Schools are always looking for ways to fund their music programs, and for many years now, students and teachers have turned to the familiar car wash and bake sale events as a way of making that money to help pay for new instruments or special uniforms or field trips to one location or another.
And while these ideas aren't bad, we at CivilizedNation.com would like to propose an entirely new set of imaginative ideas for raising funds for school's music programs, while at the same time bolstering the town's entertainment offerings and sense of community pride.
The first idea would be to partner with organizations that are actually involved in the business of music, such as Napster, Yahoo Music, etc. With the proliferation of mp3 devices now available, and musical piracy at an all time high, an agreement could almost certainly be reached whereby organizations would agree to donate 10% of all earnings during a specified period of time towards schools across the country or to a specific school where students sold musical download cards (10 songs for $10) to members of the community. Besides raising funds for schools, such a program might also help lower the amount of musical piracy on the internet as people might be more encouraged to perform legitimate downloads since they would now know that a portion of their purchase amount would be going back to benefit their own community.
Another idea for raising funds for music programs would be to form smaller bands (from within the school band) and have them perform at local restaurants on weekends, announcing that all tips/donations would be for this field trip or these uniforms, etc. This would benefit both the restaurant in terms of entertainment and it wold benefit the students themselves, teaching them a greater sense of responsibility while putting their musical talents to work.
Still yet another idea would be to reach an agreement with local music stores, creating a special events month where a percentage of all purchases could be donated to the local high school's music program. Students could play music in varying locations around town promoting the store while at the same time promoting their cause.
The point to these ideas is that students and schools that are in need of funds for their programs have numerous opportunities all around them. Rather than selling candy or brownies (and aiding in what is quickly becoming a national pandemic of diabetes), students can form partnerships with local businesses, making the situation music to everyone's ears.