Finding creative ways to fund technology

teacher using interactive flat panel in the classroom

Published: August 3rd, 2020

For Southeast Lauderdale High School, their technology journey all started with a proposition to the school board. They agreed that if the school raised $10,000 for technology, the district would match it dollar for dollar. Principal Russell Keene was ready for the challenge and immediately started his fundraising efforts, including a sponsored golf scramble with area businesses and a community day crawfish cookout run by school employees and volunteers.

After nearly two years of the fundraising push, Keene went back to the school board with $10,000 and received his requested match. With $20,000 on the table, he turned to a local organization that awarded his school a $20,000 matching grant – for a grand total of $40,000.

“I knew we were more likely to receive the grant if we had skin in the game,” said Keene.

With the successful fundraising behind him, Keene contacted several vendors for demonstrations and examples of how their solutions improved classroom engagement. One company’s projector wasn’t durable and was hard to integrate with other technology, while another’s software lacked interactivity and integrability.

However, the third time was the charm when Promethean arrived on-site to showcase its interactive panels and software.

Read the full Southeast Lauderdale customer story here.