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How to Start a Makerspace When You're Broke | Renovated Learning

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How to Start a Makerspace When You're Broke | Renovated Learning

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You CAN start a makerspace even if you're broke

In my recent post on AASL Knowledge Quest, I decided to revisit and revamp a popular article that I wrote for the ISTE Librarians Network Scanner about starting a makerspace on a budget. Since writing that article in November 2014, I've talked to many more educators and continued to work on adding to and improving our makerspace. I felt like it was a good time to take a look at the issue again, as I'm still hearing people saying that they can't start a makerspace because they don't have a budget for one. Seriously, I'm hearing this everyday. I know that for many of us, our budgets are non-existent, and our teacher salaries leave us broke. But even if your budget is zero dollars, you can absolutely still start a makerspace.

Check out the sneak peek below, then click over to Knowledge Quest to read the whole article.

What many people don't realize is that the idea that you need a lot of money to start a Makerspace is a myth. All you need is to have vision, ingenuity, and resourcefulness. A lack of funds is no excuse for keeping your students from experiencing the empowerment that comes with bringing the Maker Education Movement into your program. It may take more effort and elbow grease, but you can start a makerspace even with a zero balance in your budget.

The idea that you need a lot of money to start a #Makerspace is a myth Click To Tweet

Go check out the article over on Knowledge Quest, and learn some valuable strategies for starting (and growing) your makerspace no matter where your budget is at.

Diana Rendina, MLIS, is the media specialist at Tampa Preparatory School, an independent 6-12 in Tampa, FL. Previously, she was the media specialist at Stewart Middle Magnet School for seven years, where she founded their library makerspace. She is the creator of the blog RenovatedLearning.com & is also a monthly contributor to AASL Knowledge Quest. Diana is the winner of the 2016 ISTE Outstanding Young Educator Award, the 2015 ISTE Librarians Network Secondary Award, the 2015 AASL Frances Henne Award & the 2015 SLJ Build Something Bold Award. She is an international speaker on the Maker Movement and has presented at conferences including AASL, FETC & ISTE. Diana co-authored Challenge-Based Learning in the School Library Makerspace with Colleen and Aaron Graves and is also the author Reimagining Library Spaces: Transform Your Space on Any Budget.

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How to Start a Makerspace When You're Broke

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You CAN start a makerspace even if you're broke In my recent post on AASL Knowledge Quest, I decided to revisit and revamp a popular article that I wrote for the ISTE Librarians Network Scanner about starting a makerspace on a budget.

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Application Forms for 2016 Grants & Awards

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Application Forms for 2016 Grants & Awards

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Michelle, or Binka, makes . While at Maker Media, she oversaw publications, outreach, and programming for kids, families, and schools. Before joining Maker Media in 2007, she worked at the Exploratorium, in Mitchel Resnick's Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, and as a curriculum designer for various publishers and educational researchers. When she's not supporting future makers, including her two young sons, Binka does some making of her own, most often as a visual artist.

View more articles by Michelle "Binka" Hlubinka

As part of our Back-to-School series, we are sharing chapters and excerpts from the Makerspace Playbook: School Edition. Today, an excerpt from Chapter 9, Startup: tips for funding your Makerspace.
One idea not shared in the playbook that has come up time and again is having a Make Sale, where you sell some of the items made in the Makerspace. Hillel Posner's students make cutting boards and necklaces in their woodworking class. Casey Shea at Analy High School recoups some of the high cost of buying and maintaining the school's laser cutter with an annual yearbook-engraving fundraiser. What have you done in your school to raise money to Make?
On to our excerpt:

Your Makerspace may not need much of a budget to operate, if you have a space you can use for free, tools to borrow, and materials found or donated. For some Makerspaces, the ones with lots of parental involvement, many of the projects are self-funded. But if your Makerspace takes place at a school without as much family support, or if you simply do not have this all in place, you may need to research community or family foundation grants to fill in the gap. It's possible there could be city or other government agency grants available to get your Makerspace what it needs. Sometimes you can find the funding with a "planning grant." If you are partnering with a non-profit, get advice from the fundraising staff who may be able to suggest the right foundations to approach. Ask around.

