Bake sales, car washes, and community garage sales can generate a lot of money for a class field trip and give the students an invaluable experience to plan, coordinate, and execute the fundraiser. If you are looking for another way to raise funds for your next, much anticipated class trip, check out these popular options.
1. Corporate Grants
Target, Kohl’s, Walmart, and other large corporations offer grants in varying dollar amounts to fund field trips or other classroom needs. For more information, check out the links below.
Target https://corporate.target.com/corporate-responsibility/grants?ref=sr_shorturl_grants
Walmart http://giving.walmart.com/apply-for-grants/local-giving
Other organizations also provide grants and scholarships for educators.
The SYTA Youth Foundation strives to provide travel opportunities for students and youth who would otherwise miss valuable educational travel experiences and group performance opportunities.http://sytayouthfoundation.org/participate/scholarships
The Voya Unsung Heroes program selects 100 educators to receive $2,000 to help fund their innovative class projects. Three of those are chosen to receive the top awards of an additional $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000. https://www.scholarsapply.org/unsungheroes/
The National Education Association invites its members to apply for grants to enhance teaching and learning. Funding preference is given to projects that incorporate STEM and/or global learning. http://www.neafoundation.org/pages/grants-to-educators/
2. Crowdfunding
You are probably familiar with Kickstarter and Gofundme. There are also crowdfunding sites geared toward educational endeavors.
AdoptAClassroom.org connects donors with underserved classrooms to help fund classroom materials or other class needs. Donors can choose a classroom to support or AdoptAClassroom will assign a class if the donor doesn’t have a preference. http://www.adoptaclassroom.org/
DonorsChoose.org helps teachers request funding for specific projects including equipment needs or field trips that expand learning. https://www.donorschoose.org/
Classwish.org makes it easy for teachers to create a wish list from art supplies to field trip opportunities and donor can choose what they want to fund. http://classwish.org/
3. Entrepreneurship
Enlist students to start a small business at school or in the community. Young entrepreneurs can offer a service at school – such as a snack stand before or after school. Or students can get out into the community and offer lawn mowing or snow shoveling services. Encourage creative students to host an art show to sell their inspired art, with proceeds going to their next great classroom experience.
And don’t forget that all Field Trip Factory field trips are free. Transportation may be your only cost, so check out the fun, educational trips on our website, today!