‘Schoola Stitch’ helps clothe families, support schools

New program from school fundraising site Schoola targets ‘gently used clothing’

schoola-stitchThe website Schoola has been described as a “Groupon-style” school fundraising site that connects parents with local businesses for special deals on food and merchandise, with a portion of the sale supporting their school.

Now, Schoola has launched a new program, called “Schoola Stitch,” that aims to turn the clothes students have outgrown into school cash as well.

Schoola Stitch is a massive online consignment store for brand-name kids’ clothes at “major savings,” its creators say. Parents all over the country have collected and sent in tens of thousands of gently used clothing for sale—with 40 percent of the proceeds going to the school of their choice.…Read More

Schoola: Like Groupon for school fundraising

School fundraising sites have cropped up by the dozens in recent years, and educators can add a website called Schoola to the list.

Created by a former teacher and school principal, Schoola is a Groupon-style fundraising site that connects parents with local businesses for special deals on food and merchandise, with a portion of the proceeds going to their school.

Schoola bills its service as a “win-win-win”: Parents get discounts on local goods and services, businesses get a boost from their community, and schools get needed funds.…Read More

Digital Wish makes school fundraising easier

In the 2009-10 school year, Digital Wish helped put $5 million worth of technology into the hands of teachers.

Websites that let teachers post their classroom “wish lists” for donors to fulfill have been around for more than a decade, but now one of those sites—Digital Wish—has added a new fundraising feature that could help schools raise support from their local communities.

The fundraising feature allows for teachers and their supporters, such as administrators and Parent-Teacher Associations, to establish their own fund drives for their educational needs. Through Digital Wish, users can publish their event on social media websites and print customized fliers.

“We really wanted to give PTAs and PTOs better tools to help them fundraise online,” said Heather Chirtea, the site’s founder. “Schools don’t typically have the capacity to process credit card donations at their events. Now, they can make a giving page in a few minutes on Digital Wish and add online fundraising to every event. Our mission is to help solve technology shortfalls in American classrooms, and parents play a huge role in helping schools.”…Read More

Law allows ads on school web sites, but few districts selling space

Arizona school districts can offer bus and web site space for advertising, but it appears few in the East Valley are seeing a big impact from the state’s law, reports the East Valley Tribune. Lawmakers changed Arizona’s statute in the last two years to allow districts to sell the advertising space. The Chandler Unified School District is looking into it “a little bit,” spokesman Terry Locke said. But instead of outside companies’ messages on buses to be seen as they make their daily rounds, Locke said the district has used buses to advertise the district’s own message. “If this is a prime location for advertising, why are we surrendering it?” Locke said. Instead, the district may post information about the number of “A-plus” schools it has, the number of scholarships earned, top graduate numbers, and more. The district has not broached web-based advertising yet. “It’s something we’re looking into, and we’re going to see what response other districts who are ahead of the game … what type of revenue it generates,” Locke said. One school district testing it is Gilbert Unified. In the spring, the district piloted a program to see how it would work with outside vendors on its web site. Two vendors participated: Chandler Healthcare West’s Mercy Gilbert Medical Center and an insurance broker. At this point, the district does not have plans to expand the program but is “seeking our next options,” spokeswoman Dianne Bowers said. Besides the logistics to make advertising happen on buses or web sites, there’s also the perception issue, Locke said. Some might look unfavorably on the ads or be concerned about what message may be seen by students…

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