 100 purchase from J.C. Penney
  the retailer will refund five dollars. The
  company running the site will keep 1.25 and give
  the school 3.75
• The refund company usually sends a check to the
  school four times a year

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Fundraising MethodsOnline Business Partners

• Partnering with Online Businesses (Continued)
• When parents shop online there are usually two
  ways to register
• They can either just register as the school they
  are supporting or they will have to fill out a
  form giving lots of personal information
• It seems best if schools register with several
  sites therefore giving parents a larger shopping
  selection
• Some examples of the retailers that have linked
  up with Internet fundraisers are L.L. Bean, J.C.
  Penny, and Toys R Us
• The difference between failure and success is in
  promotion

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Fundraising MethodsOnline Business Partners

• Partnering with Online Businesses (Continued)
• Disadvantages
• When people buy products over the internet they
  are taking away the tax base that pays for many
  of the items that the schools need
• Many counties have a special one penny sales tax
  to build or remodel their schools
• You also take money from other types of county
  and city projects that rely on the sales tax

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Fundraising MethodsGrants

• Grants
• There are several parts to the grant writing
  process
• 1 --- Find your grant
• There are a number of sites to look at and
  researching them all is time-consuming
• In general, funders are more willing to fund
  programs than to fund equipment or supplies.
  Thus in order to get books for your media center
  you may have to invent a whole program, such as a
  program to encourage boys to read
• Many grants have time-limits. Check this first.
  If this years grant deadline is past, you can
  always file it away for next time
• There are websites that list grants. There are
  newsletters that list grants. You can also go to
  the corporate website of your favorite business
  and see if they have a grant program

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Fundraising MethodsGrants

• Grants (Continued)
• In general there are four different kinds of
  grants
• Foundations
• State government
• Federal government
• Coporate
• Start small
• 2 --- Fill in the grant
• Depending on the grant, this can take time
• Once you figure out the basics you will be able
  to reuse this information
• Follow the format the grantor asks for

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Fundraising MethodsGrants

• Grants (Continued)
• The funder will evaluate your proposal based on
• What you are proposing to do
• How you plan to do it
• When you plan to do it
• How much it will cost

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Fundraising MethodsGrants

• Grants (Continued)
• Steps
• Figure out a need and a project that will solve
  it
• Find out if there are administrative hoops to
  jump through, like getting permission from your
  principal
• Gather support and a team
• Research potential grant sources
• Contact funders for guidelines, or download them.
  Some grants want you to send in an RFP, or
  request for proposal and then they send you the
  application information
• Draft a proposal
• Get someone else to proof it
• Break up the monotony of words with appropriate
  graphs, charts and pictures

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Fundraising MethodsGrants

• Grants (Continued)
• 3 --- Send it off
• Certified is good if it goes thru snail-mail
• 4 --- Wait
• Remember that only one in three grants gets
  funded
• 5 --- Rejoice at getting the grant or decide to
  do better next time
• Have a party for stakeholders
• Thank everyone involved

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Fundraising MethodsGrants

• Grants (Continued)
• 6 --- Implement the grant
• Keep records
• Take pictures
• Publicize it
• 7 --- Report on your implementation
• Most grantors want a report at the end of the
  funding period. Make it a nice report, and you
  might be able to get more money
• Find out what the reporting requirements are and
  follow them. Find this out at the beginning of
  the project not a month before the end

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Fundraising MethodsGrants

• Grants (Continued)
• Here are some sources of grants for media centers
  
• http//www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/resource
  guides/libraryfunding.htm --- This is the ALA
  website. It lists places to get grants, and has
  some articles on writing grants.
• www.laurabushfoundation.org --- This foundation
  gives money to schools with high numbers of lower
  income children. The money can only be spent on
  books, not AV materials and not AR tests. You
  can buy processing with it
• www.nwas.org/solhirsch.html --- 500 grants to
  improve the education of students in meteorology.
  The teachers selected will be able to use the
  funds to take an accredited course in atmospheric
  sciences, attend a relevant workshop or
  conference, or purchase scientific materials or
  equipment for the classroom
• http//www.ezra-jack-keats.org/programs/minigrants
  .htm --- 350 grants for reading promotion
  events
• www.f3program.org --- Foundations for the Future
  has held two summer grant-writing workshops. Cost
  30. Well worth the money. They also do monthly
  technology workshops that can be used for PLUs
• www.grants.gov --- Site that lists grants
• www.techlearning.com/resources/grants.html ---
  Another site that lists grants
• http//eschoolnews.org/erc/funding/ --- Another
  site that lists grants

