Chopsy Baby is reviewing… FunMats School Fund Raising Art Projects
Term time is in full swing – apart from that pesky half term fast approaching. Parents are already receiving letters letting them know how they can support their school by giving up time. Oh, and the diary of forthcoming fund raising events from the Parents and Teachers Association has probably been handed out.
Cake sales, discos and sponsored walks are the traditional favourites nationwide. But, FunMats have come up with a lovely way for children to raise money for their school, whilst giving their parents or carers something tangible back.
FunMats help schools create fund raising art projects to sell back to parents. Children typically produce a drawing or painting on FunMats issued paper. This is then turned into items such as a drink coaster, mouse mat, shopping bag or framed print – the type of things parents will appreciate having their children’s unique scrawl on.
With a drink coaster, a school class would make a profit of 50p for each coaster sold to parents – this could make a final minimum fund raising amount of £30 for the school should every parent in a 60 place intake purchase one.
For parents ordering more expensive items such as a glass kitchen board at £9.50, this profit jumps to £3.00 for each one of these items ordered.
As well as featuring children’s artwork, FunMats also create Class Leavers Souvenirs that can feature full class photographs on a similar range of products.
The FunMats art project was originally created by a teacher twelve years ago. There is plenty of guidance in the instruction booklet about how best to make the art projects fit term dates.
Best of all for schools, the fund raising project is risk free. By taking part, FunMats guarantees that the school will lose no money. There is no minimum order or obligation to buy the final products. No payment is made until the money is collected from parents for the products.
Reviewed by…
Chopsy Baby’s Jen Smith
Jen says: “I am one of those parents who will quite happily buy anything my precious first born has scrawled over. I know I am not the only one with this affliction and there is a very good parent market for the FunMats out there – should schools choose to take part.
“I worked with the FunMats package on an individual basis with my own son. This obviously doesn’t require the same amount of time and preparation that a class teacher would have to undertake.
“But, the process is very simple and along the lines of: Child creates their work of art on an issued piece of paper. This will be made into whatever products are indicated on the top of it. The parents pay the school and the products are made.
“My son created his drawing on the FunMats paper and it was sent off. I received my coaster back promptly showing that the company are efficient at what they do.
“The coaster appears to be a good quality product and the child’s drawing is exactly as it was on the paper. It properly reflects the quality of dodgy felt pen it was drawn in.
Title: Mummy, Baby Astrid and Me on a Boat at Sea
“Of course, I won’t be using the coaster as a coaster. It obviously takes current pride of place in the multitude of artwork waiting to be placed in the Tate Modern.
“From a parent’s perspective, I love this product and would very happily buy one to support my child’s school.”
Best of all…
Parents will love the coaster project. It’s affordable and the final product is good.
Could improve…
Nothing
Basically…
A great alternative to the traditional cake sale
Schools find more information here:
www.funmats.co.uk