Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

ShopWithScrip Rebrands as RaiseRight, Announces Lou Agnese as Chief Executive Officer

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (May 12, 2022)—ShopWithScrip, the largest gift card fundraising platform in the United States, has rebranded as  RaiseRight and announced that Lou Agnese, an executive with extensive experience in consumer-facing digital marketplaces, has been appointed as chief executive officer to drive a new era of growth.

“Our new brand and website more strongly reflect our mission to offer non-profits and community-based organizations the easiest, most effective way to meet their fundraising goals,” said Lou Agnese, Chief Executive Officer, RaiseRight.  “I am honored to have joined the passionate, purpose-driven team at RaiseRight during this exciting time and look forward to working with them to develop new, innovative tools to magnify our impact in local communities.” 

The RaiseRight name was created to underscore that the company’s solution is the right way to fundraise.  RaiseRight’s year-round fundraising platform is easy and more convenient than selling goods or recruiting volunteers. Nonprofits and other community-based organizations earn money simply by purchasing gift cards for their favorite brands at face value and getting a rebate back from those purchases.  The new website offers a seamless, more consistent user experience across the platform for shopping all brands, including a mobile wallet for ease of redemption and a dashboard to manage fundraising proceeds.…Read More

Community Brands Adds MobileCause to Its Suite of Fundraising Tools

Partnership Creates Powerhouse Solutions to Elevate Fundraising Programs and Results

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. June 16, 2021 – Community Brands, the leading provider of cloud-based software and payment solutions for associations, nonprofits and schools, today announced its acquisition of MobileCause, a premier comprehensive digital fundraising platform.

MobileCause complements the Community Brands fundraising suite by making available self-service, digital campaign tools, aimed to help K-12 schools and nonprofits augment their fundraising programs quickly. Paired with Community Brands’ GiveSmart solution, MobileCause will support the fundraising strategies of midsize and large nonprofits that want to engage donors through a combination of mobile, virtual, hybrid, or in-person events with the support of advanced event fundraising tools, such as auctions and guest management.…Read More

GiveCampus Will Support Cryptocurrency Donations to Schools

GiveCampus will become the first and only educational fundraising platform to process cryptocurrency donations

Washington, D.C. — GiveCampus, the world’s leading digital fundraising and volunteer management platform for nonprofit educational institutions, announced today that it will begin facilitating cryptocurrency donations for the nearly 1,000 schools on its platform in 2021. This news comes only weeks after GiveCampus launched a first-of-its-kind integration that enables donors to make donations with Venmo, and further expands the broad suite of modern payment options available to donors on the GiveCampus platform.

GiveCampus is integrating with The Giving Block to process cryptocurrency donations. The Giving Block is the leading cryptocurrency solution used by nonprofits including United Way, American Cancer Society, Save The Children, and Team Rubicon. As The Giving Block’s exclusive partner for cryptocurrency donations to educational institutions, GiveCampus will be the sole provider of The Giving Block’s unique technology to colleges, universities, and K-12 schools.…Read More

The 9 essentials of crowdfunding for the classroom

Fund your projects easily with these top tips

crowdfunding-classroomAs funding for public education continues to decline, districts, administrators, and classroom teachers struggle to find ways to fill gaps left by budget cuts. Traditional school fundraising methods, such as gift wrap sales, are time intensive and often only raise a small amount of capital.

Fortunately, the advent of the internet has created new fundraising opportunities for schools and educators. One such fundraising mechanism crowdfunding—uses the collective power of individual donors who are united in support of a common cause or goal. It’s been used successfully by movie producers, startup founders, and others with a truly great idea. Teachers are discovering it, too. In the classroom, crowdfunding can be used to fund exciting projects, purchase technology, or supplement resources.

Crowdfunding might sound like a lot of work, but it’s actually quite easy to implement. Here is what you need to know to get started and successfully fund your own projects.…Read More

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How we’ve raised more than $25,000 by recycling eWaste

recycling-fundraiser
The Waugh Elementary School District has raised more than $25,000 over 10 years by recycling electronic waste through FundingFactory.

As the technology specialist for the Waugh Elementary School District in Petaluma, Calif., for the last 18 years, Calif., a significant portion of my job has entailed finding creative ways to fund new ed-tech equipment. Our district policy is that technology is used until it ceases to work; however, the need for new technology far exceeds the means to purchase it.

In October 2002, I learned about FundingFactory and its fundraising-through-recycling program. I saw the immediate benefits of this program, because it helps schools purchase needed ed-tech equipment. The choice was obvious: It’s free to enroll, you’re helping the environment, and you can earn as much or as little as you want at your school’s own pace. FundingFactory helps raise essential revenue by involving students, parents, businesses, and the local community in a comprehensive, robust fundraising effort.…Read More

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