TIPS FOR FUNDING SPEAKERS IN YOUR SCHOOL

Speakers entertain and deliver messages. A speaker can be a powerful catalyst to changing the way students think, feel and act. So it is worthwhile to ask yourself:   What message do our students need to hear?

Consider asking leadership students, counselors, peer assistance advisors, club advisors, and athletic coaches. Perhaps do a survey to find out students major concerns. You may then want to set an objective for having the speaker come to your school.  

Your objective can make a difference in how you fund an assembly and in what your student body will get out of it. With a particular objective in mind, you and your students will be more motivated to do the task of funding.  

1. Check with your administration for funding from the Associated Student Body funds for an assembly or, perhaps, from Staff Development - Title VI funding for a teacher in-service, No Child Left Behind. 

2. Make a Plan to integrate the speaker into a larger objective (ie. an Awareness Week, Health Day, etc.). Use the speaker as a highlight for the effort. If the speaker's topics are applicable  (alcohol and drug prevention, sexual abstinence, tobacco use, teen pregnancy, gangs, bullying, Internet safety, crime and violence prevention, self-harm, suicide, depression,etc), you may apply for a grant from federal funding under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act (SDFSCA). 

Check with your school district or contact the federal government to find out who is dispensing these funds in your state. Fill out the appropriate form and you are almost guaranteed of getting some funding.

3. Apply for other grant monies from the state by contacting your state Dept. of Human Services and state Department of Education. They can direct you to where grant monies exist (ie. Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division).

Contact other local agencies in your county that already have grant monies from state agencies (mental health agencies, programs for mentoring youth, Police Community Services Dept, religious community, Community Anti-Drug Coalition, etc.) who have gotten funding from state agencies like the Criminal Justice Department or Department of Public Safety.  

4. Contact independent non-profit corporations (ie. the Search Institute - 800-888-7828).

5. Contact your school's PTO/PTA. Share your plans with them. They are more likely to help fund with a well thoughtout plan.

6. Contact your local police department and share your plan with the Chief and/or Community Services Officer. You may get funding support especially if the speaker and/or event is addressing drunk driving issues, crime and violence prevention, alcohol and drug abuse, etc.

7. Have student leaders contact local business organizations: Rotary Club, Kiwanis, Lions Club, Elks, Chamber of Commerce. Sharing your plan will again encourage them to help fund your speaker.

8. Contact several of your larger local businesses, especially those related to products or services for teens and their families. Contact the owner, CEO, or Community Services Department. Ask them to be a corporate sponsor for your school and ask them to help fund the speaker and/or event you have planned.

9. Get multiple clubs on campus to be part of the plan/event and to help in a fundraising event. A cooperative effort is particularly effective for a smaller rural school when coupled with funds from state grant monies. It teaches students how to work together in a collaborative way and about the realities in time and effort of acquiring funding in the real world.

10. Use creative financing.  Split the speaker's day with one or more other schools, bringing several schools to one location for a joint assembly and splitting the cost.  Tap local middle schools and high schools, both, if the speaker's message applies. 

In rural settings, you may want to bring the middle school students to your campus yet have them contribute to the funding. Or use some Instructional Materials funding to buy a volume of speaker's books and reduce the fee accordingly.

11. Consider a Teacher In-Service or Staff Development Day and see if you can get a discount on an additional assembly day.

12. Block Book - If you get in touch with other schools in the area and get the speaker assemblies over  multiple days, they will often provide a discount to your school, if not each of the schools. 

13. Visit CADCA's website at www.cadca.org and www.jointogether.org for additional current useful funding sources and links, grant writing tips and the latest in funding news.