Teachers turn to crowdfunding for classroom supplies

CEDAR RAPIDS - Sometimes finding wiggle room in a budget can be challenging, especially for schoolteachers.

'Budgets are always an issue,” said Caleb Upah, an art teacher at McKinley Middle School in Cedar Rapids who was confronted with a budget constraint when looking to get the school a new potter's wheel - an instrument that would have cost upward of $1,400.

'To purchase a big-ticket item like that …

there's no way for a teacher to do that,” Upah said.

It wasn't until he stumbled across DonorsChoose.org that he realized there were other options.

As with crowdfunding sites GoFundMe and Kickstarter, DonorsChoose.org is an online fundraising site, but it is designed specifically for kindergarten-through-grade-12 public schoolteachers.

Money raised through the site pays for the desired items, which are purchased and shipped directly to the school once the funding goal is reached.

Cassidy Applegate, a teacher at Baxter High School in central Iowa, ran into similar budget problems when seeking to buy the second and third books in the 'Hunger Games” series for her English class.

Applegate considered DonorsChoose as well as other websites to raise the extra money. But she found a solution through the Better Community Connections program offered through Pear and U.S. Cellular, which sponsored youth and school groups within a 50-mile radius of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids or Iowa City until the end of the year.

Groups, whether a sports team, music ensemble, academic club or otherwise, had the opportunity to earn up to $1,000 free - all it took was a little social networking.

They made sponsorship pages through Pear, a company that worked with U.S. Cellular to assist them with the program. The sponsorship not only helped fund the groups, but also brought attention to U.S. Cellular through interaction with the company online.

After groups invited their friends to their sponsorship page through social media, users were encouraged to complete various online 'tasks” such as visiting U.S. Cellular's website, 'liking” their Facebook page or subscribing to their mailing list.

With each completed 'task,” users earned the group 'points,” each task worth a certain amount of points. The more points they earned, the more money the group received.

'I had reservations about how easy it was to get the money,” Applegate said. 'I thought there was going to be a catch, …

but there wasn't. It's really as easy as it sounds … .

'All I had to do was spread the word.”

Applegate posted her group's sponsorship page to Facebook, expecting just her family and close friends to chip in. But then, it took off and Applegate raised $518 - more than enough to buy the books she needed.

Applegate admitted that spamming her Facebook friend's walls with reminders of her fundraiser was maybe 'a little annoying.”

But, she said, it 'obviously paid off.”

Similarly, Upah was able to quickly fund his potter's wheel by spreading his DonorsChoose.org campaign through social media.

Donations skyrocketed and in just 20 minutes, the project went from half-funded to fully funded. Not only were friends and family giving, but also businesses and anonymous donors, who funded nearly half the project.

McKinley Middle School received it new potter's wheel in October, and it didn't cost the school a dime.