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Fundraising Methods Other

• Other in-school funding
• Sometimes there are other budget lines that can
  be tapped
• For instance, if there is literacy money you may
  be able to get money to order books
• If there is professional development money, you
  may be able to use that to order teacher
  magazines and books, which will free up money for
  books for students.

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Action Plan

• Write down a list of goals that you wish to
  accomplish through fundraising
• How much money do you want to raise?
• How much time are you willing to invest in the
  project?
• Choose the fundraising method that seems to best
  suit your needs, abilities, and goals
• Research the method thoroughly
• Compare the advantages and disadvantages
• Develop a plan
• Organize
• Plan ahead
• Have a back-up plan if something goes wrong

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Action Plan (Continued)

• Implement the fundraiser
• Evaluate your results
• Was it a success or failure?
• Was it worth the time and effort?
• What can you do better next time? (Consider
  getting input from outside sources such as
  teachers and parents)
• Determine whether another fundraiser is needed
• Do you have the time and resources to try a
  different fundraiser?
• Was enough money raised?

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Sources

• Brewer, S. Milam, P. (2005). SLJS tech survey
  part two. School Library Journal, 51(10), 48-49.
•  
• Colorado researchers will repeat landmark study
  showing benefits of school libraries. (1998).
  School Library Journal, 44(11), 15.
•  
• Elementary and Secondary Education Acts Title VI
  (ESEA). Retrieved November 12, 2005 from
  http//cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/burns3/m
  edialib/docs/esea1965.htm
•  
• Glick, A. Olsen, R. (1998). School libraries
  may lose funds. School Library Journal, 44(3),
  92.
•  
• Harris, T. (2004, August). School funding
  opportunities. School Executive Magazine, p.19.
•  
• Hazard, B.L. (2003). Online fundraising at ARL
  Libraries. The Journal of Academic
  Librarianship, 29(1), 8-15.
•  

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Sources

• Institute of Museum and Library Services. (2000).
  Museums and libraries an investment in learning.
  Retrieved November 16, 2005, from ERIC database.
•  
• Library Power Information. Retrieved November 12,
  2005 from http//www.ala.org/ala/hrdrbucket/1stcon
  gresspro/1stcongressissueseducation.htm
•  
• Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).
  Retrieved November 12, 2005 from
  http//www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/washfundin
  g/LSTAfact.pdf
•  
• Lowe, K. (2003). Providing curriculum support in
  the school library media center. Knowledge Quest,
  32(1), 46.
•  
• Miller, M.L. Shontz, M.L. (2003). The SLJ
  spending survey. School Library Journal, 49(10),
  52-59.
•  

38
Sources

• Nutt, Pam. (2005). Free cash giveaway! A cant
  miss guide to writing winning grants. School
  Library Journal, 51(2), 42-44.
•  
• Olsen, R. Glick, A. (1998). U.S. reps push for
  school library funds. School Library Journal,
  44(9), 95.
•  
• Quotable facts about Americas libraries. (2002).
  Retrieved November 16, 2005 from the American
  Library Association Web site http//www.ala.org/
  Source/quotablefact.pdf.
•  
•  
• Seydel, A. (2000). Fund-raising while you shop a
  look at fundraising sites on the Internet.
  Multimedia Schools, 7(4), 26-31.
•  
• Wilson, R. (2004). Finding funding for a quality
  video collection. Teacher Librarian, 32(1),
  50-51.