Makerspace schools need more resources than most educational programs. It's not as hard as you might think to find supporters.

National competitive grants may be offered by private sector foundations, nonprofit organizations, or government agencies. Government grants tend to require more complicated applications, while others, like the ING Unsung Heroes grant may be very brief (three pages maximum).

Regional grants are often offered by utility companies and corporations to support families in their communities. These are often less competitive and are usually easy applications to complete. PG&E and Los Alamos National Lab are examples.

Non-published grants and gifts to schools are often made by both large national organizations and smaller local companies and agencies. Most large corporations have a foundation or charitable contributions division which can be contacted for potential support.

Look at your community's largest employers as potential supporters. They want to provide community support, improve school programs, and they want schools to produce a bright workforce as much as anyone.

Barry's Checklist for Grant Planning & Development

General considerations

Specific considerations

Your project demonstrates basic understandings of sciences and content involved.

Your grant is based on some things you already do with kids.

Your grant is not dependent upon (or an extension of) another grant, if so it must stand on it's own merit.

Your project includes a "kids teaching kids" component.

Your students will work with other classes at your site.

Your students will work with students at other schools.

Your project involves students' homes or families.

Your project has interaction with local businesses.

Your project will impact the community.

Your project will have a positive effect on your school's culture.

Your project has a long-term vision and may carry on into the next school year.

You have "buy in" from your administrator.

You've consulted any school facilities staff that may need to be involved.

Your application is concise, brief, and "paints a picture" of your "finished project". (less is more!)

You have considered ALL of the potential obstacles to completion of your project

You've allowed at least two peers to review your draft and provide feedback, including one non-science person.

You're composition style is easily comprehensible and you've checked the spelling of your document.

A detailed budget is provided and all the funds are allocated.

Letters of approval and support are provided.

Follow the application format carefully, it is your blueprint to success, don't be repetitive.

Project Title is brief and suggestive of the project's goals or activities.

Project Description includes specific goals.

You have identified the target audience (this may include more than students).

You describe specific student activities including the energy science content studied.

Student leadership and service learning/community involvement goals are described.

State Content Standards correlations are delineated (this can be at the very end)

An Evaluation section explains how you will evaluate the success of your project.

An Expansion section describes how your project might be replicated or expanded.

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Your Makerspace may not need much of a budget to operate, if you have a space you can use for free, tools to borrow, and materials found or donated. For some Makerspaces, the ones with lots of parental involvement, many of the projects are self-funded.

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STEM grants, STEAM Grants, Maker Space Grants, School Grants – TeacherGeek

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STEM grants, STEAM Grants, Maker Space Grants, School Grants – TeacherGeek

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STEM grants, STEAM Grants, Maker Space Grants, School Grants - TeacherGeek

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Finding money for your classroom STEM / STEAM activities or maker space can be tough. Here are a some grants that may help you out. Click on your State to find grants: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Ken

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Grants & Funding

Resources to help you find the $$ you need for your school

We all have big dreams for the things that we'd like to do in our schools. Designing active learning spaces. Creating makerspace environments. Putting powerful technology into the hands of our students. Building a collection of library books that our students love.

Unfortunately, our budgets aren't always as big as our dreams. The resources gathered on this page are aimed at helping with this dilemma. These are presentations, articles, and websites I've curated that focus on finding grants and funding resources for schools. Over the last six years at my school, I've secured over $15,000 worth of grants and other funding to help build our library collection, refurnish our space and create our makerspace. The money is out there if you put in a little time and elbow grease to get it.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases made through links on this page may result in commissions for me. All opinions are my own.

