Use crowdfunding to buy school supplies

The idea behind crowdfunding was to help young entrepreneurs and artists realize their projects. Since then, many circles and individuals have taken the plunge. But the sites have become more than just platforms for encouraging initiatives. Nowadays, some people use them like buoys thrown into the sea for help. Whether it's after a disaster where insurance doesn't pay out, or those American patients who have to pay for treatments at staggering cost, charity is now a part of these sites. Some, in the USA, even give advice on how to use it to help pay off student debt.

With the state disengaging in ever larger ways, some schools are turning to participatory funding platforms to finance things that are often essential.

The English problem

Britain has seen a series of decisions based on budget austerity for some time. Consequently, English schools have seen public funding melt away in part. So, by April 2019, more than 1,000 schools were using crowdfunding tools. Some have turned to sites like Crowdfunder or JustGiving while others are using Amazon wish lists to motivate parents and the general public to give.

We might think that requests are mostly for the superfluous like school trips, items for extracurricular activities and so on. This is not the case at all. On the contrary, requests are often for the basics such as notebooks, glue, pencils, etc. Some also ask for household products so that the teaching staff can help with school cleaning. Yet, as this Guardian editorial points out, charity doesn't make up for austerity. And while public bodies have promised to reinvest, seeing the issues raised, many have been slow to see the urgency. As a result, inequality between schools has increased without shocking, among others, the country's Conservative party, which saw philanthropy as a good thing as a source of school funding.

A philosophy that's spreading

On the other side of the Channel, participatory funding is of interest to many too. The French government has even set up its own platform: la Trousse à projets. Here, the aim is not to fund school supplies, but ideas for outings, educational projects, in-class talks by experts, and so on. Teachers (and students) are then invited to submit the project and promote the idea to secure funding. If the campaign fails, donors can decide to allocate the amount to the platform's redistribution fund. The idea being to relieve families financially. And while 80% of the funds raised were successful, there are still many questions to be asked about this public funding. At the end of the day, these campaigns demonstrate the public disinvestment in the education system throughout the West. True, citizens pay less out of their own pockets at first glance, but they still have to pull out their wallets eventually to improve school life for their children or those of their families.

And what's more, some administrations don't want teachers to use participatory financing. For example, this Texas district has banned teachers from using these platforms to obtain school supplies. The ban was made on the principle that administrators didn't want faculty putting money in their pockets. Meanwhile, however, classes are struggling to provide materials with the annual $200.

Participatory funding is trying to make up for the lack of public funds. The means proves clever, but continues to accentuate the gaps between schools that succeed in their fundraising campaigns and those that fail. This unfortunately places children in a kind of school lottery where only those lucky enough to have funding will be entitled to a quality education.

Illustration: Kat Yukawa on Unsplash

References

Adams, Richard, and Niamh McIntyre. "More Than 1,000 English Schools Turn to Online Donations to Close Funding Gap." The Guardian. Last updated April 9, 2019.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/apr/09/cash-strapped-english-schools-turn-to-online-donations-to-close-funding-gap

Apple, Alex. "Metro Schools Bans Teachers from Using Crowdfunding for School Supplies. "WZTV. Last updated March 12, 2019.
https://fox17.com/news/local/metro-schools-bans-teachers-from-using-crowdfunding-for-school-supplies

Cobb, Cody. "How to Use Crowdfunding to Pay Off Student Loans." U.S. News. Last updated June 19, 2019.
https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/student-loan-ranger/articles/2019-06-19/how-to-use-crowdfunding-to-pay-off-student-loans

Crouzillacq, Philippe. "Trousseaprojets.fr, La Plate-forme De Financement Participatif De L'Éducation Nationale." L'Etudiant. Last updated: December 5, 2018.
https://www.letudiant.fr/educpros/actualite/trousseaprojets-fr-la-plate-forme-solidaire-de-financement-participatif-de-l-education-nationale.html

"The Guardian View on Crowdfunding Schools: Lessons in Unfairness." The Guardian. Last updated April 9, 2019.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/09/the-guardian-view-on-crowdfunding-schools-lessons-in-unfairness

"La Trousse à Projets, Qu'est-ce Que C'est?" Ministère De L'Éducation Nationale Et De La Jeunesse. Last updated September 2019.
https://www.education.gouv.fr/cid113031/la-trousse-a-projets-qu-est-ce-que-c-est.html

Snead, Florence. "'Hundreds' of Schools Using Crowdfunding or Wishlists for Supplies." Inews.co.uk. Last updated September 6, 2019.
https://inews.co.uk/news/education/school-funding-cuts-crowdfunding-amazon-wishlists-supplies-education-504025