Just about every district is short on money right now. Just about every district wants to increase the amount of technology they have available for students in the classroom right now. Those two things typically do not go together well. One thing I have tried to do is help my district, and other districts, purchase technology for the classroom by fundraising. The problem with fundraising today is that you need to be creative. You won’t have much success with things like sending candy catalogs home – no one wants to bug their coworkers about buying something to support their kid’s school.
Partnering with local businesses is a great way to raise money for technology purchases without a lot of work. For example, both Border’s Bookstore and Isaac’s Restaurant in my area offer help for fundraising. It is very easy to setup – you contact the store/restaurant, explain your group and purpose, and pick a date for the fundraiser to take place. Then, they will give you coupons that you need to give out to your students, parents, and community members. When anyone goes to the store or restaurant and makes a purchase on the date of your fundraiser (using the coupon), your group will receive a percentage of the sales.
Here’s an example: with Isaac’s, you can say that May 19th is your school’s fundraiser date. You 
pass out the coupons to students, parents, and community members – and you advertise and remind everyone to go that day with the coupon. When people pay for their meal at the restauarant and show the coupon, your school receives 25% of the pre-tax check. A few weeks after the event Isaac’s will mail you a check for your portion of the sale. Border’s is very similar, but the percentage you earn is tiered, based on the total sales using your coupon.
These are great ways to raise money for your school, because they require little work on your part. They also are fairly non-intrusive for your parents and community members – your fundraiser is offering them the chance to help your school by purchasing something they probably would be anyhow (books, magazine, movies at Borders, or dinner at Isaac’s). You can easily raise enough to purchase a SMART Board or set of SMART Response remotes by holding two of these events each year for your school (depending on the size/demographics of your school). One school that did the Isaac’s fundraiser twice in one school year was able to raise almost $1,600. While one SMART Board may not seem like a lot, it makes a big different for the 20-some kids in that one classroom. Plus, you can gradually work on putting more boards in by having additional fundraisers throughout the year, and over several school years.
For more fundraising tips and ideas, check back here in the future, or come to my sessions at ISTE 2011 in Philadelphia – “Community Support and Funding for SMART Product Purchases,” which will be held in room 204C on Tuesday, June 28th at 10:00am.
This week’s App of the Week – 
another computer-savvy colleague). I have tried numerous other remote desktop apps, and none of them work as well as Splashtop. It is a paid app, but it well worth the little bit of money you’ll pay.
p recently released a new version of their app, called 
ory professor from a local university who was doing some archaeological studies at the Coliseum in Rome. She walked her laptop around parts of the Coliseum, talked to the students about different parts and the history of the building, and answered questions. Even just a family member who lives near an aquarium would work – they could go to the aquarium and show the class different species of sea life, and even get a staff member to answer a few questions from students.