Resources I've created:

Money, Money, Money: How to get grants and other funding for your library

Presentation slides from a presentation I gave at the Florida Association for Media in Education conference in October 2014

Blog posts & more resources

5 Tips for Creating DonorsChoose Projects - My post on lessons I've learned from funding project worth over a total of $6,000 through DonorsChoose

5 Tips for Starting a Makerspace on a Budget - Post that links to an article I wrote for the ISTE Librarian's Network on funding a Makerspace.

The STEM Maker Library - Information on a grant I wrote to add more STEM books to our library

Our Lowe's Toolbox for Education Grant - I received a grant in 2014 for $5,000 to transform our library into a vibrant, flexible learning commons. I write about that grant in the posts below.

Resources I've curated:

Grant search engines/lists

Crowdsourcing

DonorsChoose - Teachers can create projects with certain vendors which then get funded by parents, community members, etc. Great for books, technology, supplies, etc (How to submit a project)

PledgeCents - Another education focused crowdsourcing platform. This one allows you to keep all money you raise, even if you don't meet your goal. Can be used for school projects, classroom projects and even professional development (hello conference fees!)

GoFundMe - Not education focused. Individuals can create pitches for projects they're trying to raise money for and offer "rewards" for different levels of donations.

IndieGoGo - Another crowdfunding site where individuals can create projects and ask for donations.

Kickstarter - Generally for larger, innovative projects, like building an entire library after a disaster. Must raise total goal to get funds.

This is a great little grant writing book focused specifically on school librarians. I read this early in the process of learning about grant writing, and it really helped me out. There's lots of ideas in here for both beginners and experienced grant writers.

Rather than being a book about grant writing, this book focuses on various sources for finding grant money. This comes from ALA, so not every grant will apply to schools, but there's still a lot of useful information here. This is the 9th edition (2014) so hopefully an updated one will be coming soon.

I confess that I haven't read this one yet, but it has some good reviews on Amazon. This is a short and sweet eBook on the basics of using crowdfunding to support educational projects.

Know some more books I should add?

I haven't been able to find a ton of stellar books on grants and fundraising specifically geared towards libraries and education. If you know of some I should add to this page, drop me a line at diana@renovatedlearning.com

Grant & Funding Sources

Books/Reading

Technology/STEM

Professional Development

NEA Foundation - Grants for high-quality professional development experiences.

Fund for Teachers - Funds teacher travel for experiences that they can bring back to the classroom

Other grants

Other resources

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Grants & Funding We all have big dreams for the things that we'd like to do in our schools. Designing active learning spaces. Creating makerspace environments. Putting powerful technology into the hands of our students. Building a collection of library books that our students love.

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GoFundMe: #1 for Crowdfunding & Fundraising Websites

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GoFundMe: #1 for Crowdfunding & Fundraising Websites

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Trust & Safety

We have your back.

With a global team dedicated to trust and safety, we've successfully managed fundraisers worldwide for more than a decade. Don't worry about a thing, we've got you covered.

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GoFundMe: #1 Fundraising Platform for Crowdfunding

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GoFundMe: The most trusted online fundraising platform for any need or dream. Start a crowdfunding fundraiser in 5 minutes. Get help. Give kindness.

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Connect with a thriving community of donors eager to fund your classroom projects.

We'll also match donations from every donor you refer to your first project.

Get started

Get started

How it Works

You know what your students need. We're here to help you get it.

1 Request Your Items

Get everything you need to be the teacher you want to be - all in one place.

2 Get Funded

Your friends and family lend a hand; our community of donors takes care of the rest.

3 Receive the Goods

We order everything for you and ship it straight to you. Hello, packages!

Get started

If you can dream it, you can request it.

Teach Without Limits

Our teacher-favorite brands and donors will help you turn any classroom dream into reality, from an inclusive classroom library to coding robots.

Get started

What Teachers Say

DonorsChoose teachers are a creative, passionate bunch who go above and beyond for their students. Here's what they have to say.

