Finding The Best Atlas Of The World

Every home needs a good world atlas. While MapQuest, Yahoo Maps and Google Maps may have edged out traditional street maps for our directional needs, there will always be a place for a nice hard-cover, full-colored atlas. You can read at-a-glance profiles of different countries or cities, gain travel tips, reference information, teach the kids about other places and cultures or simply explore the world right from your sofa.

But which one of the world reigns supreme? This question is a difficult one to answer, but here are some classic selections, as well as some new options to unearth.

One of the most frequently used atlases is Goode's World Atlas, edited by Edward B. Espenshade, Jr. This pocket-sized book contains a number of high-quality maps from a cache of professional geographers.

Another great selection is the National Geographic Road Atlas of the United States, Canada and Mexico, which features, hands-down, the best street maps of North America. The 10th Edition Times map of the World boasts 125 color maps and a quarter of a million place names.

The DK World Atlas is full of entertaining facts, while also providing geographic information about every country in the world. You will also want to add the DK Atlas of World History, which includes maps, timelines, photographs and historical notes, and the DK World Reference Atlas, which has 1 to 6 pages about each country, discussing politics, climate, world affairs, economics, crime, health, media, education and communications.

Sometimes you can find a map the world that reveals the current state of our planet. The State of the World Atlas does just that, displaying the most current statistics, profiles and realities about world politics, economics, food supplies, military power, energy resources, pollution levels and biodiversity.

In a nutshell, what a hardcopy atlas of the world delivers, which online mapping lacks, is that historical, worldview of mapmakers and cartographers who take the great time and effort to color code our world and combine data with maps in a sensible way, thus painting the larger picture.

If you are looking for an atlas of American history to inspire the kids, then consider Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley's "Places in Time: A New Atlas of American History" (for 7-14 year olds), which teaches kids about fascinating stories behind 20 little-known American places using oral narratives, old maps, drawings and contemporary accounts. Don't forget to get Lynn Kuntz's "Celebrate the USA: Hands-On History Activities for Kids" (for 8-10 year olds), which will have you playing musical inventions like Ben Franklin or creating liberty wind socks from oatmeal boxes, glues, yarn and paper.

School Fundraising Opportunity

When a school fundraising opportunity comes knocking on your door, answer it.

With the decreasing amount of money given to the school districts every year, there is a necessity to take advantage of every opportunity that comes about. Opportunities are everywhere. They come about when you are searching for them or great ideas might simply show up in your email.

Whatever the school fundraising opportunity is, there is no doubt that it would be beneficial to the schools bottom line. There are many different ways that money can be donated to the school. Who would think that buying your favorite twelve pack of soft drinks at the grocery store would contribute to the school of your choice?

Well, this is true! This is done in a couple of different ways.

One is through scrip. One of the ways that scrip fundraising takes place is that the school buys "scrip" from the grocery chain at a discounted rate and then sells it to the parents at face value. The parents do not pay any more and they use it like cash at the store. Because of the way they went about their purchase, they have just helped the school raise a few dollars. Another way that money is donated to the school in a similar way is by the use of plastic. Yes, by simply swiping your credit card a percentage, generally 2-10%, of your purchase goes to the school of your choice.

One such retailer that incorporates this into their credit card is Target. They have donated a great deal of money to numerous schools throughout the nation. If you are not familiar with this program, simply apply for a "red card" at Target and during the application process you can designate which school you would like a percentage of your purchases to go to and then go shopping! One other way to come about a school fundraising opportunity is to simply read your email.

If you have ever looked into fundraising before and filled out forms requesting more information, chances are you were placed on an emailing list for that company. This is not a bad thing by any means. You will now be one of the first to see the latest in fundraising opportunities, such as being able to make 100% profit! The point is, keep your eyes peeled. You never know when or where you will have the opportunity to raise school funds.

Many different companies see the importance in giving back to the local schools and for this reason they are continuously thinking of innovative ways to do so.

Band Fundraising in Smaller Towns

If you are in need of a band fundraising idea let me tell you about the Mexia High School Band in Texas.

Mexia is a relatively small Texas town with a population of around 6,700 people. It is not a wealthy town with a median household income of less than $23,000 in 2000. The median house value was $36,000 that same year.

If you were hand picking a target market to hold a successful premium cookie dough fundraiser, Mexia probably would not be high on your list. But a few years ago they were looking for a band fundraising idea that would work good and decided to contact us and hold a cookie dough fundraiser.

Bands Make the Dough with This Fundraiser The attraction to selling cookie dough was simple. They knew that everyone loved freshly baked cookies. They thought it would be easy enough to sell. And they loved the idea that we would provide all the order forms and cookie dough brochures they needed for their sale free of charge and with no obligation. We even put together a fact filled kick off letter to hand out to each seller and a cash collection envelope for each person to keep collected money in. That gave them everything they needed to get started. Mexia took our advice and sold cookie dough for two weeks.

At the end of the sale they tallied their order together and found out they had sold more than 1,000 tubs. That gave them a profit of more than $5,000. They decided to sell cookie dough again the next year. This time we talked about offering some type of incentive program to make sure everyone was involved in the sale.

The results were even better. When they tallied together their order they had sold more than 1,600 tubs of frozen cookie dough and had made more than $8,000 profit.

We would love to talk to you if you are in need of a band fundraising idea. Selling frozen cookie dough might not be the fundraiser you choose in the end but we can talk through all the options with you and help make your band fundraiser a resounding success.