Funding: Square 1 Art

At a PAEA conference a few years ago, I visited several vendors who had information about art fundraisers. Shortly thereafter, as budget cuts became the norm, I decided to jump on the fundraising bandwagon and see what I could do.

For the last three years, all 600+ of my kiddos have been doing the Square 1 Art fundraiser, which is a hit with kids and parents alike.

Basically, the kids create an 8.5" square piece of work which is shipped away, digitally archived, and then available for families to purchase on a variety of items: mugs, coasters, T-shirts, even iPhone covers!

At least 30 percent of the profits stay here for the art program. Each year I've done the program, I've earned the equivalent to my school-sponsored budget, which is pretty great. The best part (in my opinion) is that every kid gets a free set of 20 stickers with their artwork printed on 'em, regardless of whether or not they order anything else. I love that.

It's a significant amount of work for the coordinator (yours truly), but I think it's worth it.

The third grade project is one of my faves--it's simple yet covers a good chunk of curriculum, and the majority of the results are great.

We talk about warm and cool colors, Georgia O'Keeffe, perspective, subject. Everyone does a few sketches:

After drawing final copies, a color palette is chosen: warm colors or cool colors. We review proper coloring techniques: outline or 'trace your space,' then color in stripes, kinda like Dad mows the grass in rows. :-)

To finish, all pencil lines are traced with black Sharpies, and the kids sign their work:

Voila! Georgia!

(The 'pink' on here is truer to purple in person)