[LM_NET] HIT: Fund-raising for the School Library

[Toni Buzzeo <tonibuzzeo@TONIBUZZEO.COM>]

Original Target:

I'm writing an article on fund-raising for the 
school library.  What have you done that might 
fall into that category (book fairs, of course, 
come to everyone's mind--but have you done 
something really interesting with your book fair)?

Beyond book fairs, what other traditional or far 
out fund raisers have you been involved 
in?  Traci Magee in TN raised $10,689.22 with her change drive!

What other ideas, small or large, have you used?

RESPONSES:

In a school in which I worked several years ago 
we did a dessert party. I don't really know what 
to call it but, we had parent volunteers make 
fancy desserts and we used a room in the 
municipal building. We served dessert and coffee 
for a night and charged admission so it was like 
a date night for the parents in the district. We 
had fancy table cloths and doilies. It was pretty 
successful but embarrassing because this was a 
relatively well to do town and yet we were not 
funded well and had to resort to this to raise 
money for the library. This was back in 2000 so 
my memories are fuzzy but I think we made several 
hundred dollars. The parents volunteered to bake. 
I don't remember exactly how much we charged but, 
I think it was around  $5 or $10.

***
Here at St. Anthony the parent organization uses 
a fall Donate-a-Book event at conference time to 
fund the library.  This is the only money that 
supports the library by the way.  New books are 
purchased, either at the local independent (my 
choice) or from vendors (also my choice) and 
displayed as children and parents come for 
conferences.  The people choose a book that 
appeals to them, their names and the book's 
barcode is written down along with cost, they 
"Buy" the book for the library and are first to 
read it.  Biggest drawback is getting the books 
back to the library and having new books for my 
fall Books!Treats! and Prizes! for the staff.

Fall conference times are in late October and 
early November.  Last year about thirty books 
were donated, this was not the entire order of 
materials.  While some nonfiction was donated the 
kind usually chosen was individual titles by 
well-known authors (Freedman, Fradin etc.) and 
not the series NF.  Fiction and picture books were scooped up for donation.

Leftover books are paid for by the parent 
organization and are part of the 
collection.  Last year they made enough money to 
pay the bills for materials and give the library 
an additional amount for award winners in 
January.  I gave the list prices not the discount price.

***

I work in a 7-12 rural school library.  Book 
fairs over the years have proven to be too much 
work for too little money--no offense, that is 
just my situation with 2 other schools in close 
proximity doing book fairs and with most 
pre-packaged fairs not meeting the desires of secondary students.

Ten years ago I started selling balloon bouquets 
to students: birthdays, get well, friendship, I'm 
sorry,thank you, sports, love, etc.  Orders are 
taken in the morning and at lunch and the 
afternoon library aides make the orders which are 
delivered the last 5 to 10 minutes of the 
day.  Students and parents both love it and it 
doesn't compete with anything in the area.  At 
some point I realized that I had expanded the 
"business" too much when some members of the 
public were coming in requesting bouquets to take 
with them (and asking if we had any "It's a 
gir/boy" balloons).   It is a reliable 
money-maker all year --no pain, fat-free and with 
satisfaction guaranteed.  The front office likes 
it because they are not taking delivery of 
balloons/flowers from outside vendors and having 
to look up the students' classes and get them 
delivered at the end of the day.  The school 
occasionally have us make bouquets for assemblies, dances, etc.

For Valentine's Day we go all out and lay in a 
huge stock of balloons and various gift 
items.  The library is closed that one day in 
terms of class visits.  We start blowing up the 
mylar balloons the day before and I come in early 
on V-Day and with the help of volunteers (and an 
assembly-line operation), we work for the next 7 
hours.  The entire library is a forest of 
balloons (with a few floating on the 
ceiling).  The JROTC students and TAs in the 
building start delivering the last period of the 
day.  It is wild and exhausting and over the 
years amazingly good/bad and ugly scenarios have 
happened:  the time we took delivery of two 
helium tanks and one turned out to be empty, the 
times breakups occurred during the day and we had 
to go through hundreds of orders to cancel 
deliveries, the time we thought we were done and 
then found a stack of unfilled orders with only 
10 minutes to make them.  I can hardly crawl out 
of the building at the end of the day and often 
have a blister or two from tying balloons.  This 
year V-Day happens on a Saturday with a 
Professional Development Day on Friday so we will 
probably miss out on the frantic fun.

