Use this for larger items, new tech, or innovative ideas.

We have both received several makerspace grants from our district education foundation.

Use these to fund showy innovative ideas that will appeal to the public.

DonorsChoose.org, DigitalWish.com, Edutopia, Grant Wrangler, and many others. Don't forget to check on TLA, ALA, AASL & YALSA Grants, along with those funded by authors like the recent James Patterson grants that were given in partnership with Scholastic.

Don't underestimate what your people have in their closets, attics, & garages! Old craft or scrap booking supplies, old family games, wood scraps, sewing materials, camping games, old electronics for deconstruction, Legos, appliance-size cardboard, more...

Don't forget local business partnerships (aka donations from local businesses). Lots of business have donation budgets including lots of stores you would use to purchase maker items like Walmart, Sams, & Target. Write a donation letter. You never know what you might get!

Yard sales and resale shops are great places to find tools, family games, old garage equipment like lathes and work tables, containers, sewing material, furniture items like gaming chairs and coffee tables and stools, and craft items like yarn, glitter and more. I always tell them it is for a school and they nearly always give a discount --and sometimes they even give it for free!

At Lake, we sell coffee, tea, hot chocolate (with marshmallows!) water, and poster board. We also have pen, pencil, and notebook paper vending machines. These items easily fund most of our general makerspace costs and have not yet been any problem in the library. The students love it, too, and will often come to us rather than the school store because they know it funds the fun things we do in the library.

As a result of the amazing makerspace experiences many administrators have seen happening on our campuses, every CCISD library (K-12) now has $500.00/year specifically for makerspace needs that is a part of their permanent budget. That did not happen in isolation. It happened because our libraries did amazing things, we advocated for ourselves, and our library director advocated for us. Advocate for yourself. Use social media, and personal invitations to campus admin., dignitaries, parents, and community members so others can see the wonderful things you are doing with and for students. If you do not have a district library director, this is especially vital because no one will know unless you show them. Don't just talk or tell. SHOW.