Summit Mom Launches App To Help Parents Raise Money For Schools

SUMMIT, NJ — A savvy Summit mother of two has launched an app to help parents be better connected and raise money for their schools. The app is now receiving praise by SCORE.

Nirupama Mallavarupu launched MobileArq in the fall of 2013 to help parents like herself to fundraise and keep on top of things going on in their schools.

"As a mother of two boys, I was always scrambling to stay on top of my kids' activities in and out of school. It was difficult to stay in touch with the school community and on top of school events," Mallavarupu said. "This is how MobileArq was born. I created a central place where parents could find any of their school contacts, pay for their school fundraisers, get all the updated information about school events/lunches and essentially get their school at their fingertips!"

The fundraising and communications app is available to local parent organizations to raise money for their schools. Parents can also use the app to get their school information.

The way it works is the parent organization or school district buys the app for the entire school or district and offers it to parents for free.

Then either the school district helps MobileArq to setup the data or parents can come in to the portal and add their information themselves. The PTA/PTO gets an administration dashboard through which they can add/delete/update families, send out group emails, newsletters and setup fundraisers in online stores. Parents can pay for the fundraisers from their app.

Local schools that have already deployed this app include Essex Fells district, Livingston, Tenafly, Summit and Millburn public schools.

Most recently Mallavarupu's company MobileArq was selected as business champion from NJ by SCORE.

"The award helps us network with SCORE winners from all over the country," Mallavarupu said. "We also got an amazing SCORE mentor who is helping us with strategy."

For more information on the MobileArq app visit mobilearq.com or Facebook.

(Images via Nirupama Mallavarupu)

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