Some of our best customers are junior high 
students; however, it might not work at the 
elementary level and not only for  personnel or 
volunteer reasons.   Elementary students  can 
feel really left out if they see other children 
getting balloons and they don't get one from 
either parents or friends.  Also, they sometimes 
deliberately grab or pop balloons (sometimes they 
want to get at the helium so they can talk funny).

What might work is making twisty animal balloons 
(and other shapes) for younger kids.  I do that 
also and just charge 25-50 cents...it is not much 
but there is a lot of profit in a bag of pencil 
balloons and there is no cost for helium, ribbon, etc.
***

Our book club has run a Guitar Hero and Dance, 
Dance Revolution tournament (not a huge money 
machine but loads of positive PR for the HS 
library!).  We have also hosted a dance after our 
Friday night basketball game (raised over $300.00 
in our small, rural, 500 student school in 
Michigan under hard economic times).
***

I do have a book fair each fall during the week 
of curriculum night and in the spring during 
parent/teacher conferences. It helps to have it 
when parents are in the building as a way to 
increase sales.  Scholastic recently raised their 
profit limit to $1800 and I doubt I'll be able to 
meet that this year so I may forgo book fairs in 
the future in favor of some other type of fund raiser.

Additionally, I have had a summer read-a-thon 
where kids gather pledges of money for their 
summer reading (i.e. .25/page; $1/book, etc) and 
they turn in their reading logs and money in the 
fall and we have a thank you party. This is 
something one of the elementary school libraries 
did and I continued it when the kids moved into 
my building. It unfortunately petered out but it 
may be something I will try to revive next 
summer.  I don't remember exactly but it was only 
about $150. Not much for all the organization, 
copying, distributing, etc. but it helps. It 
gives me a "kitty" I can use for activities, 
reading incentives, my MSBA party and that newest 
copy of the latest hot series.

Unfortunately I can't find the forms I used. Will 
have to re-create in the future if I do it again. 
Essentially it was just a sheet with the columns 
that included the pledge amount, book title, 
pages read and total as well as informational 
message & student name at the top.

I'll be interested to see the ideas you collect for your article.
***

I'm hoping to do a Halloween film fest in our HS 
library and charge an admission fee to help raise 
money for books (and pay for the snacks.) Nothing 
set in stone yet, but will probably use the 
classic Dracula films (2, most likely) and run a 
vampire theme...would perhaps tie this into The Twilight theme.

***
pennies - we aimed for one million, and did 
really well, but I am sick of seeing them and 
taking them to the bank to be counted.

I challenged the student body to gather one 
million pennies. This allowed us to bring in the 
math of such an enterprise - the concept of one 
million is so interesting. The kids were very 
naive as to what that number of pennies would 
become and also as to what it could buy. One 
sweet child suggested a New Car.  we managed to 
gather about 30,000 pennies - some of which are 
upstairs and need to be dragged to the Credit 
Union where it only costs 3%  to turn them into dollar bills.

You wouldn't believe the number of odd pennies - 
pence - lira that also showed up.

It was occasioned by my reading the book Secrets 
In the Fire by Henning Mankell.  I felt that if 
this child could recover her life with so little, 
then our students who have so much could read 
this book and realize that they can help others 
with their pennies. It just takes pennies. I was 
also fired up because so many people just dump 
change on the floor rather than put pennies in 
their pockets.  I wrote and received a Stephen & 
Tabitha King grant for 500 copies of the book 
Secrets In the Fire.  The plan was to give any 
child who wanted a copy of the book and then 
collect the pennies. This was slightly derailed 
because the principal, who had read and given her 
blessing to the grant proposal, pulled the book 
from several 5th graders' hands. It was 
unpleasant. She did not offer any support for the project after that.

it's $3,000 and we have given some to charity and 
are always on the look-out for ways to share it. 
Wellllll, some of it is being used by the 
library. My original goal was altruistic, but 
raising one million pennies when the 
administration doesn't care to promote it, is 
difficult.  We emptied a lot of penny jars though.

