When a school or sports program needs funding, students and their parents are often recruited to traipse through neighborhoods selling a product door-to-door, a burden to both time-strapped families and solicitation-weary neighbors. So in 2011, Jodi Rankin, parent of two children ages 14 and 12, founded Plymouth-based company Fun2Raise to help. “We want to give money to schools and sports without having parents and kids sell,” she says. “We’re a supplemental funding program.”
Fun2Raise meets directly with the school or program in need to talk about specific funding needs. Once the program’s needs are determined, Fun2Raise contacts community businesses that are interested in advertising in area schools. “We bring exactly what they need to life,” Rankin says. “Fun2Raise is a free service to schools and organizations.” Schools and sports programs that contact Fun2Raise won’t have to pay a penny, meaning that more money and effort can go straight to the cause. Many area schools and programs have already benefitted from Fun2Raise’s creative strategy: “Wayzata, Maple Grove, Hopkins … we’re helping all over the place,” Rankin says. 952.641.7100.