Join Our Nationwide Community

When you create a project on DonorsChoose, you become part of a trusted 20-year-old network of educators, teachers, donors, foundations, and corporate partners who are all passionate about education. The power of this community has allowed us to make a huge impact.

teachers have received funding

classroom projects funded

Featured in:

For Teachers, By Teachers

Founded by a history teacher, DonorsChoose is 100% focused on educators.

Get started

Our staff is chock-full of former teachers to help every step of the way.

Does it cost money for teachers to post projects?

Heck no! You can sign up and post a project without spending a dime. Our site is absolutely free for teachers.

Who can post a project?

If you're employed full-time in a US public or public charter school, and you work directly with students at least 75% of the time, then you're probably eligible to sign up. Teachers at over 84% of US public schools have already signed up. Check out our full eligibility details.

How long does the process take?

You can create your very first project in about 20 minutes (even faster when you get the hang of it!). Our team of super-screeners will review and post your project in about 3 days. You can choose to keep your project posted on the site for up to 4 months, though we've seen projects funded within hours of being posted! Once your project is funded, we'll order the materials and you'll get them in about 2 weeks or less!

What happens if my project isn't fully funded?

Projects can remain on the site for up to 4 months, and over 70% of projects reach their funding goal. If a project doesn't meet its funding goal by that time, donors can redirect their contributions to support your next project.

What are my responsibilities?

You'll pick out materials your classroom needs and answer some short essay questions about your project. You're expected to share your project to help it reach your funding goal. If it does, we'll ask you and your students to thank your donors with notes and photos of the project in action once the materials arrive.

Who owns the resources?

Any materials or resources we send should be directly experienced by the students as described in the project essay. After they've been used, resources are property of the classroom for which they were initially requested, so future classes can continue to benefit. Give our full materials policy a look.

What can I get?

Whether you're stocking up on notebooks and copy paper or you're looking for a diverse classroom library and lab equipment, we can order resources straight to your classroom door. When you create a project, you shop from teacher-favorite brands that offer special pricing and outstanding service.

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DonorsChoose lets you share your classroom needs with a thriving community eager to help. Supporters have brought teachers' ideas to life in more than half of all U.S. public schools.

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Presented by Michelle Luhtala, Head Librarian, New Canaan High School, CT
WATCH THE WEBINAR RECORDING Within 24 hours after the live event, a CE certificate is emailed to live attendees who logged in online with their email address. To get your CE certificate for logging in live by phone, or for watching the recording, join the Emerging Tech community and go to the Webinar Archives folder to take the CE quiz. As a member of the community, you'll also have access to additional resources and online discussions.

Whether you've had a makerspace for years, don't have one yet, or are just getting started, this webinar has something for you! The presenter chronicled her experience jump-starting maker culture in her learning community. Funding, curricular connections, equipment, and celebrations, and challenges were addressed.

This webinar, presented by Michelle Luhtala, Head Librarian at New Canaan High School (CT), will benefit K-12 school librarians, classroom teachers, and curriculum leaders. Michelle will field questions from the audience after the presentation.

Michelle Luhtala is the Head Librarian at New Canaan High School in New Canaan, Connecticut. She is the winner of the 2011 "I Love My Librarian" Award, the 2010 National School Library Program of the Year (NSLPY), and the Connecticut Library Association's 2010 Outstanding Librarian Award. Follow her on Twitter @mluhtala.
WATCH THE WEBINAR RECORDING

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Presented by Michelle Luhtala, Head Librarian, New Canaan High School, CT WATCH THE WEBINAR RECORDING Within 24 hours after the live event, a CE certificate is emailed to live attendees who logged in online with their email address.

