How old are these kids that are in the video club and how much money do you estimate you need?
I would check with the cable company first as the other poster suggested to see what they can do for you and then here are some other suggestions....
I would also go to your local major electronics store (Best Buy, PC Richards, etc...) and speak to the manager. Let them know you are in the process of raising funds for 50 televisions. Ask if they will cut you a deal for 50 televisions and if they can help you out in any way. 50 televisions is a lot and I can't imagine then one of them would not work to cut you a deal. Not to mention that it is good PR for them.
You can write letters to all kinds of local organizations and businesses asking for donations. Write exactly what is going on and how you need to provide 50 televisions so that the morning show and video club can continue. Organizations like the rotary, knights of columbus, vfw, American legion, womans club...will most likely give you a monetary donation to meet your goal ans so should many of your local businesses. The kids can do their first morning show thanking all the businesses & groups that helped them get their program back.
I am not sure where you live or how the weather is there at this time of year, but our town sports group spends 2 Saturdays standing outside the local supermarket with donations cans. They make about $4,000 between both days.
Walk a thons are also another way to raise decent money. Our middle school raised over $5,000 with theirs and they used a company who got a cut of the proceeds. You can do it yourself and make even more money.
I realize that you are looking on a much larger scale than what we were, but 4 teachers on my team wanted to put 27' tvs in our classrooms so that we could link them to our computers and show presentations, etc. We decided to sell those fun size candy bars(the kind you can get 10 of the same kind for right under $1). We were selling the candy bars for a quarter each. We were only selling them to our 8th graders (approximately 200 students) and we did not start selling them until after lunch. We had great success. We were raising almost $80 per week. We found the Tvs on sale the day after thanksgiving for $130 at Sears. It was so successful that our Principal approved us to continue to use the idea to raise money for a new projector.
Our local cable company used to help get tv and cable in classrooms. That would be where I would start. Good luck, keeping up with technology is enough to drain any parent group.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
Our school is in need of 50 televisions so the video club can continue. The tvs that we have and the ones that work are about 15 yrs. old. The video club has had to stop the morning show and is very dissapointed.
Our PTO money is already earmarked for playgroud equipment, so it may be another year or so before we can dip into those funds.
