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Fundraising
HOW TO START FUNDRAISING Neighborhood businesses and organizations, especially those owned by parents of your students, can offer much needed materials for your school garden. Her are ten suggestions for obtaining inexpensive or free plant materials in your own neighborhood.
Remember that the acquisition of “stuff” (supplies, soil, etc.) or “services” (produce for garden snacks at a garden event, free printing of a flyer or banner, etc.) is often just as good if not better than money. Be prepared to provide a receipt showing the value of a donation or in-kind gift, as many will want to take a tax deduction.
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LOCAL HARDWARE STORES
Get to know the local hardware store owner or the manager of the local garden center at Home Depot or similar building supply stores. They often have bags of potting soil, mulch, stone, or vermiculite that are broken and not in condition to sell. They may sell to you at half price! At the end of the season, such stores typically give away seeds and other seasonal materials that they don’t want to store or that have a short shelf life. A fun way to collect equipment for the garden could be to ask your local hardware store owner if you can put out a collection bin asking people to donate their used gardening tools. Make sure that you are on top of going around and collecting things from the bins and are making it clear to the store owner that they are in no way responsible for the fundraiser. Include a list of needed supplies on the bin so people know what to donate, and who knows, they may even buy some new stuff for the school. 2
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LOCAL FLORISTS
A local florist can often be a supplier of plant material. They don’t have time or space to nurse plants back to health and may gladly contribute them to your classroom “garden hospital.” They will often contribute cut flowers that are not quite fresh enough to sell but are great for flower studies or flower arranging projects.
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FUNERAL PARLORS
A local funeral parlor can also be a source of faded (“past their prime”) flowers. Flowers can be used for flower studies, flower arranging, making potpourri, or pressed flower art works. Plant-based art projects, such as pressed flower book marks, can be made to sell at a fundraising fair. Also, a good way to get students invlved in their local community is to have a field trip to a cemetary where they can weed, and clean the area’s around the headstones. It is agreat way for them to learn a little about history, learn about how to weed, and learn about ways to get involved with their community.
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HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS
Borrow materials from your local high school. Most high school science teachers will gladly let you borrow materials from them that they aren’t using. Make sure to return things in a timely fashion and in good condition.
NEIGHBORHOOD RESIDENTS
Don’t dismiss the goodwill of the neighbors around your school. They have a vested interest in keeping the school in good condition because it affects the value of their property. Make sure to post information where the school neighbors can access it, whether its at a local community center, or on the neighborhood facebook group (if there is one).
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SCHOOL LIBRARIANS
Work with the school librarian to identify books for the library that will be useful in the development and maintenance of your garden. Don’t forget resources for teachers as well as books for students. This might include curriculum guides and general gardening books.
The information gathered can be used to present to possible donors to encourage them to share their resources.
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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE EXCHANGE OF INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES Find out from your school business manager if your school or school district is a member of the National Association for the Exchange of Industrial Resources. If you are, they are often a source of wonderful free materials that can be used in the garden. Ask your school or district agent if you could look at the catalog or go along to one of the “Grab Bags.”
PARENTS
Some schools send out a parent survey to ask parents directly (but carefully worded) what services, products, or volunteer assistance of time they could contribute. At one school in Massachusetts, a parent was a landscape contractor and donated some fill soil and the use of a bulldozer for a day. This was a hugely helpful in-kind gift but wasn’t something that the parent would have thought of giving to the school had the school not asked.
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INTERRIORSCAPE / PLANT RENTAL COMPANIES
Get to know the manager of the local interiorscape company. In Chicago, one of the largest is Rentokil (a nation-wide chain). When their very large plants are no longer suitable for high price rental, they will give them away. These can make great additions to an indoor atrium for tropical/rainforest curricula integration and are often sizable plants that would normally be quite expensive.
WHOLESALERS
Don’t forget, as a school, you are a non-profit organization and are entitled to buy from wholesale sources. You will need a copy of your school’s Tax ID Form and may need to set up an account with the wholesaler. “Shopping wholesale” usually lends you over 50% off retail price. What a deal! This makes your limited, precious funds go twice as far. Also, local nurseries often allow you to buy “through them” at “cost.” This allows them to help you access gardening products from wholesale suppliers that you may not be aware of and allows them to help you out without depleting their own resources.
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GARDEN TOURS
Its mid-summer and we are in the thick of prime garden tour time! Garden tours can be wonderfully educational, inspirational and a fun way to raise funds. Typically, fundraising is my least favorite activity associated with school gardens. However, I enjoy working to organize school garden tours, plant and produce sales to raise funds and provide meaningful educational experiences for students.
Summer is a popular tour time as gardens are often at their zenith in terms of flowering and fruiting. Fall Garden Tours have their own high points, such as fall crops, crisp air and autumn colors. Summertime can be a less than optimal time for a school garden tour, as school is out for summer vacation, and it can be difficult to get either teachers, students or parents to participate. Additionally, some schools do not have active gardens in the summer due to the absence of students and teachers. Notable exceptions include schools with summer programming, and those schools that have mastered summer garden maintenance. A summer school garden tour can be a great way to get school staff and students back together to touch base during the summer hiatus.
Regardless of when you choose to hold a school garden tour, it is an excellent way to showcase all the cool things going on in the garden to people who may not normally have a chance to experience it. Tours are also a great opportunity for students to lead tours, talk about something they are knowledgeable (and hopefully passionate) about and practice public speaking skills. This is also a great time to emphasize any academic work or projects that are linked to the garden. All of these activities can stimulate participants to show their appreciation and support. Funds can be raised by charging a tour admission fee, or by providing a staffed container for donations. A Fall School Garden Tour can also coincide with sales of pumpkins, apples and spring blooming bulbs to increase your fund raising efforts.
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STUDENT FUNDRAISING
A fun way to get the student’s involved is to have them sell to their friends and family. There are many different companies that make garden type fundraising possible that can help not only make money, but spread the word about the students involvment in growing a community garden.
Back to the Roots, a small company dedicated to connecting people to the root of their food, provides grow-your-own-mushroom kits for school fundraising. The easy-to-grow mushroom spore are embedded in 100% recycled coffee grounds and can yield a crop in as little as 10 days. Schools earn 40% from the sale of each $20 Mushroom kit sold. Anyone who posts a picture of their fully grown mushroom kit on the Back to the Roots Facebook page can earn a donation of a kit and sustainability curriculum for an elementary school classroom of their choice. Back to the Roots has raised nearly $20,000 to fund school gardens in partnership with Whole Kids Foundation.
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Fundraising
FUN WAYS TO GET THE STUDENTS INVOLVED:
–– Recipe Cookbook – collect recipes from students, teachers, and parents specifically for all the great produce you grow. Put it into a little booklet and sell for a small fee –– Garden art – Have the student’s paint garden signs, plant markers, decorative bricks, trellises, rocks, etc.
–– Seed Sale – Seed companies such as Botanical Interests, High Mowing Seeds, Fedco Seeds and Urban Farmer Seeds all have seed fundraising programs for you to take advantage of. You’ll make 40-50% of all sales. –– Flower Sale – You can also now sell flower bulbs through FlowerPowerFundraising.com
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RESOURCES
1. http://schoolgardenweekly.com/10-school-garden-fundraising-ideas/ 2. http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/school_garden_fundraising_ideas
3. https://www.wholekidsfoundation.org/schools/programs/fundraising 13
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