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6 Strategies for Funding a Makerspace | Edutopia

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6 Strategies for Funding a Makerspace | Edutopia

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1. Find or Repurpose a Space

Finding a room is easier than you think. Many cities and school districts have underutilized or forgotten spaces that can be repurposed for a very low cost. For example, Andrew Coy, high school technology teacher and Executive Director of the Digital Harbor Foundation, established Baltimore City's first free, public, neighborhood makerspace in an empty Parks & Recreation building that was about to be shut down. Andrew explains, "Elementary principals I talked to about making also had ideas for how the spaces next to their buildings could be used . . . turning one of them over to us for all maker programming. Although this whole process took almost an entire year, was full of moments of delay or doubt, and was not without mistakes, the end result was well worth the effort and has made for a great partnership."

Likewise, high school math teacher Casey Shea walked his maker class off campus in Sebastopol, California. In the second year, he convinced his school administration to let him clean out a storage facility only to find that the old woodshop was buried underneath. Students uncovered old tools and machinery, built the furniture and designed the space. Math classes are held in the makerspace all day.

Rick Shertle, middle school teacher and founder of the Washington Maker Workshop in San Jose, California recently opened his doors to the community by securing a space from a local church for free. The space is within walking distance of several schools.

2. Start a Maker Club

Start a maker club to raise money for the project, engaging the campus and local community. Conduct a "tool drive" within your school or neighborhood, asking parents to donate tools. You wouldn't believe how many extra tools people have in storage. While we'd like families to save some tools for making things together at home, many would be happy to donate their extra tools to schools.

Many teachers and students may try school club fundraising strategies on campus, such as hosting a "make-a-thon" or another type of "a-thon" (i.e., a pedal-a-thon with bicycle hacks). At Pittsburg High School in Contra Costa County, California, the math and woodshop classes sell what they make. Past fundraisers included 3D-printed cell phone cases or engraved student mementos using their laser cutter.

Search for civic organizations, societies and religious groups to bring the community into what the students are making in the schools. The local Rotary Club may not have heard of the Maker movement, but why not bring a mini Maker Faire to them? Maker clubs and teachers can showcase student work at a local Rotary meeting. This strategy worked for Casey Shea.

3. Apply for Company Sponsorships

PG&E Bright Ideas: This is a great opportunity for getting alternative energy related materials. For example, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) funded a truck conversion and solar powered scooter last year at Oakland's Lighthouse Charter School. At another school, a teacher funded an alternative energy fair where students built their own wind turbines, biofuel generators, etc. with this award.

Botball Robotics sponsorships: Some teachers seek team funding from sources like Botball, which offers a scholarship.

ING Unsung Heroes: Each year, 100 educators are selected to receive $2,000 to help fund their innovative class projects. Three of those are chosen to receive the top awards of an additional $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000.

Lowes Toolbox for Education: This is another opportunity that many teachers have used. Raise $5,000 in minutes from Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation, which will help your parent-teacher group achieve even more for your school.

4. Seek Grants

Schools can secure a grant from their state's Department of Education or local funders. Aaron Vanderwerff at Lighthouse Charter School is now on release time from the classroom to serve as a "maker coordinator" supporting K-12 teachers. He will use the makerspace to coach others throughout the East Bay area.

Grant funding is often an issue for those who don't have nonprofit status, so you may need to seek an organization to represent you, such as Tides Center. Fiscal sponsorship is a cost-effective way to implement new programs, bring together groups to collaborate on an issue, and test new approaches to social change.

5. Fund Project Materials Online

Teachers will often use DonorsChoose.org for project materials. DonorsChoose lets teachers share their classroom needs with a thriving community eager to help. We suggest using this tool to raise money for materials to be used during Spring semester, building in time for up to four months of posting projects, planning, and receiving supplies.

6. Start a Campaign

Indiegogo is a crowdfunding platform where people who want to raise money can create fundraising campaigns to tell their story and get the word out. You can design your own campaign around your new makerspace.

A makerspace is a learning environment rich with possibilities. Makerspaces come in all shapes and sizes and serve as a gathering point for tools, projects, mentors and expertise. MAKE: Magazine says a collection of tools does not define a makerspace. Rather, it is defined by what it enables: making.