***
We participate in the General Mills Boxtops 
drive, and the Campbell's Label Drive.  For 
Boxtops, we run two contests, one a classroom 
collection.  I put bins in the all the 
classrooms, and count boxtops collected, with 
parties (pizza and ice cream sundae) for the 
three top  collecting rooms.  Then in the spring 
we have an individual contest, where any student 
who brings in ten boxtops gets a chance in a 
raffle jar, and we draw names monthly for 
winners.  Also, in the past, I have run a student 
store, selling pencils, pens, notebooks, 
etc.  Each of these efforts makes or used to make 
a couple thousand dollars each year for the library.

***

your request activated some very old brain cells 
with memories of high school where I was 
responsible for the school store run by the 
library - pens, pencils, folders with DHS on 
them.  All those things evolve so that at 
Freeport I sometimes found supplemental funds by 
selling floppy discs which would be flashdrives today.

*** I have a pencil machine near the 
cafeteria.  I average about $500 a year. I bought 
the pencil machine from Student Supply 
Company.  With the initial price of $385 for the 
machine, depending on your school, you can get 
that back pretty easy.  My first year, I made 
more that $500, because it was so new to 
them.  The only disadvantage I found was that a 
very bright student found that he could put a 
plastic quarter in it and get a pencil.  I didn’t 
complain because other students would try it.  I lost about $5.00 that year.

I purchase pencils from the same company, or get 
them from other companies that are having a 
sale.  I put a variety of pencils in there and 
some of my students have begun collecting them. 
If you look in the catalog, you will find other 
things to sell that are inexpensive.  You can 
even set up a school supply store.  We did that 
in high school and it worked well.  I lot of this 
stuff you will find very overpriced at bookfairs.

***
I’m sure you’ll get lots of similar responses, 
but here goes.  At the school I previously worked 
in, there was a long, lovely tradition of a 
Birthday Book fund raiser.  The Birthday Book 
program was just more special (as in “unique” and 
“endearing”) than the usual book fairs because 
kids developed a sense of ownership and pride in 
the library collection.  I regularly had kids 
from the middle or high school (this was a 
Preschool-12 independent school in Brooklyn 
called Berkeley Carroll) stop by when they 
happened to be in the building to say “hi” to 
their old Birthday Book.  They were always 
tickled when they saw “their” book was still 
there and being read/loved by other 
students.  It’s something I’ve come to discover 
lots and lots of schools have, and even some 
classrooms.  I wish we could have one at my 
current school, but it is not to be *sigh*.

I know the program had been started many years 
back, in the late 70s I believe.  From what I 
understand, when the program first started 
students would come in to the Library on (or 
near) their birthday and select a book in which 
to put their birthday bookplate, if their parents 
wanted them to participate and had made a 
monetary donation to the library at or before the 
time, of course. I’m unclear as to whether or not 
children selected books from a stockpile of new 
titles set aside or if students could just choose 
their favorite library book.  But as years went 
on, I suppose it became easier for there to just 
be a “Birthday Book Week” instead of having 
separate selection times all year long, so that’s 
what they did. Anyhow, this is how it was done by the time I came along:
--just after the last school year ended, I’d make 
a large purchase of new, hopefully exciting 
titles, often with specific children in mind.  As 
for how they were paid for, I’ve actually 
forgotten­it seems like it was with the general 
library budget, not the previous year’s birthday 
book takings. I’m pretty sure the b-book proceeds 
were used to keep the reference collection 
up-to-date but I can ask my supervisor from 
there.  Anyhow, once the new books for the coming 
year’s birthday book week were made shelf-ready, 
they were stored in a safe place until Birthday 
Book Week.  The idea was that part of the fun of 
picking a birthday book was that you got to be 
the very first person ever to check that book out.
--letters explaining the history and purpose of 
the program went home with the “back to school” 
info parents received in early August.  Donation 
checks started coming in soon after and we’d keep 
track of donor, amount, check #, etc. before 
depositing.  Checks would continue to come in periodically until October.
--Birthday Book week was usually the second week 
of October (not sure why, but it was often around 
Columbus Day­maybe it was a sufficient time for 
back-to-school madness to ebb).   So, the week 
before we’d do a lot of promotion, reading of 
birthday-themed stories, etc.  We also promoted 
it on our bulletin boards, signs in the library, 
etc.  I didn’t go over the top as I didn’t want 
those who weren’t participating to feel left 
out­I tried to strike a friendly middle.
--for the actual week, the new birthday books 
would be taken out of “hiding” and set out on 
display (I tended to group them together by type 
of book).  Students whose names were on the list 
of donors would be instructed that they needed to 
choose one of those displayed books to be their 
birthday book.  Once they decided on “their” 
book, we’d put a bookplate inside with an 
inscription similar to : “Donated to the Lower 
School Library by Jane Doe, in Honor of her 
Birthday, September 9, 2008” and then we’d check 
their name off the list.  For the birthday listed 
on the bookplate, we’d just put the child’s 
birthday that school year.  The bookplates used 
to be hand calligraphed by a parent volunteer but 
we had to move with the times and get ink-jet 
feedable labels.  My predecessor there always 
kept track of which child selected which book and 
I didn’t, though maybe I should have. Students 
got to borrow their birthday book for the usual 
time and then return it for everyone to 
enjoy.  So, they didn’t get to select it to be in 
the library, but they did get to choose a brand new library book to be theirs.
--As for the donations, parents made it for as 
much as they wanted.  The explanatory letter said 
that the typical price of a new book would be 
fine­usually $15-$25 dollars or so.  Some were 
big donors, others just gave what they could afford.
--I’m not sure if books purchased with birthday 
book proceeds were marked as such.  It seems 
logical they would be and it seems like during my 
last year there, my supervisor me to indicate 
them somehow, but I can’t recall if I actually did or not…

