My name is Jim Berigan.  I am the managing editor of Top School Fundraisers, which is a sister site to Step by Step Fundraising.  Our single goal is to connect schools with great fundraising ideas.

If you’d like to know more about school fundraising, I’d like to encourage you to check out the website and sign up to receive its bi-weekly email newsletter.

I have been writing for Top School Fundraisers since January of 2008.  Before that, I worked as a private elementary school principal in Gaylord, Michigan.  During my tenure, I was involved in many of the same fundraising activities that you have tried at your school- auctions, golf outings, cookie dough sales, bake sales, you name it.  I struggled to attract volunteers and had to deal with a sluggish economy complicating our fundraising efforts.

My personal goal is to sift through all that I have learned and experienced and frame it in a way that is helpful to others who are engaged in trying to help our kids get a dynamic and thorough education.  Nothing frustrated me more than when we had to cut a program or a teacher because of a lack of funds.  I hate to see kids hurt like that.

One of the best ideas I’ve heard was for elementary schools to raise money holding read-a-thons. Did you know that you can raise lots of money if you participate in Read Across America? Those are the kinds of things I like to write about.

So, I gladly welcome and invite you to not only start keeping up with our regularly updated blog, but to also take a few minutes to go back and read some of the posts from the first part of this year.  We’ve got some helpful advice in our archives.  We hope you take full advantage of everything at Top School Fundraisers.