Beyond the bookfair?

[Renee Rogers]

Hi.  I am looking for ways to raise money or get supplies for my two elementary school libraries beyond the bookfair.  One of my schools is Title I.  The other isn't.  I'm not sure where to begin to look for grants and funding that meet my needs.  My PTAs are not particularly helpful.  One has very few resources.  The other has, let's say, other priorities.  Both PTAs run Scholastic Book Fairs, but neither one benefits the library.  I am new, and working to change their attitude toward the library, but I am only in their school 2 days per week.

I have created DonorsChoose.org projects (http://www.donorschoose.org/rrogers) for one of the libraries, and hope to get some materials that way, but I know there has to be more money available out there somewhere.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[Tiffany Whitehead]

I sell Smencils (from ezfund.com) and use the money to fund reading incentive programs for the library. I didn't anticipate the success that I've had with selling these, the kids go absolutely bonkers for them! You make half profit - the pencils sell for $1 each.

[Renee Rogers]

Thanks for the suggestion. My kids love Smencils.

[Josh Shipman]

A good source of information is www.librarygrants.blogspot.com.

I've found a lot of great things on here, and it is pretty up-to-date, as far as I can tell.

Hope you find something you need!

[Renee Rogers]

Thanks! I will check it out.

[aidamelia espaillat]

Do you have a barnes and nobles near you? They have a bookfair program that we use every year. One school in our district does a Poetry Slam. My school has some of the band students perform. The school gets a percentage of the sales. They have a voucher system. You can geta nice check from them for you libraries. Hope this helps

[Renee Rogers]

Thanks. Yes, we do the Barnes & Noble book fair. We have the chorus sing, and the teachers do a story time. But, I like your ideas for the poetry slam, too. The more students/families we can get involved in the event, the more sales we can generate. Thanks.

Of course, this strategy isn't as successful at my Title I school, where the parents just don't have the resources to be spending at BN. I was thinking of doing a Usborne reading challenge with them, where part of the money comes back to the kids in the form of books. Does anyone have experience with this?