News Flash: Online school fundraising

Tired of rolling change from school fundraisers?
Online fundraising may be the solution...

Online commerce, online banking, online dating and even online education, but a new buzz is online fundraising.

Just recently wealthyschools.ca made a pitch on CBC's Dragon's Den explaining how their company helps schools make money by essentially making schools an outlet for picking up products purchased online.

Parents can order the product online through wealthyschools.ca and then pick it up at the school when they go get little Johnny or Sally. The school gets a cut off the profits made from selling the products.

While the idea was warmly received by some of the dragons on CBC's popular show, a few were hesitant to invest, citing a lot of work for the schools and the need for schools to have the space to store the products.

However, Wealthy Schools appears to be winning schools over since they now plan to expand outside of their original market in the greater Vancouver area to Calgary and Toronto. Additionally, they argue that most of the work is done by parents involved on school committees who utilize Wealthy School's online software that allows them to plan, organize and track their fundraising efforts.

Yet Wealthy Schools is not the only route for schools to raise money. Other sites include goschoolyard.com and schoola.com, to name a few. Each online service has its own angle and focus on how schools, students, or parents can raise money by using their sites.

Will school bake sales be a thing of the past?

Regardless of what online service schools decide to use, it appears that online fundraising is becoming a popular option for cash-strapped learning communities.

As schools continue to see cuts made to their budgets, sites like wealthyschools.ca might see more online traffic while schools that use the service hope real traffic arrives at their front doors not only to pick up students, but to pick up product.

Photos from morgue.com

Related sites:

• See the pitch made by Canada's Wealthy Schools on CBC's the Dragon's Den. Click here.
• Forbes looks at Schoola and how it works. Click here.
• This blog entry discusses three online possibilities for schools to consider when planning fundraising. Click here.
• This site is dedicated to providing advice to schools and other non-profit organizations on online fundraising and social media. Click here. 
• When online fundraising is abused and goes horribly wrong. How a fraudulent website made money off other people's grief. Click here.
• Using live stream feeds with notable personalities to raise money during a fundraising campaign. Click here.
• Successful online fundraising site for non-profit organizations brings its services to public schools. Click here.
• Solar panels for schools uses a mix of online and traditional fundraising in the United Kingdom with an educational component for the students. Click here.
• A 10-year old student in Toronto focuses on fundraising for needy families and includes issuing challenges to other schools and an online campaign. Click here and here.
• Is online fundraising the way to go, when there are creative ways to fundraise that also can build awareness and bring communities together? Click here to see an article in The Advertiser that explores one creative way a school is fundraising.