Just about every parent in America understands what it’s like to have their child bring home a box of candy bars or a lot of raffle tickets that need to be sold in order to help raise money for their school. Or, if you don’t have kinds, surely you remember your own little forays around the neighborhood hawking jumbo sized boxes of sugary treats for a dollar, with x% of the proceeds going to the organization or school in question.

But there can be problems with this kind of fundraising. Doesn’t it send the wrong single when we teach children about childhood obesity but have them sell nutritionally bankrupt foods to people for money? Isn’t there a problem with teach kids about recycling (which we here at SaveWaveEnergy.com have taken a step further, with rightcycling) when they are selling wrapping paper that isn’t made from recyclables in order to raise needed funds?

Enter Greenraising.

Lisa Olson, the founder/inventor of the concept was seeking to combine eco-consciousness with responsible fundraising. So, she began seeking out environmentally friendly “green” products and trade goods like shopping bags, coffee and jewelry and aggregated them into a catalog. Which could then be distributed to schools and organizations for fundraising purposes. And given her background as a teacher, Ms. Olson began developing teachng materials and lesson plans that could be used in the classroom in conjunction with the fundraiser. To date, there are now over 1,000 groups in the US and Canada that participate in Greenraising.

As Lisa Olson says, “Schools are not only raising funds, they’re also raising awareness…tiny actions do add up.” And this is the real genius of the new paradigm for fundraising in schools. Children are learning to develop their ecological intelligence from a very young age. They are learning about the broader impact of their local choices, and how turning off running water or flipping the lightswitch off when they leave a room adds up when it comes to energy savings.

Greenraising is certainly a wonderful new way to practice being green and helping a valued nonprofit organization at the same time. And it is exactly the kind of innovative concept SaveWaveEnergy.com can get behind and fully support. So go out and Greenraise!