Static files for an app follow the following directory structure my_app/static/my_app and are picked up by ./manage.py collectstatic when ready to deploy. If you're wanting to use static files that span multiple apps, update your settings.py to include the following:

STATICFILES_DIRS = (
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "project_static"),
)

Temping it as it is, STATICFILES_DIRS cannot contain the location of STATIC_ROOT. Manually placing your static files where the collectstatic management command dumps its static files does not work nor does setting "project wide" static files into the same directory work, thus the separate "project_static" directory. Dropping files in here will allow them to be accessable via {% static 'file' %}.

Source: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/howto/static-files/