Make your playground dream a reality
For decades, children have sold candy and cookie dough to friends and family to help fund extracurricular activities and school playgrounds. Now a handful of entrepreneurs have set out to change that model, offering ecologically-friendly products for kids and parents to sell for school fundraisers. From recycled wrapping paper to fair-trade coffee, the business owners are pitching the products as viable fundraising alternatives for schools.
It’s good timing, as schools race to eliminate junk food in the face of rising childhood obesity rates, and state and local governments crack down on junk-food sales in schools. At the same time, green is in, and parents and teachers are paying more attention to energy use and pollutants.
Greenraising, one start-up fundraising company that sells eco-friendly products, has helped about 500 schools and nonprofits raise money, says Lisa Olson, who founded the Agoura Hills, Calif., company last year. The company asks schools or nonprofits to distribute its catalog, from which customers then buy directly. For an item that costs $20, Greenraising keeps $12 and returns $8 to the school or nonprofit.
Today, church and school fundraisers represent about 10 percent of business at Higher Grounds Trading Co., a fair-trade coffee roaster in Traverse City, Mich. For no money upfront, the company supplies coffee to the school or organization, which then sells it at retail prices. The seller then reimburses Higher Grounds at the wholesale price of the coffee.
Eco-friendly options are available at: www.greenraising.com or www.highergroundstrading.com.