For more information on accessible design and playgrounds, please visit us at The Playground Project, www.theplaygroundproject.org
We're always intersted in hearing from, and working with, other groups interested in universal accessibility!

we have a playground fund at are school here is a few things we have done to raise funds.we did a paperdrive which raised about 500.00 a penny war at school which turned out very good a sub and cookie dough sale which raised 6500.00 we sold these silly shoelaces which we made a decent amount on also a bake sale we made about 100.00 on and on market day half the proceeds went to the playground fund also write to local companies asking for donations alot of them are more then willing to help as much as they can .and for ground care call local landscaping places and ask for donations for grounds care or for them to come and do it .we have raised about 16000.00 so far also it is very important to keep parents informed by sending out a newsletter telling them where you are and how much still needs to be raised and how much of that has to go towards shipping and grounds care cause alot of parents do not know how expensive playground toys actually are

I would be happy to help you further about your efforts. Being in the playground industry for 13+ years, I am very experienced with the "do's and dont's" of playground construction.

Thanks for all the great advice on the playground equipment!
I'm going to look into it. We just had a park in our city that replaced their old equipment with new. They had all plastic equipment except they installed metal slides for the very reason I've been discussing - cochlear implants. It was in our paper and I am going to show the article to our principle. I have the name of the company who installed the playground equipment and will contact our city to see how much it cost them to purchase it. I believe the playground company was Miracle Playground. www.miracleplayground.com. I am looking into it. Thanks again for all your help.

Try brick engraving through perma-mark in Clinton Ma. I think they may have rebranded as permanent mark now. They provide laser engraved bricks to help with major fundraising and give the donor recognition. When doing this sort of fundraising remember to call on not only school community but also those companies that your school purchases from! Make a big grid notice board and write up people's names as they purchase bricks, then when fitting them install about 1/3 blank bricks for those who want to purchase a brick when they see everyone has bought one but they haven't!
Good luck with fundraising. Here is the link www.permamark.com/fundraising.htm hope it helps.

Do any of you have any great ideas for raising money for playground equipment? This is something that we are thinking of doing next year, and I would love any and all ideas that you may have. What's a realistic time goal on how long it would be before that would be possible? I know each case is different, but your experience would be greatly appreciated!!