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6 Strategies for Funding a Makerspace | Edutopia

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Finding a room is easier than you think. Many cities and school districts have underutilized or forgotten spaces that can be repurposed for a very low cost. For example, Andrew Coy, high school technology teacher and Executive Director of the Digital Harbor Foundation, established Baltimore City's first free, public, neighborhood makerspace in an empty Parks & Recreation building that was about to be shut down.

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In order to create a solid application, you will need to evaluate the following:

Think about your library's current state: What kind of programming are you already offering in your library? How do you see your programming growing or expanding? What does your current staffing and available space look like? You don't need a lot of space to create a makerspace in your library, but if you don't have an area to set up a permanent space, you will need to consider storage needs and what is practical for portability.

The space I designed for the Middletown Free Library's CreateSpace@MFL is a pop-up space, as we only have one meeting room that is shared for all programming and meetings. When I wrote the LSTA grant application, I emphasized that our space would be a portable pop-up space that would be set up in the library and would allow us to take our programs out into the community as well. The ability to bring maker programming into the community was also the main part of our grant application for the Maker Lab Club. For this grant, we were asking for four 3D printers to add to the two makerbots we already had. In this application, I made the case for more printers to not only support 3D printing programs in the library, but also to set up a 3D printer lending program with local schools and public libraries.

Craft your argument around your library's strategic mission: Once you have determined what your library's and community's needs are, you will need to make an argument as to why your grant is necessary or how it supports the mission and strategic plan of your library. You will already have part of that answer, since you will have already explored your library's needs, ability to support making and your current programming. Next, you'll want to step outside the walls of your library and look at the larger world of education and making. If your library does not have a strategic plan or your plan is outdated, this additional research will be very helpful to you when crafting your argument as to why you wish to bring making to your library.

For our 2015 ILEAD project, we had to apply to be accepted into the program, and during the program we wrote an LSTA grant to get our project off the ground. ILEAD is a program supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services that started out in Illinois and has expanded to 10 more states. For the ILEAD program, librarians form teams with other librarians and community members to find a solution to a community problem that uses technology.

For our project, we teamed up with our local Penn State campus to explore a way to get girls excited about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math). We began by evaluating why this was an issue in our community and did further research to narrow down our focus to middle school girls and come up with a solution to the problem. Our solution resulted in a week-long, half-day camp for girls going into grades 6-9 that includes hands-on workshops and projects, as well as the opportunity to meet and talk to women working in STEAM fields. The LSTA grant provided us with $5,000 to get our camp off the ground, and this year we are doing it again, thanks to a $2,000 donation from a local, women-owned-and-run technology company.

As you can see from this experience, grants are not the only way to obtain funding to get your maker programming off the ground. Tapping into your local business community is another great way to obtain funding for your makerspace and maker programs. Your library board is a great place to start when looking for these kinds of connections. Often board members will know someone or have a connection to a person who can get you in the door to make your appeal. If you are looking to tap into local businesses for support, I would suggest trying to set up a face-to-face meeting. Bringing along a board member or the person who helped you obtain the connection is a great idea, and having a non-paid person championing your library can help make your case more compelling.

Alternately, you can always make an appeal to your users and the community through a direct campaign asking for money to support your makerspace. There are many ways to make this kind of ask, thanks to crowdfunding sites like Indigogo, Kickstarter and others. Recently we have had some luck with making an appeal directly to our users through email. By going directly to those who will benefit from the program, you can help build support to get your project off the ground. You may find you have some very generous people in your community who are looking to support a specific project or program, rather than just writing a check to the library where they have no say in how the money is spent. While regular fund drives are important for the overall financial success of the library, why not try asking directly for support for your project or idea?

While this is by no means an extensive guide to finding money for your makerspace and maker programs, I hope my experience can help you get started in finding the money to bring your dream space to life!

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In order to create a solid application, you will need to evaluate the following: Think about your library's current state: What kind of programming are you already offering in your library? How do you see your programming growing or expanding? What does your current staffing and available space look like?