In doing research to try to convince my current 
employers that a birthday book program would be 
worthwhile, I discovered that at some other 
schools, books were put on display in the lobby 
with a sign indicating they are part of the 
birthday book program.  Parents would then pay 
the price of the book and it’d officially become 
a part of the Library collection.  Many places 
had kids choose books on their birthday, 
too.  Also, some schools had a list of books they 
would like and parents could buy that book 
someplace and bring it in to become a part of the 
collection and get a birthday bookplate.

I think it’s really nice to have that connection 
to the library built in.  Kids just like seeing 
their name in a book at first, but as they get 
older, they realize that it means they helped the 
library to grow.  And, if they got to pick a book 
they really loved, it’s that much more 
special.  Often when I’d pick up a book to start 
reading, a kid would recognize the familiar 
bookplate and ask whose book it was.  Then they’d 
oooh and aaahh, saying how lucky that person was 
to have that as their birthday book.  And as I 
said before, kids would regularly come back to 
find out if “their” book was still on the 
shelf.  Sadly, some weren’t.  Birthday books were 
given a bit more leeway when it came to weeding 
(for me, anyhow) but I did have to weed out a few beloved birthday books.

***

I am doing two things this year so far (besides 
book fair, etc.). The first is the Birthday Book 
Club.  The parents pay $15 and their child gets 
to pick a new books from my new book selection. 
We then take the child's photo and place it along 
with a Birthday Book Club book plate inside the 
front cover. On the child's birthday, he/she 
comes on the morning announcements, shows the 
book and is the first child to get to check out that book.

I also do 5th Grade Legacy Book. This is very 
similar to the birthday club but in this case, 
5th graders choose their very most favorite book 
of all time from our entire collection.  It might 
be an easy reader, novel, non fiction, whatever 
they like. Again, we do a photo and book plate in 
the front cover. Their name, with all the other 
participants from their class, are documented on 
a piece of parchment paper and framed. This is 
hung in the library so that all can see.  This 
leaves a little bit of each student who passes 
through our doors for years to come. The parents also pay $15 for this.

These two activities are not considered true 
"fund raisers" by the tax people because they are 
purchasing new books. This is a way to generate a 
lot of money for buying new books/activities for very little overhead.
***

I sell hot chocolate at breakfast. I start about 
Nov.1 and continue thru March 1st (we live in OK 
so that's our cold season). I probably made 
$25.00 a week last year. Not a lot, but it sure comes in handy.



Toni Buzzeo, MA, MLIS <mailto:tonibuzzeo@tonibuzzeo.com>
Maine Library Media Specialist of the Year Emerita
Buxton, ME 04093
http://www.tonibuzzeo.com
The Library Doors, illustrated by Nadine Bernard 
Westcott (Upstart 2008) BRAND NEW!!!

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