I have never been in a position to do art fundraisers. Our school has a 2 fundraiser policy(I believe set up by the principal)...and it is for the whole school. The need has never been great for me to push the issue...because I've always had a budget(some years better than others...and some years sooner than others). I was recently contacted by a local company (in the Nashville, TN area)...and thought their "concept" was pretty good. I told her I'd share it with ya'll since I couldn't utilize them..maybe someone in my viewer/reader/blogger community could!
(I'm getting NO kick back at all..just thought I support a local business).
(I'm getting NO kick back at all..just thought I support a local business).
Owned and operated by a local Nashville Mom, School Art Graphics is an art and graphic design based school fundraiser. School Art Graphics transforms original kid-created art, or simple digital snapshots, into beautiful, art gallery inspired prints. These professional quality, prints are not only loved by parents, they encourage creativity and build self-esteem in students, as well as, help raise much needed money for schools. A School Art Graphics fundraiser is super easy. From set-up and instructions to print preview and purchase, everything you need is online. Go to http://schoolartgraphics.com for more information.
I use Square 1 Art -http://www.square1art.com/- for my fundraisers. I've tried a couple different places and I like them the best. They're very organized and the customer service was very good. Unfortunately, our town doesn't let the teachers fund raise on their own. I have to work with the PTA. Technically, this is their fundraiser, I do all the work, and they take 50% of my profit. Doesn't seem fair, but something is better then nothing, right? I have 225 student, and a thousand dollar budget for the year. Every little bit helps.
ReplyDeleteOver the past, we used Original Works Yours (OWY) with great success. They are actually located only about an hour away from my school (not that it makes much difference). The PTSA ran the fundraiser - I took care of the artwork, and we got a (small) portion of the $$ back for framing student artwork.
ReplyDeleteThe PTSA is no longer in existence in my district and the new art teacher is thinking about doing it herself with OWY (more profit for the department) but she needs to check the legality. I'm sure there could be issues, plus dealing with the paperwork, and the money, and all the order taking and delivering is a BIG task. That's why I was satisfied to just get some $$ for us and let the PTSA use the rest, since they did all the leg work. My job was making sure EVERY child had a piece of artwork submitted, and let me tell you, that alone is NOT an easy task.
Artsonia gives you a smaller percentage than other fundraiseers, but it is not their main purpose. At school, it does not qualify as a fundraiser. The parents who choose to purchase do, the art teacher receives an online gift certificate to Dick Blick (or a check if desired) and there is no paper trail- no collection logs! They typically provide a take home note around the holidays and Mother's Day.
ReplyDeleteI did the Original Artworks deal twice. Once where I got to use the profits for art supplies and once when I was only given a SMALL portion. Then, some band teacher in our district embezzled a lot of $ from a fundraiser and we all got cut off from any more departmental fundraising. Just takes one bad apple......(yes, he was terminated!)
ReplyDeleteAlright Mr. E.
ReplyDeleteIt is been a few since I posted a comment on your site. But here what I think. I looked at that site for fundraising, and it looks like a lot of work on you. With putting all your student name and pictures in. When fundraising it should be easy on you.
We fundraise at my school for as long as I have been there. Which will be 10 years coming up. We have use original works for the past 9 years. They are a good company to look into. But this spring after my daughter brought home her square1art info. I wanted to give a try.
Working with the square1 people was great. Also they send you the paper the student need to make their art work on. We had helpers write all there info on the paper for them. But I know another art teacher that must likely has help from the secretary to make lables with all the kids info on it. That is what I am going to do this coming school year. I also found out that square1 will be all online order this fall. So let say aunt Jill lives in new york. She is able to see the students art work and buy something.
So square1 was very easy to do. And after 9 years of OW we are giving square1 a real try with our whole school.
Also. What ever fundraing money we make we get to keep just for the art department. We do let are PTA handle all of the money and they have account for us. So if we don't spend at profits we can save them. And keep add to it every year. That is how we bought some bigger price items.
What ever you do. Good luck. I hope it works out for you