Would A Fundraiser Help Replenish Supplies For Your Art Room?
At this point in the school year, I’ve started to notice the wear and tear on Art Room supplies- and I’m always left wondering, “Where did all those pencils disappear to?!”
Here are some fundraising ideas you can use to fund a replenishment of art room supplies as we approach the halfway point of the school year:
1. ARTSONIA
Artsonia is an online art gallery that showcases student artwork.
I use it as a way to show artwork throughout the year to parents and family, but it also serves as a fundraiser for your classroom.
How it works is I take snapshots of the students’ projects and post them through an app on my phone.
The parents are automatically notified of new student artwork as I post.
Then, they can choose items to have their students work printed on, and my classroom fund gets a percentage of the proceeds.
There’s an initial setup of student rosters, gathering permission and parent email addresses, but if you have a spreadsheet (or can get your hands on one from the front office), you can send it to them to input for you!
2. BAKE SALE
Bake Sales work if you have time to run them.
If you don’t have time, they work well if you have some great parent volunteers to run them.
If you have neither of the above, keep it simple by doing a packaged snack sale. You can, make all the prices the same, and dedicate a regularly scheduled time to sell.
…For instance, “50 cent chips sale at recess on first Friday of each new month”
Then you only have to send out reminders once a month, at the beginning of the week you plan to sell.
FOLLOW THE STEPS TO RUNNING A SNACK SALE FUNDRAISER WITH THIS FREEBIE…
TIPS:
-Round up to the nearest coin amount (25cents, 50cents, $1.00)
-Sales Records kept for your own documentation (include the cumulative amount), and make a copy to hand in to the office with the cash.
-Never keep money in your classroom
-Always keep your receipts, make a note on the top (“for art room fundraising”), and circle the amount spent- best to request these items rung up separately than your personal stuff at the store.
I like to make two copies of the receipt- I hand in one, then file the copy and original in my “fundraising” file. IF I have to hand in the original, I staple a copy to the original in case the ink fades.
3. TEE SHIRTS
A Tee Shirt Fundraiser can be fun, but it can also be total chaos!
My best advice is to limit the sizes available, make the shirts cost the same, despite other features (I average the cost per shirt style and then round up) and allow only one design per fundraiser.
I’ve run a tee shirt design contest, with a different design for each grade level, to be printed on a different color shirt, in sizes from XXS to 3XL, with all different prices! I don’t recommend this AT ALL because there was too much room for error or incorrect sizes and it took up SO much time.
If you want to have the students screen print the orders, which I have heard of some art teachers doing, I think that’s so cool! But, I would purchase an extra 20% blank tees for misprints and include the cost in the price you charge.
Also, have them fill orders as they come in maybe once a week, because it can get confusing!
4. ART CONTESTS
This is something I tried out for the first time last year and my students LOVED it!
I had my art club members come up with a design. We copied it off onto cardstock, and the rest of the students in the school could pay an entry fee to decorate it. The entry fee was a dollar. The prize promised to the top winners in each category was an ice cream party (which just so happened to be scheduled on the coldest day of the year…figures!!!)
Then, my Art Club members did the judging. The students who entered had their names written under their designs. I folded them up and under their designs before sorting them by grade level.
Each member got a post it to put above their favorite design. The one with the most post its won from that grade level.
We also had different color post its for different award categories. We had “most school spirit” and “most creative” and for the little ones, “most colorful”!
I overspent on the ice cream party (just HAD to have the sprinkles… and the whipped cream…. and the cherries… and the chocolate syrup… and the, well you get it!), so we didn’t end up making as much as we could have. But next time, I’ll definitely go to the grocery store with a budget!
So, when you want a special supply for that new project you came up with, or when you’ve run out of supplies too early and can’t hold out until next year’s supply budget, try one or more of these fundraising ideas to replenish your art supply stash!
Check out this FREEBIE with directions on running a “Snack Sale” fundraiser:
FUNDING YOUR ART PROGRAM: A FREE STEP-BY-STEP FUNDRAISER EXAMPLE
Best of luck and happy raising of funds!
PS: Have you had good luck with any of these fundraisers? Tell me your story in the comments, or tag me on social media #picassaspalette !