"Greenraising" more popular for school fundraising

By Dan Estabrook - July 15, 2008 (TNN) When I was in school (decades ago, by the way), we hawked everything from candy bars to magazines to raise money for our cross-country team, drama club and various other activities in which I was involved.  According to today's Wall Street Journal, times are changing as more and more schools hop on the green bandwagon and sell sustainable, organic, healthier, and eco-friendly goods. With current attention on childhood obesity, it makes perfect sense for our kids not to carry around 30 candy bars.  Consumers are also more conscious about fair-trade products and it now seems strange to purchase products from U.S. children that children in sweatshops could have manufactured somewhere else in the world.  An interesting point in the article is that parents are now taking on the role of "salesperson" as they worry about their childrens' safety.  As a result, many moms and dads want to sell and purchase products and services that they will actually use. Our company, GreenDimes, has also jumped on this bandwagon.  We are receiving more and more requests for donations to school auctions (and we do provide a free junk mail reduction service for those who ask!).  We also support an affiliates program where your school or organization can receive 15% from sales made by their staff and students.  Please contact me at dan@tonicgen.com if you would like more information. The greenraising web sites are quite cool, numerous and comprehensive, so you should check them out:

Even though we are about a month away from "back to school," it is not to early to think about how your school will pay for those soccer uniforms.  Happy Green Selling!